vol. 3 no. 3 • MARCH 2017 • CREATE
Firewood Heats up Park City p. 14
Livin’ on the Veg p. 10
It’s time to
The Wines of Winter p. 22
A Place to Meat p. 44
Utah Restaurant Association
p. 58
Devour Utah • March 2017 1
2 Devour Utah • March 2017
Devour Utah • March 2017 3
10 14 20 22 30
Contents
Livin’ on the Veg
Deliciously creative non-meat dishes BY AMANDA ROCK
Born to Burn
Chef John Murcko’s Firewood heats up Park City BY DARBY DOYLE
The Spread
Biscotts Pastry & Chai BY AIMEE L. COOK
The Wines of Winter
Wine experts’ favorite cool & cold weather wines BY HEATHER L. KING
The Deconstruct
Current’s grilled calamari with fingerling potatoes BY TED SCHEFFLER
4 Devour Utah • March 2017
32 38 44 50 66
Utah Culinary History Utah pioneers and Sego Lily survival BY BRIAN FRYER
Spud Canvas
Edible works of art with the humble potato BY MAYA SILVER
A Place to Meat
Whole-animal butchery at Beltex BY LESLIE SHELLEDY
52 Liquid Genius
Inspiringly creative cocktails BY MAYA SILVER
66 Last Bite
The creative spirit BY MARGO PROVOST
Devour Utah • March 2017 5
DEVOUR CONTRIBUTORS STAFF
Publisher JOHN SALTAS Editorial Editor Copy Editor Proofreader Contributors
Photographers
TED SCHEFFLER SARAH ARNOFF LANCE GUDMUNDSEN AIMEE L. COOK, DARBY DOYLE, BRIAN FRYER, HEATHER L. KING, MARGO PROVOST, AMANDA ROCK, LESLIE SHELLEDY, MAYA SILVER DEREK CARLISLE, NIKI CHAN, KATIE ELDRIDGE, JOSH SCHEUERMAN, MAYA SILVER, JOHN TAYLOR, STEVEN VARGO
Leslie Shelledy is founder of the food blog 801 Eats, and a born and bred Utahn with a passion for all things scrumptious. She has traveled around Utah, the U.S. and the world sampling some of the best bites. When she’s not in search of the next best dish, you’ll find her in the kitchen working on her own culinary contributions.
Production Art Director Graphic Artists
DEREK CARLISLE SUMMER MONTGOMERY, JOSH SCHEUERMAN, CAIT LEE
Business/Office Accounting Manager Office Administrator Technical Director
PAULA SALTAS NICOLE ENRIGHT BRYAN MANNOS
Aimee L. Cook writes for several local publications. She enjoys reviewing all things art, entertainment and food related.
Marketing Marketing Manager
JACKIE BRIGGS
Circulation Circulation Manager
LARRY CARTER
Sales Magazine Advertising Director Newsprint Advertising Director Digital Operations Manager Senior Account Executives Retail Account Executives Devour Store Assistant Manager
JENNIFER VAN GREVENHOF PETE SALTAS ANNA PAPADAKIS DOUG KRUITHOF, KATHY MUELLER JEREMIAH SMITH, NICK SASICH LISA DORELLI, SIERRA SESSIONS ALISSA DIMICK
Brian Fryer is a native Utahn and has a degree in communication from Utah State University. He writes for a number of publications, has been an editor for McGraw-Hill Construction publications and Intermountain Healthcare and city editor for the Park Record newspaper in Park City. He’s a food enthusiast, enjoys cooking and lives with his family in West Jordan.
Cover Photo: The Siren at Under Current by Josh Scheuerman Distribution is complimentary throughout the Wasatch Front. Additional copies of Devour are available for $4.95 at the Devour offices located at 248 S. Main, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 • 801-575-7003 • DevourUtah.com Email editor at Ted@DevourUtah.com Advertising contact: Sales@DevourUtah.com
Copperfield Publishing Copyright 2016. All rights reserved
6 Devour Utah • March 2017
Heather L. King writes about food, travel and culture in Utah and beyond. She is the founder of Utah Ladies Who Lunch and a proud Great Dane owner.
Devour Utah • March 2017 7
All of Us IT’S THERE IN
Finding creativity in
far-flung places
I
don’t believe I’ve ever met a person who didn’t exhibit creativity of one sort or another. If you equate creativity with “artistic,” then maybe you don’t think you’re very creative. But creativity goes into so many endeavors: teaching, gardening, cooking, lovemaking, parenting, communicating and hundreds more. If you’re still living and breathing, somewhere along the line you’ve had to exercise creative powers. Facing food shortages and hunger, Utah pioneers had to get creative, as Brian Fryer explains in his culinary history article about the edible sego lily in this issue of Devour. It’s a fascinating read. That goes as well for Maya Silver’s piece about a food that might not strike you as a pathway to creativity: the potato. But Maya’s dug up (pun intended) spud dishes that more than demonstrate how artistic some of our local chefs are. Spudnuts, anyone? If you think that vegetarian fare must be bland to be healthy, think again. Amanda Rock has rounded up a quartet of meat-less dishes that are as unique and inspired as they are delicious. Cooking with fire requires both creativity and discipline, and Darby Doyle’s in-depth look at chef John Murcko’s Firewood restaurant in Park City suggests that he doesn’t do it with smoke and mirrors. Meanwhile, Beltex Meats—the artisan butcher shop that former chef Philip Grubisa created—is proof that even meat can be a creative canvas for the truly inspired, as Leslie Shelledy shows in her behind the scenes look. In her “Last Bite” essay, Log Haven owner Margo Provost recounts a journey that was both creative and spiritual. It’s an inspiring story of how a very successful—but perhaps not so happy—corporate executive found nature, nurture, and nourishment in creating an award-winning restaurant and a team—family, really—to sustain it. A lot of creativity went into this issue of Devour. Thanks to all the writers, editors, photographers, artists, designers, sales folks and everyone else who made it happen. ❖
KATIE B
UCH
S
—Ted Scheffler Editor
8 Devour Utah • March 2017
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Veg Livin’ on the
A quartet of deliciously creative non-meat dishes By Amanda Rock
10 Devour Utah • March 2017
T
TED SCHEFFLER
here was a time when vegetarian food was a mere afterthought for restaurants. But with increasingly more people opting for plant-based choices that are mindful of health, environmental concerns and animal welfare, we’ve happily moved past those dark ages. These days, highend restaurants, pizza chains and even sports bars offer vegetarian fare to tempt the most hardcore carnivore. Creativity and top-notch ingredients take center stage in these four favorite vegetarian options that put the “ate” in creative. Trolley Wing Co. Vegan wings $9.99
Table X Jerusalem artichoke $10
JOHN TAYLOR
The relocation of the popular sports bar Trolley Wing Co. from Trolley Square to Sugar House brought a new clientele hungry for an alternative to chicken wings. “When we moved to Sugar House, we decided to give the vegan wings another shot on the menu. We sell so many vegan wings now—people come from all over to eat them,” owner Jeff Krie says. Served alongside fresh carrot and celery sticks with a side of vegan ranch, the toothsome morsels of mock meat come slathered in a variety of vegan-friendly sauces from sweet-and-tangy teriyaki to smoky ancho. Beer from Uinta Brewing is on tap for a perfect pairing. Trolley Wing Co. 2148 S. 900 East, SLC 801-538-0745 facebook.com/trolleywingco
If anyone takes vegetables seriously, it’s the chefs at Table X. An onsite culinary garden provides seasonal inspiration as well as fresh ingredients. Succulent and flavorful, the Jerusalem artichoke appetizer embodies Table X’s love and care of veggies. The flavor is earthy and smoky, while the presentation is stunning. We asked Nick Fahs, one of the three chefs and co-owners of Table X, about the dish. “Gently cooked Jerusalem artichokes are smoked and then served with a purée made from sunflower seeds and sunflower sprouts,” he says. “We garnish the dish with sunflower sprouts, champagne vinegar and maldon salt.” It’s as artful an artichoke as you’ll ever find. Table X 1457 E. 3350 South, SLC 385-528-3712 tablexrestaurant.com Devour Utah • March 2017 11
Boasting delectable toppings like artichokes, arugula, Kalamata olives and roasted garlic, Blaze Pizza is making a great impression with pizza fanatics—vegans, vegetarians and omnivores alike. “Our mission at Blaze is really simple: We’re taking pizza back to its roots,” President and COO Jim Mizes says. “By making dough in-house, carefully sourcing ingredients and cooking by fire, we’re giving guests a great way to enjoy artisanal pizza without the wait. It’s changing the way people think about and eat pizza.” Opt for the Veg Out loaded with zucchini, mushrooms, red onions, mozzarella and gorgonzola, or make your own creation with vegan cheese that melts, stretches and tastes like the real thing. Speedy service (you can even order online!), low prices and pizza perfection—what more can you ask for? Blaze Pizza Multiple locations blazepizza.com
JOHN TAYLOR
Blaze Pizza Vegetarian and vegan pizza $7.95
Log Haven Korean fried cauliflower $12 Cauliflower is having its moment, showing up on menus throughout the country and being touted as one of the biggest food trends of 2017. We’re especially fond of Log Haven’s rendition with crushed peanuts, scallions and a sweet-and-spicy glaze that is like nothing else. “It’s a twist on the cauliflower craze, only done with the Gochujang sweet-and-spicy sauce,” Chef David Jones says. “Gochujang is a fermented Korean chile paste, which adds a savory and spicy base to the sauce.” The Korean fried cauliflower is offered as a shared plate, serving 2-4 people but it’s tempting to keep it all to yourself. We won’t judge. ❖
12 Devour Utah • March 2017
TED SCHEFFLER
Log Haven 6451 E. Millcreek Canyon Road, SLC 801-272-8255 log-haven.com
Fresh INGREDIENTS
Delicious ITALIAN CUISINE
204 E. 500 S. SLC
Cannellasrestaurant.com | 801.355.8518 Devour Utah • March 2017 13
BORN BURN TO
“Bringing the memory and joy of food made with care … That seems to happen especially well with the sensory connections we make when cooking with fire.”
