W just finished up a great dinner at a new restaurant in Boise: Fork. Hit the link to hear about it.

Fork is the new kid on the block. It took over the Boise City National Bank building downtown where the Capital Grill used to be (a restaurant that we never tried since it never had very good reviews). All around town people have been buzzing about this new place so we had to try it out for ourselves.

On walking in we were immediately impressed. Reserving through Open Table we had had limited time slots…. and it was immediately apparent why: they were packed at 5:30 on Saturday! Beyond the full seats we also noticed the nicely decorated interior… modern and comfy at the same time. The staff was humming, showing us to our table and taking our drink orders quickly. Fork specializes in Northwestern style cuisine and aims to utilize locally sourced ingredients wherever possible (even the wood in the tables and the glass in the drinking glasses is locally sourced and recycled!).

For appetizers I ordered the Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings. It’s kind of interesting that every time I’m in Boise I always seem to get some wings (the butter buffalo wings at Bittercreek Alehouse are some of my favorite wings)…. and these didn’t disappoint. They were super crispy and the Szechuan sauce they were covered in was gooey and intensely flavorful. Highly recommended!

Amanda had the Roasted Chicken Sweet Corn Chowder to start. It was just ok and came off a bit bland. Nothing in particular was “wrong” it just wasn’t amazing.

For my main course I had the prime rib. I typically avoid prime rib because many restaurants take it as an opportunity to over spice / over sauce a piece of meat and serve it up with some extremely salty ju to the point where you can’t even taste the meat any more. I took the chance though because it said that it was rosemary crusted and well… I just wanted some beef!

Fortunately I was not disappointed! The flavor of the juice, ju and crust was great… But what was really great was that it was all balanced against the flavor of the beef itself. Earlier I had thought of getting a beer but had decided against it because sometimes beer doesn’t go with overly rich prime rib. I was regretting that decision though because this prime rib would have gone perfectly with a good beer. The rosemary-parmesan fries fit right in with the flavor of the steak and added a nice crunch to the plate.

Amanda had the Urban Burger with Tillamook cheddar. She says that it was cooked perfectly (well-done like she asked) while still being juicy. The Fork burger sauce (mayo based with a lot of vegetables in it) was tasty. The burger came with the same great rosemary parmesan fries.

For dessert we split the s’mores. We’ve had s’mores at nice restaurants multiple times but this preparation was different from any we have had in the past. The marshmallows were in a hot bowl and were already toasted while the chocolate was in a small candle warmed dish and was already melted. It came with a large spoon that we assumed was for scooping out the mellows and chocolate… but that turned out to be a path to a big sticky mess. Instead it worked much better to just use the graham crackers to scoop out some mellow and then dip it in the chocolate sauce before going straight to your mouth.

Overall the dessert lacked a bit of “pop”. The chocolate sauce was somewhat “watery” and could have used some more “chocolatiness” (maybe use dark chocolate instead of milk… Or at least a blend?). Th awkward plating with the pre-brûléed mellows also didn’t help.

All in all our dinner was really good. We left feeling satisfied and talking about the quality of food and service that we had throughout the evening. Fork is definitely a great addition to the downtown Boise scene. It adds a great upper scale dining option that is just short enough of “fine” dining that it gives off a comfortable atmosphere that will make anyone feel at home while you enjoy top notch food.

Just finished slamming a slice at this Boise pizza dive… and it was delicious! I had pepperoni, salami and chorizo while Amanda went for plain cheese. We also nabbed a really fresh side salad with some extra creamy ranch. If you’re in downtown make sure you check this place out… it’s a fun and funky place serving up great pizza by the slice.

Cafe Vicino is one of the top rated restaurants in Boise. Hit the link to find out how our dinner was.

We’ve been reading and hearing about Cafe Vicino since we’ve been coming to Boise, but never took the plunge until tonight. Cafe Vicino is a “Mediterranean Style Bistro” located next to the Boise Co-op just north of the capitol building.

We were greeted warmly and promptly and shown to our table. Our waitress came right over to tell us about the specials (several of which sounded good) then left us to mull over the choices.

We started with artisan flat bread that came out similar to extremely thin crust pizza covered in perfectly spiced chicken, pancetta and melted provolone cheese. After chatting with the waitress it sounds like the toppings change regularly so make sure to inquire… but based on what we tasted I don’t think you will be disappointed, regardless of what’s on top.

After a good start came our main courses. I had a pork shoulder braised in mustard, lager and onions while Amanda had chicken on a mushroom risotto. I also had a glass of wine with mine, which the waitress recommended after consulting with the chef… the wine was a perefct match to the pork shoulder.

