Hidden gems for 'dinner, movie'
Dedicated cinemaphiles and fanatical celebrity-watchers often don't think much about their next meal during the festival, a focus that can come back to haunt them when restaurants are closed for a private party, not accepting reservations or just plain packed to the rafters.
But there is good news: Near every festival venue are eateries eager to fill the bellies of Sundance-goers. Dining at some of them requires a little advance planning, but a good meal, whether expensive or cheap, can make attending the festival a richer experience.
Here's a rundown on a few eateries near the various Sundance venues.
Salt Lake City
There are two main problems with choosing a restaurant near the Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. Broadway: an embarrassment of riches, and price. Though there are a plethora of good restaurants just steps away from the center's front doors, many of them are semi-upscale to downright hoity-toity, with prices to match.
If you don't care about that, go for broke at Ruth's Chris Steak House, now occupying the space formerly housing Baci at 134 Pierpont Ave. (366-4000). For prices that make most Utahns assume the meal includes food for your family of four, you'll get a steak on a plate (sides are extra). But it will be the highest-quality steak on the market, or the highest-quality tuna, lobster or — yes, vegetarians, it's true — marinated Portobello mushrooms.
Near the Broadway Centre Cinemas, 111 E. Broadway (300 South), stop by the Chilean Deli, 222 S. Main. What this little eatery lacks in ambience it makes up for in homey, highly affordable Chilean favorites such as the pastel de choclo, a casserole of ground beef, chopped chicken, sweet corn, olives, boiled eggs and raisins. Don't miss the Chilean pastries, especially the horn-shaped alfajore filled with manjar, rich and milky Chilean caramel.
For an impressive grace note on your day of film, you can't beat Bambara, 202 S. Main. Try the bleu cheese hand-cut potato chips for starters and finish with the heavenly dessert sampler. Or ask when you make your reservation about lunch or dinner specials, which offer three set courses for under $10 for lunch and under $30 for dinner.
The Tower Theatre, 860 E. 900 South, is in one of my favorite Salt Lake neighborhoods, the funky, friendly and down-to-earth 9th and 9th (that's 900 South and 900 East). Just across from the Tower is breakfast and lunch favorite Great Harvest Bread Co., 905 E. 900 South. If you're going to be movie-watching into the evening but don't want to stop to eat, grab one of Great Harvest's Meal Wheels, cunning little pastries filled with egg, ham, potato, herbs, veggies and, if you want, jalapenos. Or grab a bag of the best oatmeal cookies in the known universe and share them with your fellow cinemaphiles.
If you're willing to go a few blocks further afield you can try one of Salt Lake's other homegrown gems at Kyoto Japanese Restaurant, 1080 E. 1300 South. Take off your shoes, sit Japanese-style and enjoy delicious sashimi, sweet and meaty sukiyaki and beautifully crisp tempura. Don't miss the green-tea and ginger ice creams for dessert.
Ogden
Luckily for Ogden's Sundance fans, the city's downtown location of Peery's Egyptian Theater, 2415 Washington Blvd., is nicely walkable, with a good crop of homegrown restaurants.
One of my favorites is La Ferrovia, 232 25th St., where I have enjoyed many a pasta combo for lunch. It's not on the menu, so you'll have to ask for this plate of noodles topped with marinara on one side and divine, milky Alfredo on the other. It's available at dinner, too.
A couple of doors down is The Athenian, one of the state's best Greek restaurants. Try the lemon pasta soup for starters, or maybe the Greek delight platter, pretty much every Greek appetizer (hot or cold) on a plate, with pita wedges and cucumber sauce. There are combination plates at unbeatable prices and, for dessert, enjoyable riffs on traditional baklava.
Across the street is Rooster's 25th Street Brewing Co., whose owners pay as much painstaking attention to their food as to their brews. For lunch try the surprisingly hearty portobello mushroom sandwich, a Portobello cap broiled with Gruyere cheese, basil and tomatoes on a sheepherder bun. A delectable dinner is the veal scalloppine marsala, medallions of veal cooked in stock and marsala wine with sauteed leeks, mushrooms and mashed potatoes.
Park City
Park City offers special problems to Sundance diners, but also delectable opportunities. The festival's official Web site urges festivalgoers not to bring cars to Park City, where parking is hard to find at the best of times and well nigh impossible during the festival. The festival's shuttles and the local public-transit system take up some of the slack, but it's still nice to find places to eat that are walkably near the venues.
One tip: Unless you're going with fast food, assume you need reservations and call ahead. Managers at several of the restaurants I called — among them favorites like Blind Dog Grill and Grappa —said that, during the festival, reservations are essential to getting a table.
More relaxed is Main Street Deli (435-649-3140), right in the thick of things at 525 Main. Small but welcoming, this joint is hopping from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, offering budget-priced breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus newspapers, aspirin, cold medication and snacks (all the baked goods are made in-house).
Main Street Deli may be a leading candidate for personal festival HQ for many, but there are other options, such as 350 Main Brasserie, located (obviously) at 350 Main (435-649-3140). 350 Main emphasizes vitamin- and oxidant-rich ingredients low in saturated fats and calories, but all most people notice is the enticing nature of entrees like the coffee-rubbed pork tenderloin, roasted and served with braised greens, black truffle mashed potatoes and veggies for $28 .
Stepping out of the Prospector Square Theatre, you can practically step right into the Grub Steak, 2200 Sidewinder Dr. (435-649-8060). Most people visit this venerable Park City favorite with steak on their minds, but why not head off the beaten path with the prime rib sandwich for lunch or the $30 hunter's mixed grill — skewered buffalo tenderloin, elk sirloin and wild-boar sausage — for dinner?
Just a block or so from the library center theatre at 1284 Empire Ave. is Baja Cantina, a full-service, sit-down restaurant with reasonable prices, especially by Park City's rarefied standards. Mexican meals start at $8.99 and combos at $11.99; there are all your Mexican favorites plus unique items like the fajita and shrimp "sticks," kabobs served with deliciously spicy chipotle honey dipping sauce.
The Redstone Theatre at Kimball Junction does, of course, put you right in the thick of lots of fast-food and chain restaurants but also right next to Hapa Grill (1571 W. Redstone Center Dr., 435-575-4272), an upscale Asian fusion eatery with traditional items like gyoza pork dumplings and more esoteric dishes like crisped pork ramen, fried pork loin medallions over Japanese ramen noodles.
Stacey Kratz is a freelance writer who reviews restaurants for the Deseret Morning News. E-mail: skratz@desnews.com
Recent comments
Chilean Deli, now open!!! at 1427 south 300 west Salt Lake City....
karen | Dec. 19, 2007 at 9:36 p.m.
