But every restaurant’s peaks come and go—rare is the establishment that can sustain excellence over years. So Franck’s slipped, and Franck himself left.

Now he’s back in his own kitchen again at Franck’s Angel. The place, a plain cafe in Cottonwood Heights, is humble, with little charm and none of the cheeky style of Franck’s former place. But our lunch there today was good, and in some ways, excellent. The menu is tiny—breakfast all day, a couple of specials and brief lists of salads and sandwiches. Plus a pastry case packed with tarts, croissants and other treats. I can’t wait to go back for breakfast, but today we wanted lunch, so I ordered a special—the pot roast French dip—and he ordered a meatloaf sandwich. First, though, we had to try the peculiar sounding parmesan crème brulee salad. I was assuming this was going to be one of those finger-quotation-mark dishes—in other wordds, not crème, not brule, probably not really a salad. But I was wrong. Three rectangles of yellow custard with glazed crusts rested on a pool of basil crème next to a tangled pile of mixed greens garnished with sliced strawberries.

Ah yes, that’s Franck all right. Odd, but delectable.

The quivering custard had a touch of sweet and not only from the hard sugar top but it elided with the naturally nutty taste of the cheese and with the crisp green salad made a perfect bite. The effect was a big like a solid soup and salad. We remembered Franck’s meat loaf from the old days—the recipe was more like a crab cake made with shredded beef than anything mom made. The version between the bread today had too much filler, bread crumbs, to contrast with the bread properly, and the flavor was a bit bland, even with the red cabbage topping. But the pot roast sandwich was delicious—a thick layer of tender braised beef shreds sandwiched in a crisp roll topped with skinny fried onion strings. And the fries that came with the sandwich were possibly the best I’ve ever had.

Well, in recent memory.

We took home treats from the pastry case for dessert, then Franck offered us some of his famous chocolates, available by order. Exquisite shapes and colors, filled with green tea, coconut, caramel pecan, lemon-lime and other exotica, these are made in Franck’s fun time, after the cafe is closed.

From downtown, lunch at Franck’s was an excursion, but on weekends, the line is out the door and when ski season really hits, the cafe’s proximity to the powder will make it a hot ticket. Welcome back, M. Peissel.  Can’t wait until you open for dinner.

Franck’s Angel, 2577 E. Bengal Boulevard, Cottonwood Heights, Utah. (801) 542-0797

Coinciding (coincidentally, I’m sure)  with the Governor’s Office’s report on DABC, the Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association alerted its members to lobby for liquor law changes in upcoming legislative session coming at the end of January.

SLARA President and restarateur Joel LaSalle, above, has been meeting with legislators preparing the ground for a major push for liberalizing Utah’s liquor laws. “It seems that most everyone’s common priority is addressing the Zion Curtain, and we are told that the church representatives are open to discussions on that subject,” LaSalle wrote.

In an interview with Salt Lake magazine, LaSalle stressed that the Zion Curtain, far and away, is the issue uniting restaurateurs. The so-called Curtain is a seven-foot barrier that blocks customers’ view of bartenders mixing or pouring drinks. The Legislature feared seeing cocktails being concocted could lead to alcohol abuse.

LaSalle believes that, more than making the state look ridiculous to visitors, the Zion Curtain re-confirms the false impression “that you can’t get a drink in Utah” and is undercutting the state’s efforts to draw conventions and tourists.

Here’s the newsletter in its entirety:

Dear SLARA Members:

The board has been active in meeting with several interest groups and legislators from both the House and the Senate on the upcoming legislative session for movement on the current liquor laws. It seems that most everyone’s common priority is addressing the Zion Curtain, and we are told that the church representatives are open to discussions on that subject. Church priorities are underage drinking, alcoholism and drunk driving, and they are welcoming ideas from our industry that could help in any way on those issues.

Both the legislature and the church seem to feel an urgency in addressing our major issues, but I also know that any concessions they make will require concessions from our industry as well. For example, the grand fathering laws on liquor that go far beyond the Zion Curtain will probably go away- we’ll keep you posted on exactly what that means and how it impacts your businesses. In the meantime, we are hosting the lead Senate and House representatives for a lunch at Current Fish & Oyster to review the curtain issues, as well as storage (public view) that makes little sense to most of us.

Again, we will keep you posted as to our progress and whether we need SLARA members up on the hill to speak as independent owners to the legislature in support of our cause. We will also let you know if we decide to hire our own lobbyist for the upcoming session and how you can help us to support him/her in making as big an impact as possible for this session. Please respond to the SLARA email or Chantelle directly if any of you have any thoughts on how our industry could help the church in further supporting their goals in reducing underage drinking, alcoholism and drunk driving.

Happy Holidays,

Joel LaSalle

President

Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association

Basically, we are asking you too rife on Mary Brown Malouf recipes we have posted on our interactive dining website On The Table.

If your recipe for the scarlet gel is superior, you’ll win a $50 gift certificate at Texas de Brazil.

Here’s how it works.

