Dining In Utah

In no particular order, we'll run through some of the surprisingly good dining establishments we found in our tour of southern Utah. We're not too sure how to define 'Utah cuisine' and expected to find a lot of frozen pizzas and pasta-alla-Boy-Ar-Dee. We were wrong!

Above is Zion Pizza & Noodle - the best joint in Springdale. Green chile as pizza topping! Chocolate Confusion cake! And the staff seemed happy to be working there.

The Kiva Koffehouse is not well-pictured here -- you'll get a better idea of how niftily built it is on their website. We had a tasty, solid breakfast here and a better than we expected dinner of turkey and potatoes and chicken enchiladas along with some absolutely yummy breads. And more dessert.

Here are a few things overheard at the Kiva:
"Which table can we view petroglyphs from?"
". . . as the oppressors."
"This is the year I'm going to make an effort to enjoy hearty soups."

Okay, we didn't get a meal at The Trailhead Cafe, but we did enjoy a raspberry muffin.

Georgie's Cafe is a Mexican restaurant in Escalante that looks like somebody's house. Their chicken enchiladas were better than the Kiva's. And, as we said before, the food here is overall better than you would expect -- and tastier than the better known Bit & Spur in Springdale. You can sit on a big drum if you like.

Escalante Outfitters has something for everyone. Pizza, espresso, hiking boots, whiskey, quad maps, head lamps, salads, wireless internet, lodging, books, floppy hats, carabiners, magazines, camping stoves, and berry cobbler. The pizza here is, again, better than you would expect. Good crust. Just the right amount of cheese. And no backtalk.

Cowboy Blues looks a lot like many mediocre to terrible midwestern restauraunts that have too extensive menus and really bland food. But! The steaks are amazingly good! And huge! And they had fresh bumbleberry pie! They're having a Halloween buffet. You should go.

The New York Times and other foodie literati have raved about Boulder's Hell's Backbone Grill for a while so you may have heard about them. They whip up schmancy dinners using locally grown ingredients. No small challenge considering their location in dusty, dry, non-agricultural location. We had a breakfast and a dinner there, and liked it so much, we bought the teapot. Best potato pancakes ever. Best black pepper biscuits ever.

And now to the ultimate culinary find of our jaunt. The nearest major airport is in Las Vegas, so we decided to give the In-N-Out burger chain a shot to and from the runway. We hadn't heard much about the quality of the food, but we were intrigued by the not-so-secret menu where you can theoretically order a burger with 8 patties and 16 slices of cheese. We didn't, but the burgers taste like burgers should taste. Beefy. And the french fries are made with potatoes. We witnessed a giant russet go from potato to golden fry in 60 seconds. Why anyone puts up with McDonald's and the rest of the un-fresh faux-food is a mystery. This stuff is good and not as unhealthy as you would think. And, like Zion Pizza & Noodle, the kids who worked there seemed to get a kick out of their jobs. So, if you're in SoCal or CenCal or SoNev or AllAriz, place your order and enjoy how the classic American fast food meal should be.

Practice Makes Even More Perfecter

Nothing whets the appetite like a round of Cracker Barrel Frustration Triangle Golf Tee. Here, K hones her skill. She remains, to this day, the only person to have cleared the triangle of all the pegs.

CLARIFICATION: We did not sink to dining at a Cracker Barrel on this trip. To support our case, here are a selection of condiments on the same table as pictured above.

Just How Many Men Does Kerry Have?

Frank Lloyd Wright

We caught the end of Ken Burns' documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright the other night and were inspired to visit some of his lesser known forays into restuarants.

Kerry Reviews Pt 4

Wednesday, 27 June

Breakfast - La Quinta - It was ok. I wasn't very hungry.
2 of 5

Lunch - La Rocca II in Rifle, CO - Pork Burrito and Chicken Quesadilla. Orange cheese, anyone? I felt like I was eating at Chi-Chi's. It was really expensive, too.
0 of 5

Dinner - Tuscato in Frisco, CO - Spaghetti & Meatballs and Asparagus, Goat Cheese Lasagna, Salad, and Chocolate cake. Oh my god, my stomach feels like it's going to burst. Expensive, but delicious.
4 of 5

Hotel - La Quinta in Silverthorne, CO. Have I told you how much I love La Quintas? This one was a little strange. It was huge. There was a (closed for the season) ski shop in the lobby. The room was great, but there were too many people were using the wireless internet, so it kept crashing on us.
3.5 of 5

Thursday, 28 June

Breakfast - Kerry ate leftover spaghetti & meatballs. Brandon had the continental breakfast.
Kerry - 4 of 5
Brandon - 2 of 5

