Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Ask the Locals Guide: The Sundance Resort and Park City, Utah

The Sundance Film Festival screens hundreds of films from January 20-30. Local insiders know that during the festival, the slopes are less crowded than usual. While filmgoers crowd the theaters, restaurants and bars, skiers enjoy shorter lift lines and uncrowded runs. I don't ski but I do eat. For those who are going to watch films, here are some suggestions about where to eat. 

With heavy snow falling in Atlanta and New York City where it isn't wanted, there's comfort knowing that snow is also accumulating on ski slopes, where it belongs.

At the foot of Utah's Wasatch Mountains, dozens of world-class ski resorts are within easy driving distance of Salt Lake International Airport.

The mountains make an impression the minute visitors land at Salt Lake International Airport. In summer or winter, the white capped peaks are evidence that this is rocky mountain country or, as the state logo has it, "Life Elevated."  Salt Lake City itself is over 4,000 feet, so don't be surprised if you are a little light-headed until you acclimate.

It is no surprise that an area devoted to active winter recreation also has good restaurants where visitors can cozy up to a warming fire and a good meal.

At Robert Redford's Sundance Resort, the only stand-alone ski resort in Utah, the pleasures of the mountain aren't limited to the ski slopes. Staying in one of the ninety-five cottages or in a mountain home puts a visitor up close and personal with the native spruce and pine trees growing close to the buildings.

Even the recently completed Redford Convention Center all but disappears in a thicket of trees, which makes it an ideal location for corporate retreats, weddings, and family celebrations.

Skiers riding the ski lift to the back mountain can stop at Bearclaw Cabin, a warming hut with a panoramic view of the Wasatch Mountains and the Heber and Utah Valleys below. The menu is limited to hot drinks, soup, and sandwiches but given the setting, that seems perfect.

Having completed their runs, skiers visit the Owl Bar, kick back and listen to country music, have a round of drinks and enjoy freshly made snacks, including the house cured pickled eggs and beef jerky.

For full-course, sit-down meals there is the upscale Tree Room and the more informal Foundry Grill, with a fireplace and wood-burning pizza oven warming the room.

Knowing their customers want well-prepared, comfort food, both menus offer dishes that feed the body and warm the soul, like mustard rotisserie chicken, crusted pork on the bone with mashed potatoes and broccolini, braised black cod in carrot miso broth, halibut with rice and vegetables, roast loin of Utah elk flavored with blackberry jus, baby back ribs and cole slaw, and ratatouille with vegetables and quinoa.

With the meal finished and the table cleared, there's no rush to leave. The desserts will hold diners a few minutes longer before sending them off to bed, dreaming not only of sugar plumb fairies but about Executive Chef Mark Shoup's dessert menu of caramel apple pie with mascarpone ice cream, pear cobbler with almond crumble, or banana split with bricks of chocolate and vanilla ice cream topped with a melange of strawberries, walnuts, caramel and chocolate sauce on a plate coated with Chantilly cream and, oh yeah, a split banana.

For anyone achey from too much physical exertion on the slopes, massages are available at the Spa. At the Sundance Resort, fireplaces seem to be everywhere, including the Spa's quiet room, where it is easy to get lost staring at the logs, crackling and hissing as they are consumed by the flames. In the warmth of the quiet room, visitors sit and calculate the comparative benefits of another day of skiing weighed against the pleasures of a late breakfast in the Foundry Grill and relaxing with a good book in front of the fire.

Traveling between Sundance and Park City, locals know to leave time for a stop in Heber City to time-trip back to the 1960s at the Holiday Lanes (565 N. Main Street) to bowl a few games and have a burger, fries and shake. Come early enough and there may be homemade pie.

The Dairy Keen, "Home of the Train," is also on Heber's Main Street. Hamburgers are the specialty but the menu also includes fish and chicken with lots of treats for kids who love watching the model train that circles the inside of the store.

Park City has restaurants to satisfy just about anyone's budget or taste. Affordable family-owned restaurants serve pizza, hamburgers, salads, Mexican food, sandwiches, barbecue and sushi. If you crave fast food, you can find Macdonald's, Burger King and Subway.

Half a block from the Park City Town Ski LiftHigh West Distillery & Saloon advertises itself as "the world's first and only ski-in gastro distillery." Taking advantage of the recently liberalized liquor laws, High West offers tastings of wines and spirits in a converted three-story house, with a spacious, family style restaurant on the ground floor in what was once a garage for horses and, later, automobiles.

