Waiter Rant

Just a quick update on a fabulous food related topic: BOOKS!

Ianto's love just introduced me to a great book "Waiter Rant." For anyone who's ever eaten at a restaurant or worked in the food service industry this book is a delight. The waiter has worked at The Bistro for seven years. He writes in a very compelling and interesting way. From his spiritual journey from Catholic seminary school at 19 to borderline alcoholism at 38, we see the world through the stories of his restaurant.

If you can't wait to read the book, check out his blog at www.waiterrant.net.

Salt Lake Pizza & Pasta

Pub Food, Beer and Air

This week, Giggles and I went to Salt Lake Pizza and Pasta. I've been here a few times before and am always impressed by the atmosphere. The decor is modern, warm and comfortable. It feels a lot like Red Rock Brewery, but has a different flair.

Giggles and I waited and waited and waited. Finally, after 15 minutes of "please wait to be seated" sign obedience our server, Cami sat us. I was appalled to see that nearly all the tables were dirty and empty. 9 o'clock at night? And the house was empty? That's not a good sign.

Admittedly, Pizza and Pasta is the family side of Fiddler's Elbow and we were avoiding membership fees by sitting with the little ones, but still. Empty and dirty? Not good.

After we were seated at a nice clean booth, the whole experience was much better. Our server made some drink suggestions including a Raspberry Beer, Blue Moon and an apricot heifweizen. I ordered the apricot ($4.25), while giggles got the Blue Moon ($4.25) . They were great suggestion for two lovers of girl beer.

The apricot had great flavor and was nice and light. So I didn't feel like I'd gained 5 pounds after drinking one beer. Always, a plus! The Blue Moon was a little frothy for me. I'm not sure exactly what was different, but it seemed to carbonated. The flavor was a little less full than the apricot.

Giggles order mushroom gravy pork chops. I order seafood perciatelli ($14.50). Perciatelli are a thick hollow noodle shaped like spaghetti. The seafood included clams, mussels, salmon and shrimp.

As always the food was delicious, but the portions were gargantuan. I loved my pasta dish it had the right amount of heat with lots of flavor. The pesto sauces was great flavor, but a little too oily for me. If I made this dish at home I would cut the EVO in half and let the flavor of the spice stand out more.

The seafood as a whole was great. The salmon was moist, flaky and fresh. The mussels were cooked perfectly and not chewy at all. The shrimp were good, not the freshest I've had, but cooked well and mixed nicely with everything else in the dish. The clams could have been fresher, but they were cooked perfectly. This far from the ocean and at a pub I can't complain too much.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you how cheap this place was. Because Giggles is an awesome friend and she bought me dinner. I will tell you this: next time, you're at Pizza and Pasta ask for Cami, order some beer and bring good friends. You will definitely feel like it's worth it.

In the end, it was a great dinner. Cami kept us well-stocked on our beer, but was careful we didn't drink ourselves to the floor. Plus, they let us hang out for a couple hours. In the world of waiting tables, that's pretty good service.

Salt Lake Pizza and Pasta is next to Wells Fargo on the corner of 2100 South and Highland Drive (1100 East).

Sushi, sushi, sushi

Recently, I've been craving sushi. I love the melody of flavors in sushi, the dedication to the freshest ingredients and the beautiful presentation. Our craving for fresh, beautiful sushi led Mrs. Michael Scofield and I have to test out Salt Lake's sushi scene.

Sapporo
The first place we went to was Sapporo. They have no Internet presence that I can find, but they have great sushi. The restaurant is on Broadway (300 South) right next to the Broadway Theater. The restaurant has never appeared very busy to me and it certainly wasn't the night we stopped by. There was a couple at the sushi bar with us and another couple joined the four of us later.

The sushi chef was pretty young. (My guess is 17-ish.) But he was friendly and talked to us as he prepared our rolls. So while the chef didn't know what Kobe beef was, I have to give him props for making some excellent sushi. I really enjoyed the bar, the other guests were friendly and the chef did a great job of involving everyone in the conversation. Our waitress was very good. She saw immediately when drinks needed refilled and carefully made sure everyone was happy.

The sushi itself was incredible! I was stuffed after four pieces, but it was so good I had to keep eating. The ingredients were all fresh and everything went together so nicely. Plus, it was the most beautiful sushi I have seen.

