Mary Brown Malouf

Hey, it’s the autumnal equinox, the first official day of fall. A nip in the air, a bite of an apple.

Maybe I read too much Robert Frost at an impressionable age, but the fruit and the season are linked in my brain. The only thing is, I am hardly ever inclined to eat a whole apple out of hand. It’s not that we’re confined to Granny Smith and Red Delicious anymore—you can choose from an ever-expanding menu of apple varieties, from heirloom to recently hybridized. But like so many foods in America, most apples have gotten too large. You can’t really commit to an apple the size of a grapefruit either. I was afraid I was done with apple-eating now.

So I was pleased to receive a gift of apples called Lil Snappers this week—apples grown to be right size for a snack or a child’s lunch sack. An apple you can eat right down to the core.

Is this the beginning of right-sizing American food? Probably not. But it made my day.

Stopped by Stoneground Italian Kitchen last night to check out their Farm-to-Glass cocktail entry and as usual, found a a lot of other stuff going on.

First of all, the entrance from the parking lot, which was always a bit awkward and unlovely, has been restyled into a charming lounge area. Unfortunately, you can’t eat or drink out there—pesky laws!—but it’s a comfortable place to sit and wait for your table in the upstairs restaurant which is increasingly booked up.

The Lavender Buzz, a shake of rum, lavender and lemon served in a stemmed glass, is a delicious drink—a touch of sweetness and fragrance rounding out the rum.

My companion ordered the Kale Caesar, a familiar favorite spiked with bottarga, and I noshed on the braciolo crudo, a gorgeous rose of super-thin Wagyu beef, centered with arugula and drizzled with oil.

We split an order of foccacino, a big bubble of thin bread like a giant pita only better, with pomodoro for dipping. The server brings it on a slate, then pops the bubble and slashes it into strips.

This Italian kitchen, headed by Justin Shifflet, just gets better and better.

Speaking of eats, there will be LOTS at this year’s Cocktail Contest Finale,—Creminelli, cupcakes, crudites—along with 24 different drinks to try. Tickets are only $25.00!!

How soon will it be before all the cool stuff in Park City is owned by out-of-staters??

The beverage world is buzzing about a Bloomberg report yesterday that Pernod-Ricard is among the bidders in an auction for High West, the landmark Park City whiskey distillery, founded in 2009 by Dave Perkins.

Let me say right now that I have nothing new to report: Perkins isn’t talking and when I called Christa Graff, who handles High West’s publicity and marketing, she didn’t have a clue either. Pernod-Ricard is a brand gobbler, one of the top two companies in the wine and spirits industry. Think Chivas-Regal, Absolut, Ballantyne’s, Beefeater, Havana Club, Jameson, Kenwood, Kahlua, the Glenlivet…If you’ve drunk it, they probably own it.

High West, the first legal distillery in Utah since Prohibition, has been wildly successful with its Rendezvous Rye, Rocky Mountain Rye, Bourye and other specialty liquors, however, as at many other “craft distilleries,” High West’s products are based on the usual base from Indiana.

The original distillery/restaurant in the restored livery stable in Park City and the new distillery in Wanship have become beloved Utah icons—it’s sad to think of them becoming part of an international conglomerate…well, details to follow as people start talking.

West

My bad: I went to BTG wine bar last night to try their Farm to Glass Cocktail Contest Entry. Only after a confused encounter with a server did I realize the wine bar wasn’t participating in this year’s contest.

But there was an unexpected upside to this visit to my favorite bar which I will use to deflect embarrassment over my error: Sometime in the last few months, BTG has started offering an expanded menu. In the past, you could order food from Caffe Molise, right next door and also owned by Fred Moessinger, but somehow it was more than you wanted. Now there is a select menu just for BTG including pizza, mac and cheese and other wine-worthy food. We tried the eggplant meatballs in marinara

umami-rich, though somewhat lacking in texture. Maybe they should be fried like arancini? We also ordered focaccia with burrata, a delicious cold mushroom pate with baguette slices and a terrific hummus, smooth and creamy, with a swirl of basil oil.

