The Other Place

The Other Place

469 E 300 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84102

TL;DR 

- Price: $10 - 18 

- Flavor: Greek and Home-y

- Filling?: Absolutely

- Parking: Great

There's parking on the street and you can pull in to park behind the building.

There's quite a lot of breakfast options! These were incredibly tempting because I made a bit of a trek to try this place and was feeling rather famished.

The first things that caught my attention were their really good prices. $11.95 for roast leg of lamb (dinner special of the night)!

They have wines and beers. Very pleasant surprise.

I ordered the Moussaka - layers of potatoes, zucchini, eggplant with a spiced meat filling and Bechamel sauce on top. I was advised to get garlic bread to go with the casserole-like dish. Soup AND salad? Yes, please!

The soup has a very strong lemon flavor. I'm not used to this but it was very easy to grow accustomed to. Perfect after walking 8 blocks in the cold.

The salad is presented beautifully. I'm a big fan. Grape tomatoes are my new favorite sensation. The blast of flavor when I break into one is amazing. I still don't like olives, haha. Thank goodness there's only one.

Wendi is a wonderful waitress. So bubbly. The hostess is amazing also. This environment is very pleasant. Overhearing the patrons, I got the sense that they were either regulars or the service is so good that everyone seemed like regulars.

Moussaka is very good. The spices are the centerpiece of the dish. Very much a comfort food. 

Pro-tip: Gotta use the knife to cut the top layer, just using a fork will result in pulling the whole thing apart.

The garlic bread portion is magnificent. Enormous, crispy, flavorful. Wonderful suggestion, Wendi.

Dessert comes with the meal, too! Baklava and rice pudding are made here. Baklava was excellent. I loved the flakiness.

A couple anonymously bought my dinner. I am so incredibly thankful for this. It warmed my heart. Were I not stuck in a state of anxiety, I would have loved to track you down to thank you personally for showing me the goodness of humanity.

Current

Current

79 E 300 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84111

TL;DR 

- Price: $10 - 20 

- Flavor: Seafood

- Filling?: Yes

- Parking: Downtown

I must admit, I looked rather foolish on arrival as I walked right past the entrance (which is located behind the tables of their patio, by the way), assuming that the entrance was elsewhere.

I was in the mood to relax, so I splurged for the cappuccino. Flavor was robust. They only gave me one sugar cube, which ended up being perfect for my desired level of sweetness.

The place is huge. I love the high ceiling, it really gives the place a spacious feeling. The vision line into the kitchen is very cool. I love eating with the sounds of cooking in the background, especially that sweet sizzle. There's an upstairs area as well. It seems very well-equipped to handle high occupancy. I'll try this out during a busier time.

The Trout and Eggs looked magnificent. The potatoes were piping hot and delightful. The trout was reminiscent of a grilled salmon. Do not judge this dish based on the first egg-less bites. The contrast is staggering. The warmth and joy that I felt when I ate a morsel of fish, dripping with over-easy egg and completed with green, was overwhelming. 

Second Source Account: Crab Benedict is a perfect light portion.

Third Source Account: Grilled fish sandwich was great!

Fourth Source Account: The seafood salad was a little bland. The dressing seemed a little out of place. Doesn't seem worth the price.

Current is a fairly new establishment. I'm tremendously thankful to a friend of mine for referring me here. It seems to be quite the new, hip place for seafood connoisseurs. I'd like to come with a bigger appetite next time so that I might try more of their courses (the clam dip, a dessert, perhaps I might even be tempted by a wine).

Holiday Hiatus

Holiday Hiatus

My apologies to my readers. I have of late been sick and thus have not been able to review anything for a while. I will try to slip in a restaurant or two for this month. 

As it is the holidays, I will be leaving to visit my family. Ahh, the beauty of distance is that it makes everything so endearing. Seriously, though, it will be good to see them again. However, this means I will not be able to review anything in Utah for a few weeks. 

Thank you for your support. I hope the holidays find you well. Have a wonderful winter!

Bambara

Bambara

202 Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

TL;DR 

- Price: $10 - 20 Brunch, $30+ Dinner

- Flavor: American

- Filling?: Yes

- Parking: Downtown

Very classy establishment, attached to Hotel Monaco. There is public parking on the street and the hotel has a parking garage as well.

I need to stress that I came here for Brunch, which is quite less expensive than their Dinner options, so keep that in mind when you are making plans.

Salmon Benedict - server said it's one of his favorite things on the menu, so why not?

It looked and smelled divine. The salmon was, surprisingly, not the usual smoked lox. It seemed to be an actual grilled filet. It was not dry at all, which is generally a common concern when it comes to cooked salmon.

