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Jun 27
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Utah County’s Food Truck Round-ups

By Eat & Drink
Food truck popularity has only gone up, and Utah County offers some of the best.

Jump on the food-truck wagon, and take your pick from over 30 food trucks from all over Utah County at a Food Truck Round-Up, held every Monday in Spanish Fork, Tuesday in Pleasant Grove, Wednesday and Friday in Orem and Thursday in Provo.

Imagine a truck-to-truck line-up weaving around crowds of people from all walks of life: young families gathered around circular wooden tables, a few members of the Sheriff’s Department taking a dinner break, college students, elderly couples, teenagers.

Probably the most well known truck, the Provo Round-Up started up last winter and boomed in popularity as the weather warmed and more people came out.

The number of trucks has grown, too. More well-known trucks, such as Sweet Burrito and Waffle Love, started the trend. Now you might find Mouse Trap Grill (artisan grilled cheese), Pound It Kebabs (European street food) or The Matterhorn (French toast).

What’s on the menu? Typically, pizza, BBQ and Mexican food.

Usually food trucks are a grab-and-go type of thing, but these round-ups allow diners to picnic against a building wall or at a nearby park. Since the round-ups are a gathering of sorts, start-up companies take advantage of the opportunity to give out candy and an ad or two. Street musicians play for money, balloon art might be seen and there is a logo competition being held on Provo Round-Up’s Facebook page.

When they’re not at the round-ups, you can find your favorite food trucks’ locations by following them on your choice of social media. Food trucks often park at special events, road races, carnivals or really just anywhere with lots of people and few dining options.

Round-Up dinners go from 5–9 p.m. in the following locations:

Monday: 616 Main Street, Spanish Fork

Tuesday: 330 S Main Street, Pleasant Grove

Wednesday: 125 W Center Street, Orem

Thursday: 560 S 100 W, Provo

Friday: 980 W 800 N, Orem

And a few lunch (11 a.m. – 2 p.m.) locations:

Tuesday: 292 Mt. Way Drive, Lehi

Wednesday: 384 S 400 W, Lindon

Jun 25
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Take a Hike: Farmington Creek Trail (Lagoon Section)

By Adventures, Outdoors
Distance: 2 to 6 miles (depending on who you’re with/where you start)

Elevation gain: 284 feet (below the base of the mountain)

Time: Three ways to do this hike or bike: Start near the mountains, start by Lagoon and make your way up to the base of the mountains (best if you’re with kids) or start by Lagoon and continue on into the mountains to see the slow transition to wilderness. We’re mainly writing about the option with the kids, which is two hours out and back with frequent stops for photos and enjoying Farmington Pond.

Notable: The Pond! Go fishing, have a blast.

Trail: If you’re a hardcore hiker or biker, the part we’re talking about is not for you. Scroll down to the second to last paragraph and skip the rest. This is the perfect trail to take the kids on foot or bike. It’s relatively flat and they’ll see things along the way that will keep them engaged like Lagoon’s animals, horses on private property and Farmington Pond, where you can stop and do some fishing. Go ahead and bring snacks as well. There are benches and trash bins along the way. Bridges and beautiful foliage are also on the route. If you see signs for “Lagoon Trail,” don’t get nervous. It’s the same exact trail with a different name along the park’s perimeter. The trail starts on a short pathway through some shrubbery and then across the street beside Lagoon’s campgrounds. Keep going and you’ll pass by Lagoon’s zoo. Once the “Lagoon Trail” ends, you’ll need to make a left down the street and go across to pick up the trail again, which will take you to Farmington Pond. Keep going and you’ll be at the base of the mountain, away from all the screams of people on Colossus you were hearing about an hour ago. Now, you’ll actually be able to hear the creek! At that point, you can continue into the mountains or head back down to the car.

Who you’ll see: You’ll see a lot of joggers, older couples and big families on bike rides. If it’s summer, you’ll also see people camping out and getting on and off Rattlesnake Rapids at Lagoon. Once you get to the pond, you’ll see families enjoying the water.

How to get there: Take the Farmington exit off I-15 North and pass by Farmington Jr. High. Drive on 200 West until you hit State Street. Make a left and then a right on 400 West (right before the overpass that goes over the freeway). Parking is on your left. A gazebo to have lunch in is on the north end of the parking lot.

To get to the Canyon section: Drive up Farmington Canyon (reached from 400 N. 100 East) until you reach the Sunset Campground, which is half way up.

Jun 20
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Your Guide to Utah Pizza

By Eat & Drink

Photo by Adam Finkle

Confession: Back in 1993, Salt Lake magazine ran an article about pizza.

Editors ordered pizza delivered from five places, including—hard to admit it—Pizza Hut. We counted the minutes between order and delivery. Then we counted the number of pepperoni slices on our pizza.

That’s how we judged pizza then. Domino’s won.

No more.

Now, ads and windshield flyers should tell you all you need to know about pizza chains. So we’re not even going there. This article rates pizza as it is now. We are dividing the pizzas by style—lifestyle and cooking style. (Sometimes when you want pizza is as relevant as what pizza you want.)

Basically, there was, is, now and ever shall be only three parts to a pizza: The toppings. The crust. And the fire. And all three have improved drastically sinceSalt Lake magazine rated pizza for that issue 21 years ago. You wouldn’t even know this is the same pizzaville.

Here’s a list of the best pies on the Wasatch Front.

And before you start the email onslaught: This is not an inclusive list of pizza. It’s my list. But of course, we want to know what you think. Go to saltlakemagazine.com and flame away.

Toppings 

Quality and variety of toppings are what most people notice about a pizza (unless it’s a college style pie, then quantity is what counts.) Hand-pulled mozzarella, house made ricotta, artisanal meats, including pepperoni and other cured meats from Creminelli or another artisanal salumi maker, and true San Marzano tomatoes set the standards for the new pizza.

The Dough 

No one argues that to make good pizza dough, you have to start with high-gluten flour (12 percent is supposed to be ideal.) But after that, it’s a free for all. Pizza Napoletana is made with a soft dough and takes about one minute to cook in a wood-burning oven. New Yorkers claim that the city’s water is why their pizza is inimitable. Baker Ryan Patrick Moore from at From Scratch says that the dough needs to be extensible, not elastic, and that means a long fermentation–or rising–time.

