Eat Drink SLC is one of the most popular food festivals in the city, a two-day circus of yum that takes over Tracy Aviary in September. This year was another excellent event. Here are four things that stood out amongst the dozens of combustible choices.
The sibling bar and restaurant Copper Common and Copper Onion had two stand-out dishes: a duck prosciutto that came with a spicy pepper remoulade, and unctuous salmon mousse served in an endive leaf for a bit of bitter to the bite. Their Dew Drop cocktail featured local botanical gin, chartreuse, and a honeydew-cucumber-lime cordial. Redolent of melon, it cut through the ample fat of the food offerings without being too boozy.
Two South Valley standouts, Sandy’s Tiberon and the Midvale steakhouse Hoof and Vine, brought the meat to the event, with a seared elk loin and dry-aged beef tartare that paired very well with the Krasno red blend wine from the nearby tent of Klet Brda, the Slovenian wine cooperative and importer. Their orange wine was also a treat.
Nomad Eatery’s new outpost, Nomad East, brought a mini pizza oven to the aviary, and it paid off—their Children of the Corn pizza was hot and fresh. It’s weird to describe pizza as creamy, but with garlic cream sauce, mozzarella and cotija cheese, this is a dairy-forward slice set off with the spice of chorizo and serrano chile, green onion, and of course pops of sweet corn. The last time I ate corn on a pizza it was standing on a street corner in Marseille. Nomad’s pies break out of the stale rut of most American pizzerias.
Perhaps the best thing I ate wasn’t a dish at all, but a cup full of beautiful cherry tomatoes provided by the New Roots program of the International Rescue Committee. The program helps refugees, many of whom come from farming backgrounds, transition to life in the US by giving them the chance to grow their own local food and food-based businesses. With two farms in the Salt Lake valley, their clients produce fresh fruit and vegetables for sale at local farmer’s markets and through a CSA program. The tomatoes they brought to Eat Drink SLC were perfect pops of pleasure, and paired eloquently with a lentil and rice dish that they prepared with the help of Mazza cafe. Eating delicious food produced by the newest Americans was a pleasure for both the palate and the soul.
All told, Eat Drink SLC has become a must-do for Utah foodies, a delicious way to enjoy the last gasp of summer and kick off the harvest season. Don’t skip on it next year.
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