La Estacion del Taco

Address: Corner of 600 W and 200 S, SLC, UT 84101.

Review: Heaven has given us certain street foods so that we may be happy. Pizza is the first among these foods, but a close second is the taco. There's something magical about paying a buck for something so tasty that you can eat while walking down the street. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I was driving from a Saturday business meeting and happened upon a taco stand. How could I resist, honestly?

This taco stand is called "La Estacion del Taco" and offers the following staples:

What the menu doesn't show is the menudo, pozole, and other delights offered but not written. While the menudo tempted me, I decided to go with a taco triad: lengua, asada, and carnitas.

And these tacos come with all the trimmings: roasted jalapenos, grilled, onions, a selection of salsas and pico de gallo, radishes, etc. The lengua (yes, tongue) was perfectly cooked. It had that melt-in-your-mouth quality you want from well cooked tongue. The asada was a bit flat in the flavor department. It simply didn't have much seasoning or spicing. The carnitas, however, was flavorful and moist: quite good. The trimmings were very good as well. The pico de gallo was refreshing and light, and the hot salsa actually had a kick. Something another patron pointed out was this taco stand actually served sour cream, which was a nice touch. My one gripe is the tortillas. They are store-bought and lacking in that good corn flavor present in a freshly prepared tortilla. A better tortilla would have put this place over the top. As it is though, the tacos were pretty darn good, especially for a buck each.

Rating: 6.5/10 (5/10 is average).

Michelangelo Ristorante

Address: 3005 Highland Dr., Salt Lake City, UT 84106. 801.466.0961.

Review: We lived down the road from Michelangelo Ristorante and have driven past it a thousand times. We finally decided to try it out on my wife's birthday.

We began with prosciutto e melone: a classic pairing. The prosciutto was good quality, salty, meaty, thinly sliced. The melon was out of season and, in addition to being a bit tough, had not fully developed its sugar. Because of this, the prosciutto took over and the dish was too salty.

Next came the pasta dishes. I ordered the gnocchi al pesto, another classic dish.

Gnocchi are nothing more than cooked potatoes, flour, egg and salt. A truly good gnoccho is light and feels like a pillow in your mouth. (This might sound a bit far-fetched, but thus is the magic touch of really good gnocchi makers.) In contrast, these gnocchi were dense and bland. The pesto was more cream based than the traditional pesto genovese, and lacked any flavor of pine nuts or parmigiano reggiano, or basil for that matter.

Much the same could be said for the gnocchi al pomodoro.

Amazingly, there was no offer of parmigiano reggiano with this dish (a perfunctory gesture). Not that parm would have saved the dish from the blandness of the sauce, but it would have helped.

My wife had the ravioli filled with spinach.

The ravioli were supposed to be served with a sage and butter sauce, but it inexplicably came served with a sage and cream sauce, with a little bit of butter added. This aside, the ravioli were quality. They possessed that pop of spinach when bitten into. The pasta portion was thin texturally smooth. If the sauce had been what it said it would be, this dish would have been great.

And, because it was the wife's birthday, we ordered some desserts. She got the a cannolo, which was filled with sweetened ricotta, chocolate, and orange zest, and topped with berries.

While the cannolo was properly crunchy (something that doesn't happen often because they're filled hours before eating and become soggy), the flavors in the ricotta were muddled. There was no hint of orange, and the berries did not add much flavor to the dish.

I had the torta di frutta (misspelled torta de fruta on the menu).

This torta is, in reality, a crostata with a lemon cream filling covered in seasonal berries. The crust, which really should be the star of any crostata, was soggy and dense. There was neither flakiness nor flavor present. The filling had almost no lemon flavor to it, and thus was simply a bland creamy, sugary filling. And with no lemon to cut through the fat of the filling and contrast with the berries, there just wasn't much personality.

In the end, I would come back for the ravioli, but not for anything else.

Rating: 4.5/10 (5/10 is average. The ravioli saved the rating from being lower).

Mekong Cafe

Address: 7777 S State St, Midvale, UT 84047. 801.566.5747.

