Matteo (the restaurateur) made waves when he opened up Matteo (the restaurant) in late 2023. We were impressed from the word go with the level of service, care, and the quality of the food. It felt like the perfect blend of an old-school, family-run Italian restaurant, complete with signature red sauce, mixed with a sophisticated fine-dining atmosphere and a wine list to match. Which makes perfect sense. Matteo’s mom popped in and out of the kitchen the first night we visited, clearly supervising in true mom fashion. Matteo (the consummate wine aficionado) hand-selected the bottle of wine based on our menu and proceeded to educate us on all the nuances. He even showed us the variation in taste based on the size and type of wine glass. We’ve been similarly delighted every time we’ve been back.
Matteo’s is now serving brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. And again, they are serving up a delightful Italian-centric menu with a blend of breakfast and lunch-y dishes, epitomizing the word brunch. We visited on one of the last nice fall days and could take advantage of the patio, but the main dining room is cozy now that the weather has turned.
The shared plates at brunch take a page from the dinner menu. They are universally savory and universally sharable. We started with the Caesar Salad (romaine, focaccia croutons, anchovies, Caesar dressing GF, V), because I can’t resist a good breakfast salad. I wanted a little something to make it more breakfast-like, perhaps a soft poached egg on top. But the house-made focaccia croutons were buttery and crisp, and the dressing was salty without tasting fishy from the anchovies. The anchovy filets on top were the highest quality, oceanic, and salt-cured. It is one of the top authentic Caesar salads in Salt Lake City and worth the visit alone.
Our other shared plate selection was the Tartare di tonno (tuna tartare, lime, pear, olive oil, Calabrian chili crisp GF). The tuna was grapefruit pink and incredibly fresh and fatty for the perfect mouthfeel. It was chopped into a medium-small dice, ideal for the tuna. Truth be told, I’m not wild about minced tartare for textural reasons. Lime juice was used as a bright accent. Still, it was so delicately tossed in that the fish avoided ceviche territory, another crime in tartare land. Besides the thin slice of pear garnish in the middle, the finely chopped pear mixed with the tuna was almost undetectable texturally and flavorwise. But I didn’t really miss it. Speaking of thin slices, the crisp house-made crostini from house-made stirato bread was the perfect delivery method. It was paper-thin and crisp enough to hold the tartare, but not so thick or crunchy so as to break teeth when biting down. This attention to detail makes Matteo such a lovely dining experience. The crostini was delivered on a separate platter with an Italian chili crisp. Oily and spicy, diners can apply as much (or as little) as they want. Of course, I went with a very liberal application.
Brunch is not brunch without a good Bloody Mary in my book. And the Bloody Mary at Matteo is awash in olive brine, garnished with a ‘sweety drop’ pepper and a basil salt rim. I found it delightfully tart and spicy. My dining companion found it a little too sour. To each their own. But I was thrilled.
Speaking of happy, savory rules the day regarding my brunch choices. Sausage, eggs, and bread make me happy. So I went right for the Colazione, meaning literally ‘breakfast’ (two fried eggs, Italian sausage, potatoes, toasted focaccia GF). The fried eggs were runny and topped with a drizzle of a ‘green’ tasting olive oil. It was almost grassy in how it hit the tongue. The focaccia is made in-house and was airy with lots of crevices (the better to sop up aforementioned yolks). The sausage was an entire Italian sausage, split down the middle and griddled for maximum crispness. It is studded with fennel seeds for a pleasant hit of peppery licorice/anise that balances out the rich sausage. The breakfast potatoes were almost unnecessary. They were excellent and crispy, but I was entirely content with sausage, eggs, and bread.
We also got the Uova in Purgatorio aka Eggs in Purgatory (spicy pomodoro, three eggs, toasted focaccia, crispy pancetta GF, V). Food historians might battle it out over the origins of the dish, but suffice it to say, eggs poached in a tomato sauce are classically a Mediterranean-Arabic dish that elevates eggs closer to heaven than the named purgatory. At Matteo, the sauce is almost a summery-sweet pomodoro sauce with a mild spice. And the generous triangles of focaccia were mandatory for delivering sauce, yolks, and the compulsory drizzle of olive oil to mouth.\
If you have more of a sweet tooth for brunch, the Italian French Toast (mama’s bread, macerated berries, berry syrup, glazed walnuts V) looked terrific as we spied on other tables. And suppose you are in the solidly lunch for brunch camp? In that case, I highly recommend the Lasagna al Ragu (nonna’s bolognese, bechamel, parmigiano reggiano). I’ve had it for dinner. Any recipe from Nonna is guaranteed to comfort.
If you go:
Matteo
439 E 900 S
matteoslc.com
Reservations recommended
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