Bringing the Best of New Jersey to Salt Lake City

Let me begin by saying that people make fun of New Jersey a lot . . . but most of it is well deserved. People are kind of rude, a lot of the state is ugly and my dirtbag of an ex-brother-in-law lives there. There are some great things about the state, my sister and her great kids live there. Princeton is beautiful and there are some cool historical sites. But the main thing New Jersey has going for it is pizza.

In Trenton, I went with my sister for "tomato pie." It was unbelievable, thin crust, just the right amount of sauce and cheese. The pitcher of birch beer they brought complimented it perfectly. It was also served up with lot of New Jersey attitude and the booths had collages of pictures featuring dudes who looked like this and super tan Italian girls showing lots of clevage.

In an earlier post I promised I would review Nuch's Pizzeria in Salt Lake. The location is not ideal, it's right off the 23d East exit from I-80. The pizza was unbelievable. While Settebello offers the authentic Italian wood-oven pizza, this is more of a New York/New Jersey pie. Perfect for take-out.

The crust was super thin and just crispy enough. There was also a good sauce and a more cheese than the Jersey pizza, but it was still great. The 16 inch pie can feed 3-4 people, but Mrs. Fabulous and I downed the whole thing.

The only thing you may need to provide for yourself is birch beer. Boylans is the best I've found so far, but I am going to try some others that I will review in upcoming posts.

Bovine Bliss

I was in charge of Christmas dinner this year and decided to do a Texas brisket. I chose this recipe from none other than Paula Dean and it was stupendous (Speaking of Paula Dean, check out this video).

It had the flavor and tenderness of pot roast with a consistency of steak. A few things to note, use sea salt or kosher salt with the rub. Some of the reviews said the table salt made it too salty. Also, I added a cup of beef broth and a cup of water and it filled the pan up about a half inch and made the meat extra tender.

Coo Coo for Cocoa

There's nothing quite like a perfect cup of hot chocolate when you're cold. There's also nothing quite like the disappointment of a poorly mixed brew with clumps of instant hot chocolate powder mixed in water (the kind you get in Mason jars as Christmas gifts), served in a styrofoam cup (with a plastic spoon to do the extra mixing).

The best hot chocolate I ever had was in Lausanne Switzerland. Mrs. Fabulous and I had gone to Europe as newlyweds and since it was August, we had packed shorts, t-shirts and sandals. Little did we know that we would encounter three weeks of 50 degree weather and rain. It was really coming down in Lausanne and was freezing. We sought shelter in a little pub called "Le Barbare" (the Barbarian)--just off a huge stone staircase coming down from the cathedral, which is the highest point in the city.

What they served was more like a hot chocolate mousse. It was thick like pudding, but it was warm and it was extra good because we were cold and wet. The pub had huge exposed wooden beams and it was served up with the typical Swiss gruff attittude. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Has anyone had anything like that in America? If I find a good recipe, I will post it.

Best and Worst of Christmas

Christmas brings out the best and worst in people. Mr. Scrooge helps poor Tiny Tim in Victorian England and obese shoppers trample poor sales clerks at 2:00 am in Wal-Mart on Black Friday in Alabama.

Food is no exception. All of the great Christmas foods are half of the celebration for me. Whether it's the special shrimp cocktail or my Mom's layered salad, thoughts of Christmas get the saliva glands going.

There are also some bad Christmas foods, usually given as gifts. Below is a list of my top 5 and bottom 5 Christmas foods. What would you add? You defenders of the beloved Russell Stover Christmas tradition, speak up!

Top 5:

1. Shrimp cocktail (I don't know if it's really a Christmas food, but that's what we eat on Christmas Eve in my family)
2. Toffee
3. Most chocolate/peppermint combinations
4. Homemade Christmas cookies
5. Chocolate dipped caramel pretzels (eggnog got dropped from the list because I enjoyed one just this afternoon)

Bottom 5:

1. Russell Stover Chocolates (the all-time cheap gift)
2. Fruitcake
3. The chocolate orange
4. Giant tins of plain/cheese/carmel popcorn with a dog, wildlife or Santa on the front
5. Non-peppermint candy canes

The American Dream

It's the American dream, the penniless immigrant steps off the boat and becomes a small business owner. It has happened and it will continue to happen. What happens when they don't quite pull it off?