My pork shoulder was cooked perfectly and the braising liquids left on the plate were delicious. Definitely a great plate of food.

Amanda enjoyed her chicken and rissotto. The chicken was juicy and well prepared and the risotto was similarly well done. It was all tasty, although the risotto could have used a bit more seasoning.

At this point things were going really well. Our waitress was pleasant, the rest of the staff was similarly doing a great job and the food was spot on. Then the dessert menu came out and we were instantly underwhelmed. Amanda ended up ordering a mixed berry crisp with whipped cream. The whipped cream melted instantly turning the overwhelming amount of berries into a soup…. a soup that needed more “crisp”.

After not seeing much to order I went with my old standby of creme brûlée and coffee. The coffee was good but the creme brûlée had been “brûléed” a bit too much and was basically burnt. The creme had a good flavor but had a bit of a grainy texture in places (while in others it was watery).

Overall it was a disappointing ending to an otherwise great meal. I definitely recommend that you try Cafee Vicino… but I have a tip for you: Skip the dessert menu and walk across the parking lot to the awesome Boise Co-op and get some of their handcrafted desserts to go!

Stopped in here for lunch as we came into town. We each had “Little SmashBurgers”, shared a side of fries and I had a Butterfinger shake.

The burgers were very good… made with 100% Angus beef and had obviously freshly made patties. We chose the classic “Egg” buns and they added nice flavor to the juicy well cooked patty. The fries were tasty “Shoe String” style fries that were cooked perfectly.

My shake took quite a while to come. Though I eventually had to go get it myself, they made up for it later by bringing us a $5 gift certificate because of the wait! The shake itself was good, made by hand with fresh ice cream and milk.

Definitely a place to check out if you are passing through!

This is just a quickie, a full review will come later. We ate at Wildfire last night… and really enjoyed our meal! We had read mixed reviews but are left wondering how anyone could say something poor about this place. Our service was excellent as was the food and decor. If you’re in Sydney I highly recommend checking it out!

Location:Western Distributor,,Australia

Just grabbed a quick bite of dinner in the San Francisco International Terminal. This terminal is awesome… it must be fairly new and has a good selection of shops and restaurants. We chose Andale, a fairly straight forward Mexican restaurant. We ordered fajitas to share and some chips and salsa to start.

The fajitas were surprisingly good (considering that we’re eating in an airport!). We got a combination of beef and chicken and both were well spiced and cooked. They even avoided making the beef chewy, which is often the case in cheap airport restaurants. The rice that came with the fajitas was fairly bland while being well cooked.

All in all a pretty good meal if you find yourself in the SF airport!

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Location:Unnamed Rd,Millbrae,United States

Just a quick heads up that we’re going to be headed to Sydney Australia soon! Because of that, the blog might be in a bit of disarray for a week or so as I upload reviews from the road using nothing but my iPad. The first entry written this way is the Cafe Trang review below… and as you can see it’s a bit off from my normal style.

Anyway… look for new reviews from (way) across the pond soon!

Derek

On this occasion I found myself in Salt Lake, dropping Amanda off at the airport. She had an early flight so I had plenty of time afterward to grab some food before I headed back home. I tend to like Asian flavorings a bit more than my wife, so when I’m alone I’ll often take the chance to grab some oriental food. I had driven by Cafe Trang on a number of occasions… and remembered reading on a few websites that it was quite good, so i decided go try it out for myself.

I arrived a bit early, just before they opened, and there was only one other couple waiting to be seated. I took a look at the menu while I waited and immediately noticed the Thai Basil Beef! That is one of my favorite Thai style dishes… when done correctly. The truth is that no other restaurant has been able to come close to the basil beef that I had in DC, but I’m always willing to try it anyway.

After getting seated I took in the decor. While being a bit loud, nothing seemed out of place. It feels like any well appointed Asian style bistro. Without a full restaurant it is hard to judge the ambiance, but the place did seem like it would be quite lively with every seat full.

My waiter was pleasant from the beginning, explaining the lunch menu and waiting patiently while I selected my two main dishes and side. The two dishes I chose where the Thai Basil Beef and Sweet and Sour Chicken with a side of egg drop soup.

Upon learning that the served Vietnamese Iced Coffee I immediately ordered some up! Asian style iced coffee (especially Thai and Vietnamese, both made with sweetened condensed milk) is one of my favorite drinks. It is typically served still brewing in a small “press pot” that allows the boiling water to drip through the coffee grounds to the cup below. Once all of the water has dripped through you stir up the very potent coffee and condensed milk in the cup and poor the mixture into a glass full of ice.