I really enjoyed Sapporo and am looking forward to a return visit. For two sodas and two sushi rolls it was about $25. All the fish was incredibly fresh and even the pickled ginger looked amazing! It's definitely worth a visit.

Tsunami
I've posted about Tsunami before, so I'll be brief. They serve some of the best, freshest sushi in the valley. The Tokyo Cowboy is an excellent sushi roll and the prices are great for what you get. But I can't get over the atmosphere. The Sugar House location just isn't as friendly and warm as I would expect from any restaurant. The servers also seem a little stand-offish. I will go back to this place...if someone else is paying!

I Love Sushi
The last place we visited in our sushi sovereign was this little shop in Downtown. The place is known for excellent prices and great sushi. Mrs. Scofield and I have been meaning to go here forever and we finally made it with Jess.

Jess, Ava and I each ordered a sushi roll. They were a little thinner than the rolls served a Tsunami and Sabbarro, but with more pieces. The smaller pieces were easier to eat because they fit in my mouth easily.

I ordered something with yellow tail. The yellow tail was very fresh and flavorful. Unfortunately, the vegetables were not as fresh as I expected. The chef added some sauce and sesame seeds to the top. It made for an interesting texture and a fun presentation, but all the flavor didn't quite go together. I think a little too much was happening for a single roll

The atmosphere here was great. I felt like we were in the home of a good friend and was perfectly at ease to ignore my non-chop stick skills and eat with my fingers. It's a little bit of a sushi diner, restaurant implies no whiteboards with the daily special listed.

Our server was friendly and made great dessert recommendations for the green tea and plum ice cream. The deep-fried banana was great. Tempura does very well on fruit. I loved the green tea ice cream and will definitely eat more in the future.

Three sushi rolls, two desserts and three sodas later the bill came to about $35. Not bad, for all that food. Next time, I will try their bento boxes and branch out into other Japanese foods like ramen.

While there's a lot to love about each of these locations. The first sushi stop is my first love. It has great sushi, a great chef, fun decor and comfortable prices.

What are your favorite Salt Lake sushi places?

Is it just me?

Or has food gone downhill in quality lately. But really? How hard is it to make a good sandwich? And where can you find this horrible sandwich I had the joy of tasting?

Why at East Coast Subs in Downtown Salt Lake City! I spent a gorgeous afternoon strolling the streets of Downtown taking photos. When I was hungry, I found myself faced with East Coast Subs or crossing the street and going to Esther's. I had never been to either so I chose convenience and went inside East Coast.

I should have been warned by the sole table of two at one in the afternoon. A sandwich shop on a weekday with two customers just shortly after regular lunch time is not a good sign. But, I put my faith in the woman behind the counter and the easy to read menu.

Between greeting the woman at the counter (I assume she is the owner) and placing my order, the owner passed me off to an employee. She was friendly and waited patiently as I read the menu.

I ordered a small BLT sandwich, a small fountain drink and a small side of onion rings. The easy-to-read menu lead me to believe the meal would cost about $7 plus tax, it was closer to $10. Apparently, the addition of a combo for $2.79 only applies if you get medium size, but the girl behind the counter failed to mention it, as does the menu, when she asked what I wanted with my sandwich.

$10 is more than I ever want to pay for lunch, especially a sandwich. But I figure if you make it good enough you can charge a little more and I won't mind. So my expectations were raised with the price tag.

My order was ready to go in about 5 minutes. I decided to eat over at Gallivan Plaza next to the fountains. The setting was great. My first bite was the exact opposite. It went something like this: bite, chew, chew, umm, is that stale bread?, eww!

Yes, people. Not only was the sandwich constructed in such a way that the first mouthful was entirely bread it was also stale bread. The contents of the sandwich didn't fare much better in freshness.

The lettuce was browned and the tomato looked extra smooshed, like it had sat at the bottom of a container of tomatoes for a few too many hours. No condiments were given, so I had no mayonnaise. The bacon was the best part of the sandwich. It had been taken off the grill just seconds before topping my stale bread. So while, it may have been a lower quality meat it was a least edible.

I turned to the onion rings, hoping to recover some of my faith in sandwich shops. What I found were freshly baked onion rings straight from your grocer's freezer. You know, the Ore-Ida kind you grab when you have kids and want to make dinner in a hurry.

If that's what they really serve on the East Coast, I'm moving farther west. Sorry East Coast Subs, next time I'm crossing the street to Esther's.