Love at First Bite

Meditrina

1394 S. West Temple

Lunch : Monday--Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Dinner: Monday--Thursday 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

I'm in love! Honestly, the dinner Ava and I had a Meditrina is hands-down one of the best dining experiences I've had in Salt Lake. This place is amazing.

Meditrina is in the house where Mama's Southern Plantation used to be and in every way has improved the place. It was dark, but the outside looked far less sketchy than when it had housed Mama's. Probably because they put up lots of Christmas lights so the area has some lighting.

Inside the owners have vastly improved the interior on a small budget. From the wooden floor to the geometric art to the bright purple ceiling the interior is warm and modern. They also have some cool chandeliers hanging up that add to the feeling.

My only complaint about the decor is the brown couch and that's just because it's not a very nice brown. I would love it if they reupholstered in black, but really they just moved in and they have a couch. That's impressive. It took me four months to get my first couch and it's really my roommates.

Our waiter was Tim and I have a small crush on him. For a couple of reasons, first he's adorable, second he was friendly and willing to make jokes at his own and my expense, and finally he brought me delicious food.

I knew you were wondering when I would get to that. Because we all know a restaurant is only as impressive as their menu, right? Well at Meditrina they've put together a fabulous menu of tapas.

I ordered the Patatas Bravas and Insideout Chicken Satay. Ava ordered the curry shrimp and steak. Because everything is served tapas style we got to share everything. That's right; it's all delicious food presented beautifully than you go family style and serve yourself. It's like snack time just became dinner time. Yay!

The potatoes were amazing. I'm guessing the bravas part meant the spicy tomatoe sauce the roasted potatoes were served with. As anyone who knows me can tell you: I will eat only potatoes and be happy, but these potatoes were truly amazing. The sauce was so good I would eat it without a potatoe.

The shrimp curry was my favorite of the dishes. I still can't get over the yumminess of the curry. I have decided I must learn how to make curry based on Meditrina's shrimp. It was that good.

Next was the inside out chicken satay. I'm not familiar with a chicken satay, but it was yummy. The almond crust was sweet and good. Ava didn't like this dish, but she doesn't like nuts. So all I can say is if you like chicken, almonds and sweet peanut sauce you will love this dish.

On to the steak. This was probably my least favorite of our four dishes. The steak was served with a pile of mashed potatoes and asparagus--both of which I love. The potatoes were good, not the best mashed potatoes, but obviously freshly prepared and homemade with pleanty of pepper and butter.

The asparagus was fantastic. The roasted spears were cooked perfectly and not to raw or overcooked, just a nice crisp bite. The steak was a little tough to me and not as flavorful as I expected it to be after the potatoes, shrimp and chicken. However, Ava loved this dish and ate most of the steak.

Oh. I almost forgot dessert. Ava and I split the Drunken Oreos Tim suggested based on "popular response." I don't know what that means, but drunken oreos are yummy. The oreos are dunked in red wine than topped with vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with a port wine reduction sauce. Again, the sauce was fabulous. Plus, it was a good kind of ice cream not a crappy store brand, but actually a quality ice cream where you can see the vanilla bean and taste the cream.

See what happens when I'm in love? I talk way too much. For two beers, four plates of tapas and dessert the bill was right around $45. A little more expensive than my usual, but totally worth it. Plus, massive props to Ava who once again fed me.

What cool, new restaurant have you discovreed lately?

Lunch in Europe

Atlantic Cafe
325 S. Main St.

Hours:
Monday--Thursday
10 a.m.--10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday
10 a.m.--midnight
Sunday
Closed

I've posted about this downtown cafe before, but Ava and I went by on Saturday for another fantastic lunch. We were starving and about two in the afternoon there were only a few other customers in the cafe. For the first time, we sat inside instead of on the patio. Spring is so close, but not quite here. *sigh*

I ordered the Margarita pizza and soda. Ava ordered coffee and the parma prosciutto panini. Our waitress was friendly and spoke in a mix of English and a language I didn't recognize. I've heard the owners are Bosnian so maybe she was speaking Croatian? Like all my experiences with Atlantic the service is prompt and very polite.

As always my pizza was delicious. Atlantic makes an obvious effort to use the freshest and best ingredients in their food. The mozzarella was high quality and melted to just the right amount of stringy. The basil and tomatoes were fresh and flavorful. The pizza really is big enough to serve as lunch for two, but it's so yummy I ate most of it on my own.