The best Vietnamese iced coffee I’ve ever encountered was actually in Albuquerque, NM of all places! How did Cafe Trang’s version stack up? Beautifully. The coffee was flavorful with just the right amount of condensed milk to sweeten it up. My only critique… it didn’t come out quickly enough. The drink arrived essentially simultaneously with my meal. The problem is that it takes a while to brew at the table, meaning nothing but water to drink as you begin eating.

The food itself was a mixed bag. I started with the egg drop soup (which again, I would have rather had before the main course). It was quite good! Very flavorful without being overpowering. Next up was the basil beef… and… Incredible! It tasted almost exactly like my favorite Thai Basil Beef from Washington DC! The most important component to Thai basil beef is the basil. There needs to be plenty of it and you should be able to see whole leaves of it in the broth. That’s exactly what you get at Cafe Trang. Speaking of the broth, it is truly excellent! After finishing the beef I found myself mopping up the broth with the leftover rice. The rice itself is also really good. It was cooked perfectly giving it that slightly sticky texture that good oriental rice should have.

So why did I say the food was a mixed bag? Because of the sweet and sour chicken. Unfortunately it was made with a puffy batter that just didn’t sit well with me. Instead of being crispy it was somewhat soggy. This sogginess was made even worse by the fact that it had soaked up a bunch of the basil beef broth, turning the bottom of the chicken into this sickly brown mush. The actual sweet and sour sauce was nothing to write home about either, with it feeling fairly generic and bland. The chicken itself was well cooked and I did peel some of the outside off of it and just ate it dipped in the basil beef sauce.

Throughout the meal the service was quite good, with my waiter being very helpful and chatty. The place did start to fill up a bit towards the end and everyone seemed to be enjoying their mid-day meal.

I will definitely be going back to Cafe Trang in the future… although next time I may choose to just double up on that delicious Thai Basil Beef!

Derek

Vitals:

Name: Cafe Trang

Address: 200 South 307 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Website: http://www.cafetrangrestaurant.com

Other’s opinions:
Amanda Eats

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In a word: EXCELLENT.  If you need to know more (why would you?  just go there already!) Read More.

(Warning: this is being posted in the “Long Winded” category… you might want to print this one out and read it over the next few days

Excellence in dining is, in my estimation, something rarely achieved.  There is _always_ something to be improved upon: service, decor, cleanliness, flavor, seasoning, cooking, presentation, etc.  But in looking back at our dining experience at one of Salt Lake City’s most critically acclaimed restaurants I am left at a loss for something to nitpick about (and for those that don’t know me: that’s a big deal!).  The meal that I’m about to relate is truly one of the best I have ever eaten.

This particular evening was extremely windy in SLC.  Windy enough that we took at cab three blocks from our hotel to the restaurant in order to keep the grit out of our teeth.  Rushing through the doorway of the Metropolitan to escape the wind we were immediately struck with the decor.  It is modern and simplistic but very refined, easily the best looking restaurant we’ve visited in the SLC area.  The mix of concrete, steel and wood is done in great taste.  Nothing overdone or pompous, but definitely “designed” from the floor to the ceiling.

The maître d’ greeted us warmly and immediately seated us in a secluded portion of the restaurant.  ”Secluded”, in this case, is a euphemism for “empty”.  We were dining at 6:30PM, which isn’t late, but is also not so early as to expect an almost empty restaurant.  At this point, despite the well appointed interior, I was starting to think we had made a mistake.

Our waiter came over immediately, taking our drink orders and explaining a bit about the menu.  Shortly after he came back with our drinks another server appeared with an amuse-bouche consisting of a glazed corn fritter.  The fritter was tasty, doing the job a good amuse-bouche should: warming up our taste-buds.  However, I was still having lingering doubts.

As soon as the amuse-bouche was cleared (which happened immediately after they had been consumed) another server appeared with bread.  This is really where the evening began to take off.  We had multiple choices of fresh baked bread.  Amanda chose something dull (I don’t quite remember, might have just been a wheat bread) but I thought I had heard the bread bearer mention something about “pretzel” bread.  I inquired further and was shown what you can see in the picture below:

It appeared to be a round ball of pretzel dough.  Intrigued, I immediately said I would take one!  Biting into the perfectly cooked dough was an experience of flavor and texture.  I don’t know how such an unassuming (there were no visible seasonings) could pack so much flavor.  This isn’t up-front, slam you in the face flavor, rather it is subtle as all the perfectly balanced ingredients hit your taste-buds.  What is truly delightful is the bit of salt on top of the bread: it is well proportioned, not so much as to overpower the bread, but enough to provide a bit of a kick at just the right time.  Throughout the course of the evening Amanda and I consumed several more of these lumps of heaven!  How can I go on like this about the bread?  I suppose you’ll just have to try it yourself to understand!

