Forage

[Mrs. Funk]

As promised, we are happy to report that dinner at Forage was a smashing success.

For those familiar with Spark, the decor of Forage is much less night club and much more scaled-back. The whole restaurant is pretty understated.

We ordered the tasting menu, and it was fabulous. The meal took about 2 1/2 hours and we tasted 13 or 14 dishes. It appears everybody receives a soft scrambled egg with sherry vinaigrette mousse (served in the hollow-out egg shell) and a clam/endive shooter. Both were tasty and complex.

One of the stand-outs was the vegetable garden—a little taste of nine or so seasonal veggies, all seasoned individually, with bits of powdered cracked pepper to look like "dirt." It was delicious. They had a Thai red snapper with this gorgeous beurre blanc sauce. The slow cooked diver scallop was fantastic, succulent and meaty. My favorite protein was the smoked duck, Mpfunk's the pork sirloin. I think my favorite part of the evening was hearing, "For your first dessert . . . " The carrot cake with salted caramel was to die for.

I anticipate that their menu probably varies a great deal from weekend to weekend. We enjoyed everything with the exception of an abalone served in a miso sauce. The abalone was really chewy and kind of tasteless, but it was a very brief low point.

Their 3-course option also looks promising. For about half the price of the tasting menu, they serve one of their starters, a 4-6 oz. serving of one of their main proteins, and a dessert.

Forage is the fully-realized brilliance of two fantastic chefs only hinted at during their days at Spark. Utah is lucky to have them.

[MarkGrace]

That sounds awesome. Glad you guys went all out for the tasting menu -- sometimes you deserve a meal like that. (and v-day is one of those times!)

[OhioBlue]

I'm jealous....can't wait to try that out sometime. Great review, thanks!

[Green Lantern]

And now I'll follow up with a report of our birthday outing to Forage. It was one of the most memorable dining experiences I've had. First of all, they clearly must gauge your meal according to each dining party because the four of us all ordered the three course meal and we still ended up spending three hours at the restaurant. I think they could tell that we had come for the evening and were in no hurry. We outlasted a bunch of other people.

Second, the food was extraordinary. I don't think I had a single item that Mrs Funk mentioned with the exception of the soft-scrambled egg served in the shell, which was delicious. IIRC, along with the sherry, it also had olive and a maple syrup infusion. Wow. Other than that, they clearly mix up the menu all the time. Between the four of us, some dishes that received special mention were the halibut, served with chorizo and an excellent vegetable medley (I'd never had ramps before,) a gnocchi with crab, scallops with a horseradish emulsion, a beignet with potato and onion, some delicious camaroons with a kind of key lime filling. I wish I had written down everything I ate.

The whole experience was fun. By the end of the evening we felt like the waitress was a new best friend since she'd taken care of us all night, and the little courses and palate cleansers that came out between every course were amazing. The presentation was beautiful too. Our friend, joking with the waitress, said "Man, would it be weird if I took pictures of my food?" And she replied "Not at all, a lot of people do."

And they even put a birthday candle in my wife's (exquisite) carrot cake. Awww.

[Surfah]

Have any of you guys heard of or been to the Copper Onion. It's downtown next to the Broadway Theater. Anyway, seems to be getting decent reviews. Gidget's brother is a chef in the kitchen. He graduated from culinary school in Portland last year and after an externship in British Columbia ended up there.

[beelzebabette]

Have any of you guys heard of or been to the Copper Onion. It's downtown next to the Broadway Theater. Anyway, seems to be getting decent reviews. Gidget's brother is a chef in the kitchen. He graduated from culinary school in Portland last year and after an externship in British Columbia ended up there.

Got a good review. I'd be happy to take one for the team and check it out.
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/artic...per-onion.html

[Surfah]

Got a good review. I'd be happy to take one for the team and check it out.
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/artic...per-onion.html

Sweet. Let me know how it is. I was kind of hesitant in posting this info in case it was bad and the restaurant didn't pan out. But it seems to be doing well.

I am just really happy and proud of my BIL for finding his niche. He's made some huge strides in his life the last two years. I wish we were still in the area to support him and eat there. I guess when he auditioned (there's a culinary term for it but I forget) he impressed the Lowder's quite a bit and was hired on the spot. It was a risk for him because he had a solid job cooking but he thought this might be an opportunity to some greater things.

[Green Lantern]

Got a good review. I'd be happy to take one for the team and check it out.
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/artic...per-onion.html

Hey, Copper Onion has gift certificates available at Restaurant.com if anyone's interested. I picked up a "$25 off" one and it's the next restaurant on our list. Let me know if you get there first.

[Mrs. Funk]

And now I'll follow up with a report of our birthday outing to Forage. It was one of the most memorable dining experiences I've had. First of all, they clearly must gauge your meal according to each dining party because the four of us all ordered the three course meal and we still ended up spending three hours at the restaurant. I think they could tell that we had come for the evening and were in no hurry. We outlasted a bunch of other people.