Chef John Murcko heats up Park City’s dining scene at Firewood. BY DARBY DOYLE
O
ne bite and I’m instantly transported back more than a dozen years ago to the rocky southwest coast of Ireland and an eyewidening spoonful of luscious and smoky fish chowder served in a heavy bowl in the fishing village of Dingle. When I’d asked our server which fish gave it such a paradoxically delicate and complex flavor, she replied with a grin and the region’s distinctive cadence, “I’ve no idea, m’dear. It’s from our perpetual stove top,” apparently replenished daily with whatever came in fresh and kept endlessly simmering in a massive Dutch oven on the wood stove in the tidy kitchen. That depth of acute flavor development echoes beautifully in a halibut dish at Firewood in Park City, delicately applewood-fired and plated by Chef John Murcko over a melting layer of smoketinged potatoes, cream, leeks and herbs. Elegant, elevated and handsomely proportioned, it nonetheless resonates with the visceral comfort of top-notch ingredients prepared with exactitude. “That’s it!” Murcko says, when I relate to him that revived memory of fireside Irish chowder summoned 14 Devour Utah • March 2017
by his superlative dish. “That’s what I’m ultimately aiming for at Firewood: bringing the memory and joy of food made with care … That seems to happen especially well with the sensory connections we make when cooking with fire.” Since opening in December 2016, Firewood—located in the spot formerly occupied by Cicero’s on historic Main Street in Park City—has been deluged with a stream of customers who come in curious and leave captivated. Murcko is a bit of a legend in the Utah restaurant scene. From a young start he helmed some of the state’s top restaurants, starting with projects he developed years ago with Bill White and later at Talisker. “I’ve opened over 20 restaurants and always loved that challenge,” says Murcko, who has worked in one way or another in the restaurant business since he stared out at age 14 in a resort kitchen on Michigan’s famously car-free Mackinac Island. Recently returned to Utah after overseeing 19 dining outlets in Sun Valley, he says that planning for his own stand-alone restaurant was a project well over a yearand-a-half in the making. With his wife, Kelli, and their two children, he was thrilled to make the Utah homecoming
Chef John Murcko
KATIE ELDRIDGE
KATIE ELDRIDGE
—Chef John Murcko
happen, family-style. “Kelli helps run the front of the house,” Murcko says, “and the kids are here all the time. It’s great for us to all be together.” It’s even a multi-generational project; his artist father helped design the space, sourced the photographs and industrial artifacts adapted to the soaring ceilings of the historic building, and the father-son team built the dining tables from reclaimed wood. As gorgeous as the dining area is, however, the entire space is designed to showcase the glass-enclosed kitchen. The star of the show? A custom (aka expensive) Grillworks Infierno 154 four-station grill. That’d be a fourteen-foot-long bank of cook stations, all fired—literally—by wood. Cooks take turns at a chopping block by the service counter, each splitting off chunks of the various woods they anticipate using during the course of the night. Neatly stacked bundles of hickory, apple, cherry and oak are stored under each cook’s station, ready to be added to the flames as needed. The entire process takes hours of preparation before each service, as the grill needs a significant amount of time to heat up to optimal cooking temperatures. “Our cooks all split
their own wood, changing it up depending on what’s on the menu,” Murcko says. “Apricot is a good delicate touch for fish and chicken. Applewood burns at a nice low heat. Cherry is fantastic with red meat.” Unlike a traditional French kitchen line (with one person making sauces, another person on fish, another plating vegetables, etc.), each line cook controls almost the entire dish from start to finish at his or her station. “They control the temperature they’ll need by adding wood or spreading out the fire source, and by raising and lowering racks,” spaced along the entire rear wall of the massive grill. And it’s hot, even when I’m there on a blustery winter afternoon well before the kitchen was in full swing. “You get used to it,” Murcko says, as the line cook standing behind him gives me a wry smile and “what can ya’ do?” raised eyebrow. “It’s a steep learning curve. It takes about 10 days, plus or minus, for a cook to really get how to operate each station,” Murcko says. The creativity and unique properties of cooking almost entirely over wood have drawn experienced cooks from all over the nation who specifically came to work with Murcko at Firewood. “I was really surprised that so many people came to me on this project. They wanted to learn about cooking with wood,” he continues. “It’s an extremely creative process, learning how to build a cooking environment with wood fire. How to balance flavor and smoke without it being an overwhelming element.” Every Firewood offering—from cocktails made with charred citrus to desserts leaps and bounds beyond your typical campfire s’more—gets a touch of flame. But the kitchen is not run exclusively by fire. There’s a sous vide station and a couple of convection burners for sauces and other finishing elements, but there isn’t a single gas line piped into the space. And the meticulousness of pastry making requires the use of commercial ovens, which were integrated into the pantry station on the opposite side of the kitchen from the grill. “Especially with pastry, we want the wood smoke to be an element of the dish, not the entirety of the experience,” says
»
Devour Utah • March 2017 15
KATIE ELDRIDGE
16 Devour Utah • March 2017
KATIE ELDRIDGE
TED SCHEFFLER
Grilled oysters
pastry chef Aimee Altizer—who worked with Murcko “back in the day” at Talisker outlets. Her favorite wood-fired dessert ingredients? Gently smoked housemade ricotta and stone fruits seared directly on the grill. “It’s a very collaborative environment working with John,” Altizer says. “He’s always saying, ‘What can we do to bring our next best thing to the table? How can we make it even better for the diner?’” Murcko says when he was trying to figure out what he wanted to focus on for opening his own personal venture, he and his wife “spent a lot of time talking about ‘what represents John Murcko.’ What does that look and taste like?” Many of these discussions took place at Murcko’s place in remote Escalante, cooking over wood fires every day. “It finally hit me: This is what I’ve always loved to do, either at my place in Escalante or in a restaurant kitchen: Cook with fire,” he recalls. “We just needed to figure out
how to make it work with the scale needed for fine dining.” Further complicating his concept, Murcko was committed to keeping ingredient sources as local as possible. Even for the firewood itself, which is almost entirely sourced from a fruit grower in Logan, who sells the restaurant his annual orchard trimmings, and another supplier of thinned native Gambel oak scrub from central Utah. And one of the things Murcko enjoys most about the Grillworks Infierno 154 system is that it has built-in ventilation and ash-cleaning mechanisms, which limit particulate exhaust. “It’s a crucial part of the machinery,” he says. “Each night the system cleans automatically. It’d be too hot for a person to do it safely after a long service” with the resulting crazy-high heat retention of the grill. Developing the concept of Firewood, Murcko was most excited to build a place that in his words is, “not about turning tables,
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Devour Utah • March 2017 17
KATIE ELDRIDGE
18 Devour Utah • March 2017
TED SCHEFFLER
TED SCHEFFLER
Arctic char
Roast chicken
