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News: New Restaurants, Oasis Cafe, Merryvale Vineyards

New restaurants – Quicker than you can say ‘are those shishito peppers on your menu or are you just pleased to see me’ and its all change on the Salt Lake City restaurant scene. In light of all the recent openings I thought it’d be handy to quickly run down some of the more interesting additions of late:

Harbor Seafood And Steak Company – Moving into the space vacated by Rino’s Italian on 2100 S., comes this seafood focused restaurant promising – ‘from dock to table, locally sourced, crafted with love’. The menu runs a gamut of seafood dishes, with a distinct East coast leaning by the looks of their online menu – chowder, clams, crab cakes and much more are supplemented by a meaty line up of burgers, steaks and ribs. I’ve long bored readers bemoaned the lack of depth in our piscine-purveying restaurants, sushi sushi everywhere, nor any bite to eat cooked. Hopefully these guys have the chops, or gills I should say, to pull it off with aplomb.

Tosh’s Ramen – The Tosh in question here is owner and chef Toshio Sekikawa – who you might also recognize from Naked Fish *. Indeed, Tosh’s new gig essentially ships Naked Fish’s former ramn lunch service to its own stand alone business at 1465 S. State Street. The news so far, pretty good, pretty pretty good.

Provisions – Tyler Stokes has taken control of the spot once home to Greg Neville’s Lugano. Advertising itself as an ‘an American craft kitchen’ the blurb promises all those buzzy, de rigueur buzzwords like organic and local. The menu is a giddy and somewhat manically gleeful read. Wood roasted shishitos come with bonito flakes and yuzu, there’s chicken liver toast with huckleberries while Utah trout roe is ready and waiting to be smeared on potato blinis. Larger plates dabble with everything from pizza and pasta through to fried chicken and Korean style BBQ ribs. There’s a lot going on here: new American, Asian and Italian – finger’s crossed the team can cohesively bind it all together.

Wasatch Brew Pub – As the redevelopment of the unsightly SugarHole comes to its completion, the final tenants of the new facility are moving in. The latest to open is this popular brew pub ambling its way down from Park City – making an already bustling bar/brewpub/gastropub zone, ever more so. SugarHole bar-food crawl anyone? Note: Someone should actually open a dive bar called the SugarHole out there…

Taco Taco – What’s better than one taco? Two tacos naturally. Taco Taco comes from the folks behind Cannella’s on 500 S. You might think the switch from Italian to Mexican odd, until you see tortillas cooking on the pizza oven that is. The tagline for their new venture is “awesome, affordable meat and veggie tacos with a fresh & loaded salsa bar.”

Finally, Bumbleebee’s BBQ And Grill, just pushing past a month in business now. Taking over from the brief existence of Wasatch Moon Cafe I recently reviewed the restaurant for the SLTrib.

The next few months promise even more culinary fun and games. More openings on the cards include Dopo at the Gateway, a new seafood eatery from people who should nail it and Viet Pham’s long awaited foray solo onto the downtown SLC dining scene – Ember + Ash.

oasis cafe local partner ad Oasis Cafe * – Celebrating the bounty of the harvest and the change in the weather, Oasis Cafe’s chef de cuisine Efren Benitez will offer a three-course nightly dinner menu for $25 throughout October. The harvest menu changes weekly to take opportunity of the freshest produce, featuring the best picks from local farms; ripe tomatoes, crisp fall apples, butternut and spaghetti squash, and the sweetest berries of the season.

“We are taking full advantage of this year’s seasonal bounty,” said Will Keesen, general manager. “We have a new cocktail menu and new well-paired wines to complement these selections for a perfect fall dinner under the stars on our gorgeous patio!” Oasis Cafe’s October Harvest Specials each include a starter choice of soup or salad:

Sept 30th-Oct 5th:
Pan Roasted Mahi-Mahi over Basmati Coconut Rice and Yellow Curry with an Apple and Pear Crumble for dessert.

Oct 6th-Oct 12th
Chicken Breast Stuffed with Feta, Bacon and Spinach with Soft Polenta and a Mediterranean Tomato Sauce, finishing with a Mixed Berry Tart

Oct 13th-Oct 19th
Pan Roasted Escolar over Butternut Squash Risotto and Mexican Flan as a finale.

Oct 20th- Oct26th
Grilled Salmon with Spaghetti Squash and Baby Bok Choy and Pumpkin Cheesecake for dessert.

151 S 500 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
(801) 322-0404
www.oasiscafeslc.com

Merryvale Vineyards – Our local partner in the wine business, Vine Lore, recently announced distribution of three new wines to the Utah market. The trio all come from Merryvale Vineyards whose motto, “always top notch”, speaks to their passion for wine making and sustainable farming for more than 25 years.

Vinelore kindly provided some notes on these recent additions which you should now find lining DABC shelves. Don’t forget you can use the DABC codes on the handy DABC product locator site to track down that special bottle.

starmont roseStarmont Carneros Rosé 2013 ($19.99)
DABC Code: 918390
Notes: “A Rosé made from the Pinot Noir grape in the saignée style using free-run juice bled off and fermented in stainless steel tanks. Its color is typical of Pinot Rosé, a lovely salmon color with hues of pink and ripe peach. This wine has medium acidity, with a bright, clean finish.”

merryvale chardonnayMerryvale Chardonnay 2012 ($32.99)
DABC Code: 901202
Notes: Primarily estate fruit. The grapes were carefully sorted, whole cluster pressed and barrel fermented using 100% native yeast. The extended growing season in 2012 was ideal for flavor and tannin development and retaining acidity. This wine is bright and lively, with sweet fruit flavors, good depth and complexity, with a hint of minerality; clean elegant finish.

starmont pinot noirStarmont Pinot Noir 2012 ($24.99)
DABC Code: 918393
Notes: Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s Carneros helped launch a revolution in California Pinot Noir. The cool climate and marine-based soils proved ideal for this varietal. The 2012 bottling delivers ripe aromas of red cherry, strawberry, green tea and spice. Earthy and juicy with great acidity and fine supporting tannins.

* Gastronomic SLC is a proud local partner of Oasis Cafe and Vine Lore.



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