Second, the food was extraordinary. I don't think I had a single item that Mrs Funk mentioned with the exception of the soft-scrambled egg served in the shell, which was delicious. IIRC, along with the sherry, it also had olive and a maple syrup infusion. Wow. Other than that, they clearly mix up the menu all the time. Between the four of us, some dishes that received special mention were the halibut, served with chorizo and an excellent vegetable medley (I'd never had ramps before,) a gnocchi with crab, scallops with a horseradish emulsion, a beignet with potato and onion, some delicious camaroons with a kind of key lime filling. I wish I had written down everything I ate.

The whole experience was fun. By the end of the evening we felt like the waitress was a new best friend since she'd taken care of us all night, and the little courses and palate cleansers that came out between every course were amazing. The presentation was beautiful too. Our friend, joking with the waitress, said "Man, would it be weird if I took pictures of my food?" And she replied "Not at all, a lot of people do."

And they even put a birthday candle in my wife's (exquisite) carrot cake. Awww.

That carrot cake was simply amazing. The whole experience was just fabulous. I'm glad you had a good time.

[ERCougar]

We're thinking of going tonight. What's the dress code? Reservations? Should I have thought about this before this morning?

[Green Lantern]

We're thinking of going tonight. What's the dress code? Reservations? Should I have thought about this before this morning?

Reservations were pretty much a requirement on the weekend but you may be okay during the week. Most of the patrons were dressed kind of business casual. Report back!

[ERCougar]

Report back!

That was A...M...A...Z...I...N...G! I'm still reveling in the experience.

Admittedly, I'm a cheapskate from rural southern Utah without an expense account, but I have to think that would rival anything else out there--it was by far the most memorable dining experience we've had. We did the 3-course meal, choosing different courses so we got to try most everything on the tasting menu. It still took us 2.5-3 hours doing that. We had 3 amuse-bouche items--a dice-sized croquette filled with an asparagus creme which I'm still trying to figure out how they prepared, the egg-sherry vinegar-mousse-maple syrup in the hollowed out egg shell that Mrs. F and GL had, and marinated crab in a fennel soup. All three were delicious. My wife had the vegetable garden with the "edible soil", which I think actually was a mixture of crushed chocolate wafer and cracked pepper, topped with a roasted leek vinaigrette dressing--surprisingly, one of the best items of the night. I had braised onion with fava beans, with a poached yolk and onion tapioca. Mine was good, but those scallops looked amazing, and I wish a little that I had tried them. For the second course, I had the halibut topped with this really tasty lemon ginger butter, along with a faro risotto, and asparagus. My wife had a sous-vide pork (from Fillmore! ) with potatoes that I think was the best dish of the night. For dessert, my wife had a chocolate with sweet pea/mint sorbet (a really cool taste combination) and I had a carmelized white chocolate mousse.

The 3-course offering was plenty indulgent and like I said, still took us nearly 3 hours. A bit pricey, but definitely worth the experience. Thanks for the recommendations!

[CardiacCoug]

That was A...M...A...Z...I...N...G! I'm still reveling in the experience.

Admittedly, I'm a cheapskate from rural southern Utah without an expense account, but I have to think that would rival anything else out there--it was by far the most memorable dining experience we've had. We did the 3-course meal, choosing different courses so we got to try most everything on the tasting menu. It still took us 2.5-3 hours doing that. We had 3 amuse-bouche items--a dice-sized croquette filled with an asparagus creme which I'm still trying to figure out how they prepared, the egg-sherry vinegar-mousse-maple syrup in the hollowed out egg shell that Mrs. F and GL had, and marinated crab in a fennel soup. All three were delicious. My wife had the vegetable garden with the "edible soil", which I think actually was a mixture of crushed chocolate wafer and cracked pepper, topped with a roasted leek vinaigrette dressing--surprisingly, one of the best items of the night. I had braised onion with fava beans, with a poached yolk and onion tapioca. Mine was good, but those scallops looked amazing, and I wish a little that I had tried them. For the second course, I had the halibut topped with this really tasty lemon ginger butter, along with a faro risotto, and asparagus. My wife had a sous-vide pork (from Fillmore! ) with potatoes that I think was the best dish of the night. For dessert, my wife had a chocolate with sweet pea/mint sorbet (a really cool taste combination) and I had a carmelized white chocolate mousse.

The 3-course offering was plenty indulgent and like I said, still took us nearly 3 hours. A bit pricey, but definitely worth the experience. Thanks for the recommendations!

Cool, we will have to check it out.

It's not really in my nature to sit down for 3 hours for dinner, but that sounds worth it.

[RobinFinderson]

If you don't mind my asking, how much does it all cost? It sounds like it is worth a stop the next time we swing through Utah, and I want to know if this is a Parents+Kid thing, a Parents thing, or a Robin-sneaks-out-and-tells-Faith-he-felt-prompted-to-give-$$-to-homeless thing.

[ERCougar]

If you don't mind my asking, how much does it all cost? It sounds like it is worth a stop the next time we swing through Utah, and I want to know if this is a Parents+Kid thing, a Parents thing, or a Robin-sneaks-out-and-tells-Faith-he-felt-prompted-to-give-$$-to-homeless thing.

The 3-course meal was $45, so for the two of us with tax and gratuity, we were at $120. It would set back you winebibbers another $70, I'd guess? Pricey, but you'd pay 2-3x that for the same thing in Chicago. The tasting menu was $80, IIRC.