Mary Brown Malouf

Bread fads come and go (baguettes, croissants, bagels) but you can tell when something has peaked when they make a sandwich with it. Judging by that, the biscuit has hit the top.

Southerners have a proprietary feeling about biscuits, but basically, any biscuit is made with fat (lard or butter), flour, baking powder, salt and a little milk or buttermilk. (Originally, Southern biscuits were made with a softer wheat, meaning it had less gluten, so the biscuits were more tender.) There is a thing called a “beaten” biscuit that leaves out the leavening and instead requires a half-hour of beating (literally) to loosen the gluten so the biscuit will rise, but it’s a labor-intensive rarity. Everyone except me loves biscuits smothered in sausage gravy—I’m a born-Southerner, but I prefer butter.

At any rate, you can’t go to many restaurants these days without tripping over a biscuit. Here are a half-dozen-plus-one of the best biscuits in Utah:

1. Sweet Lake Biscuits & Limeade,
54 W. 1700
South, SLC,  801-953-1978

Sweet Lake Biscuits and Limeade

Slightly strange bedmates—limeade is in no way a traditional accompaniment to biscuits—but each of this restaurant’s specialties are terrific. Originally a stand at the Farmers Market, now Sweet Lake serves seated biscuit-oriented meals until midday—try the biscuit sandwich with grilled asparagus, bacon, arugula and an egg.

2. The Daily,
222 Main St., SLC, 385-322-1270

The Daily Breakfast Bowl

I get into more detail about Ryan Lowder’s new downtown endeavor on p. 108, but this is about the biscuits, which are fantastic. Lowder has made this space the bakery for all his restaurants and head baker Caroline Hargraves is turning out sandwich bread, as well as these tall, flaky, ever-so-slightly sweet biscuits. Sausage gravy? No. But perfect for strawberries and whipped cream.

3. Woodland Biscuit Company,
2734 E. State Rd. 35, Woodland, 435-783-4202

Woodland Biscuit Company, Francis, UT

Open only on the weekends and you’ll need your GPS to help you find it, but Woodland Biscuit Company is worth finding. So I hear—I haven’t found it yet. But I have it on the highest trusted authority that the biscuits here rule, so a field trip is forthcoming. For breakfast or lunch. Almost every dish is biscuit-based. Even the burger.

4. Ruth’s Diner,
4160 Emigration Canyon Road, 801-582-5807

Ruth’s Diner, Salt Lake City

Probably the most famous biscuit in the state, Ruth’s “Mile High Biscuits” are enormous. Like, enormous. They’re a little bit doughy and less flaky than other biscuits on the list, but they come with every breakfast entree. So if your banana walnut french toast doesn’t provide enough carbohydrates, you’ve got a major biscuit to fall back on.

5. Penny Ann’s Cafe,
1810 S. Main St., SLC, 801-935-4760; 280 E. 12300 South, Draper, 801-662-0009; 1856 5400 South, Draper, 801-613-9702

Penny Ann’s Cafe, Lehi, UT

Most famous for their “heavenly hotcakes,” Penny Ann’s makes a mean biscuit too. Like many biscuits, this one is hidden on the menu under sausage gravy, but you can get a single biscuit and slather it with butter if you prefer. Like I said, I do.

6. Pig & A Jelly Jar,
401 E. 900 South, SLC, 385-202-7366; 227 25th St., Ogden, 801-605-8400; 1968 E. Murray Holladay Rd., Holladay, 385-695-5148

Pig & A Jelly Jar, Salt Lake City

Biscuits play a supporting role in this Southern-tinged cafe—dig through the spare rib, eggs, beans and kale or the smoked ham, tomatoes and eggs or the double-battered fried chicken and you’ll find a biscuit. Or you can have them with the inevitable Southern gravy.

7. Tupelo,
508 Main St.,
Park City,  435-615-7700

Tupelo, Park City

I have been at a dinner where guests literally fought for these biscuits. Granted, it was a fingertip fight, polite, but there was a primal intent to snag the last of these buttermilk beauties (generally, NOT served with sausage gravy but as the side bread with honey butter).

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 Make your palate heard!

Go here and vote for your favorite cocktails in the Farm to Glass Cocktail Contest—you only have two more days to vote.

Then go here and buy early-bird tickets to the Farm to Glass Cocktail Party where we’ll announce the winners and you’ll get to taste the contenders and vote again on Drink of the Night.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t tried the competing cocktail at Zest, you better give it a sip. We went by the other night and ordered The Last Dance—you can find the recipe and see a video of how to make it here. It’s a mix of:

• High West double rye
• Local ginger
• Mountain Town balsamic
• Local cucumbers
• Bitters Lab aromatic bitters
• Soda water

It’s delicious, refreshing and revivifying. By the way, carnivores, don’t eschew Zest because of its vegan/vegetarian focus. If you are a vegger, this is some of the best you can eat in SLC. But if you’re not (like me) you’ll still love the pizza (although I ordered mine with cheddar, not cashew, cheese) and the zuke and cheese (like mac and cheese, but with zucchini instead of pasta. I mean, yum.

And that’s from a person who, the first time she ate at an all-vegan restaurant, went immediately back to her hotel room and scoured through her luggage to find enough change for two packs of peanut M&Ms. You know, for a protein supplement.

I heard through the grapevine, or burgerline in this case, that Cooking Channel’s Cheap Eats is going to be visiting Cheddaburger on the afternoon of October 5.

The SLC food scene is famous again!

In case you need a burger refresher course, Cheddaburger started out as a food truck and added a bricks-and-mortar location.

Chef Nick Watts started driving the Chedda Truck in 2012 and his intention was always to push the boundaries of burgerdom. Sure enough, Cheddaburger is a rebel.

We like to think of burgers as “all-American,” like hot dogs and baseball and Happy Days but Cheddaburger is the bad boy of burgers.

 They serve “burgers with attitude.” The walls of the Portland-plain restaurant are covered in graffiti and the company website address is “cheddawasted.”  although he starts with a pure product: 100 percent Angus beef, no hormones, no antibiotics, no BS. 

Now the primo burgers are ready for prime time.

Note: This is only a rumor.

Cheddaburger, 26 E. 600 South, SLC, 602-865-97

Our Operations Director (always capitalized, because he’s also the telephone repairman) at Salt Lake magazine is a beer lover. To the extent that if you ask him a random question, like, “Hey Damon, when are we running our Women in Business section?” he is likely to answer, “Beer.” “What time is the meeting?” “Beer.”

You get the picture. Today is his day. So of course we asked him what his favorite beers are, in case you want to follow his recommendation on this Day of Damon, National Drink Beer Day. Not to be confused with National Beer Day (April 7) or International Beer Day (April 5.)

I like the specificity of the verb in today’s celebration. So does Damon.

Here are Damon’s local favorites, in no particular order. I asked Damon to comment on each one, but he just said, “Beer.”

1. Bohemian – Viennese
2. Bohemian – Cherny Bock
3. Red Rock – Secale
4. Roosters – Honey Wheat
5. Squatters – Chasing Tail
6. Epic – Cross Fever

Cheers to beer.