There’s nothing like good noshes to extend bar time—we swirled and sipped through several flights and blew off cocktails in favor of wine for the evening.

Eat your carrots—it’ll make your hair curly.

Eat your carrots—it’ll make you see better.

How about: Eat your carrots—they’re delicious?

Ryker Brown, chef at Powder at the Waldorf Astoria Park City, is a farm-to-table devotee. I’ve already mentioned he keeps bees on the hotel property and uses their honey in his cooking. But that’s not all.

“Look in the walk-in,” he says. “Most of the stuff in there I buy locally.”

Which makes you see clearly why these carrots are so good. Locally grown, grilled, served with Thai curry-flavored yogurt, crunchy cauliflower crumbles and basil. 

One of the cool things about making the rounds, sipping the entries at this year’s Farm to Glass Cocktail Contest is the collateral advantages: We stopped in at Pallet to try the “Street Corn named Desire”, since bar manager Bijan Ghiai’s creations are alway stellar. Sure enough, we loved the cocktail—a highly original concoction made of blended sweet corn, ancho liqueur, dry curacao, lemon and honey. The blended corn is strained out, leaving the drink with a light and foamy consistency, reminiscent of the texture eggwhite gives a gin fizz. It’s served in a martini glass washed with mezcal with one outer side dipped in powdered ancho chile and garnished with a toothpick skewer of ancho-dusted corn kernels. 

The inspiration for the cocktail can be ordered from the appetizer menu: Sous Chef Jerry Pacheco makes Elotes (translates to fresh corn) from Utah sweet corn kernels mixed with creme fraiche, cotija cheese and truffle aioli and tops it with ancho chili powder and red vein sorel from Frog Bench Farms.

 But then we saw another cocktail going out and immediately ordered one of those: For the “Life of Poblano,” Bijan scrapes the seeds and stems from a fresh poblano pepper and balances it in a glass of ice water. Then he mixes Wahaka Espadin Joven Mezcal with lime, orgeat, Ancho Reyes (a liqueur flavored with ancho chile) and some other things and fills the pepper with it. You drink directly from the pepper, getting a green, vegetal aroma with every sip that offsets the smoky liquor. 

Once again, Salt Lake’s top mixologists (aka: bartenders) will compete to make the best original cocktail based on seasonal ingredients.

You be the judge.

Stop by each bar, order the cocktail, drink and vote. (Click that and vote on your phone, on your computer, laptop, or any linking device.)

Then, on Sunday Oct. 9 come to our classy award party to toast the winner!

Sip, eat and dance the night away.

(For those who attended last year, we have addressed the food shortage and you will leave sated, we promise.)
6:30-9 p.m. Pierpont Place, 163 Pierpont Ave., SLC.

Get tickets at saltlakemagazine.com

$25 in advance

$35 at the door

$15 for designated drivers or non-drinkers

PARTICIPATING MIXOLOGISTS (a record-breaking number!):
Alamexo, Avenues Bistro, Avenues Proper Bodega & The Rest,
Finca, Grand America, Harbor,
Kimis Chop & Oyster House, Trio, Manoli’s, Martine Cafe, Pallet, Pierpont Place, Provisions, Red Rock Brewing, Ruin, Solitude, Spencers, Squatters, Stoneground, Takashi, Tin Angel Café, Under Current and Zest.

IJS: Crunchy green beans, roasted corn, brown rice, chicken chunks, shredded carrots, chopped peanuts, super sauce (a combination of green curry sauce and chile lemongrass sauce) topped with sprig of fresh cilantro: three out of four food groups, including a green and yellow vegetable, for under $8.00: Zao Asian Cafe, Salt lake City, Lehi, Murray, Sandy, Ft. Union.