Lost In A Forage

Salt Lake's latest stab at haute cuisine is definitely worth investigating. I'm haven't done much flogging or 'food blogging' but here some photos taken by a friend of our fashionable plates at Forage last Thursday. By far, some of the most alluring food I've seen or tasted, maybe ever.

The $45 prix fixe menu (sans wine pairings) keeps the two+hour experience affordable considering what you get; your choice of one item from each section of a three course menu including a plethora of amusing bouches like some of those fancy things I seen on Top Chef. Nothing too scary to eat... all quite delicious. I can't think of another food journey that compares to it in Utah outside some offerings at the Metropolitan.

The restaurant is housed in a tiny building that used to be a real estate mess. So it's remarkable how they turned it into such an adorable space. Inside the entrance hallway, a large window reveals a gleaming white and impressively organized kitchen which leads into a small, spartan powder blue dining room. Lovely! Our server was perfectly decent but failed to raise his voice loud enough for anyone to hear what he was saying even though it wasn't crowded and the music was so low it might as well have been coming from a dying solar system. If I had a suggestion, it would be to bump the atmosphere up a bit to match the frivolous and celebratory nature of the food. Turn the music up enough to get people to talk louder than church mice and teach the waiters it's ok to be entertaining and informative at the same time. In a room that small it's ok to be part of the show, even if other tables can hear you. A little bit of sass goes a long way and the food at Forage is worth bragging about.

Forage is owned by chefs Bowman Brown and Viet Pham. Bowman learned his craft at The Dunaway Restaurant with Food and Wine Best New Chef Mary Dumont and Ben Hasty of The French Laundry. He also worked at Gary Danko, a Michelin star restaurant in San Francisco and 231 Ellsworth in San Mateo. Bowman came to Utah in 2007. Viet went to school at the California Culinary Academy and worked for Food and Wine Best New Chef Laurent Gras at the Michelin starred Fifth Floor in San Francisco. He moved to Utah in 2007.

Address:
370 E 900 S
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

Reservations:
801-708-7834
contact@ForageRestaurant.com

Forage Web:
ForageRestaurant.com

Forage Blog:
ForageSLC.com