Fresco Italian Cafe
1513 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City ; 801-486-1300
(see
map)
Italian in inspiration, this 15th and 15th mainstay has never been better. Seasonal ingredients feature prominently. Excellent wine list.
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| Kid-friendly |
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Cuisine: Italian
Price: $$$
Hours: M-Th, 5-9:30 p.m.; F-S, 5-10 p.m.; Su, 5-9 p.m.
Liquor: Full Service
Corkage: $ 12
Reservations: --
Accepts:    
Website: http://www.frescoitaliancafe.com
Recommended Dishes: Buffalo mozzarella tortellini, potato-crusted halibut, lamb loin, Robiola cheesecake.
September 25, 2008
Even amid harsh economic reality, the dreamy flavors of Italy offer a necessary, comforting escape
By Vanessa Chang
It seems counter-intuitive to be writing a restaurant column nowadays. Inevitably, even through Wall Street tumbles and worry-induced insomnia, we find that we must eat. Dining at home is the most pragmatic way people budget their resources. But eventually there does come a breaking point when cooking sounds as appealing as running a triathlon and you long for something other than leftover soup.
So we carefully venture out with our money, mostly to the familiar and dependable. But sometimes we go into unknown territory -- a sort of adventure in lieu of a jaunt to Europe. The latter is how I ended up at Fresco Italian Café.
The 15th and 15th neighborhood restaurant isn't on Italian soil, but it pays respect to the culture's variety of flavors, artisanal products and creativity borne from the seasons. It isn't what you would call grandmotherly cuisine. Chef Billy Sotelo and his kitchen team's aspirations seem more Gambero Rosso or Cibréo than Macaroni Grill. Trio Restaurant Group, which owns Fresco, would be wise to keep Mr. Sotelo around, as the food hasn't been this good in a long while.
It may not be San Vincenzo, but both Fresco's tiny farmhouse-style dining room and trellised patio are an ideal escape. Particularly with a glass of 2006 Alois Lageder chardonnay ($32 bottle) from Italy's northern reaches of Alto-Adige.
Nicer still, is the Robiola cheesecake ($8) that ends the meal. It is one of the best desserts I've had in the state, Fresco's not-too-sweet version utilizes the nuances of Robiola, in this case from Piedmont (imagine a square-puck of brie, but made with sheep's and cow's milks), to add depth and interest to the cream cheese.
It may veer from strictly traditional, but the flavors are honest and the execution is good, as was the case of a velvety, lobster herb sauced spaghettini special ($25) or the clarity of the heirloom tomato "soup" -- a softly aromatic tomato juice as a pool for buffalo mozzarella tortellini ($10).
"Innovative," "creative" and "well-executed" are not synonymous with "pretentious." The small service team's performance is as tight as the tiny venue. They know the menu inside out, can offer recommendations based on your tastes and don't make you feel like an idiot if you don't know what exactly is on your cheese plate (usually 3 types, $10).
It also is obvious in the rather generous portions of potato-crusted halibut ($26) with braised leeks, chives and a dose of Pernod or the seared lamb loin with wild mushrooms ($24) that were actually wild and not inundated with farm-raised shiitakes -- a trick too many restaurants tend to pull on diners.
The only place where it gets a little too precious in presentation is in a delicious tower of tuna crudo, spiked with a briny white anchovy and chili oil ($12). But then again, how many other ways can you present a mound of raw fish? Though the menu is concise, I still worry about its consistency in quality the way I do my portfolio. For the time being, though, I'll stay optimistic.
Tribune's rating system
Overall rating
1 star Good
2 stars Very good
3 stars Excellent
4 stars Extraordinary
Entree price
$ Entree under $10
$$ $10-$18
$$$ $18-$25
$$$$ Above $25
Restaurant Noise
1 bell Quiet (under 65 decibles)
2 bells Can talk easily (65-70)
3 bells Talking somewhat difficult (70-75)
4 bells Raised voices (75-80)
A bomb Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)
The Tribune covers the cost of all meals at reviewed restaurants. Star ratings are based on a minimum of two visits. Ratings are updated continually based on at least one revisit. There is no connection between reviews and advertising.
December 7, 2005
Fresco: Magic defies a formula
By Mary Brown Malouf
The restaurant landscape of most metropolitan cities is full of clones -- Romano's Macaroni Grill in Englewood, Colo. is just like the one in Dallas, Texas, and just like the one in Salt Lake City. The opera soundtracks and the upside-down signatures on the paper tablecloths are all part of a carefully planned formula. Restaurateurs call this kind of duplication a "concept with legs." The best restaurants rarely have "legs;" Fresco Italian Cafe does not.
Restaurants like Macaroni Grill are planned for profit down to the last detail: The lighting, the layout, the linguine are all meticulously calculated. Fresco's success depends largely on serendipity. A coincidental combination of space, talent and passion makes it a delicious singularity.