The Fiery Inferno

A gas oven and some slate can only go so far—it’s a fact that the best pizza is made in a brick oven burning fruitwood at temperatures unachievable in a home oven. The increased use of wood ovens is one of the factors that has made Utah pizza so much better in the last few years. One sign of a proper woodfired pizza: big, charred bubbles.

So, without further ado, here are the pizzas:

Strict Neapolitan Style

The rules for true Pizza Napoletana are set down, virtually in stone, by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana. Google it. Basically, this style is foldable–soft by American standards, so it’s usually eaten with knife and fork. It must be cooked in an incredibly hot wood-burning oven.

In Salt Lake, only Settebello adheres to these rules, cooking their pies made with imported 00 flour at 900 to 1,000 degrees in an imported Italian oven. 260 S. 200 West, SLC, 801-322-3556

Artisanal

We can credit–‑of course–‑Californians with breaking all known pizza conventions. Ed LaDou started serving pizzas topped with goat cheese and truffles at Prego. Wolfgang Puck put smoked salmon and caviar on pizza at Spago in the ‘80s era of conspicuous consumption. Alice Waters opened a pizza place next to Chez Panisse; soon, every city had a joint specializing in upscale pizza topped with spinach and duck sausage. (Ladou went on to help open CPK, whence came BBQ chicken pizza. Never a good idea, even in California.)

Pizzeria Limone, a local mini-chain, bases everything on its secret crust recipe, baked in a gas-fired brick oven and finished with some tricky toppings involving lemons and blackberries. But mozzarella is aged, not fresh. Besides the original Cottonwood location, Pizzeria Limone has successfully replicated in Salt Lake City, Sandy and, soon, South Jordan. 1380 Fort Union Blvd., Cottonwood Heights.

From Scratch takes artisanal a step further by milling its own flour onsite. Because of their buy-local philosophy, the wheat from Central Milling is a mix, not 100 percent, so the pizza is baked at a lower temperature–450 to 500 degrees–in their wood oven. 62 E. Gallivan Ave., SLC, 801-538-5090

Vinto’s two locations also serve an American artisanal pie baked in a wood burning oven. Like 712, the dough is bit sturdier than Neapolitan pizza and baked at a slightly lower temperature, around 600 degrees. 418 E. 200 South, SLC, 801-539-9999; 900 Main St., Park City, 435-615-9990  

Pizzeria 712, the first restaurant in the Heirloom Restaurant Group, still serves the best pizza in Utah, because of the true chef’s attention brought to bear on the humble pie: locally-grown and made ingredients baked in an Italian-made wood burning oven at 712 degrees. Get it? The simple margherita is the apex of Utah pizza. 320 S. State St. #185, Orem, 801-623-6712

Restaurant Style 

Lots of restaurants serve pizza; here, I’m only talking about places where the pizza is a definitive part of the menu. Best by a long shot is Sea Salt.


Slackwater Pizza & Pub is more pub than a pizzeria, but the pizza is extraordinarily wild for a pub. Try the California Sunrise—it actually involves Green Goddess dressing. 1895 Washington Blvd, Ogden, 801-399-0637

Lugano has a limited pizza menu, but deserves inclusion here because of its version of pizza bianca, with roasted cauliflower and shiitake mushrooms.3364 S. 2300 East, SLC, 801-412-9994

Sea Salt’s pizza are full-on Neapolitan style in spirit–made in a wood burning oven, using San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella (including di bufala), grana padano…meticulously made and topped judiciously with local produce.1709 E. 1300 South, SLC, 801-349-1480

East Coast Style

They say the first pizza establishment in the United States was opened in 1905 in New York’s Little Italy. It was cooked in coal-burning brick ovens, and the cheese was put on the dough before the sauce.

Several places in Utah claim to sell New York-style pizza, but Maxwell’s comes the closest with their 20-inch, thin pies. 357 S. Main St., SLC, 801-328-0304; 1456 Newpark Blvd., Park City, 435-647-0304

Este is a New York hipster pizza; you can tell because their best-selling pie is a veggie with spinach and they also make some pies with vegan cheese. 156 E. 200 South, SLC, 801-363-2366; 2148 S. 900 East, SLC, 801-485-3699

College Style 

In one study, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 13 percent of the U.S. population consumes pizza on any given day–with young people representing biggest piece of the pie. Don’t even think about wood, or fresh mozzarella or local ingredients: The key to college-style pizza is sheer bulk—mountains of toppings, including lots of meat and cheese—we presume to counteract the beer.

The Pie is Utah’s quintessential college pizza joint. Obviously. And the Pie’s Combo, topped with ham, pepperoni, salami, ground beef and two kinds of sausage, is a best-seller. The original location is a U of U institution, but now there are locations all around Northern Utah. 1320 E. 200 South, SLC, 801-582-0195 

Roasted Sun, a perennial favorite located conveniently not far from the club strip on State, uses an old-school gas deck oven with big pieces of slate. 2010 S. State St., SLC, 801-483-2120

SLABpizza in Provo–BYU’s college pizza of choice–offers the required collegiate mass in a new way. A slab is one quarter of a 20-inch pizza–you order toppings for each slab. 671 E. 800 North, Provo, 801-377-3883

Midnight Pizza

Sometimes you don’t just want pizza, you have to have pizza. Elsewhere, late-night pizza is a whole genre. The pickings are slimmer in Utah, but there is the Pie Hole, where you can get a midnight slice, and when all else fails, Big Daddy’s even has an ordering app for your smartphone. You don’t even have to think to order this pizza.

Pie Hole

344 S. State St, SLC, 801-359-4653

Big Daddy’s

470 S. 700 East, SLC, 801-746-7499

Back>>>Read other stories in our July/August 2014 issue.

May 12
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Mary’s Recipe: Puerto Rican Pork

By Eat & Drink
Sep 24th 2014

I tend to think of pork as an autumnal animal, especially if it’s roasted. I think of pork and apples and fall pig killings, although my main source for these impressions is a close reading of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books as a child.

Remember how Laura and Mary tossed around the old pig bladder?

littlehouseint1

Basically, my favorite children’s books focused on food. Or at least that’s the part I remember. After I read The Secret Garden, I couldn’t wait for my first taste of clotted Devon cream.