The spirits served at High West are highly rated by whiskey aficionados. Although High West does produce some of their spirits in the 250-gallon copper still near the entrance, the aged whiskeys are not distilled on the site but are blends of whiskeys sourced from other distillers.

What is distilled at High West are clear spirits, ones not aged in oak barrels. The result is Silver Oat Whiskey and Vodka 7000, both of which are worth trying for their smoothness and unique flavor. In addition to drinks served in the saloon, bottles of spirits can be purchased in the small package store near the entrance.

Many of Park City's better restaurants, coffee shops and popular bars are located on Main Street, the center of the city's commercial life with stores selling tourist souvenirs, clothing, native crafts, the work of local artists, and the fun, interactive Park City Museum.

Insider's Tip: In the lobby of the Park City Museum, pick up a copy of the restaurant coupon book with discounts for local restaurants and attractions. Don't overlook the Park Record which sometimes has an even better selection of discounts.

At the bottom of Main Street, Robert Redford's Zoom specializes in large plates of hearty, well-prepared food. Ribs and coleslaw, herb roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, burgers, sandwiches, grilled fish, risotto, Caesar salads, mac n' cheese, onion rings, hot soup, and fresh salads fill out the menu.

Half way up Main Street, the Java Cow Cafe & Bakery is a local favorite for breakfast pastries, espresso beverages, sandwiches, and crepes. In summer, the homemade ice creams are a big seller, along with the hundreds of t-shirts featuring the Java Cow logo.

Nearby, Cafe Terigo, an intimate restaurant, has a wine bar in the inviting entrance way, a main dining room and two upstairs dining rooms, which are mostly used for parties, receptions and family celebrations.

The menu sticks to basics: soups, salads, sandwiches, grilled meats and fish, pastas and desserts. Run by husband and wife, Ed (he's the chef) and Debbie (she's the maitre d') Axtell, Terigo, as locals refer to it, is a family affair. The dining room has the friendly feeling of your home, only better, because someone else is doing the cooking. Save room for their most popular dessert, the bread pudding with butter rum sauce, pine nuts and dried cranberries. It's a keeper.

350 Main, a sprawling restaurant-bar, is a gathering spot for locals and tourists alike. Taking a global approach, chef Michael LeClerc is influenced by the cuisines of Mexico, Indonesia, India, Italy, Japan, France, and the American Southwest.

Locals crowd the bar ordering from the $6.00 tapas menu, focusing on the Ahi and Hamachi Tower, a tasty treat that goes well any of the drinks on the signature martini and cocktail list.

Something of a local legend, Bill White owns half a dozen popular eating establishments, as varied as one can imagine. Upscale Grappa, at the top of Main Street in a converted house, is well-known for quality meals in a homey setting. While the Windy Ridge Cafe and Bakery zero in on perfecting a salad-pasta-sandwich-comfort food menu in a cozy, unpretentious, country cafe setting.

Given the mountain setting, Wahso is an unexpected treat--an Asian grill. Wahso doesn't so much fuse Asian and Western cuisines as it respects both, pulling the best out of each tradition with the result that Duck Breast "A L'Orange" gets the Peking treatment and ginger scented lentils accompany the Morgan Valley Lamb.

Another, different kind of fusion happens at Chimayo where French and Mexican cuisines embrace as happily as a newly wedded couple. In many of the dishes, Mexican heat enlivens classic French sauces. Pan seared sea scallops are enveloped with a Blood Orange and Jalapeno Beurre Blanc sauce. A rack of lamb eschews mint in favor of the sweet heat provided by a guajillo chile and cumin demi-glace.

A good wine list is supplemented with a selection of quality tequilas and imaginative riffs on the margarita, including one flavored with pomegranate, which might have been too sweet but proved to be light and flavorful.

Park City is cowboy country, so it's natural to expect to eat some barbecue. But only at Chimayo are spareribs marinated all day in a chipotle marinade As with many restaurants in the area, local game animals are proudly served as bona fides of locally sourced meat. In the hands of chef Arturo Flores, elk, which can be chewy, is meltingly tender and flavored with bacon, peppercorns, sesame seeds, and a green chile BĂ©arnaise.

For the appetizers, soups and salads, there are Italian-Mexican combinations in the fried calamari served with lime cilantro and lemon chipotle aiolis and the goat cheese and mozzarella chile relleno with a poblano pumpkin seed pesto. But mostly the starters menu focuses on familiar Mexican favorites which are prepared with the freshest of ingredients: ceviches, queso fundido, duck enchiladas, guacamole and shrimp, tortilla soup, avocado salad with papaya and vegetables with a pasilla chile vinaigrette.

