25 July 2011

rico - farmers market edition

The place: Rico

What we hoped for: a delicious lunch and cold coke to finish off our weekly visit to the market.

What we got:
pork tamale
















artichoke, asparagus, and cheese tamale
Mexican coke


You likely know from reading our blog that we are real suckers for good Mexican food, and Rico"s tamales didn't disappoint.  Their artichoke, asparagus, and cheese tamales are cooked in plantain leaves, rather than the traditional corn husks.  They practically melt in your mouth.  When paired with their fresh, delicious tomatillo salsa and an icy, cold Mexican coke, it is a lunch that will surely satisfy.  At $2.00 a tamale, it is a great cheap eat.  Rico also has a store on the corner of 800 S and 500 E and they are open for lunch.

Rico Mexican Market on Urbanspoon

21 July 2011

Dinner party at Vinto

The Place: Vinto Pizzaria (website)



On Tuesday we were invited to attend a dinner party at Vinto Pizzeria with several other Salt Lake food bloggers by the ever charming Becky Rosenthal of The Vintage Mixer.  We were able to sit with some wonderful, and very knowledgeable foodies including Heather King of SLC Lunches, Mike Hollopeter of Foodie from Scratch, and Ryan Kendrick of SLC Eats.

Our entire experience at Vinto was fabulous.  The owners and chefs were friendly. The entire restaurant was designed for efficiency.  The dishes were delicious.  The desserts were heavenly.  We feel that we can't give this a typical cheap eats review, because our six course meal comprised of thirteen dishes would certainly not fall in the under $10 category, however, I'm sure we'll be back soon so that we can review our cheaper dining experience.

A few highlights from our meal:

Sorrel soup with potato and cream

Grilled artichokes with wild arugula and shallot vinaigrette


















Tuttabella pizza with housemade spicy sausage, caramelized onion, fresh tomato, garlic, roasted peppers, fontina, and fior di latte mozzarella
















Patate pizza with sliced yukon potato, fontina and goat cheese, rosemary, wild arugula, and white truffle oil
















Vanilla Gelato with Viola extra virgin olive oil and grey sea salt
Butterscotch Budino with salted caramel sauce and whipped cream - pure joy!

While our main goal of writing SLC Cheap Eats has been to inform people of great spots around the city, one of the other big goals was to try to get some free food out of this, so a huge thanks to the Vintage Mixer and Vinto Pizzeria.

If you haven't tried Vinto, you ought to.  You won't be disappointed.