But forget roast pork and cabbage or roast pork and applesauce and consider island pork—not just Hawaiian, but Cuban and Puerto Rican, like,  for example, the Cubanesque sandwich I had for lunch a while back at Caffe Niche. Roast pork, sliced thin and piled on a bun with caramelized onions and cole slaw made a great warm-weather meal.

cubanesque

And my sister-the-chef sent me this recipe today, for a pork roast that will be as good cold as when it’s fresh out of the oven.

Puerto Rican Roast Pork
Serves 10-12

Marinade:

12 cloves garlic, peeled
¼ cup fresh thyme
½ cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
2 cups sour orange juice OR 1 ⅓ cups orange juice and ⅔ cup lime juice
4-5 lbs. pork sirloin tip or boneless pork shoulder

Mix all ingredients except the meat in a food processor. Mix until almost smooth.

Put the marinade and meat into a large Zip Lock bag and marinate for 6-10 hours in the refrigerator.

One hour before cooking, remove the meat from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature. Pre-heat the oven to 450⁰.

Wipe most of the marinade off the pork (leaving some of the puree on is OK) and place in a heavy roasting pan. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes until lightly brown.

Lower the heat to 250⁰, add a little water to the pan and cover with aluminum foil. Cook for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender throughout.

Remove the meat from the pan, keep it warm on the side and reduce the pan juices slightly. Strain and taste. If the sauce is not too salty, serve with the meat. If it is a little too salty, wash and slice a potato. Add a few slices of the raw potato to the pan and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Discard the potato slices. They should have absorbed quite a bit of the salt, so taste the sauce again before serving and adjust the seasoning.

Slice the meat across the grain and serve with black beans and rice.

And serve it the next day as a sandwich. My current fave sandwich bread is the ciabbata rolls from Harmons–crusty enough to be flavorful, soft enough to bite through.

-Mary Brown Malouf

May 06
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StyleByte: It’s Wedding Season, What Do I Wear?

By Lifestyle

It’s Wedding Season, What Do I Wear?

The sun is shining, the flowers are in full bloom and wedding season has officially begun. Since the rules of fashion bend daily, it is no wonder that figuring out what is appropriate to wear to a wedding can be challenging. So in an effort to simplify, I have broken it down by the 3 W’s (where, what, who).

Where is the venue: It is crucial to first understand the location of the event, as that will be your first indication of how to dress.
Mountain: Mountain wedding are usually a bit more casual and perfect for a brightly colored sundress or a fun patterned maxi. I would recommend wearing a wedge so that you don’t posthole all night: both for your safety and the longevity of your pretty shoes.

Church: If your friend is getting married in a church, it is important that you follow some dress-code rules. The first one being, be appropriate; nothing too short or revealing. Second, cover your shoulders at least while inside. Third, be respectful of the faith even if it isn’t your own.

Beach: Ditch the shoes and opt for a beautiful flowy gown. A great chiffon maxi or a brilliant sundress will do. Beach weddings are all about the adventure so have fun with your outfit.

Black tie: If your friend is throwing a black-tie wedding, then it’s important to put your best food forward. Black-tie traditionally means floor length gowns or a very fancy cocktail dress. Some say it should be black, but I think a stunning jewel-toned dress would be fine.

What colors are appropriate? It’s never as easy as black or white; however, at weddings I am strongly against wearing either. There are plenty of people (and many with clout) that would tell you that wearing black to a wedding is completely appropriate, I am just not one of them.  I like tradition. I like being old school; and old school says no black. Other than no black or white, I would opt for a pastel or bright shade if the wedding is during the day and/or in the summer and a darker hue (green, purple, navy etc.) if the wedding is in the Fall or at night.

Who is going to be attending? Regardless if your x-boyfriend is going to be in attendance and you want to look ravishing; always make sure that the hem and neck lines are appropriate. A wedding is not the time to show the goods. If you are the mother or mother-in-law, or a sibling, I would make sure to dress within the color scheme that the bride has chosen and find a dress that is truly exceptional. You’re an important part of the day; dress like it.

Weddings are a wonderful celebration, so make sure that you are adding to the event and dressing well. Hopefully, my tips will help make your selection a bit easier. As always, if you have questions or need advice, come into the shop; we are always here to help.

May 01
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Viva Mestizo

By Arts & Culture
viva-mestizo

Renato Olmedo-González with Nadia Rea Morale’s Zacuanpapalotls

Renato Olmedo-González, the new director and curator at Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts, remembers life in Jalisco growing up with centuries of culture and public art. “I grew up with Mexican culture everywhere around me. It shaped me as a child,” says the lanky and serious University of Utah graduate.

“I’ve always loved and appreciated artists—but I’m not an artist. I really don’t like to do things with my hands,” Olmedo-González says seriously.

Still, Mexico’s tremendous cultural heritage, nor even art in general, ever made much of an impression on him until he immigrated to Utah with his mother. As a student at Taylorsville High School—not exactly a center for Latino cultural scholarship—Olmedo-González needed to fill his class schedule and reluctantly took an elective in art history.

“I fell in love with art,” Olmedo-González recalls. “And I immediately found myself attracted to Mexican art. You learn about yourself through art. I learned my history.”

The high school’s superficial art-history course, which spent a day on muralists (Diego Rivera!) and a only few minutes on surrealist Frida Kahlo, spun Olmedo-González’s head around and left him hungry. He graduated from the U of U in spring 2014 with degrees in Latin American Studies and Art History.

As a university student, Olmedo-González connected with the city’s vibrant Latino art community through helping on the Artes de Mexico en Utah’s ¡Viva Frida! exhibit. Some of Utah’s leading Latino artists, including curator, contemporary artist and DJ Jorge Rojas, mentored him. “I’ve learned so much from Jorge; fortunately, he’ll be continuing to mentor me at Mestizo,” Olmedo-González says. “I plan on growing with this opportunity.”

Olmedo-González, aware of his inexperience, is throwing energy into leading the Institute’s gallery. “Mestizo is very important to this community. My goal is to make Mestizo even more respected.”

