by Guy Fieri
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TRACK IT DOWN
2265 Fort Union Boulevard
Salt Lake City, Utah 84121
801-944-2300
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I felt like I walked into a fiesta, the place is so wild. Everybody’s happy, because this ain’t Susan Harries’ first rodeo. After being in the restaurant biz since she was thirteen, running all kinds of joints, she wanted to open a Mexican place. So she brought in an old friend, Manuel Valdez, and his brothers (Fernando, Enrique, and Gustavo) to do the food they grew up with. Cousins Efren, Francisco, and Indalcio work part-time.
To make their carne adovada, Manuel trims the pork butt of the silver skin, then slices it real thin. He’s a butchering machine. His spice marinade is made of cumin, cayenne, garlic, California chile powder, New Mexican chile powder, whole cloves, bay leaves, and salt. Then he adds oil, mixes it all up, and lets it sit overnight. He then puts it in the oven, covered, and cooks it for a couple of hours to get it really soft. It’s tender and killer. To make the taco, he throws some of the chopped meat on the flattop to get more of a crust on it, heats up the tortillas, then builds the taco with cilantro, chopped onion, and lime juice. That’s it; you don’t mess with it. The flavor is so amazing.
Some of the other favorites here are seafood—in Utah? They get fresh fish in every day, sometimes salmon, halibut, cod, sole, sea bass, mahi mahi, red snapper, ahi…even shark. It’s a good kind of fish roulette. The shrimp burrito is on the menu every day. For that he uses green and red bell pepper and red onion, sliced. They go into a pot with cayenne, garlic, ground pepper, California chile powder, New Mexican chile powder, salt, and a little bit of soybean oil. This cooks down for about two hours—whew, there’s some heat on that, too. The shrimp are quickly sautéed with a little bit of garlic and oil, then some of the pepper mixture is added to the pan. On a big warm tortilla he layers some rice, beans, shredded cheese, the shrimp, cilantro, chopped onion, tomatoes, and shredded lettuce. A little sour cream spread on and you’re ready to roll. That’s what I’m talking about. It should be called the killer burrito. Nice and tender shrimp, the distinct flavor of the pepper; I’ve got nothing but happy on that.
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[GUY ASIDE]
There may generally be six degrees of separation between people, but in Flavortown I believe there are four degrees. At Lone Star Taqueria, the owner, Susan, happens to own this property in Mexico in the same little village where I own property. We’re not more than a quarter mile apart on the beach. We were sitting there talking about Mexico, how much we love it. “What? No! Where? You know who? You gotta be kidding me!”—and sure enough, when I go down there the following winter they all know her. Crazy.
If I’m not in Cali or Mexico I question Mexican food, but talk about the real-deal taqueria in Salt Lake City! We always dig a taco joint that makes its own tortillas, but Susan uses them to make her own chips, too! We’d never seen that before on Triple D. And they go through a hundred pounds of fish a day. I don’t like to see concepts go chain, but if they could do this on a national level it would be an awesome restaurant. People love this place—there’s a line out the door. I tell people, if you live witin 250 miles of this place, it’s worth a road trip.
When you’re visiting some funky joint, always ask, “What do the owner and staff eat?” At Lone Star they have a crazy dish called What the Boys Eat—it’s not on the menu, but it’s featured on the board. The kitchen guys saute pork and sirloin adovada with the vegetariano ingredients, mix it up, and serve it with white corn tortillas. Coming from the restaurant business, so many great ideas come from my culinary team!
About that car: one of her cooks’ cars broke down in front of the restaurant one day, so they left it there and went crazy with stickers!
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Carne Adovada Tacos
ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE COURTESY OF SUSAN HARRIES OF LONE STAR TAQUERIA
Why even have the tortilla? Just serve it in my hand, or my shoe, or my pocket.
MAKES 10 TACOS
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons California chile powder
2 tablespoons New Mexican chile powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 pounds pork butt, trimmed and sliced ¼ inch thick
2 cups vegetable oil
5 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
20 (6-inch) white corn tortillas, heated
Diced white onion, for serving
Coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for serving
Lime wedges, for serving
IT’S A PATIO PARTY, PEOPLE.
THEY WON’T TOW YOUR CAR, JUST DECORATE IT FOR YOU.
1. Mix the cumin, chile powders, cayenne, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Toss the meat with the spice mixture to coat completely. Stir in the oil, cloves, and bay leaves. Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
2. Remove the meat from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the meat, covered, for 1 hour or until it is tender. Allow the meat to cool slightly, then remove it from the liquid with a slotted spoon and chop into bite-size pieces. Spoon off some of the oil floating on top of the cooking liquid, and reserve.
3. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon a bit of the reserved oil onto the griddle, add some of the meat (mix up the leaner and fattier pieces so everyone gets some of both), season with salt, and cook, tossing, until hot and starting to crisp.
4. To serve, overlap 2 tortillas on each plate, top with ½ cup meat, some onions, and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro. Squeeze lime juice over all.