Review: The moment I walked in the Mekong Cafe I thought, man the food looked gorgeous. I saw generous plates of beef and pork and I was ready to partake. Unfortunately, I had eaten too much meat the preceding days, so I decided on the take-out vegetarian platter, which is a mess of vegetables (eggplant, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots) and tofu mixed with a spicy brown sauce.

The cashier asked how spicy I wanted the dish and rattled off the possible levels: mild, medium, hot, authentic. Authentic it was.

Surprisingly, the dish wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped. The vegetables still had a bit of bite to them, although their freshness was gone. The broccoli and mushrooms were quite tasty, but there was little flavor extracted from the other vegetables. The sauced lacked the complex interaction of contrasting flavors (e.g., sweet, sour, salty, heat, bitter) you expect from really good Thai food. And at authentic level, the heat index was significantly lower than expected.

Even though I wasn't a fan of the vegetable platter, I am going to reserve overall judgment of Mekong for now. It might be a case of food looking better than it tastes, but I cannot help but think the dish I ate was the exception and not the rule. I'll update after I've been back for some curried beef or something of the like.

Rating: On hold.

Dairy Keen

Address: 199 S Main St, Heber, UT 84032. 801.654.5336.

Review: On the way back from Vernal I passed through Heber. Now, I love Heber. Great little town in a beautiful little valley. I almost always stop at Granny's on the way through for a shake and some fries. 'Twas not to be this April day; Granny's doesn't open until May. Instead, I tried Dairy Keen down the street from Granny's.

Dairy Keen is a burger and shake joint. Its signature burger is the train, and the place's interior and exterior is decked out accordingly.

You know, I figured since they went to all the trouble, I'd try the train burger.

It consists of a 1/4 pound patty, lettuce, tomato, ham, pickles, american and swiss cheeses, and fry sauce. It wasn't that good. The patty was a bit dry. The ham wasn't good quality, so you could barely taste it. Likewise, the swiss cheese was entirely indiscernible. The thing was loaded with pickles, and the fry sauce was nondescript. Won't be ridin' the train again anytime soon.

Next up was a fresh strawberry shake.

The ice cream wasn't terribly high quality. And while fresh strawberries were advertised, there were exceedingly few of them. In fact, there was no real pronounced strawberry flavor in the shake at all. They were almost an afterthought, as was the shake.

In all, a disappointing experience.

Rating: 3.5/10 (5/10 is average).

Aristo's

Address: 224 S 1300 E, SLC, UT 84102. 801.581.0888.

Review: The wife was preparing to perform in "L'incoronazione di Poppea" (The U's spring opera), so I had a bit of time to kill. And what better way to kill time than to find a new place to eat? There is none, of course. With this in mind, I meandered to Aristo's, a Greek restaurant near other venerable joints like Indochine and B&D Burgers.

I began the meal with oxtapodi toursi, which is baby octopus marinated in olive oil, red wine vinegar, and spices, and served with lemon and parsley.

Having grown up in Alaska I dig me some octopus. These little guys had a nice taste. The red wine vinegar and lemon gave a nice kick to the mild meat. The parsley and spices rounded out the flavor nicely. The octopuses themselves were a bit dense and slightly grainy in texture. (Okay, I know some of you just said to yourselves, "It's octopi, you misguided soul." Well, octopi is acceptable, as is octopuses, which is more common. Octopodi is even used, but really only in British English.) I imagine this is because we live in Salt Lake and not on the Greek coast; but, in any case, the non-freshness detracted from the overall quality of the dish. That said, I'll probably order it again.

Next up was the gyro. Yeah, I know, Greek restaurant and all those options and I picked the gyro. Well, they're good, man. Don't fix what ain't broke.

This was a standard gyro: sliced beef/lamb combo meat heavily spiced with oregano and other goodies, tomatoes, red onion, tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber) sauce, all on a pita. First, the pita. Light, slightly spongy, luscious flavor, very nice. The meat was well spiced and tasty, although it seems gyro meat is invariably dry since you're only served the crispy outside of that meat club looking thing. The tomato, onion, and tzatziki all act to lighten the gyro and give it a little acidic bite. Good, good stuff.