Many of Utah’s immigrants were forced here by economic necessity, he explains. As the parents work long hours and the children enter American schools, they lose touch with their culture. “Soon the kids have no clue who they are. Pancho Villa, Zapata? They have no idea. But they yearn for Mexico,” he says. “They aren’t accepted here, yet they don’t know anything about where they’ve come from.”

Olmedo-González’s first curation project opened earlier this spring with two mixed media installations, Pentz’s Ithaka 12 and Rea Morales’ Zacuanpapalotls. Both installations explore cultural migration, memory and transformation—through the Monarch butterfly that migrates between United States and Mexico, a trip that takes place over three to four generations.

“Mestizo’s a space not just for art but for discussion of social justice and inclusion,” Olmedo-González says. “It represents a community that is under-represented.” And by that, he doesn’t just mean the Latino community. Mestizo explores through art the beauty and challenges of all marginalized cultures, including gay.

“Art makes you want to get up and change things,” Olmedo-González says. “It can start a conversation that people don’t want to have, but when they are forced to have it—it’s good.”

Coffee, Tea or Culture

Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts began in 2003 to enrich and celebrate Utah’s many cultures. Since then it has injected vibrancy into Salt Lake’s art scene. Despite its awe-inspiring name, MICA is one of the state’s least-intimidating art galleries; its space on 631 West North Temple is shared with its namesake coffeehouse. Yet, the institute has set a Quixotic goal to connect Salt Lake’s dominant culture and its emerging immigrant communities. Its related programs include Mestizo Arts & Activism Collective, a leadership program for Westside youth in collaboration with University Neighborhood Partners and NeighborWorks Salt Lake. 631 W. North Temple, 801-596-0500, mestizoarts.org

May 01
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Getaway: Island In the Sky

By Adventures, Travel
whalerock

Whale Rock at Island in the Sky in Canyonlands

The largest of the Mighty 5 National Parks in Utah, Canyonlands covers 337,598 acres with a hit parade of features that make Southern Utah distinct. The park is divided by the Colorado and Green Rivers into three distinct districts: Island in the Sky, Needles and the Maze. Author Edward Abbey, a park ranger in Arches National Monument and a frequent visitor to Canyonlands described the park as “the most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth—there is nothing else like it anywhere.” It definitely lives up to his description.

Rising into the sky then falling dramatically 2,000 feet to the confluence of the rivers below, you do indeed look down upon birds on the wing.

shafertrailswitchbacks
Shafer Trail switchbacks

The Island district is the most accessible with multiple short hikes, myriad dramatic vistas, many turnouts and miles of paved road. There are few visitor facilities but many opportunities for solitude as only 500,000 people visit this park each year. With 1/5 the visitors of Zion National Park, you can be sure of some space and peace. Willow Flat is the lone campground here, with a mere 12 spaces.

Many short hikes get you out of the car, into the elements and lead to views of untamed land disappearing on the horizon. Mesa Arch, a portal clinging to the cliff edge and framing the La Sal Mountains, is a favorite spot for sunrise photos, a half-mile hike with huge pay off. Whale Rock is fun to climb, your sneakers clinging to the steep sides of the sandstone monolith. Grand View Point Trail leads to the very tip of the Island, an easy walk to the edge of the mesa.

mesaarch
Mesa Arch 

The Green River overlook allows glimpses of eons old goosenecks, giant bends in the river exposing rock bands resembling layer cakes. Look carefully and you can spy the White Rim Trail as it hugs the mesa edge. This winding 100-mile track made by Uranium miners in the 1950s is accessed by the Shafer or Mineral Bottom switchbacks, requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle and a backcountry permit for camping. An unforgettable Jeep drive or supported bike ride, the White Rim Trail brings you into the heart of nowhere, unfolding the hidden, secret heart of wilderness.

greenriveroverlook
Green River Overlook

Island In the Sky Visitor Center is four hours from Salt Lake and 40 minutes from Moab, a small town that makes a great base for exploring Canyonlands.
visitorcenter1

Island in the Sky Visitor Center

Photos in this post by Pippa Keene

Apr 16
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Weekend Getaway: Dead Horse Point State Park

By Adventures, Travel

Clinging to a cliff edge, 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, Dead Horse Point is certainly one of the most scenic spots for a state park and for a weekend away.

Though the name may suggest otherwise, you won’t see horses dead or alive here. Big black bovines graze just outside the park, but the wild ponies are long gone. The gruesome legend behind the name holds that cowboys chased wild mustangs out to a point, across a narrow neck, corralling them on a spit of land high in the sky. Culling those they wanted, the rest were set free. One year the horses were left trapped and with no water the desert quickly claimed them. Remnants of a fence, perhaps the fence, still guard the neck of land that separates the point from the plateau.

Hiking, camping, biking, photography and stargazing are all pastimes pursued in this corner of Grand County. Six thousand feet above sea level, it is 10 degrees cooler here than the desert valley below at 4,000 feet. The lack of light pollution and the elevated nature of the park make night skies sparkle with pricks of starlight. A full moon will leave you moonstruck and a meteor shower will look like fireworks.

deadhorsepoint4

The East and West Rim trails connect to make a four-mile loop with half a dozen side viewpoints clearly marked. On the East side, stunning views of the La Sal’s appear, playing peek-a-boo behind red rock outcrops. Cairns, flat rocks stacked precariously to mark the trail, stop you from wandering off track and taking the wrong turn at a juniper bush. As you wander, a glimmer of blue catches the eye. Too geometric to be natural, potash evaporation ponds gleam in a desert of sage and dun, stone and dirt. With nearby Arches and Canyonlands National Parks having strict no-dog rules, the canine lover can rejoice in miles of pet-friendly hiking trails. Just keep your pooch leashed less this become dead dog point!

The Intrepid Bike Trail, suitable for the whole family, begins at the visitor center parking lot. Created through a public/private partnership between the park and Intrepid Potash Inc., various combinations of three loops will keep all members of the family happy for hours. Slickrock, sand and sage greet you at every turn. The views are stunning, the single track stimulating and the sensation of riding where wild horse once thundered is spectacular.

The small campsite has 18 sites that can be reserved online, all partial hookup with electricity but no water. On the weekends, join a ranger for an informative walk or attend a talk in the amphitheater. The visitor center has exhibits that explain the park’s flora and fauna, the usual kitschy souvenirs and an art gallery stocked with local photography. There is even a coffee hut to provide you with caffeine stimulation if the views don’t do the trick!