but about creating an experience of a place” that will linger in memory for diners. “As a chef, I was most excited about running my own space and creating [for guests] more than a meal,” he continues. “Of course the food has got to be good, but there’s so much more to it than that.” For guests lucky enough to book out well in advance, the concept of the chef’s table has been taken to the next level at Firewood to the “chef’s library,” a dedicated cozy room with pass-through service directly from the restaurant kitchen through wide swinging windows. Murcko had been mulling over the concept since he worked with Chef Charlie Trotter in the 1990s (author’s note: No, I didn’t ask Murcko what that drama was like, but I hope he’ll share those stories some day). Like many chefs of the era, Trotter “had a four-top right in the kitchen, and served guests there. I wanted to create the best of both worlds: customers have the experience of being part of the kitchen,” with a specifically chef-curated meal, “but with their own dining space in the library.” The personal touches are everywhere in the snug and gracious room: Walls are lined with Murcko’s
collection of hundreds of cookbooks, and guests are greeted with a cheese course served on Murcko’s own wellworn butcher block, which he’s used for over 20 years. The timing couldn’t be better for Murcko and Firewood to flourish. “Park City’s growing number of chefowners are great for the community. It changes the culinary scene,” he says. With Utah’s restaurant scene booming, and increasingly sophisticated diners in the state looking for culinary diversity, Park City chefs have a growing groundswell of local support, crucial to keeping things going beyond the ski holiday/Sundance crush. “When you invest your heart and name in a place, it’s good for the town,” he says. “It shows your will to push and evolve with a commitment to that place.” We’re pretty fired up to see what Murcko will bring to the plate next. ❖
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Devour Utah • March 2017 19
The
pread S Pastry & Chai
B
A south jordan hub of savory & sweet snacks
iscotts Pastry and Chai offers those items— pastries and chai—and so much more. Although fashioned after a European-style café, the menu has just as many savory treats as sweet ones. Having grown up in India, where chaiwallah (a person at a tea kiosk or shop who sold hot chai and teas) were abundant, Lavanya Mahate has brought many of her favorite childhood flavors to Utah. What started as selling spice blends at the Downtown Farmers Market in 2010 has become a collection of eateries across the Salt Lake Valley. As the owner of the Saffron Valley Indian restaurants, Mahate has found a culinary niche, and expansion plans
Brekkie Pot
20 Devour Utah • March 2017
are on the horizon. When you first walk in to Biscotts, be prepared to be mesmerized by the beautiful pastries and cakes that line the display cases. Made with less sugar than many desserts, these delectable treats are not lacking in flavor. There are many types of layered cakes—from red velvet to mango—all with light whipped cream and fresh fruit. If you visit at breakfast time, consider ordering a freshbaked strawberry pastry or a brekkie pot. Brekkie pots are delightful pots of savory goodness and come in four varieties: the poached egg with saucy beans especially piqued my interest.
Then there is the chai. A dozen options appear on the menu, including chai smoothies. The Awakening has a shot of espresso for those die-hard coffee lovers. Why, there’s even a low-carb spiced chai. Lunch and dinner are entirely unique experiences at Biscotts. Soups like chipotle sweet potato and Thai chicken pair well with freshly made wraps and paninis. The Cottage Dream is made with oven-grilled cottage cheese, a unique flavor on its own, but coupled with a housemade sauce of mint and cucumber or tamarind and cumin, you’re assured a delightful culinary experience unlike any other. ❖
Biscotts Pastry & Chai 1098 W. South Jordan Parkway, Ste. 110, South Jordan 801-890-0659 biscotts.com —By Aimee L. Cook Photos by Niki Chan
Lavanya Mahate
Devour Utah • March 2017 21
Creating Memories with Bold
WINTER
WINES By Heather L. King
Photos by Josh Scheuerman
H
ints of the coming spring might be on the horizon along the Wasatch Front, but natives know that our winter wonderland is far from over. There’s still plenty of time to curl up by the fire at home or sit down at your favorite restaurant and create winter wine experiences that celebrate bold tastes to counter the chill of Utah’s long, cold nights. Indulge with us as some of Utah’s best wine experts pour out their hearts and souls—sharing their favorite cold-weather bottles.
22 Devour Utah • March 2017
LIBATION
Wine broker Francis Fecteau, owner of Libation Inc., explains our primal gravitation toward deeper, darker and richer wines during the waning winter months. “It’s as if all of our other senses are deadened and we seek that intensity,” he says. “We want heavier, richer food and stronger flavors to remind us that we are still alive and, yes, we will get through this cold.” Three of his must-haves are:
Jeff Cohn Landy Sweetwater Springs Zinfandel
Bucklin Old Hill Ranch Ancient Vine Field Blend
Joseph Phelps Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
“It shows superb depth and concentration, and with some air it reveals tremendous aromatics and richness. It parades its elements one by one like a good burlesque stripper would, and then [it’s] just fireworks with loads of black fruit compote, floral notes, [and] baking spices.”
“This is the first wine in California that told me California could do terroir,” Fecteau says. “The wine has perfume redolent of the place itself.” The blend comes from estate grapes grown in a 12-acre block of vines planted in 1885 and highlights Zinfandel, Grenache, Alicante Bouschet and Peloursin in addition to another 20 grape varietals, which are co-fermented.
This 100 percent estate fruit sipper is an icon for a reason. “This wine is an exercise in what perfectly executed Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon should be,” Fecteau explains. “Even at $70, this is a value—with perfect focus, intensity, depth and concentration. Cassis for days, notes of licorice, coffee and black fruit compote make this wine what Cabernet should be but all too often isn’t.” Devour Utah • March 2017 23
LASALLE & TRIO RESTAURANT GROUP
As beverage director for the LaSalle and Trio restaurant groups, Jim Santangelo has the opportunity to find wines that represent a multitude of tastes and budgets and pair them with cuisines covering both land and sea. He highlights a few winter favorites from restaurants across the valley.
Hahn Chardonnay “At Café Niche, my guilty pleasure Chardonnay is the Hahn Chardonnay from the Santa Lucia Highlands in the Santa Barbara wine-growing area of California,” Santangelo says. “This wine hits all the right notes for me—medium body, and not too much oak to cover up the delicious orchard fruit on the palate.” 24 Devour Utah • March 2017
Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Champagne 2008 At Current Fish and Oyster, nothing goes better with oysters than sparkling wine. The Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage Champagne 2008 comes from the same producers as the iconic Dom Pérignon. “This is a vintage Champagne that drinks more expensive than it is ... aromatics of hazelnut buttered brioche on the nose, with creamed pear and orchard fruit on the palate,” Santangelo notes.
Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino 2011 “At Stanza Italian Bistro and Wine Bar, I like to warm up with the most recent vintage of the Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino,” Santangelo says. The winery combines traditional wine-making techniques with a modern outlook— allowing the Sangiovese grape varietal to express itself to the fullest in the Montalcino area of Tuscany. “Big, hearty and full of ripe black fruit, this wine is great under-a-blanket sipping by a fire on its own.”
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HANDLE
Sean Palmer might not be a name you recognize yet but you’ll find his wine selections making their way onto the wine list at Park City’s Handle restaurant (including the three listed below). The new sommelier’s love of wine started in Park City at The Farm. “It was there [sommelier] Joey Lopaka unlocked my love for wine, which took me to California for the last four years” where he worked in the beverage program at Spruce restaurant. “Boasting a Michelin star and a Wine Spectator Grand Award wine list, I was thrown into one of the best programs in the country. I’m very excited to share my knowledge with staff and patrons and hope to elevate their dining experience with the ability to pair wine with Chef Briar’s incredible menu.”
