Thaifoon

By the way...thanks for including me in this very cool website. Great idea! I love it.

So back to importance at hand....food and very good food which Thaifoon has. It is located at the North end of Gateway and it is one of Billy and my favorites. But, you have to order the right thing.

Appetizers:
They are all amazing. In fact, one night we just ordered like 5 appetizers and we were very satisfied.
Shrimp and avacado roll (the one we get the most)
Lettuce wraps(best ever)
crab roll (i can't remember the name, but it has crab in it and the yummiest dipping sauce)

Dishes: the 2 best on the menu
Honey Walnut Shrimp
Evil Jungle Princess Beef

Oh this is making me hungry. Billy and I need a date.

Cupcakes and Crack

Well, not real crack, but apparently that's the nickname for kouing aman, a really quite amazing little treat that not many people or places make. Happily for those of us in Utah, Les Madeleines at 216 East 500 South in Salt Lake City does! (Check out their website for pictures, menu, information, all sorts of good stuff!)

I've had a couple of people recommend the kouing aman at Les Madeleines, particularly Kristin, and since I had to work 9-12 today, and it's practically next door, I thought I'd make my husband stop there with me for a quick treat before heading over to work. The kouing aman (the guy at the shop pronounced it something like queen aman) is one of their specialities and is yummy and crunchy and caramelized on the outside and soft and buttery on the inside. It's not super sweet, which is nice, but holy cow, is it good stuff. It is highly recommended that those interested in tasting this treat arrive at the store probably by noon or call ahead because it goes fast. Derk said they reminded him of a croissant, only improved and more buttery.

I also tried one of their cupcakes, the Gilligan's Island, which was a coconut cupcake with cream cheese frosting and coconut flakes on top. This was a pretty typical cake, with yummy cream cheese frosting on top. I had to go with this one because the buttercream frostings on their other cupcakes looked like the kind that give me the willies. (I have a weird texture thing.) But their shortbreads are really, really good, especially the toffee one. And don't miss their lime-ade. It's really amazing, with a great lime flavor and just the right amount of tartness.

Now on to more cupcakes, and I should say that both of these places mostly make mini cupcakes, so they're just the right size. If you're into really cool, designer looking and tasty cupcakes, I have to recommend Mini's Cupcakes on 800 South and 14 East between Main and State Street in Salt Lake, rather than Les Madeleines. Their cupcakes are crazy good, and even when the frosting is of the buttercream or swiss meringue type I still will eat it because for some reason they avoid the weird texture thing you can run into with these types of frostings. My favorites are the PB Fix (chocolate cupcake with really yummy peanut butter flavored frosting, I know, seems strange but works really well) and the Snowball (vanilla bean cupcake with swiss meringue frosting topped with coconut). Both delicious!! I've tried several others as well, and they were all good. Though I didn't try the margarita flavored one, yes they have one with tequila in the frosting!

Oh, I should mention that both places also do lunch kinds of things, check out their menus for that sort of thing. I have only so far tried their treats, but their lunches sound good. Give them a try!

Tokai Sushi

I can't believe it took me this long to blog about my favorite sushi place, Tokai Sushi.  This is centrally located in Salt Lake, at 1301 East Miller Avenue, which is just north of 33rd South in the little strip mall where there is a Cookie Cutters shop, a pharmacy and a sports car dealership.  We've been going to Tokai for over a year now and it has been consistently good, an important feature!  Sushi is the main menu item, but they have lots of other great dishes.  I will let Derk blog about that, as he doesn't order sushi when we go with he and Christine!  

