Ristorante/Pizzeria il Campione

Address: Via Marrechia 75, 61015 Novalfeltria (RN), Italy. 054192134.

Review: After flying for eighteen hours, and driving a rental car another three, I was ready (1) to eat, and (2) to eat quickly. Ristorante il Campione filled the bill since it's about 300 meters from my wife's apartment. Campione was quaint and without pretense, as any good ristorante should be.

I began by ordering the beef carpaccio with arugula and grana padana.

As any good sandwich is really about the bread and not the stuff on it, carpaccio is about the meat and not the condiments on top thereof. The beef here was spot on. Raw, flavorful on its own, supple, and read as a beet (which means it was freshly sliced). It alone with olive oil and salt would have been a great dish in itself. That said, the peppery but not too sharp arugula added a lightness, and the grana padana (a cheese in the parmigiano reggiano vein) added a nice nuttiness and satliness that brought out the earthiness of the meat. Simple. Hearty, yet light. Wonderful.

Next up was the strozzapreti with shrimp and zucchini.

Yep, there's no sauce except that created by sautéing the shrimp and zucchini in olive oil. This makes for a wonderfully light dish that is perfect when it's ninety degrees and 75% humidity. The shrimp were fresh and tasted like the sea. The zucchini were finely diced and cooked until they retained their shape but had given up their squash texture. (I, as one who finds most squash texture off-putting, appreciated this cooking technique.) The pasta itself, in the shape of strozzapreti (i.e., "strangle priests," more on the name below) was good, if not slightly tough. It may be because the strozzapreti is a fairly thick pasta, that the pasta will always be a little tough, but this lacked suppleness I find in most fresh pastas in Italy. All in all, though, it was a good dish, and exactly what I needed to eat after a day of airplane food.

Oh, and the water. We had some frizzante (bubbly mineral water), that was serious good drinks.

Overall, good first meal.

Rating: 7.5/10 (5/10 is average).

(Aside: strozzapreti is a shape of pasta that is thicker than most. Like all things Italian, there are many founding stories regarding strozzapreti. My favorite, although it is certainly mythical, explains that strozzapreti came about because Catholic priests would impose themselves and invite themselves to parishioners' homes on Sundays for dinner. The wives, so the story goes, became annoyed with these impositions and began making the pasta into larger shapes in hopes the priests would choke (read: strangle), die, and thereby stop coming over for dinner.)

Nicoitalia Pizza Express

Address: 592 E 12300 S, Draper, UT 84020. 801.938.9229.

Review: Marketing is all about finding a niche and exploiting that niche as much as possible. Nicoitalia Pizza Express's niche is that it makes Boston-Italian-style pizzas. Always open to new pizza styles, a friend and I decided to see what the Boston was all about. Turns out it's not about much.

We ordered a margherita pizza, which traditionally comes with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.

See something missing? That's right, there's nary a basil leaf to be found on Nico's margherita. (To be fair, the menu says there's basil; however, neither of us could discern any.) The lack of basil meant the pizza lacked that herby aromatic component so pronounced in quality pizzas, especially Italian pizzas. In the stead of basil there was mozzarella, romano cheese, and chunk tomatoes. The chunk tomatoes, which I believe is a component that makes Boston-style pizza distinctive, were simply chunk tomatoes anyone could buy at a supermarket. Plus, the size of the tomato pieces (complete with stem pieces) was a bit off-putting. The crust was not thin, not thick, and not inherently tasty on its own. It just was. Same can be said for the cheese. Overall, it was a nondescript experience.

We also had a scarpa, which is pizza dough in the approximate shape of shoe (hence the name "scarpa," which means shoe in Italian), topped with mozzarella and baked. It was served with a cooked and unpalatably sweet sugared tomato sauce. Meh.

Confession time: I love Boston. I prefer it to New York, in fact. That said, Nicoitalia left me wondering why Boston-style pizza shouldn't be a long-lost memory the next time I frequent Ray's or Lombardi's.

Rating: 4/10 (5/10 is average).

J Dawgs

Address: 880 N 700 E, Provo, UT 84606. 801.373.3294.