All too often culinary combinations mean propping up the weakness of one cuisine with the strengths of another. When a chef has classic cooking skills and a great palate, fusion means discovering the best of each and bringing new awareness to old favorites. That's what happens at Chimayo.

So if you are spending time around the Wasatch Mountains expect to enjoy great scenery, world-class skiing, and excellent meals.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Sundance Resort's Pear Crisp, Rich with Almonds

Chef Mark Shoup knows about cold weather. The executive chef at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort in Utah serves up a lot of hot comfort food when hungry skiers sit down in the main dining room, the Foundry Grill.

High on his list of favorites is hot pear crisp topped with ice cream. If you’re counting calories, use whipped cream or yogurt instead.

Perfect by itself for a cold-weather afternoon snack or to end a meal, the crisp can be prepared a day ahead, kept in the refrigerator, and popped in the oven just thirty minutes before serving.

Pear Crisp with Almond Crumble

Serves: 4

Ingredients

4 ounces almond paste
2 tablespoons sweet (unsalted) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups flour
1 1/3 cups oats
1 1/3 cups raw almonds, sliced
4 cups Bartlett pears, washed, cored, peeled, cut into cubes
¼ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions

1. Use a mixer to beat the almond paste until smooth.

2. To the mixer, add the butter and brown sugar and cream until well-blended.

3. Stir in by hand the lemon zest, salt, oats, and almonds. When mixed well, add in the flour.  Avoid over-working the flour. You want crumble not dough. 

4. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.

5. Toss the cut up pears with the white sugar and cornstarch.

6. Portion the pears into 4 ovenproof bowls.

7. Top with the crisp and seal with aluminum foil. You may have extra crisp.

8. Bake, covered with foil, 12-14 minutes.

9. Remove foil and bake an additional 12-14 minutes until the crumble is lightly browned.

Serve warm with toppings of your choice.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Eating Well in Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo

In the fall, on assignment for Peter Greenberg, I travelled to the southern tip of Baja California. I had the good fortune to visit not just Cabo San Lucas, the most common tourist destination in the area, but also the nearby village of San Jose del Cabo, which, if truth be told, was more to my liking. 

In both cities, there are many restaurants and bars catering to the tourists who arrive by plane and on cruise ships. For the most part, the food in such establishments is unexceptional. But, with a little bit of effort, you can find restaurants that will satisfy your appetite and reward your soul.

I've attached the article I wrote for Peter's web site. To read the other articles about the trip, please visit:

Culinary Experiences: The Truly Local Restaurants of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo
Culinary Experiences: The Truly Local Restaurants of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo
Cabo San Lucas Restaurants - tortilla-maker - photo by David LattNot many travelers head to Los Cabos, Mexico, in search of their next great meal. (The next great margarita, however, is another story.)

But leave it to roving foodie David Latt to discover the authentic finds in Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, where travelers can immerse themselves in the local scene, one meal at a time. 

Cabo San Lucas has dozens of restaurants worth a visit. 

Mariscos Mazatlan
, located at Narciso Mendoza at 20th de Noviembre, is worthy of notice as much for the interior as the food, with its soaring, 30-foot ceilings.

The shellfish on the menu is fresh, although rarely caught in local waters.

Mariscos Mazatlan Decor - photo by David LattIn Cabo, most of the seafood comes from the mainland, especially Mazatlan, just across the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California).

For appetizers, you can't go wrong with seafood cocktails made with shrimp, octopus, oyster, or sea conch. Shrimp or fish ceviche, raw clams and oysters or avocados stuffed with shrimp are also a great way to begin a meal.

Fish at Mariscos Mazatlan is served grilled, breaded, fried, and stewed, accompanied simply with pico de gallo or overwhelmed with cheese sauces preferred by many locals.

The specialty of the house is shrimp and they are difficult to resist, cooked a variety of ways, with coconut, tomatoes and chilies, garlic, or potatoes.

If you're in Mexico, tacos should be a must-eat, but some visitors shy away because of health issues. For a taste of authentic tacos without the worry, try Tacos Gardenias located at Camino al Hacienda and Ninos Heroes.

Housed in a rustic concrete building, with a dirt parking lot on the side, the restaurant is only open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. because their customers are usually on the way to the nearby beach or just coming back.
Want to find great places to eat on the road? Visit the Restaurants section.
Locals and tourists (hence the menu in English and Spanish) love the freshly made tacos (shrimp, fish, chicken, pork, beef, fried pork rind, and cactus) and quesadillas (shrimp and chicken).