Some of my favorite sushi rolls are below:

• Alaska Roll (salmon, crab, asparagus & avocado, wrapped in soybean paper).  For sushi beginners, this is a good place to start.  When we introduced Abby to sushi, we started with all rolls with soybean paper, which is a nice alternative to seaweed.  
• Crunch Roll (Shrimp tempura, crab & avocado, with tempura powder on top).  We almost always order this.  I am a BIG fan of shrimp tempura and the tempura powder on top makes it just crunchy enough.  The sauce served with this is also totally yummy.  
• Imperial Roll (Crab, cucumber, avocado and cream cheese with salmon and lemon on top).  I had to be introduced to this one, because I was afraid of the lemon on top.  DO NOT be afraid of the lemon!  When you pop one of these in your mouth, you have all those great flavors happening at the same time - crab, salmon, avocado, cream cheese and then you get this little kick from the lemon!  Truly amazing.  
• Playboy Roll *my favorite* (Shrimp tempura and crab, topped with tuna, salmon, avocado and tobiko (fish eggs) - this has the yummiest sauce that makes me want to lick the plate when I'm done!  No, I haven't done this in public...but I do admit I have when we've done take-out at home!  
• Black Crunch Roll (Shrimp tempura, crab, avocado and eel on top).  When Abby first tried this, we told her the eel was chicken, so she would try it.  Now, it's all she wants to eat!  And, if you've never tried eel, try this roll.  You'll be hooked for life.  

The most expensive of the rolls is the Playboy at $11.45, with most of the others between $8.45 & $9.95, so not too expensive.  Their appetizers have been uniformly good - we usually get the edamame (they serve this with a wedge of lemon, which when squeezed over the edamame makes it truly yummy!  I like it with a LOT of salt, as well).  Their tempura vegetables & shrimp have the crispiest tempura with a light sauce to dip it in, and the miso soup is hot and filled with yummy chunks of tofu (that is Abby's favorite part).  Perhaps one of the best features of Tokai is the free dessert, served at the end of the meal, usually either tempura strawberries or tempura bananas, with whipped cream & chocolate syrup.  The perfect end to a perfect meal!

Overall, if I had to pick my favorite "neighborhood"restaurant, this would be it.  Great food, nice people and a great location (only 20 minutes from work and surprisingly only 15 minutes from home, on the freeway and I-80!)  I highly recommend it!  

Glitretind Restaurant at Stein Eriksen, Deer Valley

Blair & I had the great experience of spending our anniversary at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley Friday night, thanks to a great website deal that included our suite, a 3-course dinner at the Glitretind Restaurant and 20% all spa treatments.  We didn't have time for the spa, but WOW was the food incredible!  I will attempt to describe it in the most mouth-watering terms I can.  I started out with the "Surf & Turf" first course, which consisted of charred Kobe tartare, wild gulf shrimp & argula salad with crispy root vegetables.  I was a little hesitant about the tartare, as I'd never tried it before but it was incredible.  The meat was charred on the outside and rare on the inside, with just a small spoonful of creamy horseradish sauce on top.  The gulf shrimp were tender and delicious and the arugula had just the right "bite" to complement the shrimp.  The crispy root vegetables were thin strings of fried carrot & potato and were a nice diversion from the tartare.  Moving on to the second course - I had seared Maine sea scallops and a braised pork belly with baby artichokes, lemon basil and a horseradish butter sauce.  Once again, I was a little hesitant about the pork belly having never tried it but it delicious!   It tasted like a thin, crispy version of a pork roast.  Mmmm...my mouth is watering just remembering it!  The scallops were seared on the outside and tender on the inside and you can't ever go wrong with scallops!  Delicious!  For dessert, I had the Wicked Velvet Cake with orange mousse, two kinds of ice cream and a crispy macaroon.  I literally have never tasted flavors like that before!  The cake was crumbled with the mousse and ice cream on the top and I really should have swallowed my pride (pun intended) and took a picture because the presentation was beautiful.  I highly recommend this restaurant and highly recommend the website package that included the room AND dinner.  I believe they offer it every spring, so mark your calendars now! 

Welcome to Utah Foodies!

Welcome to our new blog, Utah Foodies.  This site is dedicated to all the food that Utah has to offer.  This is great time of year to start recommending great places to eat and for posting great recipes.  If you want to know were to find great food in Utah, to coin a phrase....This is the Place!  Please check back frequently for new restaurant reviews, recipes and just general food information.

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