Hahn Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir, 2014 Palmer explains that this blend of three vineyards is a perfect expression of cool climate California Pinot Noir. “Lucia is a very small production operation and a treat for any special occasion. It’s medium bodied with aromas of fresh raspberry, strawberries with a touch of spice and mild tannins.”
Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay, Watson Ranch 2014
Jean Lallement Et Fils, Champagne NV
Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts grew up together in the Napa Valley area. “Nathan followed in his father’s footsteps and became a cooper, while Duncan found his passion in winemaking. Together they have created some of my favorite Chardonnay from the New World,” Palmer says. The Watson Ranch vineyards sit on a steep hillside at the far southern end of Napa Valley. The soil is comprised mostly of limestone, which gives this wine a lean, citrus-driven profile with hints of subtle oak and a bright acidic finish.
“What a gem from such a small Grand Cru producer,” Palmer says. “Sitting on only seven acres in Montange de Reims, Alex Lallement produces a balanced, complex and delicious blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. This blend is full of yellow delicious apples, citrus and a beautiful limestone-driven finish.” Devour Utah • March 2017 27
CUCINA
Salt Lake’s newest wine bar, Cucina in the Avenues, has significantly upgraded its wine list selections to reflect diners’ expanding palates. Many selections are special-ordered exclusively for the restaurant, while five wine flights allow guests to sample whites, reds, Spanish, French and California choices side by side. Owner Dean Pierose suggests some of his favorite bottles from the extensive wine menu.
Concha Y Toro Reserve Cabernet
Achaval Ferrer Malbec
Rock Wall Sparkling Blanc de Blancs
An exclusive offering in Utah, this luscious, dark crimson Reserva Privada Cabernet is aged 14 months to produce a rich, smooth palate. Sold under the Casillero Diablo Label, “The legend is that Don Melchor, the founder of Concha Y Toro, found out that some of his vineyard workers were stealing a little wine from time to time,” Pierose recalls. “Knowing that Chilean Catholics were very superstitious, he put the words Casillero del Diablo— which translates to Cellar of the Devil—above the entrance. Wine theft immediately stopped.”
Started by Italian winemaking expatriates, this winery is the most decorated from Argentina. “Malbec from Argentina has become very popular in recent years, which is easy to see why by the rich texture and velvety, plush mouthfeel from this Achaval Ferrer offering,” Pierose says.
“I have always liked Rosenblum wines, so when Shauna Rosenblum went out on her own, we took notice.” This blanc de blanc is made primarily from Chardonnay grapes with the most recent vintage including 2 percent muscat canelli grapes. “This wine is so different from your standard Champagne or Prosecco and it is tremendously popular on our wine list as well.” ❖
28 Devour Utah • March 2017
Refresh Rejuvenate Relax
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W
henever I’m in the mood for something that swims, I know I need to look no further than Current Fish and Oyster for the freshest fish, seafood and shellfish, all prepared with great attention to detail by talented chef Phelix Gardner. Although the menu spans territory from Thai-inspired fish stew and caramelized organic salmon to shrimp and grits, I inevitably find my way back to the sublime whole Mediterranean branzino. It’s quickly become one of my favorite dishes in town.
The 30 Devour Utah • March 2017
Another is Gardner’s grilled calamari. How he manages the make his Monterey Bay calamari so tender is a mystery to me, but the soft, pillowy, bite-size calamari pieces are served on an eye-popping, neon yellow bed of lemon aioli, made with pureed preserved lemons, olive oil, egg and hints of ginger, clove, Aleppo peppers, turmeric and star anise. The ethereal calamari is then dressed with thin-shaved jalapeños to give the dish a little zing, plus delicious fingerling potatoes and micro cilantro. Simply put, the calamari at Current is killer. ❖ —Ted Scheffler Photos by Niki Chan
Current Fish & Oyster
Grilled Calamari with Fingerling Potatoes 279 E. 300 South, SLC 801-326-3474 currentfishandoyster.com Devour Utah • March 2017 31
Culinary History Utah
The sego lily—Utah’s state flower—was one of many wild plants foraged and eaten by Native Americans in the Great Basin, but it earned a special place in the hearts and stomachs of early Utah pioneers.
32 Devour Utah • March 2017
A Look at a Pioneer Potable By Brian Fryer
Hungry in the Garden of Eden Arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847 might have been the end of the Mormon pioneers’ trek across the Great Plains, but it was hardly the end of their challenge to survive in the frontier. Looking out at the valley floor in the height of summer, long before irrigation or settlement, the prospects for creating a “Garden of Eden” as Mormon leader Brigham Young planned and professed, must have seemed less than promising. Despite planting crops immediately upon arrival in the valley, timing, weather, insects and other challenges meant the first settlers would regularly turn to foraging local plants to supplement their food rations, just as they had during their overland trek. While there were a number of edible native plants the settlers turned to when food was in short supply, it was the sego lily (Calochortus nuttalli) with its white, waxy petals colored with crescents of purple and yellow and the marble-sized bulb the flower springs from, that earned a unique, if short lived, place in the state’s food history. According to Bill Varga, a retired professor of plant science at Utah State University, the sego lily is fairly common throughout the Intermountain West and southern Canada. It thrives in desert-like conditions and areas with sage brush but also grows in the higher elevations, often among Ponderosa pine and the more common camas lily with its spire of purple blossoms.
Devour Utah • March 2017 33
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the pioneers actually ate more of the camas bulbs because they’re more plentiful and easy to find,” Varga says. “But they would have been able to spot the sego lily at the —Bill Varga time they came here because it would be in bloom, and the best way to tell what plant you’re eating is by the bloom.” Accounts from the diaries of Lewis and Clark note their party learned to forage and eat camas bulbs from the Nez Perce tribes on the Great Plains, the same territory crossed by the Mormon Pioneers as they traveled to the Great Basin. “The native tribes collected and stored the roots from the camas and sego lily and the pioneers or explorers that were savvy enough would have watched what the natives were eating,” Varga says. A journal entry by pioneer Newman Buckley supports Varga’s assertion. Buckley wrote that he watched some of the Native American women, “go out every day and return loaded with something. I found it was sego and thistle roots to store for winter.”
34 Devour Utah • March 2017
DEREK CARLISLE
Best laid plans … Several days before Mormon leader Brigham Young arrived to proclaim the Salt Lake Valley “the right place,” an advance party led by Orson Pratt had set up camp, built a small dam on City Creek for irrigation, and planted the first crop of potatoes and turnips in a field on what is now the corner of 300 South and State Street. Arriving soon after, the party of 143 men, three women and two children began building shelters, plowing more fields for crops, and preparing to welcome more followers. The influx of arrivals strained an already thin food supply and in his book Great Basin Kingdom, historian Leonard J. Arrington notes: “In the fall, the cattle and horses had gotten into the planted acreage and destroyed everything but the potatoes. Later in the winter the Indians and wolves made away with much of the livestock.” Food was soon rationed limiting each person to a half pound of flour a day. At this point, many settlers began foraging for edible wild plants in earnest. A journal entry by pioneer Priddy Meeks illustrates the struggle of the times. “My family went several months without a satisfying
DEREK CARLISLE
“The pioneers or explorers that were savvy enough would have watched what the natives were eating.”
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Bill Varga
DEREK CARLISLE
Sego Lilies can be eaten raw and the bulbs are said to have a sweet flavor and a starchy texture similar to a potato.
meal of victuals. I went sometimes a mile up Jordan to a patch of wild roses to get berries to eat … I shot hawks and crows and they ate well. I made some wooden spades to dig segos with but we could not supply our wants.” The much anticipated spring harvest of 1848 was hit with a hard frost and large portions of the summer crops were famously devastated by swarms of crickets despite the best efforts of the settlers and seagulls. As the years passed, crops and conditions improved, and by 1880 early pioneers who survived the lean years took to calling themselves “bulb eaters” as a sort of honorary title, feeling it set them apart from newer arrivals.