WEST AND SOUTHWEST
MOOCHIE’S MEATBALLS AND MORE
EST. 2003 SALT LAKE’S BIG BITE OF PHILLY
So I’m cruising Salt Lake City, Utah, and I’ve got a hankering for some Philly food. You know, cheesesteaks, meatball subs. The only problem is that I’m 2,100 miles away from Philly. People around here say, don’t worry about that, all you have to do is check out Moochie’s.
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TRACK IT DOWN
232 E. 800 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
801-596-1350
www.moochiesmeatballs.com
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The Philly infusion comes from Philly native Joanna Rendi, nicknamed Moochie by her dad and raised on Philly classics. When she moved to Salt Lake City, she couldn’t find a good sandwich shop, so she opened one in her husband Don MacDonald’s pottery shop. Anything she ate as a kid she put on the menu, and the pottery is still for sale, but the sandwich business has taken off.
For the Philly cheesesteak they put some oil down on the griddle, some sliced onions and salt, then very-thin-sliced rib-eye steak. After that some red and green bell pepper gets sautéed with some mushrooms. Then the processed American cheese slices top the meat to melt. Top that with a crispy roll and the heat steams that bread on top: this deal’s legit. The meat is super tender, the peppers are cooked a bit so they’re broken down, and the juiciness is all there. You can have it any way you like it—even with Moochie’s homemade marinara sauce on top. You’d be surprised how that can pull it all together.
To make the sauce, she starts with a little olive oil in the pan, adds garlic and onions, and sweats them with a little salt and pepper and fresh roasted red peppers. She freezes some fresh herbs to make it easier to chop them up (her mom taught her that trick), so she’s got parsley and basil, then some dried parsley, basil, and oregano for good measure. A little bit of water goes into the mix to hydrate the spices; then she adds the tomato sauce and a secret spice ingredient. It cooks down for three hours. The sauce is also a key ingredient in her meatball sandwich. For her meatballs she uses a mixture of hot and mild Italian pork sausage, eggs, garlic, salt
, pepper, parsley, bread crumbs, oatmeal, and extra-lean ground beef. She makes the balls the size of her hand, but she ends up cutting them in half. Why not just make smaller meatballs? Because that’s how everybody else does it. Those bad boys hang out simmering in marinara sauce all day. She then takes warm bread, lays down the provolone, then the sauced meatballs (down flat, another reason to cut them in half). Okay, arms out, keep away your predators, take a big bite: that was so worth the burn, subtle and delicious.
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[GUY ASIDE]
I know meatballs, and when a place claims to be doing real-deal meatballs or Philly cheesesteaks I start to ask questions. That all changed with Moochie’s, and we’re back to one of my fave food cities in the country, Salt Lake City. They got it going on. I had never heard of it being a foodie place—I just thought of skiing, the Tabernacle Choir, Olympics, Donny and Marie Osmond—but we found some killer places. Blue Plate, Lone Star—good times.
The other thing I dig about this place: I grew up in Ferndale, California, a little tourist town where my parents were leather artists, making belts, purses, and vests. We had a lot of friends who were pottery throwers, so we had a lot of pottery in my house as a kid. So when I go into this place and we have these killer meatballs, and we’re waiting in line for a meatball sandwich and see funky pottery, I’m naturally drawn to it, checking it out. Joanna’s husband is an artist who teaches pottery-making. I’m like, I’m home; I end up buying a pottery pitcher for my mom for Mother’s Day by the end of the show. It goes back to the whole thing about the feeling and connection that goes on with these people and these locations.
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GET YOUR TICKETS TO ARNIE’S GUN SHOW…YAH!
Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwich
ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE COURTESY OF JOANNA RENDI MACDONALD OF MOOCHIE’S MEATBALLS AND MORE!
If you don’t think you like eggplant, this will convert you.
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
¼ cup kosher salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1 large firm eggplant
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
½ to 1 cup olive oil
6 Italian style hoagie rolls, split
1 cup part-skim mozzarella, shredded
2 cups prepared marinara sauce, warm
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Fill a large bowl with warm water and stir in the salt until it dissolves. Slice the eggplant crosswise about ¼-inch thick, making sure that the slices are as consistent as possible. If the base of the eggplant is very large, cut those slices in half lengthwise. Add the eggplant slices to the salt water and let stand for 1 hour. Make sure the eggplant is completely submerged.
3. Remove the eggplant slices from the salt bath and shake off excess moisture. In a shallow dish, whisk together the eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, and the pepper to make an egg wash. Spread the bread crumbs in another shallow dish. Dip the eggplant in the egg wash, then the bread crumbs, covering all surfaces.
4. Line a large plate or baking sheet with paper towels. Lightly coat a large heavy frying pan with olive oil and allow it to heat up over medium-high heat. Add some eggplant slices to the pan, cover and cook until you see the eggplant begin to be translucent, about 5 minutes. If the eggplant becomes too dark, lower the heat and allow it to cook slowly. Using a large spatula, turn the eggplant onto the other side and cook until it is completely tender, about 1 to 2 minutes more. When eggplant is completely cooked, transfer it to the paper towels to blot any excess oil. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
5. Place the hoagie rolls in the oven until warm, about 5 minutes. Divide the eggplant evenly among the rolls and top with shredded mozzarella cheese and warm marinara sauce. Enjoy!