Tacos from Tacos Gardenias - photo by David LattThe tacos are served the way locals like them.

A homemade tortilla with a topping of your choosing is accompanied with julienned fresh lettuce and cabbage, grilled jalapeño peppers, limes, cilantro and onions, pico de gallo, pickled onions, chile sauce, and squeeze bottles of mayonnaise and hot sauce.

If you order the fish taco (which I recommend), you will be given a fat filet of flounder fried crunchy in a light batter and served on a homemade tortilla. It's up to you how many condiments you pile on top.

Shrimp is also a specialty, hot or cold. The Molcajete de Camaron, known as the restaurant's "signature dish," is brought to the table in a heated, three-legged stone bowl called a molcajete. The shrimp are lightly cooked in a savory sauce made with cheese, onions, peppers. The shrimp cocktail, always served with the Mexican saltine, Saladitas, in their distinctive bright blue wrapper, has onions, cilantro, and a soupy tomato sauce that is irresistible.

This being Mexico, cocktails (margarita, Bloody Mary, Cuba Libre, and tequila shooters) and beer are served all day.

One way to get an overview of the area is to hire a guide for a day. For a little over US$100, companies likeTerramar supply not only a guide but a car and driver as well. With a guide you'll be given an insider's look at Cabo San Lucas, nearby San Jose del Cabo, and the surrounding area. 
Need a free guide to Mexico? Visit Destinations: Mexico & Central America.
El Torito Dishes - photo by David LattWith the help of Terramar's Enrique Lopez, I discovered El Torito del los Mariscos, located on Janette Wilson 1530 Colonia Ejidal, which is described as "the most popular seafood restaurant for locals."

The menu at El Torito is only in Spanish because although some tourists have discovered the restaurant, this is where the locals go to eat. Their reasons are simple: The food is good, portions are large, prices are affordable, and there is a large children's play area in back.

El Torito has its roots in Sinaloa where the owners, Jorge and Monserrat Garate have another restaurant in Mazatlan.

Rustic, family style seafood dishes are the focus, with a variety of sauces and a lot of deep frying.

In fact, the most popular dish at the restaurant is the deep-fried bacon wrapped shrimp with cheese. The gastronomically incorrect shrimp are surprisingly light and delicious, not to mention soul satisfyingly crunchy.

Ceviches are popular, as are aguachile, in which raw shrimp, fish, octopus, and squid are "cooked" by a sauce made with limes and Serrano chiles.

Everything at El Torito is handmade. All the salsas, sauces, and tortillas are made according to Monserrat's recipes as she taught them to Jorge, who is the executive chef.
Want to get the inside scoop on a destination? Try the Ask the Locals Guides.
El Torito Staff - photo by David LattWhat distinguishes El Torito from other seafood restaurants is the size of the portions.

When you order a shrimp cocktail from another restaurant you will be presented with a glass goblet filled with peeled, deveined shrimp. Here a dozen or more large, unpeeled shrimp with their heads still on are perched on the rim of a molcajete, the bowl filled with a sweet-hot-salty tomato sauce flavored with chunks of onion and pieces of fresh cilantro. You'll get your hands dirty when you eat here and you won't mind a bit.

El Torito opened five years ago as a small, concrete block, cantina-style shack, with no more than a dozen tables. In December, the restaurant will move to a larger space next door. Even though the interior will be more finished, El Torito will keep the cantina feeling with open spaces beneath an elevated roof, even in the bathrooms. Besides good, affordable food, what keeps the restaurant popular is the friendly staff and the feeling that even though this is a restaurant, you're being served as if you were at home.

Twenty minutes to the east, San Jose del Cabo is the exact opposite of Cabo San Lucas. 

Where one is big, bold, noisy, sexy, and modern, the other has its identity sunk deeply in the history and traditions of the area. The Plaza Mijares and Mission San Jose del Cabo anchor the downtown with its narrow streets, many restaurants, and small stores selling jewelry, handmade local goods, and quality art. 
Learn more about San Jose del Cabo from David Latt: Cabo San Lucas Vs. San Jose Del Cabo: Adventures in Baja California
Salsitas decor worth a look - photo by David LattThe authenticity of the city is reflected in the decor and menu of Salsitas, at Alvaro Obregon 1732, an intimate bar, restaurant, and art gallery open for lunch and dinner on the border of the historic Art District.

The specialty cocktail of the restaurant takes two hands to drink. Served in a large clay bowl filled to the brim, a very generous helping of reposadotequila (aged between 2 and 11 months) is flavored with slices of grapefruit, orange, and lime and chilled by a handful of ice cubes.