36 Devour Utah • March 2017
DENNIS HINKAMP
Wanna be a modern bulb eater? In 1911, the Utah Legislature designated the sego lily as the state flower and in 1913, the LDS Church Relief Society chose it as their official emblem. Even with those honors, the flower and its bulb enjoy no legal protection, so harvesting and eating them is allowed. According to information from the Utah Native Plant Society (UNPS), the entire sego lily plant is edible. “I’ve tried one,” Varga says. “The bulbs can be hard to get at and it would take a lot of work to get very many of them.” Using a shovel or other digging tool is recommended as the bulb can be from 2 to 10 inches below the soil. Experts advise taking no more than a third of the plants in any given area for sustainability of the colony. Sego lilies can be eaten raw and the bulbs are said to have a sweet flavor and a starchy texture similar to a potato. They can also be cooked but will turn tough and ropey when cooled. The UNPS cautions would-be bulb eaters to be sure to positively identify the plant. Sego lilies often grow near other flowers ominously known as “death camas,” which are poisonous. As professor Varga notes, the easiest way is to identify the plant is by the bloom and the single sego lily bloom is very different the death camas’ stalk, which is topped with multiple small white flowers. The sego lily bulb, when sliced, will have no more than four thick rings while the death camas has multiple thin rings similar to an onion. ❖
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SPUD An ode to the humble potato Story and Photos By Maya Silver
I
s there any food as versatile as the potato? Tucked into doughnuts, mashed into pillowy mounds, fried into crisp discs—the potato offers itself as a building block in the creation of myriad dishes. Its subtle nature presents a canvas for chefs to paint with flavors. A staple of diets from Peru to Scotland, the potato also plays a part in St. Patrick’s Day, when Irish-Americans carry out a longstanding tradition of potato planting. There’s no better time than March 17 to revel in potato power, and we’ve found the perfect places to do so.
38 Devour Utah • March 2017
Potato Pancakes Every day is Hanukkah at Feldman’s Deli, where potato pancakes have held tenure on the menu from Day 1. But these aren’t your typical latkes. Janet Feldman, who owns Feldman’s with her husband, Michael, applies the recipe and instruction of her Polish grandmother. She starts by finely grating—not shredding—Idaho Russets, adding a little bit of sour cream as she grates to keep the potatoes from oxidizing. Draining the potatoes helps to remove excess starch and water that would make for soggy latkes. Then Janet adds in grated onion, garlic, seasoning, eggs and a little flour, and forms the mixture into patties. The key to maximum crispiness? Pan-frying the pancakes to order, before serving with the requisite accompaniments: sour cream and applesauce. For more in the tuber department here, try the knish—a pastry filled with potato and onion that’s perfect for on-the-go eating.
Feldman’s Deli 2005 E. 2700 South, SLC 801-906-0369 feldmansdeli.com
Devour Utah • March 2017 39
Tot-chos At last, tater tots have graduated from their stints in school cafeterias and the movie Napoleon Dynamite to reach their full crispy potential. It all started with a bartender who had an experience with tater tot nachos and recreated and revamped them in the Campfire Lounge kitchen. But the Tot-chos—layered with cheese, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, olives and bacon—are just the beginning. Chef Jacob Seiger’s personal favorite is the Buffa-tots, which are also vegetarian. Seiger gives tots the same treatment as his wings, tossing them in Buffalo sauce that can be made mild, medium or hot. He also serves chili cheese tots and Tot-zzas, topped with marinara, sausage and provolone. Or, go back to the basics with an order of plain tots and marvel at the malleability of the potato with a cold Hefeweizen in hand. Campfire Lounge 837 E. 2100 South, SLC 801-467-3325 campfirelounge.com
Twice Baked Sweet Potato This potato creation gracefully toes the line between savory and sweet. Given Tupelo chef/owner Matt Harris’ Georgia roots, you can bet he knows how to handle the spud of the South. He starts by roasting a sweet potato to caramelize the sugars, then cools it to room temperature before pushing it through a sieve. What happens next gives Tupelo’s potato its charisma: Harris stirs in a touch of maple syrup and a spat of his housemade kimchee butter for acidity, a little heat and spunk. On top of the whole creation goes candied bacon and more kimchee butter. Whether you enjoy this ocher work of art as an appetizer, side or—dare we say—dessert, don’t eat at Tupelo without trying it. Tupelo 508 Main, Park City 435-615-7700 tupeloparkcity.com 40 Devour Utah • March 2017
Reuben Potato Skins You’ll find all the classic potato renditions at this Irish pub—Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash, Shepherd’s Pie and such. But Piper Down also breaks with tradition. Case in point: the Reuben potato skins, a creation as sassy as the origins of this pub’s name. Initially, the owner had wanted to name the place Temple Bar after the
famous district in Dublin, but got pushback from the LDS Church. In response to one vocal female detractor, he morphed “pipe her down” into Piper Down and thus the pub—and the Reuben potato skins— were born. The chef layers Idaho russets with cheddar and Swiss, corned beef, sauerkraut and housemade Thousand Island dressing. Piper Down recently added
a vegan version of its loaded skins to its array of meat-free fare. Sadly, you won’t be able to experience the glory of either of these spud specialties on St. Patrick’s Day itself, when Piper Down welcomes hundreds through its doors and serves a limited menu. Any other day, however, is fair game to say sláinte over loaded spuds and a Guinness.
Piper Down Pub 1492 S. State, SLC 801-468-1492 piperdownpub.com
Devour Utah • March 2017 41
Samosas Tuck vegetable curry into delicate dough, fry it to a crisp, and you have yourself a samosa. This fried wonton of Indian cuisine is a must-try vegetarian appetizer on Good Karma’s menu. And what gives the filling its tender consistency? Potato, of course! Chef Houman Gohary mashes potato and suffuses it with curry flavor, then mixes in mushrooms, spinach and peas. The tasty triangle comes with cabbage slaw, shredded carrot and an addictive mango sauce that will inspire you to pair the potato with condiments beyond the standard ketchup. Good Karma 1782 Prospector Ave., Park City 435-658-0958 goodkarmarestaurants.com
Spudnuts We’d be remiss to pen an ode to the potato without including a certain baked good. Before the current craze surrounding cupcakes and cronuts, Americans fell hard for the spudnut. This potato flour doughnut got its start right here in Salt Lake City when the Pelton brothers, inspired by potato doughnuts they’d sampled in Germany, opened up the first spudnut
Johnny O’s 630 S. Main, Ste. 110, Logan 435-227-2155 johnnyosspudnuts.com
42 Devour Utah • March 2017
shop in 1940. Fast forward to 2014 when Johnny Booth—after years of research—managed to obtain the original Pelton recipe and bring the beloved spudnut back to Utah. The potato doughnut, made with Idaho potato flour and 39 spices, has made quite a splash in Logan. Because of its lighter texture, the pastry clocks in at only 110 calories. Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation flock
to the shop to fulfill nostalgic cravings. Four women even road-tripped all the way from San Diego in their longtime quest to find an authentic spudnut. “They got some hot ones and two of them started crying,” Booth recalls. For the uninitiated, start simple with a warm Original Spudnut before graduating to fancier maple and chocolate flavors. ❖
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A Place to
Meat Creative whole-animal butchery at Beltex By Leslie Shelledy • photos by steven vargo
L
ocated across from Liberty Park, the refurbished house that’s home to Beltex Meats appears to be nothing unique. Walking up the stairs and peering through Beltex’s large windows, an open room with brick walls looks simple yet modern. Once inside, there are two large cold cases, a couch, a table with chairs and a bookcase. From a distance, the items in the cold case look like your usual
44 Devour Utah • March 2017
cuts of meat and basic charcuterie. I’m expecting steaks, chicken breasts, genoa salami and other tasty-butpredictable meats. Getting close, I see the items have labels including ciccioli, hog’s headcheese and cherry-woodsmoked kielbasa. The realization hits me quickly: This is not your ordinary butcher shop. When one thinks of whole-animal butchery and charcuterie, creativity isn’t usually an adjective that comes to mind. Beltex Meats, an artisan-
style butcher shop, suggests otherwise. Founder and co-owner Philip Grubisa immerses himself in the knowledge of cured meats, and is learning ways to make traditional butchery methods uniquely his own. In 2014, Grubisa started selling brined pork chops and country pâté at the Downtown Farmers Market. After brining the pork chops, he took the leftover parts of the pig to make the pâté. Not sure if it would sell, he made just a few batches at a time. “It turned
