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Garden Cafe Is Off to a Grand Start | |
| By Anne Wilson -- Special To The Tribune | 10/12/2001 | |
| Salt Lake City's new luxury hotel, the Grand America, is awaiting its finishing touches, but rough edges such as some untrimmed carpet belie what is happening in the hotel restaurant, the Garden Cafe. Executive chef Ryan Thomas, a veteran of numerous hotel openings, offers a menu that is creative but reasonably priced, a rare commodity in hotels. As with the building itself, some finishing touches are still needed, but Thomas is off to a positive start. The Grand's owner, Earl Holding, intended the hotel design to evoke the best of traditional European hotels, though its scale and design evoke a little bit of Las Vegas, too. The Garden Cafe has a floral motif, comfy and casual. Bright patterns of green, yellow and red are repeated in the ornate lighting fixtures. The Grand's "fine dining" restaurant won't open until after the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the Garden Cafe offers breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as formal tea; lunch and a bridge game on the second Saturday of every month (the first one is tomorrow, $15 per person) and a monthly wine-pairing dinner (Oct. 22, 7 p.m., $65 per person). Reservations are required for the bridge and the wine pairing. The dinner menu is a good sampling of Thomas' talents, although the Sunday brunch buffet ($28) features more of the game dishes he favors (roasted loin of boar, elk medallions, partridge breast and red trout among them). He likes seasonal vegetables, sauces that are light but intense, and drawing from different world cuisines. Thomas' treatment of salmon ($13.50) is a good example. The fish is coated with an Italian-inspired pesto and served with Asian-style sticky rice mixed with snow peas. The finishing sauce is grapefruit juice and butter, studded with pink peppercorns that add a visual and flavorful kick. The only minor flaw is the rice, which has more presence than it should due to its heavy texture and bland flavor. More peas and less rice might be the answer. Bouillabaisse, the classic French fisherman's stew ($16), gets its slightly offbeat flavor from tarragon in a thick tomato broth that holds shrimp, mussels, clams, chunks of white fish and a small lobster tail. It comes with a grilled slice of hearty house bread. Proscuitto-wrapped veal loin ($16) sounds a lot like comfort food, which it is, complete with potatoes. But these are pureed, purple potatoes with a sweet, nutty flavor, an excellent plate-mate for the meat. Slightly pink veal is wrapped in crisp, salty bacon and dressed with a sauce of green apples flavored with Calvados. Baby vegetables add to the presentation, although the carrots needed more cooking time. Veal isn't the only good choice for diners in need of comforting: a thick pork loin, thoroughly grilled but still moist, is placed atop wilted spinach and a round of seared polenta ($15). The sauce is cranberries, simmered with zinfandel to a ruby-fruited decadence. Salads and appetizers are just as imaginative and delicious, but less of a steal. (Even the dinner salad is $6.) A salad of baby spinach and radicchio ($8) features large pieces of black mission figs, Stilton cheese, candied walnuts and diced apples. The flavors complemented each other beautifully, but it would be easier to combine them if the apples were in larger pieces. Here's another inventive salad/starter: large grilled shrimp on an arugula salad studded with sliced asparagus and crisp proscuitto, all of it dressed with a lemon vinaigrette. Don't skip pastry chef Francesco P. Santoro's desserts -- they are as dramatic as they are delicious. His structured ($5) tiramisu comes on a large plate decorated with pin dots of bright red syrup and stalks of spun sugar. What is missing is service to match the food. On our first visit, the server was so formal, he seemed out of place in that garden ambience. On a second visit, the server was so inexperienced she could barely converse, which led to misunderstood orders. Those kinks need to be smoothed out before the world is welcomed here. Until then, do your part to get the place ready. Sample some of Thomas' fine cuisine, choose from the cafe's short but thoughtful wine list, and bring the kids to test drive the "smaller person's menu," which features standard favorites, plus a green salad, drink and dessert. Life in this garden can be pretty grand. Grand America Hotel, Garden Cafe 555 S. Main St., 258-6000 Hours: Daily, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; dinner begins at 5 p.m. Prices: Dinner entrees from $9 to $16 Liquor: Full bar, wine list Reservations: Yes Child's Menu: Yes Takeout: Yes Wheelchair Accessible: Yes Outdoor Dining: Available next spring Parking: Underground lot Credit Cards: All major Anne Wilson is The Tribune's restaurant reviewer. The newspaper covers the cost of meals at restaurants reviewed and there is no connection between reviews and restaurant advertising. Wilson welcomes food and wine news, comments and suggestions at wilwrite99@aol.com. |
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