Tiburon

Where: Tiburon, 8256 S 700 E, Sandy

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Ahi Tuna, Beef Tenderloin, and Boysenberry Cheesecake

What It Cost: ~$75 (we had a Groupon, so I can't remember exactly)

What We Thought:

Tiburon is one of the few expensive restaurants I've been to here in Utah where I really felt like the high price was worth the bill and I would definitely want to return here again. If you are really looking to impress someone with exceptionally delicious food, Tiburon would be a great place to make a reservation. The only thing I did not enjoy about this restaurant was the other restaurant attendees - come on people! If you are going to be spending $50+ on a meal, please wear something nicer than jeans and a baseball cap! But that's just a personal issue...

The service at Tiburon was very cordial, and we started out our meal with the standard bread basket. I have to apologize ahead of time - these are probably the worst pictures I've ever taken at a restaurant, but I just had to share Tiburon with you! It was a very dark restaurant inside so the pictures are not good, but the food was very delicious!

We started out with the standard bread basket, and the bread was very fresh and soft. Instead of just serving normal butter, we received a sundried tomato herb butter, which was exceptionally tasty and surprisingly sweet. I really didn't want to fill up on bread before our real food came, but it was very good!

I heard someone commenting at a table next to us that they will come to Tiburon just for their house salad, and I can certainly see why! Their delicious house salad was served on a bed of baby mixed greens with Granny Smith apples, a house dried Roma tomato, fontina cheese, candied pecans and a shallot balsamic dressing. It had just the right balance of sweet, salty, sour, savory - you name it. This was one sexy salad, and I definitely look forward to having it again! The only problem with it was that my Roma tomato seemed like it was really cold on my salad, but Owen's salad didn't have that problem, so there must have just been something weird going on. 

This little cup may not look like much, but it was a delightful little sorbet that was served in between our salad and entree courses. I especially loved the seasonal raspberry sorbet, with its piquant tartness and rich color. A lemon sorbet was the bottom scoop, and it was a nice way to prepare for our main meal.

Owen received a cut of medium rare beef that was drizzled with a balsamic reduction and creamy peppery sauce. Owen loves pepper, so naturally he found this wonderfully delicious. It was served with some roasted vegetables and I had one delectable bite, but honestly, I was way too distracted and involved with my own meal to pay much attention to what was going on over on his pretty plate...

Man, I wish this picture did any justice to how incredibly amazing this dish was! It was fresh ahi tuna, seared to the most tender rare cut of fresh fish you've ever had in this state of Utah. It was encrusted with black sesame seeds which were so fun to eat when contrasted to the soft, melty meat. It was topped with soy and honey marinated shredded carrot, which helped to freshen up the plate, in addition to some roasted vegetables and pineapple fried rice. The pineapple fried rice was so good, I would order it on it's own! It tasted so light and crunchy, the pineapple was so fresh, sweet and tangy, and I was so full but I had to keep eating it because it was so so so good!

Since I'm from the Pacific Northwest, I get really excited about anything that is boysenberry, marionberry, or huckleberry flavored and we knew we had to order this cheesecake. I don't know how to fully describe it fairly, but this was, without a doubt, one of the best traditional cheesecakes I've ever had. A lovely creme anglais was served with a berry compote atop perfectly prepared cheesecake. It's so unfair that dessert is served at the end of the meal. I always feel like I am too full to enjoy it as much as I should!

What You Should Do: Tiburon is a big YES in my book. Pricey places are so dangerous - you don't want to risk spending so much if it's not worth the cost. But luckily, you have me to guide the way, and I would certainly recommend trying out Tiburon for a special occasion! And make sure to wear something nice!

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Benihana

Where: Benihana, 165 S West Temple, Salt Lake City

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: Land 'N Sea (filet mignon and scallops) and Hibachi Supreme (steak tenderloin and lobster tail) Teppanyaki Specialties

What It Cost: $83.00 (including tip)

What We Thought: 


Warning: Be prepared for a huge overload of photographs here! Since they cook everything right in front of you, they serve it to you right as it's ready. And since I was so hungry, I couldn't wait to get more than one food item per plate! 