out I couldn’t make the pâté quick enough,” he says. It was apparent that many Utahns were fully accepting of Grubisa’s approach to classic charcuterie. After two successful years at the market, he decided to expand by opening his butcher shop on 900 South. It appears that Salt Lakers have continued to love the items he and his team create. Throughout the first year of business, Grubisa has slowly added more products to the cold cases. Yes, you can get the basics and usual
cuts, such as stew meat, rib eyes and short ribs. But even more exciting are the sausages, charcuterie items and sandwiches. What makes these items special? They all have Grubisa’s creative cooking stamp. Being a trained chef and, most recently, the executive chef at The Farm at Canyons Resort, he is able to take the basic salami, chicken breast or pork chop and create something unique and delicious. Pork butter is a prime example. “It’s a spread from the trim and waste of the
pig. You create something that is tasty and perfectly edible,” he explains. In addition to taking a whole animal and breaking it down, Grubisa uses both the usual and unusual cuts of meat to create food that truly stands out. Pork rinds are another crowd favorite. They’re meaty, buttery and crunchy. The smoked and brined chicken with lemon and rosemary is equally tasty. Something a bit more comforting on a cold winter day are the pot pies. Grubisa pushes traditional pot-pie Devour Utah • March 2017 45
boundaries with his Thai coconut curry goat pies with red lentils, squash and potatoes. If a sandwich sounds more up your alley, the Mojo Pork Cuban is an excellent option. The porchetta, smoked ham, acidic pickle and herbaceous mojo makes for a cuban sandwich unlike anything else. Where does Grubisa get his inspiration for taking basic and predictable charcuterie and making something more? Originally from southern Florida, Grubisa reminisces on the influence for his Cubano salami: “Being from Florida, I remember working at a pool bar and watching the older men drink while eating Cuban sandwiches. I wanted to make a salami that represented that memory.” What makes this salami 46 Devour Utah • March 2017
special is the use of Grand Marnier and orange peel, which adds a citrus note. “Almost everything in the cases have something of my personal experiences in them,” he continues. Before making such drool-worthy products, Grubisa has to buy the underlying foundation: the whole animal. He prides himself on his relationships with local farmers and ranchers. Places like Christiansen Family Farms and Pleasant Creek Ranch help make it possible for Beltex Meats to develop such high-quality products. “We only get animals that are humanely raised, have never been treated with hormones or antibiotics, and never fed GMO’s. It takes time and effort to develop flavor and fat,” he explains. The animals Beltex gets
from local providers supply just that. Every 12 days, they receive half a cow. They get three whole hogs and a lamb every Friday, as well one goat a couple times a month. Once the animals have been delivered, Grubisa and his team complete the breakdown and butchering process at their store. Utilizing such high-quality meats and doing the butchering at the store, prices are a bit higher than your local supermarket. Grubisa has received complaints or questions about why the prices at Beltex are higher than normal. His response to such comments: “The high prices are often a misconception. These are the prices high-quality food should cost. Raising these animals takes money and time. We are also breaking down each animal in our
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store.” While it does cost a bit more, you’re getting items that, as Grubisa states, “Are worth every penny.” No matter how big or popular Beltex gets, Grubisa continues to focus on the importance of keeping each item perfect and consistent. He and two team members are traveling to Italy to take an advanced salamimaking class. “We want to expand our knowledge of Old World cured meats,” he says. “It’s essential that we know what we’re doing. We don’t treat our customers like guinea pigs.” In order to make each item exceptional, he explains the importance of having the basics of butchery and charcuterie down pat. At the Rocky Mountain Institute of Meat, he trained under chef
and butcher Mark Denittis. He also earned his certificate in professional butchery. When looking at his past and his future goals, it appears Grubisa is always willing to learn, enjoys putting his own spin on the classics, and truly understands the importance of consistency. “I want customers to be able to buy the same item each week and for it to always taste great and to have the same quality,” he says. Grubisa wants to continue promoting the great farming and ranching in the area and potentially create a line of retail products. However, he’s not racing to the finish line. Rather, keeping customers happy by producing the highest quality products is his primary goal. “We are taking baby steps. We want to make sure everything is
consistent and to get people excited about what we’re doing,” he says. Personally, my vote for the future is for Beltex to ramp-up sandwich production. Most Saturdays, the shop makes sandwiches with cured or smoked meats, and, as you can probably guess, these sandwiches are anything but boring. I’ve heard the meatloaf with sweet ’n’ sour pickles, bourbon barrel aged mustard and fennel marmalade is especially pleasing. They sell out, so make sure to get yours early. ❖ Beltex Meats 511 E. 900 South, SLC 801-532-2641 beltexmeats.com
Devour Utah • March 2017 49
Liquid
INSPIRINGLY CREATIVE COCKTAILS
BY MAYA SILVER PHOTOS BY JOSH SCHEUERMAN
T
o what do we owe A Farewell to Arms, As I Lay Dying and The Starry Night? Spirits, of course. The tortured genius hunched over a work-in-progress while sipping the hard stuff is a familiar trope. The drink at hand frees the mind of the creator to venture into new visionary territory. We’ve sought out some of the favorite cocktails of brilliant minds past so that you, too, can become a spirited creator. Grab a journal or sketchbook, head to the bar and let one of these cocktails inspire you. Genius is as genius does, right?
The Cocktail The Siren
The Maker
Amy Eldredge Under Current Bar 279 S. 300 East, SLC 801-574-2556 undercurrentbar.com
A
bsinthe has long been the emerald muse of Bohemian artists, including painter Vincent Van Gogh. The “green fairy” even inspired this depressed Dutchman to favor the color green and paint self-portraits of himself imbibing. At Under Current Bar, Van Gogh could numb his angst and inspire his art with no fewer than six varieties of absinthe and five cocktails in which this anise-flavored spirit stars. Co-Owner Amy Eldredge decided to offer absinthe since it pairs so well with the oysters Under Current serves. “I got kind of nerdy about absinthe and played with it in cocktails,” she says. One of her creations is The Siren—Absente absinthe, Beehive gin, simple syrup and lemon juice. She adds a layer of frothy egg white to temper the drink’s intensity, and sage as an herbal accent. Order it with a half dozen oysters and sketch between slurps.
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“An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.” ― Ernest Hemingway
Liquid
I
f you want to drink like Ernest Hemingway, the whole bar is your oyster. He drank wine when he wanted to “forget all the bad.” While performing knife tricks, he turned to absinthe. For hot Havana nights? Daiquiris. If Papa Hemingway anticipated a romantic evening, a bottle of whiskey was in order. And tequila did the trick for nautical excursions. While some debate exists as to whether Hemingway regularly imbibed mojitos, the handy book To Have and Have Another—A Hemingway Cocktail Companion tells us that he did enjoy a very similar rum-lime-mint concoction by the name of Gregorio’s Rx. Loco Lizard offers several takes on Havanaborn mojitos, and we think this pomegranate variation would suit Hemingway given his predilection for daiquiris. Made with Bacardi, pomegranate juice, soda, fresh lime juice and mint, the Pomojito is sure to inspire the next Great American Novel.
The Cocktail
Pomojito
The Maker
Loco Lizard Cantina 1612 W. Ute Blvd. Ste. 101, Park City 435-645-7000 locolizardcantina.com Devour Utah • March 2017 51
Liquid
L
ittle known fact: William Faulkner was once employed as a New Orleans bootlegger. This explains the Mississippi author’s ability to simultaneously write coherently and drink—a feat at which few succeed. Whiskey was Faulkner’s pick for poison, and his favorite way to consume it was in mint julep form. With a Prohibition-era hush-hush feel, Bourbon House would likely make Faulkner feel right at home. The mint julep here begins with a cloth sack filled with ice, which the bartender pounds with a wooden mallet to achieve the perfect crushed consistency. Next, mint leaves are muddled with Four Roses small-batch bourbon and simple syrup, then strained into a powdered sugar-rimmed glass. Sip as you let the words flow, and whatever you do, finish your drink! Faulkner once equated the crime of “pouring out liquor” with book-burning.
