Max M.
Yelp
Honestly, the experience overall for me is what makes this a 5 star moment. We got to the restaurant to a wonderful valet service, who were kind and friendly. The front desk man asked us if we still wanted to sit outside, as it was about to rain. We said yes, because a little rain wasn't going to dampen our mood. That was the right choice! It cooled the patio (which was mostly covered) down by about 20 degrees, so we sat in some gorgeous summer rain with our nice wine and our food. I think the worst it got for us was my partner's shoulder was a little wet at the end.
The food was overall fantastic, but not perfect. Maybe I'm just a little picky about things, so take my word with a grain of salt. My only real qualifications are on my own sommelier certification, a few years of experience working in high end kitchens, and having gone to high end restaurants all over the west. So I'm no real expert, just someone with a little bit of a hobby.
The wine was overall okay. I tried their exclusive red and it was fine. Not amazing. It paired okay with the things we had, but it definitely wasn't the best wine to be paired with my dish. My second glass was a lot better, and had a lot stronger notes. The rolls with the truffle sea salt butter are fantastic, to the point that I have been attempting to recreate the butter myself. We ordered the crab cakes to start, and those were beautifully presented as well as some of the best crab cakes I've had in Utah. My partner ordered the bison, and that was absolutely the move. It was tender, the sauces were an accent and not the main attraction that brought the flavour to the dish. The brussel sprouts were cooked and seasoned perfectly, with the pomme frites and truffle aioli just rounding off the dish nicely. He was very kind to share some of his food with me, and I wished I'd gotten that instead.
I had talked myself out of that dish, and instead went with the beef tenderloin. Here lies my biggest criticisms of our night. I ordered my tenderloin medium rare, but the steak overall came out cooked unevenly; likely due to the cut and size of the steak. Some parts were well done, but the majority was around a medium rare, if not a bit overcooked. The beef itself lacked a lot of flavour, if I'm honest. It relied very heavily on the bordelaise, which was also just a bit lacking. Maybe it was because my partner's dish was so amazing, but I was very underwhelmed by the steak, especially considering it was about 10$ more on the menu. It wasn't tough, but it wasn't tender either. It was overall a very average steak, which I was a little disappointed by.
My asparagus was fantastic, fully cooked perfectly with a nice crisp to it. However, my brown butter potatoes tasted like they were missing something. They were grainy in texture and had multiple larger clumps where whomever mashed them missed. It was as if the prep chef for these missed out on a few crucial parts of the recipe. I felt as if they could have used a bit more of a sort of cream, and maybe had browned the butter for them a bit longer. They overall just tasted a bit bland, really, and without the bordelaise, I likely would have skipped them entirely.
For the price point of the restaurant, that all feels like a massive oversight to me. Overall, my dish was just. Not worth the extra price point.
I would recommend others to steer clear of the tenderloin and to opt for the bison instead. Or, give a try to the elk or the pork. I would also recommend opting away from the special-made wine for something that might have a bit more to it, but that's purely a personal preference.
Otherwise, everything else was perfect. And I refused to let a few missteps from the kitchen on my dish ruin our night. It was an amazing time, and I'm very very glad that we went. We will likely come again.
