Off the Beaten Track

Published 8/19/2011

Off the Beaten Track

The Retired Cooks Diary

By Suzette Pennington Munson

Vacation is over and we are back home in Alvord. Doug and I flew to Utah to visit our son JR and daughter in law Adriane. I think we tried to visit every historical monument in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. From the Great Salt Lake to Park Cities in the mountains we thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

To give you a taste trip thru Utah is a difficult task. The foodies are not as prevalent as they are here in Texas. Granted there were restaurants on every corner but finding authentic taste was more of a challenge. I wanted to learn what food made Utah stand out. To my disappointment there weren’t that many outstanding places that were “native” to Utah.

We traveled into the mountains the first Saturday morning we were in the area to a place called the Silver Fork Lodge. This place has been in operation since 1949 and honestly had the best breakfast I have had in all the time I have been writing this column and beyond!

The setting was a log café building that was weathered with age and the original area was probably 20 feet wide by 20 feet long. The booths were cut from local wood and showed the distinct marks of having been used for 60 + years. The dining room that we sat in was almost three times the size of the original café and had a deck with about the same square footage. The temperature was around 59 degrees and everyone was sitting outside…not this Texan, I wanted a jacket and lots of hot coffee.

This spot was so picturesque and a wonderful place to start our trip, having wonderful food in a beautiful atmosphere is what vacation is all about.

We met our Adrian’s family who are native Utah folks and had a wonderful family meal with cooks that had traveled and lived all around this country. Thank you to all of you for your hospitality and wonderful meal.

On Sunday after church service we traveled into another canyon for lunch at Ruth’s Diner.

Ruth’s has been the spot to go for all the locals and tourist since 1942. We waited in line for 45 minutes to find out what the excitement was all about. Doug is not one to wait but since it was noon on Sunday we would not have had much choice anywhere we might have chosen so wait we did.

The weather here in Texas that day was 112+ I am sad to say the temp in the mountains was 78. Needless to say we sat out on the shaded patio and enjoyed the music being played by two local artist Maggie Beers and Julie Mark. They have laid back tones and folksy music that was really worth the trip. They are local musicians that teach at an arts academy. They made the wait worth the time spent.

What can I say about the food…well if you travel that far, and like to see the area, Ruth’s is a neat place to visit. The Onion Rings are excellent. The Burgers are good, but the Meatloaf burger that they claim is their signature dish leaves our Texas Pallet without much to say! If we go back I would skip that one and stay with the regular burger.

The last place I will talk about was my choice for the Best Taste in the time we spent in Utah, sadly it was not local fair but Mediterranean!

Adrian’s grandmother Ilene invited us to dinner at O’fillafil, her favorite place to eat. Now Ilene is a funny, generous lady and we were excited to get to spend time with her so off we went in search of this restaurant. Hidden in a neighborhood near the University of Utah, O’fillafil was just a “hole in the wall” but packed with folks taking out food. The owner was a friend of Ilene’s so he had pushed tables together for us and instead of sending us thru the fast food line he took our orders then proceeded to come and sit an chat with us, explaining each dish and how it was made. I enjoyed a Lamb Kebab on a bed of rice with a yogurt dip make with dill and cucumber. Doug had Lamb, Chicken and Beef Kabab. We also had appetizers of humas with a spicy salsa type sauce and a pureed eggplant dip. Hot fresh pita bread was used to dip the appetizers.

I asked if Pita bread could be made at home and how. I have a recipe that says it can be. The best answer was NO! The ovens just can’t get hot enough and if you look for good pita bread ask for Lebanese or Palenestinen style pita. Obviously, what we get at our local super store is not one of these.

We were surprised with a unique dessert. We were served the fruit of the cactus. Loaded with seeds it taste much like a cantaloupe. We were told not to chew the seeds as they were bitter just to swallow them whole. This was a fun way to end the meal and a story we can tell for years.

We visited many other restaurants and I will write of them in other columns but these were the best of the best that we found on our trip. Going native is always the best way to find out what is really popular and fun when you are traveling so I hope you get off the beaten track and leave the chain restaurants behind and find some exciting places to eat even if they are local.