The Cocktail Mint Julep
The Maker
Bourbon House 19 E. 200 South, SLC 801-746-1005 bourbonhouseslc.com 52 Devour Utah • March 2017
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365 West 400 South Salt Lake City 801-328-4155 THETINANGEL.COM Devour Utah • March 2017 53
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Liquid
W
e have a feeling SoCo would win over a piece of Janis Joplin’s heart since it shares a name with the singer’s favorite spirit: Southern Comfort. Joplin drank so much of this sweetened, spiced-up whiskey that the brand bestowed her with a big lynx coat. Perhaps she even drank Southern Comfort while crooning, “Oh, gimme whiskey, give me bourbon, gimme gin ...” If you want to compose hits like Joplin, head to SoCo and order up the Y’all—a shot of Southern Comfort, plain and simple, with lemon. If that sounds a little too intense, the Sweet Georgia Brown is singing your name. Typically, SoCo makes it by muddling mint with Jim Beam, mint-infused simple syrup and peach schnapps, then straining into a Mason jar and garnishing with more mint. But the bartenders will happily prepare this Georgia take on the mint julep with Southern Comfort, if you please.
The Cocktail Sweet Georgia Brown
The Maker SoCo 319 S. Main, SLC 801-532-3946 socoslc.com
Devour Utah • March 2017 55
The Cocktail
Cheap beer and a shot of whiskey
The Maker X-Wife’s Place 465 S. 700 East, SLC 801-532-1954
C
heap beer and a shot of whiskey might not actually constitute a cocktail, but they were the beverages of choice for local writer Edward Abbey. Known for chucking cans of cheap beer onto the highway, Abbey once poetically waxed, “A drink a day keeps the shrink away.” After he died, his friends did him the honor of pouring whiskey on his grave. Since Abbey had no fewer than four ex-wives, we think he’d find X-Wife’s Place a mighty fine setting to meet his daily drinking quota while penning another sequel to The Monkey Wrench Gang. ❖
56 Devour Utah • March 2017
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Ties The
that bind
58 Devour Utah • March 2017
Content provided by Utah Restaurant Association
A
t the Utah Restaurant Association we believe in creating a vibrant restaurant industry, community and future for all. We work with state, county and local agencies to create fair and equitable treatment for restaurants. We work with our educators in hosting one of the top high school ProStart programs in the nation and we couldn’t be more proud of the teams that will compete in culinary and management competitions this year. We encourage our ProStart students to stoke their passion for creation by innovating through food and community. We celebrate the unique dining experiences throughout our state by encouraging you to Taste Utah, and creating once in a lifetime opportunities through food and events like Taste For The Space. We are inspired by the Utah restaurants that are creating community which URA intricate part of. And we invite you to catch the spark of creativity within these pages.
Devour Utah • March 2017 59
Content provided by Utah Restaurant Association Culinary TeamBrighton High School
Utah
ProStart Program
T
he Utah Restaurant Association first implemented the ProStart Program in Utah high schools in 1996. It offers Juniors and Seniors the opportunity to explore their potential and begin their journey on a culinary career path. The class itself is extremely dynamic, students focus on detailed and in depth aspects of food service. Every year culminates in a competition consisting of Culinary emphasis and Management emphasis. With over 65 schools participating in ProStart, the culinary competition is so large it must be broken up into regional competitions with the winners going on to compete in a state championship. The winning teams in both Culinary and Management go on to represent Utah at the National Invitational. For these competitions both the Management and Culinary teams are required to create their own unique three course menu and restaurant concepts to compete against their peers. We sat down with Brighton High School’s culinary team and ProStart class and Westlake High Schools management team to learn what inspires them to create.
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CULINARY TEAM BRIGHTON HIGH SCHOOL Brighton High’s ProStart culinary team and classmates hosted a conversation about all things ProStart in their very own restaurant (equipped at a professional kitchen standard) called The View, where I gained a teenage perspective on the passion, the pressure and the team work that go into a Utah ProStart culinary competition team. For Brighton High School’s ProStart team it all begins with inspiration. Team Captain Austin Lee is a clear leader among this group and was quick to offer insight on why being a leader is a group effort. “It is really fun to inspire the team to work harder, build a connection so you can throw out ides and work well together.” Lee has the look and feel of a young chef. Brighton High’s ProStart Teacher Hilary Cavanaugh held a class competition to establish the official 2017 culinary competition team and Lee not only scored highest, but as his teacher noted possessed, “a tendency to move naturally in a kitchen.” Lee spends hours along side Teammates: Truman Madsen, Andrew Reyes,
Content provided by Utah Restaurant Association Management Team Westlake High School
Adrianna Shepard, Borivat Xay Songham after classroom hours at school and at home fine-tuning knife cuts, cooking techniques, timing and plating. Culinary teams competing in regionals are required to prepare 3 dishes; appetizer, entree and dessert all within a 60 minute timed and judged arena. With a team of 4 and an alternate this doesn’t sound too arduous right? Now take away all electricity, add culinary industry standard knife cuts, food safety and restaurant quality plating and yes, we are talking about talent, skill and creative minds. One of the greatest tasks for any Utah ProStart culinary team is to create and perfect a menu for competition. Theme, vision and creation must reflect the talent and skills of all team members. Cohesive flavors, plating and artistry within a three course presentation are perfected to the minute in hopes of having a shot at the State Competition at the South Towne Expo Center and the National Invitational held in North Carolina this year. “Nature was the inspiration for our competition menu,” states Lee. “We live in Utah, with incredible mountains and nature, we though we might as well do something with it”. Adrianna Shepard pastry team member goes into detail regarding a chef driven, nature inspired dessert that can only be followed up with the last words, “intense, it’s really intense”. I can’t help but wonder with all the intensity of high school requirements and activities, why are these students sticking with ProStart? “It’s fun, and Miss C (aka ProStart Teacher Hilary Cavanaugh) encourages us to stay with the joy of putting food on a plate and the process of getting it there,” reflects Lee. Fellow classmate Elijah agrees “She opens are eyes to this field of work”. The View restaurant at Brighton high School does seem to be a place where culinary dreams are coming true. The teens excuse themselves to address a few mounding piles of dishes, pots and pans- post lunch service clean-up as teammates, its all just a part of their commitment to Utah ProStart.
MANAGEMENT TEAM WESTLAKE HIGH SCHOOL I met up with the Westlake High School management team after school at a local restaurant franchise, Cafe Zupas. It’s not abnormal for a team to spend countless hours refining their concepts, brainstorming and doing research and development with their teacher or even on their own time. Westlake has some serious experience in the the management competition having won several state championships and representing Utah at the National Invitational. The team members Hunter Reben, Jacob Pierpont, Elissa B Reynolds and Angle Whiteley were anxious to share with me what drew them what many may consider as the “less glamorous” side of the ProStart competition, management. “My goal is to start my own restaurant after I graduate”, team captain Hunter Reben told me right away. “I’ve always like to cook but I need to know the business side of things.” Elissa added, “I started taking the class to better better my culinary skills but when auditions for the management team came around, I jumped at it. My mom owned a restaurant on the border of two countries in Africa and I wanted to understand why she had been so successful, even in times of war, when other businesses around her were failing.” “I used to never think about the type of restaurant I was eating in” Jacob shared. “Now I can’t even go in side a restaurant without thinking about what’s really working for it and what doesn’t.” I kept thinking to myself, I can’t believe these are teenagers, sixteen and seventeen years old. Their restaurant concept “Bread and Butter” took time to develop, even changing concepts several times. “The name was the easy part. Ms. Wilson had us each audition for the team using that name. When we all found out we had made the team, we chose to keep the name.” “Sometimes you need to give them an ember, a tiny spark and let them take it from there.” explained their ProStart teacher, Candace Wilson. “It’s inspiring to watch them take Devour Utah • March 2017 61
Content provided by Utah Restaurant Association
it, fan it and explode it into a whole restaurant concept that’s coming directly from them.” Says ProStart teacher Candace Wilson. “I was thinking about a bread concept and different compound butters with that name. And they took it and made it something completely unique and inspired by their values, their tastes, and their ideas. It’s amazing to watch them create.” The team is required to come up with an entire restaurant concept on their own. They create a comprehensive business plan which includes everything from branding, logos, exterior and interior aesthetics, textiles, marketing strategies, to concept design will their restaurant be a fast-casual, fine dine, a food truck, and though to menu creation and design. They present their concept at the state management competition to a panel of restaurant and business owners and operators who will judge the concepts. “We want to be unique and offer something that no one else is. We want Bread and Butter to be healthy. We’re
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inspired by different restaurants with healthy food concepts.” Says Elissa. Even sitting at Cafe Zupas, they point out things that work, Jacob points out the brilliance of free wi-fi. “I bet they get customers coming in just for that.” He says. While Elissa mentions the broken monitors above the counters. “It’s nice to have entertainment while your standing in line, but if it doesn’t work properly it’s not a good reflection of your business.” she tells me. They’re cautious to offer up too much information about their ideas and strategies because this is a serious competition and they are in it to win it. And the article will be out a few days before the competition. “It would be exciting to win and go to Nationals”, says Angel. “But either way, I’m starting my own food truck with my sister after I graduate this spring.” These are the next generation of restaurateur and food service professional and I personally can’t wait to see what they cook up.