An idea for the chef: an awesome appetizer would pair that bread with a bit of mild fondue.  Pretzels and cheese have always gone well together, but in this case I think it would be explosive!

Ok – enough about the bread!  By this time we had received our crab cake appetizer.  The crab cake was served with jicima lime slaw and spicy remoulade.  The remoulade was especially good: the spiciness of the sauce setting the tone for what was to come later.  I actually don’t typically eat crab cakes, as Amanda likes them much more than I do, but in this case I gobbled them up.  The crab was very well cooked and obviously very fresh.  Now this dinner is starting to roll…

By this time more patrons had entered the restaurant.  I wouldn’t say it was filling up, but people were streaming in.  This did absolutely nothing to diminish the level of service we were receiving.  As soon as the last bite of crab cake was off the plate they were immediately taken away along with any silverware that had been touched, everything replace anew.

After a short wait (that seemed to take forever because we had started to anticipate how good the main course could be) our entrees appeared.  Amanda had ordered the Niman Ranch Poussin with new potatoes and asparagus.  As soon as the plate was down it was obvious that it had been masterfully prepared.  The herb cheese crust on the chicken had been PERFECTLY cooked, providing a crunchy exterior that sealed in extra flavor.  The new potatoes and asparagus were similarly perfect.

The flavors of this dish were stunning.  The herbs and cheese on the chicken combined with the sauce infused with smoky lardons made for a whirlwind of complementary flavor.  Each component had a delicate balance of seasonings, with nothing feeling out of place.  The chicken was juicy and full of flavor.  An absolutely perfect dish.  Thinking about it, even now, is making my stomach growl and my mouth water…

As if one perfect dish weren’t enough, I received the following:

Although it may look tame a beast lies within.  This is lamb tenderloin (which, not only have I never had before, but I’ve never see on a menu) on a corn cake / mash (it might have been a polenta, but it had whole kernels of corn in it) and topped with a salad.  But the real star of the show is the jerk spiced ju surrounding the tower of food.  It turns out that this is one of the spiciest things I have eaten in the northwest United States!

Let’s talk about the lamb before I get back to the sauce.  The lamb was cooked _perfectly_.  I always worry about getting lamb because chefs tend to under cook it.  Yes, I like lamb on the rarer side of things, but I don’t want it to be mushy or cold.  This lamb was tender while still being “cooked” just enough that it didn’t have any rare texture to it.  I wish I could have saved a piece of it to hand to waiters in the future when they ask me how I want my lamb!

The corn mash was good although it’s main purpose seemed to be in providing a spice dampener to help you deal with the ju!  Getting back to that ju, yes it was hot, but it also had wonderful flavor.  I just needed to dip the tip of a piece of lamb into it in order to get a rush of flavor that went perfectly with the seasonings on the outside of the lamb.  If you like jerk flavorings at all you should DEFINITELY order this dish!

Last up is dessert and this is the only place where we weren’t completely blown away.  Amanda selected a soufflé with chocolate sauce while I ordered up something called an “Almond Joy” (after the candy-bar of course).  The soufflé was good, puffy and cooked perfectly.  The chocolate sauce that went with it didn’t seem to pack enough punch.  Note that I don’t know why Amanda is giving me that look in that photo… I think she was worried about how large the soufflé was!  That wasn’t a problem though because it was so perfectly airy.

My dessert was just bizarre.  I still don’t exactly know what it was.  Note that bizarre doesn’t mean it was bad!  It tasted good (although it didn’t live up to the standard of the rest of the meal).  The real star on my dessert plate though, was the small amount of sorbet that accompanied the chocolate covered dessert.  The sorbet was packed with flavor (maybe passion fruit?) and was a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the main desert.

The last surprise of the evening came while we were paying for our meal.  No, not the amount on the check!  The surprise was a couple of shortbread cookies compliments of the chef.  The simple cookies were a perfect way to end the meal.  One last taste before we headed out the door.

Everything from beginning to end made this the perfect dining experience.  Of course the food was EXCELLENT… but beyond that every single thing including the service and the decor were spot on.  Even the bathrooms were excellent, with ultra-soft hand towels to dry your hands with.  Not a single detail has been overlooked at The Metropolitan and that did not go unnoticed by this reviewer.

If you are visiting or live in Salt Lake City you owe it to yourself to pay The Metropolitan a visit.  You won’t be disappointed!

Vitals:

Name: Metropolitan

Address: 173 West Broadway, Salt Lake City, Utah

Phone: 801-364-3472

Website: http://www.themetropolitan.com

Open Table Reservations

Other’s Opinions:

the foodworks

Gastronomic SLC

Terrible.

Bad service. Worse food (crazy salty).

Avoid.