Situated behind King's English bookstore, Fresco is small -- its two levels hold only 13 tables -- and quaint. But the seemingly impractical and slightly awkward space somehow adds to its charm. A tiny fireplace warms one end of the room; windows, at the other end, look out onto a small vine-walled patio.
I've eaten at Fresco several times, and the sense of coziness never fails. Whether diners eat on the patio in fine weather or cuddle up in the candlelit dining room and watch the snow fall, the atmosphere at Fresco is dependably delightful.
Fortunately, under the direction of executive chef David Jones, chef for decades at Log Haven, the kitchen seldom fails to delight, either.
In my former experiences, a meal at Fresco meant good but unexceptional versions of Italianate classics. Jones, executive chef of the three Trio Group restaurants, Fresco and two Trios, has refreshed Fresco's menu. Jones spent most of the summer opening Trio in Cottonwood Heights -- a huge project. Now he has turned his culinary attention to Fresco, which he regards as the "artistic outpost" of the restaurant group.
Dishes are still based on layered Italian flavors, but a touch of Jones' American inventiveness takes the familiar to a seductively new level.
Fresco's menu is brilliantly brief -- eight appetizers, three salads, five versions of pasta and risotto and five entrees -- poultry, steak, short ribs, pork and salmon, plus a few daily specials recited by the waiter. That didn't make it any easier when faced with appetizer choices like chestnut honey roasted quail ($9), local goat cheese torta ($8) and poached (not fried!) calamari with preserved lemons ($7). There are some more usual choices -- antipasti ($7 per person) and the inevitable crab cake ($12), this one crusted with foccacia crumbs.
The bowl of Tuscan gold pumpkin-chestnut soup topped with crushed hazelnuts ($5) could have made a meal with the artisanal, crisp-crusted bread that arrived just before it. The soup's vegetal sweetness was backed by the depth of well made stock. Everyone tasted it and exclaimed.
Then the entrees arrived and stopped conversation.
The unadvertised-as-deconstructed ravioli ($18) was ethereally rich. A cloud of ricotta cheese and butternut squash "filling" actually rested under a drape of tender hand-rolled pasta. Again, toasted hazelnuts added texture and a bath of browned, sage-scented butter filmed the mildly luxurious textures with a caramelized but savory fragrance. Fanned perfectly ripe pears garnished the plate and finished the sweetness of the squash; Gorgonzola crumbles gave a complementary tang.
A marvelous dish, its only flaw might be that it was too heady to finish at one seating -- this might better be ordered as an appetizer ($10), although it would be a hard act to follow. And it made a mighty good breakfast. All the pasta dishes can be ordered in main course or appetizer-size portions.
The breast of natural chicken ($19) was pan-seared until golden and given a seasonal touch with pomegranate seeds. Their tartness exploded in the mouth, providing a perfect foil to the subtle meat and slight smoke of bacon. The mashed potatoes that dammed up the pan and pomegranate juices were augmented by puffs of puréed sweet potato.
A special entree, beef short loin ($25), braised slowly to deepen the flavor and highlighted with Chianti was simply one of the best beef stews I've tasted. A mirepoix of carrots, onions and celery, cooked down nearly to caramel, provided a foundation for the rich beef dish bolstered by chanterelle mushrooms. Every stew needs a starch partner; instead of the usual mash, Jones concocted a risotto from corn and fingerling potatoes, adding the hot liquid a little at a time just as you do with rice, and stirring until the starches married.
A more orthodox risotto, another special, was based on the usual arborio rice ($23). Studded with tiny bay scallops intermingled with celadon-colored leaves of artichoke hearts and pale gold cipolline onions, seasoned with lemon and finished with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, this monochromatic mélange played a full spectrum in the mouth, from the bright lemon to the pearly sweetness of the seafood. A woman at a neighboring table sent the same dish back, complaining it was too "fishy tasting." What can I say? Definitively, mine was not.
Desserts are made in-house. Even with teenagers at the table, the best we could do after such rich entrees was split a piece of opera torte ($8) -- a rectangle of airy cake layered with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream.
Salt Lake is rich in independent bookstores; King's English is one of the best. It's a delight to wander from room to room, browsing through the collection of best-sellers and offbeat books. Then you go up a step and around a corner in the back of the store, open a door and -- like Lucy discovering the magic of Narnia in a wardrobe -- you find yourself in one of the most enchanting restaurants in Salt Lake City. A seemingly serendipitous experience.
Tribune's rating system
Overall rating
1 star Good
2 stars Very good
3 stars Excellent
4 stars Extraordinary
Entree price
$ Entree under $10
$$ $10-$18
$$$ $18-$25
$$$$ Above $25
Restaurant Noise
1 bell Quiet (under 65 decibles)
2 bells Can talk easily (65-70)
3 bells Talking somewhat difficult (70-75)
4 bells Raised voices (75-80)
A bomb Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)
The Tribune covers the cost of all meals at reviewed restaurants. Star ratings are based on a minimum of two visits. Ratings are updated continually based on at least one revisit. There is no connection between reviews and advertising.
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