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PROSTART EDUCATOR SPOTLIGHTS: HILARY CAVANAUGH PROSTART TEACHER BRIGHTON HIGH SCHOOL Hilary Cavanaugh is easily described as an extraordinary educator. Appearing not much older than the high school students she teaches, this bright, passionate pastry chef brings her professional career to her personal and ultimate goal of giving back. Cavanaugh is teaching ProStart in her high school Alma Mater. She reflects on the personal struggle that her high school years were and the teacher and a program- yes you guessed it, Utah ProStart that gave her purpose, passion and a professional direction. Through a series of personal family struggles she had given up hope for a career, let alone college. She lost direction and focus and found herself just getting through day after day of high school. It was her ProStart teacher that encouraged Cavanaugh to try out for the ProStart team “My teacher woke me up, it changed my entire life. I wasn’t going to go to college- I didn’t have the money. My teacher made me compete and competing led to a scholarship.” “My whole career was so that I could come back and teach ProStart at Brighton High, It has been a life long goal”. It is clear that her students thrive within her creative style of teaching. Cavanaugh exposes them to industry professionals, and a constant creativity in the classroom. There are so many opportunities and varied positions in the food industry and she believes it is important that all students interested in a career in culinary arts have an opportunity to explore and find their niche. Cavanaugh believes that healthy competition can ignite a passion, a purpose within. This is her message to her students, “find what really lights you up- the passion. That is where creativity comes from.”
CANDACE WILSON PROSTART TEACHER WESTLAKE HIGH SCHOOL Candace Wilson is a veteran ProStart teacher at Westlake High School. “I grew up in restaurants. My family owned restaurants. I always dreamed of owning my own restaurant.” Wilson said as we discussed the ProStart program. “I owned a restaurant for a little while and when that didn’t work out, I decided to come back to teaching. I love working with my students.” Candace, known as Mrs. Wilson around Westlake is inspired by how the ProStart program encourages students to comprehensively understand all aspects of the food service industry. She has a couple of state management competition titles under her belt and has helped her teams compete on a national stage. “ProStart is a great opportunity for these kids to learn about what they can accomplish as team and what they are capable of through commitment and hard work.” At her school, the ProStart class is operating out of a restaurant caliber kitchen and offering catering as well as cinnamon rolls. “Students rave about the cinnamon rolls”, boasts Candace. “The kids want to enroll in ProStart because they want to be involved with the cinnamon rolls. They love them.” One management team was even inspired to create a whole restaurant concept around them. It’s important to Wilson to be involved in the ProStart program not only as teacher but as mentor. She spends a lot of time with students outside of the classroom guiding them through the many opportunities the restaurant industry offers. She believes that the ProStart competition’s are an important aspect of that. “It motivates kids and helps them put into practice all the skills they are learning.” “The teams are serious at our school. It’s like being on an athletic team. The teens have to audition, they have to sign contracts and practice after school.” she says. “It’s totally worth it. The students love it and it gives them the tools they need to be successful in life.” It’s apparent to me that Candace Wilson loves it too. n Devour Utah • March 2017 63
Content provided by Utah Restaurant Association The Utah Restaurant Association is proud to announce the latest addition to www.TasteUT.com…
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Taste Park City is an area specific dining guide featuring 25 of Park City areas hottest restaurants in 4 distinct dining districts:
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Taste Park City
4. THE RESORTS
HISTORIC MAIN STREET Yuki Yama Sushi
KIMBALL JUNCTION Myrtle Rose
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RK CITY
PROSPECTOR Windy Ridge Bakery
RESORTS The Farm
The Taste Park City section of Taste Utah’s website also includes an exclusive see-it-foryourself video foreach restaurant. Meet the chef behind the cuisine, tantalize your tastebuds with a signature cocktail and discover why Park City is a your next dining destination. Only 32 miles east of Salt Lake City, we dare you to fall in love with this international dining destination all over again.
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Content provided by Utah Restaurant Association
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On Saturday, May 6, 2017 ONLY Twelve of Utah’s most talented restaurant chefs will prepare a single taste for a prize package valued at over $140,000 and let UTAH decide who will win. Visit www.shopsatsouthtown.com to apply or text 41487 for more information APPLY BY FEBRUARY 28, 2017 — don’t let this opportunity go up in flames. Devour Utah • March 2017 65
Last Bite:
The Creative Spirit
By Margo Provost
E
very single moment of every single day we are creating. Why do we think otherwise? Do we really need an unanticipated, uncontrollable catastrophic event to get creative? Or a light-bulb brilliant idea that sweeps us forward on a wave of enthusiasm toward a lofty goal? These surely do occur. But I think each of us chooses our perspective on what is occurring in every moment, and that choosing is our fundamental act of creativity. It is the underpinning of the life we live—how we choose to perceive anyone or anything makes all the difference. Shift the perspective and we shift our experience. It is this chosen shift put into action that I call creativity. Feeling bored? Tired? Quickly frustrated? Impatient? Fearful? Angry? It’s time to get creative. I ask myself, how can I embrace these emotions as road signs that it is time to consider things differently? How can I employ these feelings as kickstarters instead of judging them as negative and pushing them away? How can I stay in the discomfort and hold my judgements at bay for now? If I stay neutral, more creative juices can be unleashed and I am more likely to come up with clearer insights about myself and the situation. I find it empowering to stay neutral and focus on a fertile opportunity rather than binding myself to angst, regret and resistance. Besides, hindsight is an incredible and fascinating gift. What might seem horrible today becomes our greatest blessing through the lens of hindsight. So why waste today’s energy stuck in negative judgements and stymied energy? And then there’s the idea that creativity is a sacred, heavy enterprise. It carries this mantle of comparison to others, a weight of originality, getting to the top, staying at the top. Why? I say lighten up. Choose to perceive yourself as a creator—have fun figuring out how to do something different, how to feel differently about yourself, about others, about a situation. Dig in and discover your own authenticity and then intentionally frame your actions to reflect what you have chosen. Some paths are tangible and enduring; some are light and temporary. All can and should be celebrated. In the early ’90s, I held a high-level executive position in a multibillion-dollar corporation. I made terrific money, lived by the ocean, owned an exotic sports car, and oversaw technology innovations for our business sector. I also worked all the time, chafed at the corporate culture and watched as peers scrambled relentlessly for promotions and employed questionable ethics. As time went by, I found myself less excited about how I spent my days. I complained more. I asked myself tough philosophical questions. To salve my increasing discontent, I sought escape to natural settings always within walking distance to great food and wine. Eventually, I chose to “live my escape” and founded a business that would reflect my values: Log Haven restaurant. My intention was to nurture and nourish me and to engage others to be nurtured and nourished as well. My amazing Log Haven partners and I hold space for each other to create and connect and we provide a setting for our guests to do the same. This is our purpose and our offering as we experience our creativity actualized every day. We are fortunate, indeed. ❖ Margo Provost is principal owner of Log Haven restaurant. 66 Devour Utah • March 2017
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