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY ’BOUT THIS ONE. (SOMETIMES
YOU JUST TURN THE PAGE QUICKLY…HA HA HA.)
WEST AND SOUTHWEST
PAT’S BARBECUE
EST. 2003 A CIRCUS OF SMOKIN’ FLAVOR
When you’re thinking barbecue, you’re probably thinking Texas, Memphis, the Carolinas—you’re not thinking Utah and the Wasatch Mountains. When you put down your snowboard and you’re heading back from Park City, on your way back through to Salt Lake, stop by this joint, run by a competition barbecue dude named Pat.
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TRACK IT DOWN
155 W. Commonwealth Avenue
South Salt Lake, Utah 84115
801-484-5963
www.patsbbq.com
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It all started out as a hobby for Pat Barber. You see, you’re at a barbecue competition, and you get to a point where you say, if I win big, I’m doing this. Pat said to himself, if I come in tenth place in any category, I’m quitting my day job. A bunch of blue ribbons and six years later, it’s like the circus came to town. Pat and his crew are cranking out two thousand meals a week, all from a smoker parked outside on a trailer—this is a culinary gangster right here, this guy rolls it out big time.
OWNER’S NOTE: Since the show aired, our business has exploded and hasn’t fallen off. We’ve gone from three hundred meals a day to twelve hundred and had to buy a smoker that’s twice as big. The new smoker can hold twenty-one hundred pounds of meat at once!—Pat Barber
He’s smoking up the same recipes that got him those ribbons, but there’s a one-of-a-kind, once-a-week specialty that’s got them lining up an hour before he opens and waiting till they’re ready. Hunks of brisket, double rubbed and smoked twice: they’re called burnt ends, and you’re lucky if you get them, they go so fast. He doesn’t trim any of the hunk of meat he starts with: fat’s flavor and fat’s moisture. He rubs it down with a product called Butt Rub (that product’s put out by a very famous barbecue team; this is the goods) and he adds steak seasoning, chile powder, and his signature secret ingredient that’s from out of the country. He lets it sit overnight to let all the spices marry into that meat. They roll down a big long hallway and out to the smoker for ten hours; then he pulls them, cuts the ends off, rubs them again, and puts them back in the smoker for another ten hours. That’s what BBQ heaven looks like right there. There’s just enough marbling in there; it’s savory and crunchy enough—he’s not doing this wrong at all.
And he’s making pulled pork and ribs, and fresh smoked chicken and sausage for New Orleans jambalaya (that’s a lot of big flavor, and great sausage; I could hear it snap when I bit into it), plus classic sides like coleslaw and honey-sweetened cornbread.
Pat will smoke just about anything, like meatloaf (recipe on Smoked Barbecue Meatloaf); it’s got just the right smoked flavor, not too sweet. It’s down-home comfort food at its best. Come check it out and you’ll know why they’re lined up.
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[ROAD TIP]
One of the identifiers I’ll always teach: when you’re on the road and you can’t find a place to eat, pull into the local fire department and ask those cats what they eat. They’re great chefs, and they pride themselves on it. So if you want a good recommendation, call them. When I find a fireman eating in a joint, I’m usually impressed. Big props to the South Salt Lake City Fire Department for the ride in the fire engine. You say cops and doughnut shops? I don’t know about doughnuts, but firemen
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THE SAUCE IS SOOO GOOD, YOU MIGHT EAT YOUR HAND…
Smoked Barbecue Meatloaf
ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE COURTESY OF PAT BARBER OF PAT’S BBQ
This just in: Pat reports that they’ve been topping this with biscuits and country gravy, in addition to the onion and barbecue sauce option, and it’s gone ballistic!
MAKES 10 SERVINGS
5 pounds 80/20 ground beef
3 large eggs
2½ cups dried seasoned bread crumbs
2½ cups milk
1 cup barbecue sauce, plus more for serving
1 box (2 packets) Lipton onion soup mix
Grilled onions, for garnish
1. Heat a smoker to 225°F.
2. Combine the meat, eggs, bread crumbs, milk, barbecue sauce, and soup mix. Shape the mixture into a tube or loaf and place it inside a tin baking pan. Place the pan inside the smoker for 4 hours. Pat uses cured applewood in the smoker.
3. Serve with a ribbon of your favorite barbecue sauce with grilled onions on top.
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[GUY ASIDE]
Pat and I knew some similar people from the barbecue circuit world. Just like at Wilson’s, we’d been at the same Houston barbecue school. The barbecue circle is tight—a lot of respect and camaraderie.
Pat’s restaurant is in the middle of nowhere, and he’s telling me it will fill up. Well, it opened to fifty or sixty people in line—a cavalcade (big word for me) of people. Pat’s got a great logo, delivery with golf carts, lots of live music, and happy people, and he embraces the eclectic nature of the city. An eclectic place like
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