And lastly, Aristo's oven-roasted potatoes deserve mention.

I'm still slightly torn about these. Spiced with oregano, oil, and vinegar, these were possible the most moist oven-roasted potatoes I've experienced. And they had some big flavor. On the other hand, the addition of liquid at the end of the cooking process negated any crispiness these potatoes once enjoyed. In the end, I think the trade off was worth it.

In all, Aristo's is a quality place. I'm looking forward to going back and trying some of the more exotic, if you will, dishes.

Rating: 7/10 (5/10 is average).

Blue Iguana

Address: 165 S West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. 801.533.8900.

Review: One goes to the Blue Iguana because it's cousin (Red Iguana) is just so dang good. Unlike the Red Iguana, however, you can sit down, not knock knees with your neighbor, and actually hold a conversation with those at your table without straining to hear every word. Oh, and it's always kind of cool to walk down a glass tube to your restaurant.

But decible level and descending tube aside, how was the food?

Being a huge fan of the Tacos Don Miguel at the Red Iguana, I ordered a taco diad: tinga (slow-roasted pork with chiles) and camerones (shrimp), pineapple, and chorizo.

As you can see, these tacos came not only with the obligatory beans and rice, but with copious amounts of lettuce and pico de gallo. The rice and beans are like rice and beans at almost all Mexican restaurants: meh, whatever. The taco with shrimp, pineapple, and chorizo didn't fair much better. There was little chorizo, and it didn't go entirely well with the pineapple. Moreover, I could barely taste the shrimp. The tinga, by contrast, was excellent. The pork was juicy and tender with great flavor. While not entirely spicy, there was enough heat to make the taco that much more interesting. Now this is a taco worth returning for.

In all, my plate was okay, but not that strong. The tinga was the real bright spot of the meal.

Rating: 5.5/10 (5/10 is average).

Lucky 13

Address: 135 W 1300 S, SLC, UT 84115. 801. 487.4418.

Review: Lucky 13 is a bar, an unabashed bar. As such, they serve bar food: burgers, fries, fried jalapenos, fried pickles (see the pattern?). The selection of burgers isn't large, about six or seven. Two burgers are of the redonkulous Man-Versus-Food variety (e.g., a massive double burger, loaded with habaneros and whatnot, squished between two grilled cheese sandwiches). We steered clear of these gimmicky behemoths, and ordered what turned out to be some mighty fine grub.

I had the flame thrower. It was a 1/2 pound patty with mixed greens, sauteed onions, blue cheese (it originally came with cheddar, but they gladly switched it up for me), house-smoked bacon, roasted jalapenos, and roasted habaneros. The patty was thick enough that it could be cooked medium (i.e., still pink in the center), which means it retained its juiciness. The next thing I noticed was the blue cheese. It was pronounced, pungent, salty, and slightly sour, just like it should be. The sauteed onions were a sweet balance to the cheese. The house-smoked bacon was thick, with lots of natural smoke flavor. Quality. The roasted jalapenos and habaneros brought nice fruitiness and heat to the party. And this burger is not for the faint of heart. Heat abounds, almost, but not quite, to the point of masking the more subtle flavors in the burger. Also, the bun was hearty enough not to be lost among the mass of other ingredients. Only thing that didn't really work was the greens. They became a bit wilty and soggy after the first bite. All in all, a good, good burger.

My two friends had, respectively, a straight cheeseburger with ketchup, and a celestial burger. Both were highly praised.

Now, on to the fries. These weren't no sissy fries in sissy portions. The fries were plentiful, crispy, hot, and light on the inside. They was good. And the fry sauce was spicy. Nice touch.

I normally don't comment on price, but this was a big meal. Each burger and fries could easily feed two people. At $10 for the flame thrower, and less under $10 for the other non behemoth burgers, Lucky 13 is a pretty good deal.

And many people have commented on the service not being up to par. Maybe, however, we epxerienced no problems at all. Our waitress was attentive and our food arrived promptly. Our glasses were always full. For a bar, it was a rather enjoyable experience.

In all, good stuff. Certainly one of the best burgers and fries combo I've had in the SLC.

Rating: 7/10 (5/10 is average).