The wedge of tomato was interesting and provided nice color to the dish (lipstick for the plate, as it were). It was very mild as well. I was concerned that it would be very sour.

I am not the biggest bread connoisseur, but I really appreciated the use of warm, crisp ciabatta in lieu of the usual generic English muffin. It was a nice change of pace.

The potatoes were not very oily to taste. I really enjoyed the onions and peppers scattered amongst the potatoes.

I love a good Benedict, and Bambara delivered. I will look forward to an opportunity to experience their dinner. If brunch is any indication, it will be a delightful evening.

Tonkotsu

Tonkotsu

1898 3500 S #10, West Valley City, UT 84119

TL;DR 

- Price: $10 - 15

- Flavor: Ramen, light

- Filling?: Yes

- Parking: Busy, but manageable

The parking here is fairly busy, as there are quite a few establishments sharing this lot.

I'd like to be clear that I came here during their "soft open," as not everything was available yet (appetizers, three ramens, rice bowls were the options).

The environment was pretty relaxing: Chill music, wood tables with texture (seems very distinguished). I really enjoyed their chopsticks and ladle.

Their takoyaki is made fresh so it takes 15 minutes. It may come after the ramen, keep that in mind. The takoyaki seems a little light on the meat. The flavor is pretty good, just a little imbalanced in terms of meat to other stuff. The texture is a little off. The exterior should be crisp and it missed the mark here.

Miso ramen - the flavor is not as pungent as I expected from years of drinking miso soup, which was a nice discovery. The corn was very sweet and had that cool snap to it. The seaweed was great, very flavorful without that msg feeling. The pork I received was excellent, very tender and savory.

Nothing makes this man happier than a runny egg. I thought it wasn't going to happen but I was pleasantly surprised.

Second Source Account: Tonkotsu ramen - The flavor seems a little weak. The texture isn't as springy as ramen from Japan. The pork is fattier than I'm used to.

Third Source Account: Curry ramen - The fried pork was over fried. It was a little tough at times. 8/10

Perhaps my expectations were a bit lower than my fellow compatriots, but I enjoyed my experience here. I really like that there're ramen options in so many different areas, so it's fairly easy to find a quick, filling, heart-and-soul warming lunch. I would like them to refine their frying techniques with respect to their Takoyaki and the Pork in the Curry Ramen, but I would be willing to return for their Miso Ramen.

Fat Fish

Fat Fish

1980 3500 S, West Valley City, UT 84119

TL;DR 

- Price: $20+

- Flavor: Japanese, Light

- Filling?: Depends

- Parking: Pretty good

Before I begin, I must apologize for this review. It is a bit scattered and wordy. I was very tired when I wrote it.

The wait to be seated and to get our orders in was a bit long. Perhaps their emphasis is largely on the existing customers before the newcomers. It was reasonably busy so I think I can excuse this.

I came with a few people, so this review is going to be a little bit longer.

Edamame is fairly standard. Simple and good. No complaints here. 

The Calamari was excellent! The sweet chili sauce is really good. The other white and orange sauce has the creamyness I like. The two sauces are like a yin and yang of delight. The fried onions and jalapeños were a nice touch as well.

The options are fairly numerous. I am a superfreak for sashimi so you know that I'm all over the Large Sashimi (12 pieces of 4 types of fish for $14, what a deal!!).

Also went with the Daizee (tuna, tempura shrimp, ono, lime, salmon, cucumber and onion).

The sashimi looked beautiful. It comes with a sweet sauce. The sauce tasted interesting but overall it was a bit distracting from the flavors of the fish. By the way, you can either choose which fish you want or go with Chef's Choice.

The Chef chose escolar, tuna, yellowtail, albacore.

The escolar is very light. The cucumber slices that came with the escolar may actually overpower it. I'm a fan, without the cucumber.

The tuna seemed a little old compared to other restaurants. It was presented in a delightful fashion. The flavor was a little lacking.

The yellowtail is very good. The morsels are delectable. This was the star of the dish. In hindsight, I would've been perfectly happy with 9 pieces of yellowtail and 3 pieces of escolar, hah.

The albacore seemed a little old, too. It didn't have the fresh snapback to it I expect from sashimi.

The Daizee sauce is savory. Almost to the point of overpowering the rest of the roll. The power of the fish is a little lacking after the taste of their sauce hit me! Though they provide extra sauce on the side, I probably wouldn't do any more dipping because it's overwhelms the fish.

