"Salt Lake City" news and stories

Gary Martinez, manager of Utah's hottest patisserie, hates it when you use the word "foodie" to describe Les Madeleines's customers. He and chef/owner Romina Rasmussen believe that people don't need to know the difference between pâte à choux and pâte sucrée to appreciate their shop's travel-inspired, made-from-scratch goodies, particularly their ultra-popular kouing amans (traditionally spelled kouign amann). Not familiar with these pastries? They're buttery, sugary, slow-baked round layer cakes that originated in Brittany, France in the 19th century and the name literally means "butter cake."

We recently caught up with Martinez and got his feelings on everything from the SLC food scene to Les Madeleines's growing cult status.

More from Martinez after the jump...

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

Where's the best place to grab a beer in Salt Lake City, Utah? Despite its unexpected name, many would suggest a bar known as the Bayou.

"The whole idea of the Bayou, people gathering together and the mix of different cultures -- that's what we had in mind with the name," says Mark Alston, who owns the bar with his wife. Speaking with him, his philosophy seems to boil down to one word: "different."

To create a great beer bar in Utah, owners have to be different. Law prohibits the Bayou from carrying any draft beers over 4% alcohol. Bottles, on the other hand, can have any ABV, a rule that Alston finds ironic. "Yesterday we sold a bottle of [Sam Adam's] Utopia to a table of four guys," he uses as an example. Utopia can clock in at upwards of 27% alcohol by volume -- ridiculously high by beer standards, and fine in Utah since it's served in the bottle -- but when it comes to draft beer, that would never fly.

This odd discrepancy in the rules partly explains why the Bayou has focused so much on bottled beer, not draft, since opening in 2002. "That's why our bottled beer selection has 230 beers," Alston explains. "We can sell whatever we want."

Read more about the Bayou and check out its recent draft list after the jump.

Adam over at Adjab posted a story about how Salt Lake City's One World Cafe and Denver's SAME Cafe are offering customers organic meals and telling them they can pay whatever they like. If you can afford $10, pay that. If you can only afford 10 cents, pay that. And if you don't have any money at all, then you can wash dishes or do other work at the restaurant to pay off the bill.

Seems like a cool idea to me (I've heard of other restaurants doing this too, so maybe it's a trend), though I wonder how political something like this could get. The restaurants ask richer customers to pay more, so they can balance things out when some customers don't pay anything. Seems like a classic Republican/Democrat debate, only at one particular business, a restaurant.

I also like the idea of some sort of barter system for restaurants and other businesses. Though I once tried to buy a new Lexus with a bunch of oranges and they just laughed in my face.

Road trips are the best way to go outside of your comfort zone and dig up some new eats. It's hard to be choosy when there is only one dining option for 50 miles, but how do you know which one of the last 50 diners is the best one for lunch? And is fast food really your only dinner option? Because the Michelin guide is too conservative to take on the whole United States, New York Times writer Christine Muhlke decided to do it herself. With her boyfriend and a 1978 Porsche 911 Targa, they hit the road to eat burgers and fries and to see what local chefs are doing across the country.

Aiming for good food at the rather extreme price points, Muhlke compiled lists of low priced and expensive eats from magazines, chefs, friends and the Zagat guide before hitting the road. On the low side, highlights included a stop at the Cheeseboard Collective in Berkeley, CA and Shotgun Bubba’s BBQ in California, MO. Pricey favorites also popped up at every stop, from Metropolitan in Salt Lake City, UT to 40 Sardines in Kansas City, KS.

The short list won't make it into book form any time soon, but it's still a nice resource if you're traveling.

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