You may get some interesting results. Case in point: Yummy Burger in Ohio. This was sent to me from a friend (codename YoHio) from the heartland and bellweather of America -- Ohio.

Yummy Burger has some signs that say Yummy Burger and some that say White Lotus. This is because Yummy Burger serves burgers and fries as well as Thai food. You could have a side of Pad Thai with your burger or dip your fries in Massaman Curry.

Another sad story comes from Utah County, where I am gainfully employed. There is a restaurant called China Wok, which I so wanted to like. It is run by a family, the dad cooks the food in the back, his wife waits tables and their son runs around the restaurant. The place was empty and I was excited to give them my business and become a loyal customer . . . until they brought out the food.

To me, it does not seem too hard to make Chinese food the caliber of Panda Express. There are plenty of Chinese restaurants that serve up the Americanized Chinese fare and it's not bad. This was horrible. I ordered sweet and sour pork and was served what looked like tater tots. These were fried balls of dough with a little grizzle in the middle. To go on top was a bright red sauce (sugar, cornstarch and red food coloring). The fried rice on the side was black because it had so much soy sauce.

My Dad and I could not even finish half of what was on our plates and really debated if it was a meal we should pay for. Hopefully this family finds success in another line of work.

Mama Mia, That's a Nice-a Sandwich!

I loves me an I-talian sandwich. There are some great places for such fare in Salt Lake City. Granato's and Caputo's are the best.

Today's spotlight is on Caputo's, but no disrespect is meant toward Granato's (as the two are bitter rivals).

The other day I stopped in and had the signature Caputo sandwich. This sandwich consists of "Prosciutto, mortadella, salami, provolone, lettuce, and tomatoes on a hard Italian roll covered with olive oil and balsamic vinegar." There's something about the roll, the balsamic vinegar and prosciutto that really makes the sandwich. I love the little pepper and olive that come with it as well.

Does anyone else agree that real Mediterranean olives are something that you could eat one or two of but are way too strong to eat any more?

Caputo's has a mean meatball and I wanted to try the Muffaletta. This is a discussion that should be saved for another post, but I am very intrigued by the sandwiches of New Orleans, including the Muffaletta and various mutations of po' boy.

I'd love to hear from readers about their favorite Italian sandwich places around the country and if you've had good New Orleans sandwiches and how much skin you had to show to get them.

Donut Divide

There is a divide in Salt Lake City between the east side and the west side. Nowhere is this division more pronounced than in a competition between two donut shops: Banbury Cross and My Sugar's.

Banbury Cross is on 7th East and 7th South, near liberty park. While it is not in one of the east side's most stellar neighborhoods, it's close to the hip Trolley Square shopping center and it's on the way to work for most east-siders. The donuts are delicious, especially the buttermilk bars and the cinnamon crumble. The shop is large, well-kept and accommodates sit-down enjoyment or drive-through. It is an east side institution frequented by coffee-sipping ski bums and wealthy housewives alike. I love their donuts and last time we went they accidentally gave us two maple bars instead of buttermilk bars and let us keep the maple bars, which was very nice.

Over to the west side to My Sugar's Donuts. It is in the industrial part of town, next to warehouses and off of the ugly State Road 201 at 3200 West. It's in a non-descript building at a busy intersection and has a cheezy pink sign with a silhouette of a little girl carrying a basket. I got there at 8:30 and they were almost sold out. There were hard-working American joes getting huge boxes to take back to work. When I asked the woman at the counter what she'd recommend she said in broken English "you choose your favorite!"

It seemed to be everything to the west side that Banbury Cross is to the east side. That being said . . . MAN! do they know how to make a good donut! I got a cinnamon twist that was warm and left me wanting more. They were also fairly light and didn't leave me feeling like I'd eaten a glob of Crisco.

I can't decide which is better.

But back to the east/west friction, check out a review of My Sugar's on Google Maps from Chad:

"My Sugar's Donuts beat Banbury Cross hands down. But because of the East Side bias of the Salt Lake Valley they don't receive the recognition they deserve. If their location were East of State Street Banbury Cross would be out of business. If you want to eat a good Donut, you will find it at My Sugar's.‎"

The battle rages on.