Ava's fries were yummy. They are very thin shoe-string french fries cooked just right. I like these fries best with some salt and pepper. Ava prefers them with ketchup. Also Ava is absolutely in love with their coffee. It was served in a very adorable saucer and cup and apparently is some of the best coffee in the city.

The panini was delicious. It was probably big enough to serve as lunch for two, but when the food is that good it's no surprise Ava ate the whole thing. Congrats! It was an amazing feat of tummy stretching.

My favorite part about Atlantic is for a moment you believe you are in a cafe in Europe. The staff is speaking a foreign language, the extra virgin olive oil label is in Arabic, there are chocolates you've never seen before and the other patrons are a wonderful mix of locals and tourists. The atmosphere is very warm and inviting.

In all for a pizza, panini, soda and coffee it came to just under $25. I believe Atlantic has raised their prices since I was there last September. However, they are still reasonably priced for the quality of the food, the portions and the overall experience.

Gallery Stroll and Sushi

OMG! Look, there's pictures!

It's the third Friday of the month, again. The roomies and I have a fabulous tradition of wandering around Gallery Stroll. If you've never made it to downtown around 7 p.m. on the third Friday of the month, you are missing out on one of Salt Lake's best little big city moments. This time before we wandered the local galleries at Broadway and 300 West, we stopped by Sapporo for some sushi.It was an excellent fix to my sushi cravings. Jon was the sushi chef again. He couldn't remember our names, but he did remember Erin had been to Italy. As always he was pleasant and friendly. Jon is an excellent reason to sit at the bar.


My Metropolitan role smiled at me. The Metropolitan is probably my favorite roll from Sapporo. It's a combination of samon, yellotail and tuna with asparagus and eel. Unfortunately, on Friday night the fish wasn't as fresh as I've come to expect from Sapporo.

Ava loved the Manitoc. Ava's Manitoc roll looked beautiful. Although, like me she too had to scrape some of the tabiko off the top. That much wasabi is just too hot for anyone not raised in Korea.


Erin again ordered the Sushi Treat and Jon set her up with a nice array of different sashimi. Erin also mentioned she really enjoyed her chef's choice entree. It looked delicious. Some of the treats included caviar and deep frying, so you know it can't be that bad.


Our service was probably the fastest it has ever been at Sapporo. The waitresses were excellent. They both did a great job of bringing us everything we needed. They were both firendly and chatted with the crowd at the bar as well.

I piad about $15 for my roll and a coke. A fairly reasonable price for sushi in the middle of a landlocked state. Sapporo is open Monday through Saturday for dinner from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Sadly, at the end of this visit I would go back to Sapporo as a good faith visit. But if the fish is unfresh again I may have to go back to the unfriendly staff of Tsunami.

Props to Er-Bear for the camera/photo help. Kudos for Jon and holding still so I could take a picture. And Ava for agreeing that asking Erin if she wanted to add anything was hysterical.

Thanks for reading, how was your food Friday?

Tulie Bakery

Bow to the Cuteness

Last Saturday, Ava was having great psychic connections to all things good food. After eating at Cafe Trio we decided to stop next door at Tulie at 863 East 700 South. Just to check out the cool building and see what the bakery had to offer.

How do you say so adorable you'll want to cry tears of joy?

Tulie is made of cuteness. Really. I promise. I can't show you because I forgot my camera. But their treats are tasty and adorable.

I ordered the lemon cream tart. It was delicious! I have a sweet tooth for lemon. It's a great combination of sweet and sour. The crust was nice and flaky, but thick enough you didn't bite only into cream. It was even garnished with candied lemon rind. Making the tart amazingly adorable and yummy. For $4.25 (if I remember correctly) it was big enough I took it home and polished it off the next day. The yumminess lasted and the adorableness still amazes me.

Ava ordered the chocolate cake. It was also $4.25 a slice. The cake was very rich and chocolaty so I didn't try it. But judging from Ava's excitement about going back to Tulie it was delicious.

We also drank their house coffee. At $1.50 a cup it's reasonable priced for any coffee shop. The coffee was good. Not the worst, not the best. It was a medium bodied roast with a bright finish. (Read a little bitter at the end.)

So that's a wrap. For delectable treats and a great atmosphere, Tulie's is the place for an afternoon snack.

Also be sure to check out some of my reviews and other writings at www.westminsterforum.net.

