Food: Meet the Parents Part Deux

Bambara Restaurant is housed in the Hotel Monaco in Downtown. Manfriend's dad was sweet enough to invite me to dinner at his favorite Salt Lake City restaurant when he was in town. On this visit, The Dad's wife came, too.

The Dad, The Step-Mom, and The Sister were running late which gave me time to explore the lounge of Bambara. It's the Vault. And it's awesome! The room is beautiful and Bambara used the vault to handle the Zion Curtain law (bar tenders could not serve drinks across the counter until 2008) in the most beautiful way I've seen. The bar tenders were very friendly and set me up with a great side car and conversation in just a few moments from when I took a seat at the bar.

Manfriend got a beer on tap and we had a nice, comfy half hour before the family showed up. We were promptly sat by the host. (He was amazing!) The outstanding service was the theme for the evening.

I started off with a tuna tartar The Step-Mom was brave enough to try. It was delicious. The tartar was served with fresh, homemade potato chips. The combination of soft flesh with crisp chip was amazing. The textures went together perfectly. The softer flavor of the tuna paired well with the lightly salted potato and the the Italian herb salsa cut right through. This is a dish I wish I could prepare on my own.

Next I tried the chicken because it was served with mashed potatoes. (It's physically impossible for me to say no to potatoes.) And I was so in love with this entree. The chicken was moist, the skin was crisp. It was so good! But after all that tuna I went straight for the veggies. The potatoes were so creamy and smooth, with mushrooms and garlic thrown in for delicious measure, I couldn't stop eating them. I ate until I was past full.

Then I ordered dessert.

A lovely dish of ice cream including strawberry, lemon and vanilla flavors. The waiter also brought us adorable cupcakes. The homemade ice cream was as good as it sounds.

Bambara brought me one of the most impressive and satisfying meals in my life with superb service. I would love another excuse to go back.

Not to mention, the company. The Family and I had a great time. And Manfriend also commented on how delicious the calimari, steak, and cupcakes were.

Bambara is worth the money.

Food: My meatloaf brings all the boys to the yard

My latest column brings on the comfort food show down.

Who's meatloaf will reign supreme? Find out April 23 at 12 p.m. in Converse Hall at Westminster College. Everyone is invited to taste test and vote!

Port O'Call

Port O'Call
75 West 400 South

For New Year's Eve, Ava and I went to Port O'Call in Downtown. It's a great bar that has been recommended by a few different friends. So we went ahead and took the opportunity to see what it was all about before the city demolishes the building.

We arrived early because I was starving and couldn't wait to devour something. The main floor was packed, but we found a nice little table upstairs on the year-round patio. Our waitress was friendly and efficient. We ordered from the regular menu. Ava had the chicken pasta a.k.a Big Ass Pasta and I ordered a cheeseburger and fries a.k.a Classic Port Burger.

The food was delicious. People say hunger is the best sauce and maybe that's true, but fry sauce with beer-battered, fresh-cut fries is AMAZING! The hamburger was served open-faced. I would have liked more cheese. They also didn't serve any mayonnaise on the side or on the bun which I thought was odd, but not a great loss. It was fantastic bar food and totally worth the $7 price.

I also had an Electric Long Island. As I said, "It's just the way I like them not enough alcohol I can taste it, but enough that I can feel it." I also tried a Tequila Sunrise and a Cape Cod. Although, Ava loves Cape Cod I think I'll stick with the Long Island. Again, our waitress was spectacular and brought us refills before we realized we needed them and made sure we were well taken care of.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere at Port. They've done a great job of making it feel like you are at a friend's home. I also noticed that the patrons of Port seemed like a big family. There were a lot of large groups of friends around. For a club it seemed more like a pub. And the bathrooms are clean. In my limited experience of clubs in Salt Lake City that is unique.

I would love to go back to Port, but with a $10 cover charge and cocktails running at about $6 each it ended up being a pricey evening for a poor, starving college student. Luckily, Ava is amazing and paid for dinner and drinks. So I got away with paying only $20 for the cover charge. It was totally worth it.

How was your New Year's Eve?

Brookside Broiler and Grill

I want to apologize to my few loyal fans for being so slow. I have an excellent excuse. Getting to the library is too much work! See, I told you it was good.

On to the review, Brookside has an excellent patio. This little place sits right on the edge of the Sugar House Commons. Your typical suburban shopping center. The local eatery in the center is its own anomaly. The patio overlooks Hidden Hollow--a beautiful natural forest protected by local environmentalist groups.

Brookside has a really great looking menu. It's actual content is less than informative. We asked our waitress a lot of questions. She seemed less than knowledgeable and was a little shy. We finally ordered kabobs and salad. The portions were HUGE! I ordered the half kabob plate because I wasn't very hungry and it was twice the amount of food I thought it would be.

The beef kabobs were very good. The marinade they use is full of flavor and the mix of peppers and onions is just what I would expect. The meat was cooked perfectly, but was a poor cut so it was tougher than I like.

The vegetables on the side ended up being about a cup of cooked carrots and about a cup of cooked broccoli. I'm pretty sure the broccoli started off in their freezer than moved to the microwave where it was steamed with the baby cut carrots. Although, cooked to an expected state of crisp tender the quality was a little below what I expected after the great patio, the wonderful view and the expensive looking menu.

Brookside makes up for their pretentious appearance with fairly approachable prices. My dinner was $7.50 with a soda for $2. Not bad for a place that looks like it's easily $15 a plate. R's dinner was $9.50 for the extra $2 she ordered another kabob. J ordered the Asian Chicken Salad. It was gigantic and delicious. For $8.95 it fit comfortably with the rest of our ticket.

I probably won't ever be a Brookside regular, but for an elegant feeling dinner without the price tag at the last minute, I would eat there again. Although, I may request a different waitress.