Dead Horse Point State Park is 32 miles from full service Moab, and 250 miles from Salt Lake City, off Highway 313.

Photos by Pippa Keene

Mar 01
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Utah: Land of Secrets

By City Watch

As revelation after revelation spills into the news media about the National Security Agency’s digital spying, the world’s attention can’t help but shift to Utah, home of NSA’s colossal Data Storage Center, a global vortex of phone-tapping, email eavesdropping and all manner of digital snooping.

Everyone from Germany’s Angela Merkel to Utah’s Tea Party wants to know what is going on in the 200,000-square-foot complex of Walmart-esque boxes squatting on the hillside due west of Point of the Mountain. Of course, this being the $1.5 million beating heart of a spy agency, we aren’t meant to know what’s out there—to paraphrase the Roach Motel slogan: Vast amounts of information go in, but none comes out. If it weren’t for Edward Snowden, we wouldn’t know much at all. But the tantalizing bits—including that NSA monitors terrorists’ porn browsing, Internet gamers, and a few employees’ ex-lovers—boggles the imagination.

We know this about the Utah Data Center: It’s architecturally a blot upon the landscape, uses mammoth amounts of electrical power (60 backup diesel generators just in case) and gulps water at a rate of 1.7 million gallons per day to cool the fevered brows of its computers as they snoop on 5 billion phone calls daily. It has a canine corps. (NSA won’t reveal how many dogs, but we can guess their purpose.) The Data Center’s start up last fall was plagued with electrical problems that turned sections into deadly “kill zones.” (Add that to the genetically engineered dogs and you’ve got a climactic Austin Powers scene.)

And we must admit, Utah is the perfect home for NSA’s covert operations. We have a long and celebrated history of keeping all sorts of secrets. Perhaps it’s the dominant culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has always shrouded its sacred places and rituals in secrecy, and our long relationship with the military-industrial complex. In any case, when it comes to spooky stuff in our midst, Utahns have always adopted a don’t-ask-don’t-tell philosophy (especially if there’s a little economic development involved).

What more could a spy ask for?

1. Enola Gay–Mother of Armageddon 

B-29 Enola Gay and her crew trained in total secrecy in the West Desert before kicking off the nuclear age by dropping the world’s first atom bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. Sure, the Smithsonian Institute got the Enola Gay, herself, but Utah got to keep the box she came in—a weather-beaten hangar.

2. German and Japanese Theme Parks

During World War II, the military built exact replicas of German row houses and a Japanese apartment building at Dugway to test fire bombs. It was a horrible “Three Little Pigs” experiment: “Japanesetown,” made out of wood, has long ago vanished. But the brick-and-plaster Germantown is still out there.

3. Dugway’s Bugs

The military, if they talk about it at all, explains that the labs at Rhode Island-sized Dugway Proving Ground develop “defensive measures” against potential biological attacks. The Army is fuzzy about what or how much bad juju they keep on hand. A guess: anthrax, botulism, encephalitis, typhus, Rift Valley fever and unsightly acne.

4. Indian Tomb

The remains of 84 prehistoric Indians whose bones were discovered when the Great Salt Lake receded in 1990 have been interred in a concrete vault in Emigration Canyon. “Those spirits were wandering aimlessly,” an  Indian leader explained. The exact location is kept quiet, if not secret, to prevent the tomb from being vandalized.

5. The Vault—the Roots of Everyone’s Family Tree

Near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, carved 600 feet into solid rock, is the Granite Mountain Records Vault, the nuclear blast-proof home of 3.5 billion pages of family history. Ironically, the Vault’s records are probably more secure than the NSA’s. Public access is prohibited, but the LDS church offers a video.

6. Temple Rituals—the Mormon Tradition of Secrecy

No one can argue that the culture of Utah isn’t heavily influenced by the dominant religion. Historically key to the LDS religion are blood/death oaths of secrecy. Up until recently, the secret temple ceremony included the motions of slashing one’s own throat and stomach if one were to reveal the temple’s secrets that can be googled on the Internet. In reality, most Mormons regard the temple ceremonies as not secret, but sacred, and not to be discussed with outsiders.

7. Lost Gold Mines

Legend: Under the Uinta Mountains near Moon Lake (or Utah Lake’s Pelican Point, or the Hurricane Cliffs—take your pick) lie the lost mines of Carre-Shin-Obthat worked by Indians enslaved by the Spanish. The Indians rebelled and went on to slaughter or dismember, Indiana Jones-style, anyone who attempted to enter them. Some myths say that a Ute chief revealed the location to Brigham Young lieutenant Thomas Rhoades who mined the gold for the temple’s Moroni statue.

8. Taliban HQ, 84022

The military reproduced a Taliban mountain lair on Utah Test and Training Range—basically a sophisticated shooting gallery for U.S. and NATO pilots. One of Utah’s unsung attributes is that it looks exactly like Afghanistan (not to mention parts of Iraq and Iran), making military tourism (22,000 sorties annually) to the 19,000-square-mile bombing range a lucrative economic engine. Resembling a low-budget a movie set, the “Taliban camp” includes caves, buildings and mobile launchers complete with dummy missiles.

9. Mountain Meadows Mishap 

In 1857, a group of Arkansas emigrants to California were intercepted near Cedar City by Mormon militia and Indians. The militia massacred 120 emigrants, sparing only 17 children under age 7. “The whole United States rang with its horrors,” Mark Twain wrote. Exactly why it happened and Brigham Young’s role in it was a closely guarded secret that even now is shrouded in mystery. Only one participant, John D. Lee, took the rap, some say to protect the Mormon hierarchy. He was executed.

10. Mormon Catacombs Under Main Street

Underneath downtown Salt Lake, tunnels connect the Temple with the church’s office building and, some say, the Utah Legislature. Reality? The tunnels, dating from 1889, are actually carpeted underground passages. Sorry, no piles of skulls. Golf carts whisk high church leaders about—similar to Florence’s Vasari Corridor used by the Medici, or Bruce Wayne’s Bat Cave.