What amazingly cute place have you been to lately?

Italian, again!

Cafe Trio
680 South 900 East

On Saturday afternoon, Ava and I decided to get out of our food rut. So we went back to an original and enjoyed some Italian. I had been to Cafe Trio once before for a lovely lunch on their patio. And I missed the sunshine Saturday, but I won't blame the restaurant. Silly nature, cursing us with winter!

We waited about five minutes before the host sat us. The wait made me really nervous about how the rest of the meal would go. But it must have been a fluke. Our server, Joshua was fabulous.

Cafe Trio was very clean and it had a nice vibe. We were there at an odd time of day, so there weren't many customers. But it still felt comfortable. The only complaint I have about ambiance is the music. A couple of the songs just didn't fit with the modern European feel.

Off the $7 cocktail menu, I had the Flirtini. It has vodka, raspberry syrup, lemon and sparkling white wine. Turns out the sugar rimmed glass with the sugary beverage was a little too sweet for my taste. The drink was as girly as the name implies.

Ava ordered an Amore. It's made with lemoncello, fresh strawberry puree and sparkling white wine. It was very yummy and definitely the better of the two. So next time, next time: the Amore will be mine.

Hahaha!

I ordered the Trio Club sandwich with the day's soup for $9. The soup was a split pea with sausage. It was a great winter time dish. I really enjoyed it's flavor and texture. It was surpringly creamy and rich.

The sandwich was delcious. The foccia bread was so yummy! I also enjoyed the melty cheese and tomatoes. I would recommend this sandwich to anyone who enjoys a more traditional club, for sure. It's a great example of American Italian cuisine.

Ava ordered the baked penner for $13. She loved it! She said, "I'm so full it hurts to move." The mushroom, cheese, tomatoe sauce and garlic combination looked and smelled delicious.

The best part was the piece of plastic wrap she pulled out of the sauce after eating most of the pasta.It's a still a mystery how the plastic wrap got there. I have some questions about Cafe Trio's food preparation now. How many people would never go back to a restaurant where they found plastic wrap in their food?

Yeah, me either. Maybe it's awful--like eating gum off the floor. But the rest of my Trio experience was so positive, I probably will go back to Cafe Trio someday.

Just not any day soon. They are expensive for my budget. Worth it, but still pricey. A giant thanks to Ava for lunch. I love you!

What's your favorite Italian lunch cafe?

Squatters

Squatters
147 West Broadway

So uhh...I want to start by saying I do not enjoy giving negative reviews. In fact, if you read any my previous reviews you'll probably notice I am easily impressed and amused. So most places I go I enjoy. Squatters is an exception to this rule.

Maybe it was the expectations. I've heard many good things about Squatters. The beer is good and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, these people lie. Here's the real story.

#1 Squatters is a male dominated world. I grew up with five boys, I'm used to the room being testosterone heavy. But Squatters is overwhelming in the number of middle-aged men. Not being of the middle-aged and male persuasion, it was not my pint of beer.

#2 Service is slow. Although we were seated immediately and our drink orders taken quickly. I was forced to give the stare down to a busboy and our waitress to get the check. It's a pet peeve I have. Otherwise, Missy was a decent server and answered all my usual obnoxious questions about most popular/favorite dishes.

#3 The food is mediocre. Seriously, not very good. I ordered a burger with fries ($9). The fries are the frozen then fried kind, which I'm not a big fan of. Amazingly Squatters is a Utah restaurant that doesn't serve fry sauce. Instead they offer a chipotle aioli. It was way yummy and made me feel better about the whole not-fresh fries situation.

The bun was way too big for the burger. I ordered my burger well-done and by the time I finally found the center it was somewhere between well-done and medium rare. Did you know there was a middle stage to the grilling?

Me either.

To be fair, Ava did enjoy her chicken chimichanga ($12-ish). "I'm really lovin' this rice," she said. The rice was tender and fluffy with a nice amount of seasoning. The bite I had of chimichanga wasn't overly impressive, but it was good.

#4 The beer. I know this is the big one, the reason people go to Squatters. I ordered the Full Suspension ($4.79 on tap), which is not a good choice for a woman who would rather drink a cocktail. It's a bitter beer and left a very acidic after taste in the back of my throat.

On the other hand, the Provo Girl Ava ordered was very yummy. It was smooth and "good for what ales you" without Ava or me making yucky faces.