Review: I eat a hot dog once every six months or so. Why, you may wonder? Because, for the most part, hot dogs are disgusting tubed amalgams of the forgotten nether-regions of pigs, cows, chickens, etc. So, it was with trepidation I walked into J Dawgs after helping a friend in Provo pack up a thirty-foot moving van.

At J Dawgs you can get an all-beef hotdog or an all-beef polish dog; no more no less. Your topping choices are similarly limited: sauerkraut, pickle (dill spear or sweet relish), onions, jalapenos, banana peppers, yellow mustard, ketchup, and special sauce (more on this later). This type of model is risky business because the single product you sell has to be very good, otherwise everything you sell sucks. Let's see if J Dawgs business model is successful.

I had a polish dog with everything on it. The special sauce came highly recommended, so I went with it.

The first bite. Dang. The first bite. I don't yet know where J Dawgs sources its beef, but they found some winner meat. The polish was big and meaty, savory, had nice pepper and spice, and just enough fat to make it juicy, even after significant time on the grill. The casing even had that little snap you look for in a quality dog. Great stuff. The bun was hearty, soft, and freshly prepared. The toppings were a little hit and miss. I enjoyed everything, but the sauerkraut lacked punch. And the special sauce, which was generously applied, was so aggressively sweet that it overpowered the beautiful savoriness of the polish. Some spicy mustard, instead of the special sauce, would have been a perfect condiment. (Upon reviewing J Dawgs website, spicy mustard is a special-request condiment, but it's not advertised in store. Wish I had known.) So, leave the sauce and down the dog.

I'm looking forward to going back to J Dawgs, and it'll certainly happen long before six months from now.

Rating: 7/10 (5/10 is average). This rating may well increase if the spicy mustard they serve is good quality.

(Update: I drove to Provo to file a divorce and frequented J Dawgs again. This time, I had a polish with kraut, onions, dill pickle, and spicy mustard. The great savoriness of the polish shone through. I wish the mustard had been a little higher quality, but this is a general critique of all J Dawgs toppings. In any case, I dig these dogs.)

New Rating: 7.5/10

Goodwood Barbecue Company

Address: 133 E 12300 S, Draper, UT 84020. 801.495.4840.

Review: As a general rule, Barbecue is not a food genre conducive to the chain restaurant model. For whatever reason, mass standardization kills the smokey goodness of barbecued meats, and the sides don't seem to fair too well either. Goodwood Barbecue Company does nothing to challenge this general rule.

I had a lunch plate with pulled pork, brisket, sweet potatoes, and coleslaw. The pork was stringy and dry. The brisket, which, when cooked well, is dripping with juice and teeming with smokey flavor, was dry. (See a pattern here?). It also had little smoke flavor and even less of a smoke ring. The sweet potatoes (which were really yams, but whatever), on the other hand, were soft and steeped in brown sugar, just as nature intended them to be. (Aside: there is little better in this world than yams mixed with loads of brown and finished with a dollup of butter. Mmm.) The coleslaw was, well, I can't rightly remember, which means it didn't make a lasting impression either for good or for evil.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the barbecue sauce. It was quite sweet, lacked depth of flavor, and possessed almost no heat. Overall, it didn't add much beyond sugar to the meal.

In the end, if you think McDonald's produces a superior burger, then you'll probably like Goodwood. And if you don't, you probably won't.

Rating: 4/10 (5/10 is average).

Taj India

Address: 4515 S 900 E, Murray, UT 84117. 801.268.2423.

Review: Taj India is innocuously situated next to a former gas station that has been recently converted to a blanket market. (You know, one of those where they hang up huge blankets with pictures of Bob Marley on clothes lines.) Thankfully, Taj's food is far more classy than the blankets that adorn its flank.

I showed up during the early lunch hour, and was the only one present for most of my meal. Maybe it was for this reason that I had such good service (although, I have a feeling the owners are simply good at attending to their customers' needs). For example, my water was always filled, which I dearly appreciate. And now, on to the food.

I began with the lamb and pea samosa.

