Bacino's 
Ali Reza was just passing through Utah, on his way home to Chicago from California where he had "sort of" moved, when he was struck by a strange notion: What if he just stopped driving? 

Life in Salt Lake City might be easier -- maybe even safer -- than in the Windy City. Reza allowed himself to think about becoming a Westerner, and the more he thought, the more he liked the idea. 

In 1994, he arrived in Utah, bringing with him a love of Italian food and restaurant savvy gained at a Chicago trattoria. In June 2001, Reza teamed up with Louie Mascaro to open Bacino's "deli with a twist," so named because they believe it offers more than delicatessen. 

It does: Bacino's has a good-sized bakery in addition to a market, a catering operation, a deli counter well stocked with meats and cheeses, and a daily sidewalk barbecue where Reza grills steaks, sausages and Cornish game hens. 

The interior is large and casual, with cafeteria-style tables and chairs sharing space with shelves of dry goods and the salad bar (unfortunately covered with smoke-colored Plexiglas that doesn't give customers a good look at what is there). Diners order at the counter and pay there when the food is ready. 

The menu offerings a mouth-watering selection of sandwiches and such house-made entrees as lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, or baked pasta -- a slightly spicy dish with corkscrew pasta, red sauce and chunks of green pepper. Reza's most popular sandwich is the Bacino special, a hefty mix of capicolla, mortadella and salami layered with provolone and topped with lettuce, tomato and oil and vinaigrette ($6.25). The bread is firm but pliable enough that it can fit inside the mouth. 

At Bacino, you can go meatless and still be stuffed with a sandwich that layers roasted eggplant, feta cheese and roasted red pepper, lightly sprinkled with oil and vinegar dressing ($5.95). It offers the same bread as the Bacino special, with equally robust flavors. 

The bakery is just as tempting, with a generous selection of cakes and cookies. The butter cookies are to die for (they taste like butter!), while the biscotti are almost too big for one cup of joe. Cakes come in all flavors, from a classic cheesecake to wedding cakes covered with marzipan. 

Check out Bacino's if you are in the area -- it adds some much-needed flavor to this suburban neighborhood. 

8916 S. State, 562-0707. Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Pazzo 
This deli/market/gift shop is owned by a brother/sister team (also transplants from California) who serve up some wicked crab cakes, garlicky hummus and chunky fresh salsa, in addition to entrees that go beyond Italian. 

Longtime caterer Suzanne Sala brings food savvy to Pazzo, while brother Steve comes from a banking background. Pazzo is the result of years of discussion, a dream the siblings finally made reality last January. 

"We didn't know what it was going to be," Suzanne said. "And then it turned out to be this." 

Pazzo scores high on the cute factor, with brightly colored wall tiles creating a lively backdrop for cold cases filled with a rotating lineup of such prepared foods as salads, baked ziti, lasagna, curried chicken, grilled salmon or crab cakes, and meats and cheeses sold by the pound. A refrigerator case holds perishables such as the hummus and salsa, while shelves lined with dried pasta, sauces, jams and various ethnic foods occupy the center of the store. 
Diners can take their food home, dine in at a table or sip their specialty coffee on an oversized sofa. A nice-sized patio holds several umbrella-shaded tables. 
The food is fresh and lively, from those large crab cakes served with a spicy remoulade ($3.99 each) to an Asian beef salad with fresh greens, slices of rare steak and a slightly sweet soy dressing studded with diced red pepper ($6.99 a pound). A full menu of sandwiches made with Pazzo's meats and cheeses fills two boards hanging on the wall. 

Pazzo also has a selection of fun gifts, from wildly colored wooden salt and pepper shakers (around $30 per set) to picnic ware and some snappy little bracelets studded with crystal stones. 

Pazzo is one of the newest stores to open on a formerly neglected corner that has been transformed into the upscale Country Club Marketplace, which now holds an art gallery, a day spa and a bakery, among other things. The place creates a sense of deja vu for Suzanne Sala, who once rented equipment for her catering operation from a business that was in the same spot Pazzo now occupies. 

2005 E. 2700 South, 485-7299. Hours: Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 

Europa Cafe and Deli 
Europa is the place to get homemade dumplings: Siberian pilmeny stuffed with seasoned beef, Polish perogi filled with a mix of potato, cheese and onion, or Ukrainian vereniky wrapped around mildly flavored farmer's cheese. 

They come frozen to take home, or fresh for eating on the spot in an ambience that is distinctly European thanks to a selection of Russian-language magazines and shelves full of imported dry goods. 

Europa has a nice menu of prepared foods like blintzi, Greek dolmathes and Russian piroshki (like a turnover stuffed with chicken). The stuffed cabbage, served as an entree with baked potato or rice, is very good ($5.99), but the chicken Kiev, which isn't made in house, was not its equal. 

Europa also has a breakfast menu of French toast, omelets, pancakes and bagels. 

2682 S. Highland Drive, 483-1541. Hours: Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; dinner, 6-10 p.m. 

Angie's European Deli 
Craving yogurt soda? You will find it here, along with turnip pickles, fresh bagged spices, canned sprats, fig jam, canned lupini beans and Ajvar, a spread made from red peppers. 

Angie's is a tiny place that offers a limited menu of sandwiches (the pita stuffed with turkey had lettuce, tomato, catsup, mustard and mayo, a strange combination that worked), salads (roasted eggplant and tomato was full-flavored, if a bit oily) and unusual foods like a cream-filled bar called bird's milk cake. 

The yogurt soda is an acquired taste -- it's like carbonated buttermilk -- but the baklava is excellent. 

Angie's also offers a small selection of Greek music CDs and keychains imported from Turkey. 

4139 S. 1785 West, 840-9950. Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.