11. Utah’s UFO

In the 1990s, NASA prepared an environmental impact statement for testing the mysteriously named (if you’re into ‘50s sci-fi) X-33 at Michael Army Air Field at Dugway. The X-33 would be a robot plane capable of flying at 15 times the speed of sound at altitudes of 250,000 feet. Who knows? Maybe it happened.

12. From Area 51 With Love—the Spy Plane That Wasn’t

Shortly after test pilot Ken Collins flew his super-secret A-12 out of Nevada’s Area 51 in 1963, he ran into foul weather. Before Collins knew it, he was dangling from a parachute, drifting down 20 miles south of Wendover near the smoking wreckage of his A-12. Within hours, the Air Force showed up with trucks and bulldozers to “sanitize” the crash site. Hikers in the area still find shards of titanium stamped with “Skunkworks,” the secret name for Lockheed aircraft company.

13. Poison Gas—Syria’s Got Nothing on Utah 

Two years ago, the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility finished incinerating 14,000 tons of chemical weapons that had been stored there since the 1940s. But nearby (as the mustard agent blows), Dugway Proving Groundkeeps its own stash. We know because it was locked down in 2011 when a vial of VX, the most potent of all nerve agents, went missing. Whether it was found, of course, remains a secret.

14. Little Mountain, Big Boom

Little Mountain Test Facility, a 1,000-acre laboratory for simulating nuclear hardness and survivability of defense systems, lies 15 miles west of Ogden near other facilities where munitions up to the most powerful ICBM rocket motors are tested.

15. Atomic Sheep

1953: Ranchers were moving 2,000 sheep from a winter range near the Nevada Test Site into Southern Utah when they saw the flash from a nuclear explosion—five nuclear bombs were being exploded above ground. By the time the ranchers got to Cedar City, their sheep were dropping dead and lambs were stillborn. A veterinarian found strontium radiation in the sheep’s bone marrow. The Atomic Energy Commission said the sheep died from poor range conditions.

16. Careless Sheep 

1968: 6,000 sheep gamboling in scenic Skull Valley suddenly died in unison. The Army investigated what is known as the Dead Sheep Incident and reported the animals had died from eating pesticide-sprayed vegetation. Three decades later (Utah keeps its secrets), the “pesticide” was identified as VX nerve agent that was sprayed on the sheep from an military plane. The Army paid compensation to the ranchers, but never copped to spraying the nerve gas.

17. Stoner Sheep 

1971: 1,200 sheep grazing near Garrison collapsed and died with blood pouring from their noses. A few weeks earlier, an underground nuke test in Nevada had blown through the ground, sending a radioactive cloud over Utah. Gov. Calvin Rampton argued the sheep would not have died instantly from radiation—instead he hypothesized they expired from eating addictive locoweed.

18. Wild, and dead, horses

1976: A helicopter crew spotted 50 mustangs that apparently “just fell over dead.” Suspicious types said an equine encephalitis germ-warfare agent was behind it. Government investigators concluded the horses died of thirst, even though full water troughs were only a few yards away.

Back>>>Read other stories in our March/April 2014 issue.

Feb 18
Love0

2014 Dining Awards

By Dining Awards
Click here to see the 2015 Dining Awards winners.

The best restaurants never rest on their bay leaves. They don’t stay the same; they get better. Salt Lake magazine’s list of Dining Award winners this year includes many familiar names, but the menus have changed, the service has improved, the décor is updated. In short, they’re better than ever. Until next year. (Click here for a quicker list of the Dining Awards winners, and here for the 2014 Dining Awards Readers’ Choice winners.)

Best Restaurant: Salt Lake City
Pago
878 S. 900 East, SLC, 801-532-0777

Scott Evans’ Pago has been great from its get-go, back in 2009. But his artisanal-based, farm-to-table ethos and high standards inadvertently made the restaurant a quasi training ground for high-profile–higher, literally–resort restaurants. Phelix Gardner’s steadiness in the executive chef position for the past few years finally gave Pago the continuity that allows it to soar to the top and stay there. When it opened, Pago was cutting-edge; now it’s on its way to becoming a classic, with a menu that features tried-and-trues, like the nationally famous Pago Burger with pickled onions, to the unexpectedly edgy, including a carrot tasting which features the common vegetable five ways–raw, a confit, pickle, chips and a luxurious carrot mascarpone.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Restaurant: Park City
J&G Grill
2300 Deer Valley Dr. East, Park City, 435-940-5760

J&G Grill at the St. Regis Deer Valley has always been a top-tier restaurant–it just hadn’t seemed like part of the Utah scene. It’s named after a chef who’s rarely in the kitchen and, at first, it catered more to visitors than residents. But the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, Shane Baird, makes a point of exploring Utah foods and embracing locals. Besides the often-Asian-tinged constructs that come out of the kitchen–sautéed snapper with spaghetti squash in soy-yuzu broth–diners can choose from a simple list of deluxe proteins like Shetland salmon, Paisley Farms pork or Clark’s Farm lamb and luxurious sides. Despite its star-struck name and glam digs, J&G has become a Utahn. One of the best Utahns.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Restaurant: Northern Utah
Hearth on 25th
195 Historic 25th Street, 2nd Floor (#6), Ogden, 801-399-0088

This quirky upstairs restaurant which has been introducing Ogdenites to fine flavors for years has reinvented itself as Hearth. The centerpiece is a wood-fired oven, and lots of the menu is inspired by that–the pizzas, the flatbreads and the hearth breads. The menu also features several elk dishes, including medallions, raspberry red, the flavor deepened by a wild mushroom risotto. And locally grown yak. Even if you don’t dessert, try the “chocolate Italian souffle.” It was not, as we had feared, just another molten chocolate cake, though it wasn’t really a souffle, either. It came in a ramekin and whatever you called it, it was the essence of barely sweetened dark warm chocolate.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Restaurant: Central Utah
Black Sheep Cafe
19 N. University Ave., Provo, 801-607-2485

How cool for a restaurant to illuminate one of Utah’s native foodways. Black Sheep chef Mark Daniel Mason brings a sense of haute cuisine to the heritage flavors of Navajo, Pueblo and Hopi cooking. The result is hearty, humble food with an earthy elegance unique among local restaurants: Indian “three sisters”–beans, corn and squash-–meet Italian bruschetta. The classic wedge gets some soul from cotija cheese and chipotle. Green chili stew and posole are given serious kitchen consideration, balanced but hearty, rich but not greasy. Even fry bread becomes a star made with Blue Bird flour.

