Forage
370 E. 900 South, Salt Lake City ; 801-708-7834
(see
map)
The small, dinner-only venue specializes in impeccable technique, good ingredients and imagination normally associated with culinary mecca
| Overall |
 |
| Food |
 |
| Mood |
 |
| Service |
|
| Kid-friendly |
NO |
| Noise |
 |
|
Cuisine: American, Eclectic
Price: $$$
Hours: Tu-S, 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Liquor: Beer & wine
Corkage: $ 15
Reservations: Accepted
Accepts:    
Website: http://www.foragerestaurant.com
Recommended Dishes: Anything and everything. Three courses ($39), 11 courses ($79).
September 30, 2009
Impeccable (if pricey) is as Forage (methodically) does
By Vanessa Chang
Before I made it out the door, the host handed me a freshly-baked apple scone, individually wrapped and labeled with Forage's logo and vitals. By this time we had already savored 11 courses.
First, the marble-sized tomato croquette amuse-bouche, intense in its deep-fried crunch and bursting liquid core. The finale: a chorus of peaches in compressed slices and ice cream over pistachio cake and warm oatmeal cream.
In between, we tasted gentle curds of soft-cooked egg laced with truffles, maple, sherry mousse served in its own shell. We nibbled artisan bread. We immediately devoured the passion-fruit marshmallows and macaroons that arrived with the bill on a small square plate. Then, of course, there was dinner itself.
From the time you phone in a reservation to the moment the host hands you an edible souvenir, it's obvious that Forage in Salt LAke City offers a completely new level of dining. It's a level that will dazzle and challenge local food lovers with its worldly compositions and interpretations of familiar flavors. Chef/owners Bowman Brown and Viet Pham's combination of superb technical skill, beautiful ingredients and artful presentations have yet to create a dish that is nothing short of good. Usually, it's extraordinary.
Not everyone gets excited about such style or the thought of four-hour processional of courses, especially at $79 per person. Comparatively speaking the Tasting Menu is actually quite a good value. It's cheaper than flying to the Bay Area and booking yourself into Manresa, Cyrus, or the French Laundry because to get anything similar that is what you'll have to do. On a more approachable scale is a 3-course dinner (plus all the aforementioned dishes) for $39 featuring larger portions and your selection of dishes from an ever-evolving menu.
In this town, we proudly shun stuffiness. Thus far our great food venues have always had a casual bent and a penchant for rustic and now seasonal interpretations of good food. To some, Forage might smack of pretentiousness worthy of art-gallery satires. In reality, it's a laid-back place with relaxed and professional servers. They do their best to explain an odd (and expensive) corkage fee ($15 first bottle; $25 subsequent bottles) or offer wine pairing suggestions -- when officially there are none -- from a wine list that is pretty good, but certainly could be better.
The setting is a renovated house in a predominantly residential area of 900 South. A small garden and grapevine sit next to the parking lot. Loft-like inside, the house is a minimal and elegant space that's the antithesis of stuffy.
The only issue: When it's crowded and the kitchen is in full swing, it can be stiflingly hot when just an hour before it seemed near-frigid thanks to a vent below my feet.
It's what the Voracious One remembered. That and the fact that the meal's pace seemed to be painfully drawn out, like taffy, toward the end. We noticed waiting guests sipping bubbly when tables hadn't turned as quickly as reservationists planned. Still, it didn't stop him from recounting our meals, dish by dish like an incantation.
Forage does an amazing job with meat, thanks to a technique called sous vide, where food is vacuum-sealed and then cooked slowly in water at low temperatures. Lamb, beef and deeply coral wild salmon (I know, we're used to pink StyroFoam, but this is so much better) scarcely need a knife. Another result: the velvety poulet rouge (chicken) breast neatly sheathed in a dark green Napa cabbage leaf and swaddled with a punchy Dijon mustard foam and bacon emulsion. The foam in this case added flavor without heft, but the coconut version with a lobster-tail dense langoustine did nothing to amplify the aromatic Indian spices, nor did it hurt it. It was literally vaporous.
As gorgeous a dish the sous vide method yields, there can be too much of a good thing, particularly when your tasting sous vide flesh for the fourth time in a row. Perhaps that is the kitchen's weakness: Relying too much on a method that all passion gets lost in the equation. It's what a friend referred to as "air kisses on the cheek" when he expected a flavorful bout of tonsil hockey.
Still, Forage can do simplicity.
The morning after our last meal, I opened my edible souvenir: a small thick wedge of apple scone with a cup of coffee. It's the breakfast of champions -- and foodies who willingly marathoned at Forage.
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.
|
