Food reviews: The armpit of the Elbow

I ventured down to Fiddler's Elbow for a meeting with the staff from, The Forum. I haven't been to Fiddler's in a while. I always find the food mediocre, the menu lacks focus and the service is well--let's just say you know that Fiddler's is an equal opportunity employer.

As soon as I sat down a wine menu was shoved in my face because as a girl I must not drink beer. Of course, I promptly ordered Wasatch Apricot Hefeweizen ($4.50 on tap). The server informed me their keg was broken so they may not have it available. She left to go check. About five minutes later, she appeared empty handed and let me know the hefeweizen was available. "Would you like the hefeweizen?"

Uh...yes, please.

I ordered the garlic burger for just under $7 without cheese. It came with fries and no choice of how the burger was cooked, it showed up well-done. The burger was easily the best thing I have ever had from Fiddler's Elbow. It was garlicky without being overwhelming, juicy and an even burger to bun ratio. A nice positive change for a brew pub. I was so impressed by the flavor that I ignored how absolutely messy the burger was (my ketchup stained shirt is in the washer as I write this).

Strangely, they didn't serve fry sauce and at this point I was avoiding any further interactions with my server so I just went ahead and had fries like a non-Utahn with ketchup. The fries needed some serious salting, but they were cooked just right and I believe hand cut. Moving their fries from a previous rating of "crap" to "yum."

As always, I love the micro-brewed apricot hefe from Wasatch. It's a great light beer. Refreshing, sweet and delicious without being too light for even the darkest beer drinker.


So I must conclude that service is the armpit of this otherwise great pub. But, I'm still looking forward to the next staff meeting at Fiddler's as long as we can just once have a server who doesn't make me question their ability to fill out the application. Oh and for beer, burger and fries it was just under $15. Not too bad for a sports bar in Sugar House.

Beer and movies

At least, I imagine those are the words behind the name of local beer pub Brewvies the only movie theater in Utah where you can drink while you take in a film.

I was there for the premiere of Kelsey Landry's directorial debut "The Date." A short film about classic mishaps of miscommunication. The film was well executed and a great script. Kelsey did a fantastic job. The Salt Lake film community was incredibly supportive with the best filmmakers volunteering their time and talent to this film.

Brewviews could use a little filmmaker magic. I have a theory that every so often a table becomes the bad luck table for the night. Last night, that was me.

Erin and I sat down and waited for a few minutes. No waiter showed up. I looked at the drink menu on the table. "Oh there isn't food on this," I said.

"The menu's over there," Erin answered and pointed to a stack of menus on the bar. I walked over and grabbed a couple menus. We looked over the menus and talked about what to order. I looked around. No waiter showed up.

"Do you want to move to the bar so we can get some service?" I asked Erin. Yes, I said it loudly and on purpose. Really, I'm five inside.

*Poof* Inexperienced waiter appeared. Blond-haired Emo-kid asked what we wanted I ordered a pitcher of Uinta Cutthroat Pale Ale. It's a nice local beer that is always good. I also asked for an appetizer of sweet potato fries.

Erin decided she wanted more time to choose an entree. So I sat back and waited for our beer and fries. While I was waiting, Esther showed up and asked if we wanted to order anything. I said we had ordered and we were waiting for our server to come back before ordering more. She said it was okay that they share tables. So I went ahead and ordered the nachos and Erin ordered the Pub Club sandwich with chips and salsa.

A different person (I'm guessing bus boy) stopped by with our beer and sweet potato fries. The fries were different. This was my first and last experience with sweet potato fries and I like normal fries better. The smoother, creamier texture of sweet potato isn't conducive to my taste buds for deep-fried starches. Although the bottled aioli at Brewvies much improved the fry, I won't order them again.

Esther brought the nachos and pub club. The sandwich looked delicious. The nachos looked sad. I was nervous about the pile of jalapenos and chicken atop crusty looking cheese. I should've been. I went for a chip on the edge avoiding the jalapenos I had asked to have removed from the nachos. It was stuck. The cheese had been microwaved on top of the chips then left to get cold. Leaving a hardened mess of goo on top of the now soggy chips covered with dry flavorless chicken.

I asked Esther if I could send the nachos back and try again. Luckily, she saw the chicken and jalapenos and said there was a mix up. She took the nachos back. In a few minutes she brought out a second order of much better looking nachos. In the meantime, Harry's order for a cheeseburger with sweet potato fries came out with regular french fries. So Emo-kid waiter took the order back.

Finally, we ended up with a pub club done right, edible nachos and a cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. The cost of beer, sweet potato fries and nachos was about $25. Making beer the best part of the night's food.

When I'm at Brewvies for another premiere, I'll stick with the beer and movies.

I went through the red door

My mom took me out to dinner last night. She suggested we go somewhere on my list of places to check out, but of course, I know my mother so I had to choose a place that serves fish and chips. The place was MacCool's Public House in Foothill.

It took us forever to get there because I got lost, but once we made it I was happy to see their inviting red door. We were seated immediately in the bar area. The place seemed pretty slow for a Friday night at 9 p.m.

Our waitress took our drink orders very quickly, but then took forever to come back for our dinner order. I know I was starving so everything felt like it was taking ten times longer than it was. But I had to give her the stare down to come ask me what I wanted while she restocked the bar five feet away from me.

The kitchen was kind enough to let my mom substitute the "Finn Skins" for her chips on her fish and chips order. Again, I felt like our food was really slow getting to us. I was starving and the wait with my mother felt forever long.

Plus, I had enough time to finish a Coke. Do you know how long that is for me? Even at my thirstiest it takes me ten minutes to down a soda. I was starving, I needed food immediately. I was past the point of cranky five-year-old-ness.

And then TA-DA! The bus boy showed up with two heaping plates full of warm, Delicious food. I dug right into the "Finn Skins." The dish is made up of deep-fried sliced potatoes topped with sour cream, bacon, cheese and onions. They were delicious! My mom and I both agreed that the potatoes were the best part of the entire meal.

As I said, my mom ordered the fish and chips. Her fish was battered and fried cod. It was kind of mushy and the fish didn't seem as fresh as it should be. The tartar sauce was good. In the end the fish was nothing special, but nothing awful either. Just food.

I ordered the citrus chicken served with salad and toast. The citrus chicken had been marinated for a bit too long so the skins were a little overpowering. My mom really didn't like the lemon flavor. Now you know, I love lemon, but this chicken had too much seasoning.

The salad turned out to be mixed greens with Caesar dressing. A really yummy Caesar dressing. The salad was my favorite part of my plate.

The toast was plain bread toasted on the oven. It was pretty good bread, but bread without butter is a travesty. I know their an Irish pub, but do they have to act like it's a famine and not give me butter?

I left MacCool's with a resolution: to come back later with my friends and order appetizers and beer.

What's your St. Pat's Day hang out?