Owen's birthday was last week, so I wanted to surprise him by taking him somewhere a surprise and special. He's more into the presentation of the food and into the show, so I knew that Benihana would definitely be the place to take him. This was actually my first time here, but I've seen The Office, so I felt pretty well prepared.

When you are looking for this restaurant, you have to be pretty vigilant -- it's tucked in between two big buildings and is kind of hard to find. The Blue Iguana is also right next to it, so if you've been trying to find that restaurant as well, good luck. Just look for the signs they usually put out on the road. Oh, and make sure to bring your parking ticket, because they will validate for at least part of your meal!

I knew of course that the prices would be ridiculously high, and in fact, I think this is probably the most expensive meal we've ever had together, except maybe at Disneyland. But what I wasn't counting on was the amount of food we were going to get! Fortunately, I had eaten my lunch at 10 that day and was STARVING by the time we went, so the large amount of extra food that comes with the teppanyaki specialty entreés was just what I needed.

We started out the meal with the onion soup. We didn't get to pick the soup (all side options came automatically with the price of the entreé), but it was pretty good anyway. It was more flavorful than I thought it would be, and it tasted like there were actually some onions in there.

The description of grilled vegetables was a little misleading, since it only came with grilled zucchini, but it was still pretty good. You never have the problem with food being served cold, which was great! 

The salad was definitely the most disappointing part of the meal. It just had some shredded cabbage and carrots on top, a couple grape tomatoes, and WAYYY too much dressing, which was very strong. I couldn't even finish the salad, it was just too much to handle. 

Our teppanyaki chef was definitely the BEST part of the meal. If you can, I would totally recommend trying to request Cornelio (our chef). He was so funny, making little jokes under his breath the whole meal, flipping knives and food and shrimp bites all over, and he worked very hard to serve the best food he could cook up. The couple who sat across from us said that they had been coming here 25 years, and that this was the best food they've ever had! I guess we totally lucked out since it was a first trip for both of us!

The only thing I was sad about is that Cornelio said that they aren't allowed to do fire anymore. THAT would make things even more awesome.

I love all things Disney, so of course I loved this Mickey Mouse he made for us. We were the only ones at our table who didn't order fried rice -- I'm kind of picky about my fried rice, and didn't want to spend an extra eight bucks on it since we were already getting a lot of food. But everyone else got it, and looking back, I think it might just be because it makes for a more fun show? Cornelio was a little offended that I didn't want to try his famous Benihana rice, so after he served everyone up, he scraped a little bit of the remains onto my plate to try! I was actually glad I hadn't ordered it - it was a little dry, and I like some more greens in my fried rice. But it was still awesome to try a little! 

He drew the eggs into a rooster. And then made a really funny joke that I can't remember! But he was great.

The meal came with some shrimp on the side. I'm not a big shrimp person, but I had to try them to see. There are two things that I wish I could change about Benihana, but I understand why they do it this way: 1) Everything is pretty much good at one of two heats (HOT or warming), and 2) Everything is pretty much seasoned the same way -- salt, lemon, butter. I know they do this because they have to bring everything out on the same cart and it simplifies things, but I would like a little more variety. Maybe if they marinated some options beforehand or something? Oh well. The shrimp tasted alright, but it was a little too rubbery and squishy. Owen says that's just how shrimp is, but I felt like it was a little overdone.

Owen's tenderloin was served with mushrooms, and he asked for it to be cooked medium well. You can tell with the little bits of pink that Cornelio knows how to cook his meat, but it probably would have tasted a little more tender if Owen had asked for a rarer preparation. It tasted like butter and lemon (like everything else), and was a little tough, but not too bad.

Cornelia, doing work on the shrimps. Considering they have to keep everything cooking at the same time, and on the same surface, I'd say he did an admirable job.