Jalapeño bomb is spicy (of course). The spicy kick was excellent. It comes with a creamy sauce similar to the sauce from the Calamari (hard to tell if they're the same). A reasonable appetizer choice, but I would go with the Calamari first, if you had to choose one.

The Philly is very subtle and light. I did not like the overabundance of sesame seeds. I felt as though I couldn't really taste the fish inside.

The Red Dragon is very nice. The spicy kick is really solid. Easily gets my appetite going.

Second Source Account: Dragon Balls are awesome.

Third Source Account: too much chili sauce. I like cleaner rolls more, I felt theirs were a bit too busy. The Philly without the Chili sauce was really good, particularly with the sesame and the cucumber. The chili sauce overdid it, though.

Fourth Source Account: Dinero was so good. Dragonfly was really good, and particularly interesting because all of a sudden you get a jalapeño kick and then a second kick but of lime. Really liked the cream cheese in the rolls.

We decided to finish the meal off with Mochi Ice Cream!

I opted for the strawberry, chocolate, and cookies and cream.

Strawberry: harder than the others on my plate. The mochi exterior was a little tough.

Chocolate: soft texture. Flavor was really good. Probably my favorite of the bunch.

Cookies and cream: pretty solid flavor, texture was better than the strawberry but slightly worse than the chocolate.

(friend provided a sample) Mango: mild tang was pretty good.

Second Source: green tea is awesome. The texture was great. It was mildly sweet as opposed to the others.

Third Source: green tea is amazing. Very refreshing.

The Mochi ice cream is a great way to finish off a meal of sushi. The fact that you can choose three in a order for $6 is really cool. 

I must apologize for the scattered nature of this entry. It was a bit of a tiring weekend and all of my fatigue from the last several days of celebrations caught up to me during this meal. Fat Fish is a reasonable choice, particularly with respect to sashimi cost. However, it won't dethrone my favorites with regards to the flavors and freshness.

Pleiku

Pleiku

264 Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

TL;DR 

- Price: $10 - $15

- Flavor: Vietnamese/Asian

- Filling?: Yes

- Parking: Downtown, would probably have to park and walk a bit

Very cool location downtown with a dark, romantic atmosphere. Sleek and trendy menus, utensils, and plates.

The list of drinks is pretty good. The sapporo Boba tea sounds excellent.

XO noodles!!! A lot of places either don't have it or list it on the menu but cannot produce it when asked.

XO noodles are exactly what I expected. Piping hot noodles, bold flavors. Wonderful option to share. I'm not a huge fan of the cup of sauce. It tasted good, but you don't get the XO noodle flavor. It covers instead of complements the XO noodles. 

Words of warning to the uninitiated but adventurous: its texture is akin to a chow fun, and make sure you're comfortable with sharing with your dining compatriots as the noodles don't have clear lines of demarcation (germophobes probably should get their own or separate the portions early).

Combination pho was recommended. I always put bean sprouts in my pho for that crisp snap in each bite. The broth is a bit lighter than I'm accustomed to. I am tempted to add Sriracha. The meatball has a tremendous flavor to it. I usually like the rare and well done beef most in a bowl of pho but the meatball annihilated them both.

I love XO noodles so there's a clear and present bias here. Their pho is reasonably priced (around $8 or $9), especially for a dinner downtown. The flavor is lighter than I'd like, so I would likely choose a different main entree. Good nighttime option downtown!

Omar's Rawtopia

Omar's Rawtopia

2148 E Highland Dr, Salt Lake City, UT 84106

TL;DR 

- Price: $15+

- Flavor: Vegan

- Filling?: Depends!

- Parking: Pretty good

There is parking on the street, additional parking if you turn in from the street, and various lots/garage nearby.

Omar's Rawtopia is a pretty cozy place. It smells very earthy. I felt like I was neglecting the Vegan crowd a bit with my selections, so today was a step in that direction. 

I was recommended the Mango Smoothie (drink of the day). Very fresh! I like how they state that everything is made "with Love" in the menu. The drink is pretty clear about that.

The idea of a vegan sushi roll was very intriguing to me. I went with the Spicy Curried Seaweed Roll.

Firstly, the dish looks wonderful. They don't skimp on decor. Without the sauce, there's huge emphasis on the fresh taste and the crunch of the vegetables and nuts. The sauce is where it's at, though. The curry isn't as spicy as I traditionally am used to, but I really admired the ginger presence. My only complaint here is the portion size to price. However, I may be judging this on a vegan scale rather than a sushi scale: $15 for a specialty sushi roll isn't too excessive, right?

Omar's Rawtopia is a pretty cool vegan place. I do have higher expectations for sushi, but I will return to try their Raw Burger, about which I've heard great things.