The samosa skin was light and fried to a golden brown. The filling consisted of ground lamb, spices, and peas. The lamb had a good flavor and the peas added a nice color contrast, but I would have enjoyed it more if the peas had been fresher and sweeter. Adding tamarind chutney to the samosa brought some sweetness to the dish and round out the savory flavors.

Next came the paneer korma and rice.

The korma had a good mix of sweet and savory characteristics. Cardamom balances out the garam masala and garlic, etc. I ordered the korma hot, and hot it was, which was a nice touch. (Most Indian restaurants really cut the heat from their dishes to appease American palates.) The paneer was quite enjoyable. While paneer doesn't usually have a ton of flavor on its own (and this one didn't), the fresh-made, slightly dense, squeaky texture of this paneer helped make things more interesting. This noted, this korma isn't my favorite. Ultimately, the flavors were a bit muted and the spices kind of ran together instead of retaining their individual properties. The rice was plain, which was okay, but it didn't add much besides starch to the korma. In all, good, but not special.

Finally, the naan.

Well cooked. Not dry. Had flavor thanks to the ghee. However, very thin and without any bready elasticity. Again, solid, but nothing to put it over the top.

Taj serves solid Indian food.

Rating: 6/10 (5/10 is average).

Chow Truck

Address: Wherever they are in Salt Lake City (schedule available at http://www.chowtruck.com/about.php).

Review: Chow Truck is a Salt Lake City pioneer in the increasingly popular food-from-a wheeled-apparatus movement. It's particularly special because most of the apparatuses in Salt Lake are in the form of food carts driven by good old Fred Flinstone power, while Chow Truck is just that: a truck (and a scorch-your-eyes-yellow one at that).

So, what fare is divulged from the bowels of this yellow beast? Asian-inspired fusion, of course. Specifically, tacos sliders, root veggie chips, etc.

I ordered a taco and a slider.

The taco was filled with pineapple, ginger, pork, Asian slaw, cilantro, and fired wanton skins. Immediately upon biting the taco, a wave of pineapple hit. That was followed by the fresh, cool slaw and the crunch of the wanton skins. (The wanton skins were a very thoughtful textural contrast that made the taco far more interesting than it would have been otherwise.) The pork was juicy and tender, although it was more of a background ingredient than anything else.

The slider included the identical asian slaw and wantons skins, but it featured panko-crusted fried tofu and a cilantro pesto. The tofu was the unmitigated star of this slider. It was crunchy, flavorful, and had a slightly silken feel on my tongue. Very impressive element. I found myself longing for something other than the slaw and wanton skins I had already eaten though. This tofu deserved topping all its own.

Other than the redundancy of the toppings, my own real critique regarding Chow Truck is the use of standard, supermarket-quality corn tortillas and slider buns. It really brings down the overall quality of the product. I know it's fusion food and they want to use at least some standard American ingredients. I get that. But if the thought and care that went into the fillings also went into the tortillas and buns, Chow Truck could produce truly killer food. As it stands, they produce pretty good food with spectacular tofu.

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

Edo Kitchen

Address: 815 E 2100 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84106. 801.264.3979.

Review: Edo Kitchen is a new West African restaurant.

Having first been introduced to this food in Europe by African immigrants, I became intrigued. It's built on the idea that pairing large amounts of starch with some meat suspended in soup, you can get full for a relatively meager capital expenditure. It's also built on the idea that all parts of the animal get used: sinew, cartilage, all.

I had the goat meat stew accompanied with fufu (an oblong ball of mashed plantain).

Fufu is what it is. There's not much flavor to it. It's there to fill your belly, not much more. The goat stew was a bit the same. The liquid was tomato based and quite simple in that it was not heavily spiced or salted. The goat itself was dry and tough, which is pretty par for the course for goat. In all, authentic, but not terribly flavorful.

My friend had egusi soup with plantain. Egusi is a mixture of beef, shrimp, spinach, and other ingredients. It had more flavor than the goat stew, and the meat (being beef) was more tender. This was a superior dish.

In the end, West African food is an acquired taste for most Americans. I happen to enjoy it (possibly because of the good memories associated with it), while my friend didn't. That said, I didn't find Edo Kitchen's food particularly compelling.

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