Lunch - Sandwiches and snacks picked up from the Safeway in Fraiser, CO - eaten on a picnic bench in RMNP. Delicious - and no need to tip.
4 of 5

Dinner - Estes Park Brewing Co in Estes Park, CO. Sub-par pizza, sub-par beer. OK salad.
2 of 5

Hotel - Comfort Inn in Estes Park, CO. The original plan was to reserve a campsite in RMNP and sleep in the car. As I mentioned earlier, the internet kept crashing so we couldn't reserve the site last night. They don't allow day of reservations so instead of $20, we're out $130-something. Fantastic. This place clearly used to be local. It's sprawling, and old-timey - not really in a good way. But it's clean.
2.5 of 5

When I'm not so tired, I might actually write about what we've been doing. Not tonight though.

Kerry Reviews Pt 2

Before I start - for the record - my posts are less frequent, and less funny because B. monopolizes the computer for an hour and by then I've forgotten all of the ridiculously funny things I have to say. It's not because I'm just not as clever. Really.

So... hotel and meal reviews it is, then.

Sunday, 24 June

Breakfast at the Staybridge. My waffle exploded. What else is there to say?
One yum out of five.

Lunch - Venture Market Grocery Store. Sandwiches and bananas. B thought his was "way better than Subway." I thought it was a bit salty.
2.5 out of 5

Dinner - Souper! Salad! Rumor has it that this is Ross Perot's favorite restaurant. Understandably. But not "I want to eat there every day"'s worth.
3 of 5

Hotel - Super 8 in Canon City. I was warned away from this town because of all the correctional facilities in town, but we stayed anyway, and had the pleasure of playing the "Is it a school or a prison?" game. (Score: Kerry 2, Brandon 1, Neither 3) Anyway, the room was clean enough - or at least it smelled clean. The mattress was pretty nasty though.
1 Z of 5

Monday, 25 June

Breakfast - K. skipped the sub-par Super 8 breakfast and opted for Burger King Cini-minis. Always worth it.
4 of 5

Lunch - Echo Canyon River Expedition - Is there anything better than a big lunch after considerable physical labor?
5 of 5; would be 6 of 5, but B complained that there were no artichokes.

Dinner - Amica's Pizza. Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm! And Cheap!
5 of 5

Hotel - Comfort Inn in Gunnison, CO. Almost impossible to find. We drove past it once, and almost drove past a second and third time. When I went online to reserve this room, the only negative comment warned us not to stay in a room ending in 06. These rooms are by the elevator and very noisy. I thought about mentioning it to the desk clerk when I checked in, but I did not. And I almost laughed out loud as I watched her write 306 on my key card. Fantastic. It's not that noisy though, and the room is huge.

Let's say 3.5 of 5.

Kerry's Hotel and Restaurant Reviews!

Friday Night

The Best Western Villager in Lincoln, NE - How did this place get a place on the Hotwire hotel list? It looks like it used to be an in-town resort back in the day. It's huge, there's a fountain in the courtyard, and there's giant boulders lining the parking lot.

The current owners thought that new ceramic tile = bathroom remodel. The blow dryer was loud, and didn't dry my hair, per se, but it did have shiny gold trim.

The continental breakfast was at a Saloon next door that apparently had a hot night on Saturday with someone winning $700 in Keno - TWICE! Breakfast consisted of fruit, a danish and juice, tea or coffee. We skipped it.

But there was a bed. Two of them in fact.

1 Z out of 5

Saturday

Breakfast

U-Stop gas station. The gas was $44. The breakfast was iced tea and prepackaged baked goods. B threw away the last third of his muffin because it tasted like candy.

1 Yum out of 5

Lunch

Valentino's - Ogallala truck stop. This was better than I expected. We got the buffet. The pizza wasn't too greasy. The lasagna was Kerry-style. The fountain Mountain Dew was delightful.

3 Yums

Dinner

Wazee Supper Club - The atmosphere wasn't quite as great as the travel book would have lead us to think, but the burger and Stromboli were tasty, and they had Wilco on the jukebox. Downside - about half way through dinner they switched to the radio and We Are the World came on.

3.5 Yums

Hotel

Staybridge Suites in Denver, CO. - OK, the full size refrigerator is nice, but this place is nowhere near as great as people make it out to be. They've still got the ridiculous wall art. They've still got the nasty bed spread. They only gave us one towel. BUT - they do have those nifty toilets with the suction flush. Pretty schmancy!

The continental breakfast also appears that it'll be above average.

3 Zs