This filet mignon was the highlight of the food for me. I requested it medium, and it was so perfect, so juicy, and surprisingly flavorful. I told Cornelio that it was probably the best prepared red meat I've had in the state of Utah, and I think he didn't know if he should take that as a compliment or not...but it was delicious! Owen was super jealous and kept trying to sneak some off of my plate.

Owen tried lobster for the first time, which I warned him against since who knows how fresh lobster in Utah would be...?? It was okay, but probably not worth the price. It had the best presentation of any of the food - usually the meat or something was just shoveled onto our plate from the hot surface, but at least this one was still in the pretty bright red shell. But you couldn't tell from this pile of meat why anyone pays extra for lobster.

A little onion volcano! Fun! If only there could be fire....

It turns out I was totally spoiled with the scallops at SORA a couple of weeks ago...These little pieces of seafood were much tinier and much more rubbery than what I had remembered. Once again, I don't think the heat settings that the Benihana chefs are confined to are the most desirable for cooking this kind of meat, so they weren't the best scallops in the whole world. But at least it was fun to get to watch them being cooked! 

Our entreés ALSO came with ice cream at the end of the meal! Yeah, lots of things included with the meal! Owen got the cinnamon gelato, which I really liked, and I got the rainbow sherbet (yes I'm 5 years old...), which Owen really liked! So at least we both liked one of them :) It's pretty hard to go wrong with a scoop of ice cream, so these were about what I expected. Nothing fancy, but hey, who's going to turn down ice cream? Not me.

What You Should Do: Go for a special occasion. It's WAY too expensive (and the food isn't that spectacular) to eat here very often, but you have to at least experience it once! It sounds like we totally lucked out with our experience and got one of the best chefs, so I would maybe call ahead and request to have a chef who is highly rated or something. If you're going to be dropping $80 on a meal, you want it to be a great experience, and a great show. We got both of those things and had a really fun time. I was surprised at the amount of food that came with our entreés, so even though it was a lot of money, it was also a lot of food and we were very full by the end of the meal. The service was really great for us, and I'm glad that we lucked out with having such a great experience! The only thing I regretted about the meal was wearing clothes that are hard to wash...since they cook everything right in front of you, by the end of the night we both totally smelled very strongly of Benihana food! So just be sure not to wear something that's hand wash only :) 

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SORA Asian Dining

I feel like I've been cheating on you all by holding out on this awesome restaurant for a week, but here it finally is!

Where: Sora Asian Dining, 68 W Center Street, Provo

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 1

What We Ordered: BBQ pork steamed buns, beef teriyaki, seafood tempura

What It Cost: $44.60 (including tip)

What We Thought: 


When I was making my list of restaurants we've visited, I realized that we don't go out to eat Asian food all that often. I have no idea why, I like lots of different kinds of Asian food, but I think sometimes I am just scared to try something I am not sure I will like. Plus I have some irrational fear of any kind of Asian seafood here in Utah, because, well....who knows where that "fish" came from, right?

In any case, we haven't been to a lot of Asian restaurants (spending most of our time getting pizza and wings...hmmm....), but I am glad that of all the places near BYU, we went to Sora first!

When we went to Two Jack's Pizza, I noticed this new restaurant on Center Street for the first time. It wasn't open yet, but I was determined that we would try it once it was! I love visiting new restaurants that aren't super popular yet (so hipster of me...) because they usually are not busy and the service is really friendly and great. This was absolutely true of Sora -- when we arrived, we were offered three different seating options: main dining room table, private dining room (no reservation or anything needed!), or private Japanese-style dining.

We chose Japanese-style dining of course, removed our shoes, and went to sit on the lovely wooden floor at our table. The restaurant location used to be a bridal shop, so it has some unique and pretty interior decor. Our server was a little new and awkward, but she was very nice and tried to anticipate our needs. We started off with some barbecue pork steamed buns as an appetizer, which were just right. They were soft and sweet, and the pork filling was enjoyable. I liked the little slaw that it was served with, and it was all very aesthetically pleasing.