Red Carpet Interview


Pago, J&G Grill, Hearth on 25th, Black Sheep Cafe

Best Discovery
Del Mar al Lago
310 Bugatti Dr., SLC, 801-467-2890

Del Mar al Lago was everyone’s favorite secret until this year. Now it’s just everyone’s favorite. The modest restaurant has been given a boost in style and scope, making dining here a comfortably exotic experience. Our ethnic food-scape is pretty sparse so Peruvian is a fairly novel cuisine to most Utahns, but the savory and citrusy variations of cebicha, or ceviche—not to mention the pisco sours—have won the hearts and minds of Utah diners, even to the point of embracing skewered beef heart. Don’t be afraid, timid diners: Plenty of rice and pasta dishes are on the menu, along with fried foods and even a Peruvian version of paella.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Wine List
BTG Wine Bar
63 W. 100 South, SLC, 801-359-2814

BTG stands for “By the Glass” and while some may consider this restaurant a trifle young to win a big award, the tenacity with which Fred Moessinger (owner of Caffe Molise next door) pursued the audacious-in-Utah idea of a true wine bar deserves kudos. There are craft cocktails and specialty beer, and you can order food from Caffe Molise, but the pieces des resistances are the more than 50 wines by the glass. You can order a tasting portion or a full glass, allowing you to sample vintages you might not be inclined to buy by the bottle.

Red Carpet Interview

Community Service Award
Steven Rosenberg, Liberty Heights Fresh
1290 S. 1100 East, SLC, 801-583-7374

Steve Rosenberg does our city a great service just by being in business. He opened Liberty Heights Fresh 21 years ago, before there was such a thing as a Certified Cheese Expert, before local food became a buzzword. In other words, Rosenberg gambled on Salt Lakers’ sense of taste. Now, besides the stellar cheese selection and shelf goods, Liberty Heights caters, makes terrific sandwiches and offers its own CSA. Plus Rosenberg is at pretty much every food consciousness-raising event, from Feast of Five Senses to the Downtown Farmers Market. The list of local businesses he supports goes on and on.

Red Carpet Interview

Best New Restaurant
Best Mexican Restaurant
Alamexo
268 S. State Street, SLC, 801-779-4747

Matthew Lake’s four-day transformation of Zy into Alamexo was one of the neatest tricks performed this year and one of the smartest moves. Don’t be dubious about a gringo in a Mexican kitchen: Lake’s a thorough pro and his previous experience running Besito and Rosa Mexicana in New York and working with Southwest culinary legend Mark Miller has given him a golden palate and a passion for South of the Border flavors that shows on the plate at Alamexo. His salsas–the backbone of Mexican cuisine–are ever-changing and dependably addictive, as good salsa should be. Lake pulls flavors from many regions of Mexico; classics like enchiladas Suizas–roast chicken seasoned with epazote, baked in tomatillo cream and sprinkled with cilantro–and flautas are as carefully rendered as more ambitious creations like slow cooked salmon with crispy bananas, pineapple pico de gallo and Oaxacan mole manchamanteles. If you believe all Mexican food should cost less than $10 a plate, please note: twenty bucks is not too much to pay for entrees like this.

Red Carpet Interview


Del Mar al Lago, BTG Wine Bar, Steven Rosenberg of Liberty Heights Fresh, Alamexo

Best Chinese
J. Wong’s Asian Bistro
163 W. 200 South, SLC, 801-350-0888

In Utah, Chinese food, like Mexican food and many other non-white culinary traditions, suffers from a perception that it is supposed to be cheap and unlovely. The Wong family’s insistence on elegance in the dining room and on the plate flies delightfully in the face of this expectation. With a grace, serenity and eagerness to serve that many more (and less!) expensive restaurants would do well to emulate, J. Wong’s staff makes a meal the relaxing, sustaining experience it should be. Plus, the potstickers are terrific. The Wong brothers’ frequent trips to Taiwan and Hong Kong mean the menu benefits from authentic flavors married to American proportions–like the chef’s special filet mignon with Thai chili, garlic and oyster sauce. A new sommelier means the wine and beer lists are receiving the same attention as the food. And bonus: The Wongs’ twin heritage of Thai and Chinese mean that the pad Thai here might be the best in town, even though the menu stresses Chinese dishes.

Best Mediterranean
Layla
4751 S. Holladay Blvd., SLC, 801-272-9111

Confetti’s was a family-run Holladay institution for 16 years. Like most restaurants, it ran its course, but instead of closing, the Tadros family put their considerable talents together and reinvented the family business. Layla, a Mediterranean grill and mezze cafe, is based on the Tadros’ Lebanese/Egyptian heritage, and since it opened, the food at the redecorated, re-imagined restaurant has gotten better and better. Start with the merguez-style sausages. Because they’re ridiculously good and because they represent the care the Tadros family is putting into the food at Layla. The recipe and spices come from an old family recipe and the lamb comes from Morgan Valley. Layla features a variety of Middle Eastern dishes–you could call this “Mediterranean Rim” cuisine–hummus, moussaka, kabobs, shawarma. Layla is once again the heart of Holladay.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Indian
Saffron Valley East India Cafe
26 E. Street, SLC, 801-203-3325

Lavanya Mahate’s Saffron Valley edges in front because of its breadth. Sometimes it can be a mistake for one kitchen to attempt too much, and Saffron Valley touches on a whole subcontinent of cuisine, from Indian street food to southern dhosas to Chino-Indian dishes. The remarkable thing: It’s all good. Add to that Mahate’s sense of occasion, her emphasis on food as celebration—restaurant events this year included a Diwali dinner, a kebab festival, the annual Indian street food festival—and you have a star. Even the lunch buffet is special, never featuring the same lineup twice. Explore the map of food here, but if you want to stick with the familiar, this may be the best tandoor in town.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Japanese
Naked Fish
67 W. 100 South, SLC, 801-595-8888

Naked Fish has already raised the bar beyond other Japanese restaurants for kushiyaki, sushi and kobe; investing in new equipment and more chefs and painstakingly procuring absolutely pristine products. Proving the best can always get better, owner Johnny Kwon upped the standards again, introducing great ramen at lunch, inviting star chef Viet Pham to play in the Naked Kitchen and bringing in Certified Sommelier Christian Frech as well as a sake sommelier. The result is innovation within tradition, one of the hardest restaurant tricks to pull off. For example, the jidori chicken breast with roasted potatoes and a vanilla-honey teriyaki sounds like it belongs on a PF Chang menu, but its subtle balance is thoroughly Japanese and suited for the American appetite.