On a warm evening, the refreshingly cool drink was the perfect accompaniment for the chips and four salsas that started the meal.

The other appetizer was a traditional Mexican taste treat: deep-fried peppers stuffed with tuna, seasoned with lime.

Even if you aren't hungry or thirsty, Salsitas is a great place to stop and enjoy the colorful rooms and beautiful Mexican art.

Also open for lunch and dinner, La Panga Antigua Restaurant & Bar is an intimate restaurant with a reputation for friendly service and quality food. 

The dinner menu is somewhat pricey, but the prix fixe lunch menu, with a starter, entree, and dessert is a bargain at under US $20.

After a long morning walking around the Art District, La Panga's shaded patio offered a good meal in a pleasant setting.
Also in Baja California: one of the 5 Unexpected Gay Pride Festivals.
La Panga Patio - photo by David LattThe organic green leaf lettuce salad with grilled whole cherry tomatoes (a nice touch), escabeche pickled onions, and cracked pepper dressed with a honey vinaigrette was delicious. A basket of freshly baked grilled focaccia bread with onions and basil went well with the salad and the entree: a pan sauteed, salt crusted white fish (basa) with roasted new potatoes and mixed vegetables (carrots, asparagus, bell peppers, and zucchini) and basil-oil dipping sauce. 

A bit less salt on the fish would have been preferable, but the dish was otherwise well-prepared and delicious. Dessert was a light cheese cake with caramel and fresh strawberries. A cafe con leche caliente finished the meal.

If you can stay in San Jose Los Cabos for dinner, make reservations at Don Emiliano Restaurant at Boulevard Mijares 27, where Chef Margarita C. de Salinas presents dishes she describes as "Mexican haute cuisine," with traditional ingredients benefiting from the chef's training at the Culinary Institute of America and Le Cordon Bleu.

Expect to spend several hours enjoying a meal in the lovely courtyard, sampling not only dishes from the menu but premium Mexican wines from their extensive cellar.

More casual, Tequila Restaurant has a small dining room just inside the front door.

Tequila Restaurant - photo by David LattBut the main dining room is in the large courtyard at the rear of the building, shaded by giant avocado, mango, African tulip, and guava trees planted in the 1920s.

Lights hung in the branches create the feeling of a place out of time.

Trained as an agricultural engineer, Enrique Silva, chef and co-owner with Fernando Hernandez, opened the restaurant in 1996 because he wanted to serve organic, locally sourced food.

He buys much of his seafood from the fish market at Puerto Los Cabos, the nearby fishing village, with the rest bought from fisherman who sail out of Palmilla and La Paz and Puerto San Carlos on the Pacific.

Most of his produce comes from his own certified fair trade, organic farm called Huerta Los Tamarindos, just outside of town. He grows herbs, lettuces, arugula, heirloom tomatoes and many varieties of peppers. Because he has his own farm he can cook with fresh guajillo and cascabel peppers, typically only available dried.

According to Silva, farms in lower Baja California have been growing organic produce for 30 years. The area is a pioneer in Latin America, where farms began by growing herbs and then vegetables, and has evolved into a hundred-million-dollar business.

Since he never went to culinary school, Chef Silva didn't learn how to make stocks, but rather learned to use fresh ingredients and herbs to create food that tastes fresher and lighter." 
Find more great eating experiences, visit our Culinary Travel section.
Tequila Restaurant Creations & Chefs - photo by David LattThe menu proudly features fresh produce from his farm in the many salads. 

Seafood and vegetables are prepared Italian style, grilled and flavored simply with olive oil and fresh spices. A Mediterranean bias appears in the use of rosemary, the inclusion of pastas and risottos, and fish baked with wine and basil.

The tequila shrimp locates the dish thoroughly in Mexico with tequila sauce and sides of plantains and black beans. The large shrimp were sweet and delicious. A braised octopus used the fresh guajillo peppers from the restaurant's farm, together with chilies and garlic in a dark, rich sauce.

While the food at all these restaurants is good and definitely better and (mostly) less expensive than what is offered at the hotels, the additional pleasure is in the setting. Adding to the appeal of good food is the pleasure of Salsitas' art-filled, colorful interior, the open, casual cantina feeling of El Torito, Mariscos Mazatlan's deep blue walls with their fish-filled scenes, and the lush landscaping of the patios at La Panga Antigua and Tequila Restaurant.

At any one of the restaurants I visited, I could easily spend hours with friends, eating, drinking, and hanging out in the welcoming environments.