271 N. Center Street | Salt Lake City, UT | 801 596 0566
I decided to come back to Em's for a second meal tonight after last nights good dinner. There is a different staff here tonight so no one will remember the drunkin' state I was in last night (only kidding).
It's another quiet night here with about 5 parties in the bistro. Em's has about 15 tables so it's a small and personal restaurant. There is also an outdoor patio in case you like dining al fresco. It's 8pm right now and 95 degrees so I think I stay in the air conditioned interior along with the "A" list clientele that seems to dine here.
Tonight, I see a lot of people are having the halibut special which is in a butter sauce with root vegetables. I would have loved to try it but I fear eating fish so far away from an ocean. Although I do keep hearing people say how good it is.
I really wanted to order a nice salad tonight since they have a good variety of which many have apples, pears and blue cheese. Yummy. I like anything with apples and blue cheese. Instead of the salad I ordered the goat cheese stuffed figs wrapped with prosciutto ($8). If you remember, I missed having that last night because they ran out. I am here earlier tonight so it's available. Now I can leave Utah satisfied.
The starter included 2 figs which were served warm a top a small bed of arugula. It was all dotted with some balsamic vinegar. One slight mistake I made to my description above, the figs were stuffed with blue cheese, not goat cheese. I think the blue cheese was a bit strong and overwhelmed the flavor of the fig. It was good anyway, but a bit small. I think I would have liked to eat about 5 of those figs.
After my starter they brought me a small mixed green salad topped with shaved Parmesan. I asked my server, "what's that for?", he replied, "a palate cleanser". That's odd I didn't get a "palate cleanser" last night.
Tonight for my entree I picked the pork chop which was marinated and grilled with an very unique apricot BBQ type sauce (not tomato based) which was very tangy and flavorful. I would say there was apricot, honey, onion and smokey bacon in the sauce. It's hard to describe the flavor. It wasn't sweet but was smokey and tangy. I think the smoke flavor came from the bacon. It was served with a side of mashed potatoes and roasted carrots which were sliced as thin as a dime. Emily seems to like thinly roasted vegetables because last night my entree came with pencil thin roasted asparagus. ($18)
For dessert I ordered the chocolate pudding cake ($6) which is a warm chocolate cake baked when ordered. It takes about 10 minutes and I hoped it would be worth the wait.
The pudding cake was you basic molten chocolate cake which I will say was good but zzzzzzz. Unoriginal. It was just the little cake topped with 2 fresh cherries. I think it could have used a dollop of whipped cream or a nice scoop of Hagen Daas. I think Em needs a pastry chef...
Tonight bill total was $44.15 and that included a glass of Pinot Noir ($8) and a cuppa cawfee ($1.50). Not bad for a "4 heart" meal.
The food here is somewhat hearty and homey comfort food but made with a unique flair. I have to say this is now one of my favorite restaurants I've been to this year. Who would have thought I'd find this in Salt Lake City?
Could this be a reason to return?
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