Red Carpet Interview


J. Wong’s Asian Bistro, Layla, Saffron Valley East India Cafe, Naked Fish

Best Italian
Fresco Italian Cafe
1513 S. 15th East, SLC, 801-486-1300

Even great restaurants wax and wane according to the energy and imagination of the chef and the interest and teamwork of the staff. Once again, Fresco is riding high. In the kitchen, Logan Crews is layering flavors, temperatures and textures, and turning out food infused with Italian soul. For example: a simple soup featuring the veg of the year comes to the table as a white bowl centered with a cauliflower floret and a scoop of cool goat cheese. Your server pours the creamy white lentil and cauliflower soup around the vegetable. The result is a white-on-white interplay of crunchy vegetable, rich broth and cool cheese, surprisingly complex and perfectly orchestrated.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Comfort Food
Silver Star Cafe
1825 Three Kings Dr., Park City, 435-655-3456

Jeff and Lisa Ward’s mountain cafe is so high you may need a blanket if you’re dining outside in the summertime. Not to worry–they’ll bring you one. These hands-on owners go to extra lengths to make sure Silver Star is welcoming and cozy and as a result, the cafe is one of the most popular spots in Park City, especially when there’s live music on the patio. Meanwhile, David Bible follows through in the kitchen with hearty pork osso buco, braised shortribs and wood-fired pizza. One of the single best dishes ever was the speck and fig pizza with Snowy Mountain Strawberry Peak cheese, a special on the menu this summer.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Breakfast
Caffe Niche
779 E. 300 South, SLC, 801-433-3380

Urban and mellow aren’t terms that usually marry happily, but Caffe Niche manages to make their bistro both. This corner cafe shines especially at breakfast, when the emphasis is on what we all know we like for breakfast, because morning is no time for experiments. So we’re not talking special-occasion strata concoctions, or ginormous brunch extravaganzas–we’re talking about eggs and bacon, toast and muffins. But chef-owner Ethan Lappe gets his eggs from Tifie Ranch, the English muffins are housemade and the salmon with the bagel is house-smoked. Everyday excellence is the rule and that’s how we should all start the day.

Red Carpet Interview

Best Lunch
Feldman’s Deli 
2005 E. 2700 South, SLC, 801-906-0369

Sandwiches are the basis of lunch, and delis are the sandwich source. Foodies have long bewailed the absence of a proper Jewish deli in SLC, but the reason there hasn’t been one is obvious: As of 2008, only about .5 percent of Utah’s population was Jewish. So Feldman’s is good news. Mike and Janet Feldman know their knish–and their matzoh ball soup. The only disappointment is the midday opening time. So, no morning bagels. That’s why it’s getting the Best Lunch award.

Red Carpet Interview


Fresco Italian Cafe, Silver Star Cafe, Caffe Niche, Feldman’s Deli

Best Bakery
Eva’s Bakery
155 S. Main St., SLC, 801-355-3942

Once again, we have a memory of a mother to thank for this bakery. In this case, Charlie Coomb’s great-grandmother, Eva, is immortalized “with love and butter.” But let’s be clear: Baking bread and making pastry are two distinctly different enterprises. Here in Utah, we’re not so picky as a rule, and the staff of life and the sweet stuff often come from the same hands. Not at Eva. The baker and the pastry chef rule their domains, one with an appropriately heavier hand than the other. Breads here, made with local flour, are crusty without, moist within and don’t last long, as befits good bread. Be prepared for French toast. Pastries, on the other hand, are light and flaky, ephemeral. Time your stop for lunchtime, so you can have a bowl of onion soup before taking your loaves and tarts.

Best Neighborhood Restaurant
Avenues Bistro on Third 
564 E. Third Avenue, SLC, 801-831-5409

A series of peripatetic chefs, a slightly bohemian staff and management, a name no one can get right and on-going zoning struggles over a patio and bar haven’t dimmed neighborhood enthusiasm for this tiny and undeniably charming cafe. Owner Kathie Chadbourne revels in the local, and approaches her businesses in an unorthodox fashion, but part of the charm at Avenues Bistro is its eccentricity. For example, the controversial postage-stamp speakeasy and the original tiles under the bar and the menu, which has changed so often since the bistro’s opening that it’s hard to go back for favorites. Never mind, you’ll find a new one.

Red Carpet Interview

Salt Lake magazine’s Dining Awards Hall of Fame

Six years ago, we instituted the Salt Lake magazine Dining Hall of Fame to honor restaurants that not only achieved excellence but maintained it. These are places that set—and then re-set—the bar for Utah cuisine. They serve as an example of the level of quality other places should strive for. This year, we asked several Hall of Fame restaurants to serve as the panel of judges for the Dining Awards. Thanks to Red Iguana, Squatters Pub Brewery, Log Haven and Aristo’s.

2008
Red Iguana
736 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City, 801-322-1489
866 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City, 801-214-6050
Red Carpet Interview

Mazza
1515 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City, 801-484-9259
912 E. 900 South, Salt Lake City, 801-521-4572
Red Carpet Interview

Cucina Toscana
300 W. Broadway, Salt Lake City, 801-328-3463

2009
Log Haven
6451 E. Millcreek Canyon Road, Salt Lake City, 801-272-8255
Red Carpet Interview

2010
Takashi
18 W. Market St., Salt Lake City, 801-519-9595

2011
Squatters
147 W. Broadway, Salt Lake City, 801-363-2739
1900 Park Avenue, Park City, 435-649-9868
Red Carpet Interview

2013
Aristo’s
224 S.1300 East, Salt Lake City, 801-581-0888

Hell’s Backbone Grill
20 N. Highway 12, Boulder, 435-335-7464
Red Carpet Interview

Photos by Adam Finkle