Forage

[il Padrino Ute]

If you are looking for quantity, my friend, at a place like Forage, look elsewhere.

Thanks for that tip, Mrs. Funk. If I ever get invited to eat at Forage, I now know that a stop at Del Taco on the way home is a must.

[beefytee]

Thanks for that tip, Mrs. Funk. If I ever get invited to eat at Forage, I now know that a stop at Del Taco on the way home is a must.

3 courses never fill me up.

[Mrs. Funk]

Thanks for that tip, Mrs. Funk. If I ever get invited to eat at Forage, I now know that a stop at Del Taco on the way home is a must.

When we did the tasting menu, I left satiated but by no means stuffed to the gills. The quality of the meal, in my opinion, more than made up for that fact. I'm not big on eating until I'm sick anyway, though.

I know plenty of people for whom Forage would hold no appeal. There's no shame in that, but it is a pity to miss out on such a beautiful food experience because of portion size.

[il Padrino Ute]

il Pad, I know that you make exceptions to this rule. You do enjoy eating a Fresco and it isn't cheap. I'm not sure $45 per person will get you much food at Fresco.

True. My wife and I eat at Fresco each year for our anniversary because it has the best Italian in SLC as far as I'm concerned.

[il Padrino Ute]

When we did the tasting menu, I left satiated but by no means stuffed to the gills. The quality of the meal, in my opinion, more than made up for that fact. I'm not big on eating until I'm sick anyway, though.

I know plenty of people for whom Forage would hold no appeal. There's no shame in that, but it is a pity to miss out on such a beautiful food experience because of portion size.

I'm just not a foodie. Never have been.

I'll bow out of this thread now, as I have sullied it enough.

[Mrs. Funk]

I'm just not a foodie. Never have been.

I'll bow out of this thread now, as I have sullied it enough.

I don't think anybody thinks you've sullied the thread. Your point is valid. It's an awfully expensive meal from a quantity of food perspective. One of my best friends is agog at the time and effort I spend on food. To her, food is fuel and a means to an end (namely, energy). It's all good.

[Green Lantern]

I know plenty of people for whom Forage would hold no appeal. There's no shame in that, but it is a pity to miss out on such a beautiful food experience because of portion size.

This is a great point and the food critic for the City Weekly said the same thing: Even as he raved about the restaurant, he admitted that this kind of dining experience isn't for everyone. Nothing wrong with that.

[ERCougar]

Funny--I tend to be the type to appreciate value and portion sizes, but this meal left me feeling that was the 100 bucks I've spent in a long time. I left feeling completely satisfied, not wanting to eat anything else. On the way home, we stopped by an ice cream place to bring stuff home for a B-Day party. Amazingly, I didn't touch the ice cream--and I LOVE ice cream. Satiety is a good feeling.

On a related note, I think we as a society need to do much more slow eating.

[RobinFinderson]

Forage is seriously just a great name for a restaurant, don't you think?

[ERCougar]

Forage is seriously just a great name for a restaurant, don't you think?

Absolutely! As we were walking in the door (kind of on the side towards the back), we saw the chef (or one of the sous-chefs) out in the greenhouse just behind the restaurant picking some herbs. It was a funny juxtaposition.

[OhioBlue]

On a related note, I think we as a society need to do much more slow eating.

I can't cite it off the top of my head, but there's some interesting research out there about mindful eating and its benefits--not just for the ability to more greatly enjoy food and savor it, but also for things like maintaining healthier weights.

Cool to hear about your Forage experience. Sounds like it was a great time.

[MarkGrace]

I can't cite it off the top of my head, but there's some interesting research out there about mindful eating and its benefits--not just for the ability to more greatly enjoy food and savor it, but also for things like maintaining healthier weights.

This is something I don't understand. People in the US constantly complain about our weight problem and mention portion size as a major factor. But, when faced with smaller, yet appropriate, portion sizes, they bitch about how little food they've been served. Personally, I don't get it.

Much is made of the "French paradox." But clearly portion control is a part of it. In the US we're just used to much more gluttonous servings of food than other countries.

[Mrs. Funk]

This is something I don't understand. People in the US constantly complain about our weight problem and mention portion size as a major factor. But, when faced with smaller, yet appropriate, portion sizes, they bitch about how little food they've been served. Personally, I don't get it.

Much is made of the "French paradox." But clearly portion control is a part of it. In the US we're just used to much more gluttonous servings of food than other countries.

In my time in France, I ate a lot of very rich food. The French are famous for their sauces. The portions, however, were quite small and consumed over the course of HOURS. I wasn't starving at the end of the meal and usually very satisfied. It was a good way to live.

[Mrs. Funk]

Forage continues to astound me. We went again last night for a belated graduation dinner (thanks to a generous belated grad gift ) and were blown away once again.

We opted for the more conservative 3-course option and ended up liking that as much, though in a different way, as the tasting menu.

The croquette starter and the soft-scrambled egg served in shell have become Forage signatures (our waitress said that people would get pretty upset if they stopped doing it!). The croquette had a delicious cucumber filling. (As an aside, on the food blog I posted awhile ago, the reviewer said that the way they make the croquette is to gelatinize the filling, bread it, and deep fry it. Clever, no?) The third and final "taste" was called "textures of potatoes with edible flowers," so a creamed potato with fried potato tendrils and edible flowers. Interesting and tasty.

The vegetable garden and the scallops are a must for the first course. Seriously, I've never had such buttery and perfectly prepared scallops as at Forage. For the second, I ordered the bauvette (also called bavette) cut of steak and Mpfunk ordered the steelehead salmon. We both agreed that the beef was the best piece of meat we'd ever eaten. It was succulent, perfectly marbled, salty, and simply fantastic. In fact, we raved about it so much that the kitchen sent us out another small serving on the house. The steelhead was also excellent and had beautiful crispy skin, but didn't stand a chance next to the bauvette.

We ordered the cheese plate this time 'round, and for an additional $9 it did not disappoint. It featured two generous portions of two types of cheese, an Italian blue and a French sheepsmilk, along with house-preserved cherries. The palate cleanser served next was a lovely cucumber sorbet with a lemon sablé and whipped yogurt.

Dessert portions were much more generous than with the tasting menu, although I didn't have the pleasure of hearing "And for your first dessert . . . " Funk ordered the Amano chocolate cake (not very sweet, and VERY dark) and I ordered the white chocolate mousse, airy and draped over a silky smooth buttermilk ice cream with fresh blueberries.

We briefly chatted with owners/chefs Bowman Brown and Viet Pham. They are totally awesome, down to earth guys, in addition to being superbly talented at their craft. We're extremely fortunate to have this restaurant.

[cougjunkie]

This thread kills me, its a freaking restaurant, and its freaking food. You pay all that money just to shit it out the next day?