1. Read the recipes in our On the Table interactive magazine.

2. Digest the food sagacity there.

3. Crank out your world-beating recipe for bog berries.

4. Instagram it with the hashtap #OTTTWIST

5. Ta Da! You could be dining on something other than turkey at Texas de Brazil

Don’t be intimidated by Dining Editor Mary Brown Malouf’s concoctions. No all-American fowl feast is complete without cranberry sauce extruded straight from the can in it’s most-basic tubular and corrugated beauty!

So bring on the tiny marshmallows and get your recipe Instagramed by Thanksgiving eve.

A private party last Sunday marked a big change for Salt Lake food lovers: SuAn Chow, owner of Chow Food Truck, celebrated the sale of her business to J.Looney with champagne and hors d’oeuvres.

Chow, of course, was the first food truck in Salt Lake City—SuAn was the pioneer who blazed the trail and ran the red tape for all the trucks that have followed. “When I started,” she said to her friends and co-workers sipping wine with her on Sunday, “City Hall did not know what to do with me.” In 2013, she won the Golden Spoon award for hospitality from this magazine for her perseverance and excellence.

Looney, a private chef and caterer, has worked on the Chow Truck so he understands exactly how to maintain the standards of food and service set by SuAn, “the boss lady,” and he says, “We have no plans to change anything.” So you can still count on your elk slider, calamari and spiced root chips—find out where the truck is by going to chowtruck.com and friend Soho Food Park on Facebook to find a bunch of trucks together.

And David Harries let us know that one of our standbys will soon be gone: He has sold Vinto to his partners in the Park City location and will close the Vinto here, planning to reopen as “something else sometime soon,” according to our favorite server. We’ll miss it. Even after pastry chef Amber Angellili left, her butterscotch budini and gelatos remained some of the best desserts in town. And Vinto’s pizzas and pasta along with the wine specials provided us with much midweek sustenance.

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

Foco is owned by Sam Oteo, of Orem’s Tortilla Bar, and is run by Oteo and co-chef, Mia Kodama. When asked about the truck’s inspiration, Oteo notes that foco means “light bulb” in Spanish.

“I just had an idea to do tacos from a food truck.” Oteo spent much of his career in LA fine dining with celebrity chefs, but he felt desperate to do something different. “Street food is important because it is about making something delicious and accessible,” he says. He notes that some vendors in Mexico will only make and sell one dish. “But their version of that dish will be the best that there is.”

Even as he talks about his light bulb moment, Oteo is quick to give credit to Kodama. “[Foco] is a collaboration of chefs,” he says. He and Kodama call each other “Chef” as they cook, and there is obvious, mutual respect and symbiosis in how they work together in the kitchen.

Kodama’s background is also in fine dining, including an internship at Communal in Provo. She met Oteo while working in Utah before starting a job in Austin, Texas. “When Sam told me he was opening a food truck, I quit my job and moved back here,” she says. “I just really like Sam’s food.”

Oteo’s food is distinctly Mexican, the techniques are French, and the organic ingredients are local whenever possible. Foco sources from producers including Clifford Family Farms, Creminelli Fine Meats, and a cow share in southern Utah. “The ingredients we get are so good,” says Oteo. “The least we can do [to them], the better.” The end result is precisely executed, flavorful food, with a menu that changes seasonally.

Staples, however, are the tortillas used to make tacos and tostadas. Oteo and Kodama not only make the masa for the tortillas from scratch using Anson Mills’ corn, but each tortilla is handmade to order. While it may seem unusual to put such effort into tortillas, it’s for good reason. “The nutritious value of the corn is enhanced by eating it in tortilla form, but that nutrition in a [cooked] tortilla only lasts about 14-15 minutes,” says Oteo.

Kodama drizzles a tortilla with a little olive oil, sprinkles it with flaky salt, and rolls it up before handing it to me. It is still hot from the griddle, and almost unbelievably pliable. I take a bite, and feel like I’m biting into a cloud, if clouds were made from masa. It is one of the most comforting things I have eaten in a long time. I finish it quickly and find myself desperately wishing that I had another.

That wish is forgotten as Oteo places a plate in my hands. On it are two piping hot churros, fresh from their coconut oil bath, dripping with local honey. The golden-brown exterior is light and crunchy, and the inside is meltingly creamy. An order of churros will get you an entire plate of honey-laden pastries, more than enough for sharing (but only with people you really, really like).

That interplay of crunchy and soft, rich and light, is a common theme throughout Foco’s menu. Two of my favorite items, the avocado tostada and the pear and Brie torta (served hot on a toasted roll), are perfect examples of this contrast. They also happen to be vegetarian. Kodama notes it’s an important goal to offer delicious vegetarian and vegan options in addition to their meat-focused dishes. “[Vegetarian] options can be an afterthought in restaurants, but there are so many amazing dishes centered around vegetables,” she says. “It’s not that hard to make great vegetarian food.”

Then again, Oteo and Kodama make making great food look exceptionally easy.

Foco is open from 11:00am until midnight Tuesday through Saturday, and plans to be open into the winter. Follow them on Instagram @dafocotruck for updates.

Rachel Sanders is a Utah transplant who has fallen hard for the local, sustainable food scene. She likes to talk about food, think about food, and make food, both for work and for fun. Find her writing, recipes, and photography at fieldandforestfood.com.