I apologize if you are a middle-aged man who loves Squatters. Maybe someday when I am a middle-aged man we can all love Squatters together. Until then, happy eating.

Lobster Tail

Ava's sister moved and in doing so donated all her food to us. Yay! It was very generous, plus it gave me some cool new ingredients to work with. I believe it's a universal law that college kids cannot afford lobster tail. So this is the recipe I tried out it also involves making your own broiler so if you have one just ignore that part of the instructions.

Soft Ware:
(makes two servings)
Two thawed or fresh lobster tail (3-4 oz. each)
1 C. White Cooking Wine
1 tsp. Dried Parsley
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
salt
pepper

Hard Ware:
A cooking rack
A shallow pan
A spatula

Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Fill the shallow pan with the wine, parsley and butter. Place the rack over the pan. Put the lobster, shell up, on the rack. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

The sauce came out way too thin. I think next time I will try making a soup out of the lobster tail. This is the first time I ever had lobster and it was a little fishy, but my ingenious wine at the bottom of the pan prevented the lobster from drying out.

Any suggestions you have for lobster soup, or better lobster sauce would be lovely.

Happy Cooking!

Food writing

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share the happy news, since my last post was a wee bit depressing. I applied for an editing internship at foodlorelibrary.com yesterday. Today I received an email inviting me to write a sample article.

It is an unpaid experience. But it gets my work out there and can be published as "real-world" experience. I kind of hate the person who came up with that phrase. Is my life not the real world? It feels pretty real.

Anyway on that wonderful tangent, happy eating.

Krista

Job seeking

Hello all! This next post is only related to my blog in that I get to talk about me. Yay!

I've been searching for a job for about a month now. I've also pitched some freelance work, but am hearing only silence in reply. As I continue my job/freelance work search I'm getting a little depressed about the whole situation.

I know, I know. It's the economic downturn and no one is hiring. But who wouldn't want an adorable, personable, intelligent woman on their staff? Lots of people, apparently.

Anyway, the complaints aren't the point. Do you know anyone who is hiring in the Salt Lake area? I'm currently studying communication and am able to work in television, film, journalism, public relations and advertising. Of course, I'm willing to work in restaurants or offices. If you know anyone who sounds like they would love to pay me to be amazing for them, please let me know.

Thank you!

Home Cooked Mac and Cheese

I promised mac and cheese, and I delivered mac and cheese.
So here's the story: my whole life I never liked mac and cheese. I was a weird little kid who would rather eat ramen raw than a bowl of out-of-the-box mac.

When Ava and I became roommates, she worked at Noodles and Company. One day, she insisted I try their Wisconsin Cheddar with broccoli and cavatapi noodles. I was shocked! I liked macaroni and cheese.

The discovery led me to search out different recipes for mac and cheese. The recipe below is a combination of many recipes, a lot of test trials and some personal preferences.

MAC & CHEESE

Software:

• 2 Tbs. Flour
• 2 Tbs. Unsalted butter
• 1 C. Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1/2 C. Mozzarella, shredded
• 1/2 C. Colby Jack, shredded
• 1 C. Cheddar, shredded (divided into two 1/2 cups)
• 3 C. Water
• 1/2 Lb. Penne pasta
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Hardware:

• Sauce pan or skillet
• 4-quart pot
• Fork
• Wooden spoon

Directions:
I like to start by boiling my three cups of water with a pinch of Kosher salt in a pot on the stove top over medium high heat. Next, I warm up my skillet over a medium flame. Just as the pan begins to smoke, add two tablespoons butter. Let the butter melt slowly. Now, slowly add two tablespoons flour to the melted butter. Using your fork, blend together the flour and butter creating a roux.

When the roux is smooth and just beginning to thicken, add one cup heavy whipping cream. Continue whisking the mixture with the fork so the flour remains smooth.

Add the 1/2 pound of Penne pasta to the boiling water. Let boil for seven minutes. Stir occasionally with the wooden spoon.

Add 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Colby Jack and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese to the sauce in the skillet. Continue stirring as cheese melts. Let the sauce cook for approximately five minutes until it is thick and creamy.

Drain the pasta and put back in pot. When the sauce is thick enough it sticks to the back of a spoon, add to the pasta. Stir pasta and cheese sauce together. Top with remaining cheddar and serve.

Now doesn't that sound mmm, mmm, good?