I feel a little lame because I went with all "safe" dishes, but I wanted to get something I was familiar with so that I could compare it to others. I ordered the beef teriyaki and chose the side of wasabi mashed potatoes. I felt so Provo getting mashed potatoes on the side, but I was intrigued by the addition of wasabi and was hoping for something spicy. The dish was served bubbling and hot (kind of like you may have been served fajitas before), and was fantastic -- the beef was tender, the sauce flavorful and not too salty, and I loved the vegetables it was served with. The wasabi potatoes were in fact not spicy, but were infused with a mild wasabi flavor. They went pretty well with the beef teriyaki, but would probably be weird with many of the other dishes they could accompany.

The seafood tempura that Owen ordered was the biggest gamble -- I really wanted him to order something seafood because I am super picky about all foods from the sea. I hate anything that tastes remotely fishy or too salty, but I wanted to see if they were able to master seafood at a distance of almost 4,000 miles from the ocean. The verdict? Yes! It was amazing!

The seafood tempura contains the following: a large mushroom, 3 large prawns, a sea scallop, 4 pieces of suzuki (Japanese sea bass), 2 pieces of pumpkin, and onion rings, with a side of soy sauce and also rice. This photo really does not do it justice. The meal was artfully arranged and had great variety...best of all, it did not taste fishy! It was incredible! This was probably the best seafood I've had in Provo, and we couldn't get enough of it. The tempura batter was perfect -- you can tell that it is good fried food if you don't feel heavy and gross afterwards. It was fried ideally at a very hot temperature, and was irresistible. The seafood skeptic in me was proven wrong. I would definitely order this again!

What You Should Do: Go right now! Before it gets too popular and you won't be able to get a seat. Sora masters fusion Japanese dining better than anyone else around, and you are truly missing out if you don't go here! Next time I am definitely going to be more adventurous with my food choices, and I want to try some of their unique sushi options!

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Magleby's

Where: Magleby's Restaurants, 1600 N Freedom Blvd, Provo (right under the Courtyard Marriott hotel)

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 5

What We Ordered: Blackened Chicken Pasta, Banana Cream Pie, Sliced Turkey & Avocado Salad, Petite Filet Medallions, Wonderful Halibut, Buttermilk Pie, Carrot Cake, Famous Chocolate Cake

What It Cost: ~$35/meal

What We Thought:


This was where Owen & I went on our second date. He thinks that I'm the chatty one, but he could not stop bragging about how amazing Magleby's pies were. So as a late-night treat, we stopped in and he ordered a buttermilk pie and since I had to keep things interesting, I ordered a towering slice of carrot cake instead. Neither dish let me down! I've never had a buttermilk pie before -- it was rich, creamy, custardy and smooth. The top was perfectly browned, and the crust was soft and buttery. But my carrot cake definitely won out that night. It was an ideal balance of fruity and nutty and earthy, and just the right amount of delicious cream cheese frosting for me (I'm a huge frosting lover). I crave this carrot cake more than most desserts, and once Owen brought me a slice on his way home from work to help make up for a particularly crappy day - I've never tasted anything more comforting and wonderful.

The desserts never disappoint. They are known for their pies for a good reason - the banana cream pie we partook of once actually tasted like bananas, which was surprising and fantastic!

Their food is also good, but nothing outstanding. They boast about using local ingredients and creating everything from scratch. Although this lends itself to nice, fresh flavors in their meals, it does lead to quite a restricted menu. After going twice to actually eat food (and not just desserts), I feel like I've tried everything I wanted to, and there's not really any reason to go back. Try the blackened chicken pasta (a creamy and smoky flavor in a light alfredo sauce) or the halibut (well-seasoned and cooked to perfection), and make sure to fill up on the flaky, delicious parmesan garlic rolls! I need to find a replicate recipe!

What You Should Do: Go. Go once to actually eat there, and return many times in the future to sample their amazing desserts! You can also stop by Magleby's Fresh, which has a slimmer selection of sweets but is open later.


Great news: They also have a Magleby's birthday club!