Valentine Restaurant Specials
Restaurants often have special menus around Valentine’s Day, since so many sweethearts like to celebrate the season. Here are some that are happening in Utah:
Bambara, at 202 S. Main in Salt Lake City, will feature special entrée offerings from award-winning chef Nathan Powers, and pastry chef Rebecca Moore has created a special decadent dessert perfect for two — a milk chocolate charlotte with burnt orange caramel, bitter cocoa nib and white chocolate candy heart ($12). Specials will be available on Friday, Feb. 14 and Saturday, Feb. 15. Early reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (801) 363-5454 or visiting www.bambara-slc.com.
Bambara and Hotel Monaco Salt Lake City are asking guests to share their favorite “Romance Redemption” story on Twitter for a chance to win a dinner for two at Bambara along with a one-night stay at Hotel Monaco. Guests can submit (in a clean and playful tone) what romantic disaster took place in the past year that can be made right with dinner at Bambara and a night’s stay at Hotel Monaco. From Feb. 1 until Feb. 14 at midnight MST, guests can tweet their story to @BambaraSLC, using the hashtag #LOVEBambara. One winner will be chosen in a random selection by the restaurant and notified via Twitter.
The Market Street restaurants are hosting Crab Festival through February. Canadian Snow, Oregon Dungeness and Colossal Red King Crab are prepared in more than a dozen appetizers and entrees.
“Crab is delicious by itself, beautifully presented in the shell and served with drawn butter,” says Chef Ty Fredrickson. “It also pairs deliciously with other flavors like our spinach and artichoke dip, crab-stuffed mushrooms, halibut-stuffed, prawn-stuffed, and delicate crab balls.”
(I know all about Crab Festival….A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I stopped in for dinner at the downtown Market Street Grill before going to a play at Rose Wagner Theater. That’s when we found out it was crab fest, and shared a meaty crab cake appetizer before our entrees came!)
The downtown, Cottonwood, University and Draper Market Street restaurants and Oyster Bars are all participating in Crab Fest.
Oasis Cafe has a fixed-price, four course dinner for $38, that features options such as ahi tuna tartare; tiger prawns with eggplant caponata; Caprese salad; Manila clam chowder, salmon Wellington; grilled New York steak and chicken breast with grilled vegetables. Dinner seating is from 5 – 10 p.m. Reservations are highly suggested and can be made by calling 801-322-0404 or visiting OasisCafeSLC.com.
Oasis Cafe is located at 151 South 500 East in downtown Salt Lake City.
Faustina’s new chef de cuisine Joe Kemp has created a $50 four-course menu for Valentine’s Day, Friday, Feb. 14. Reservations are highly suggested, available from 4:30 until 10 p.m. and can be made by calling 801-746-4441. Faustina is located at 454 East, 300 South in Salt Lake. / www.faustinaslc.com.
The dinner includes soup or salad and appetizer selections of: sautéed shrimp; crab, mango and avocado stuffed endive, and beef short rib and butternut squash ravioli. Entrees include a choice of braised lamb shanks with pancetta; pan seared Arctic char, horseradish crusted beef tenderloin; and coq au vin. Sumptuous dessert choices are: poached pear, strawberry white chocolate cheese cake, chocolate lava cake, and Faustina’s signature panna cotta.
Caffe Niche on 300 South, Salt Lake City is offering a special five-course $50 Valentine’s tasting menu from e xecutive Chef Ethan Lappé. It includes appetizer options of goat cheese and black truffle pillow, Snake River Farms Kurobuta pork cheeks, or lobster stuffed piquillo peppers. Entree selections include local Jones Creek Beef short ribs, butternut squash lasagna, or scarlet diver scallops followed by dessert options such as Champaign crème brûlée, spiced triple chocolate torte or dessert fondue for two. The cost is $50 per person and reservations will be taken between 5 and 9:30 p.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 801-433-3380 or on the website www.caffeniche.com.
The New Yorker Restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City is offering an Italian Carnival of Venice menu through February. The three-course fixed price dinner is $45 and includes a choice of the following entrees:
Filetto di Ricca – Pan seared Beef Filet Medallion with Marsala Wine, Sautéed Foie Gras, Porcini Mushrooms and Fontina Sauce
Involtini di Pollo San Marco – Chicken Breast filled with Ham, and Fontina Cheese served with Mushrooms, Asparagus and Port Wine Cream Sauce
Risotto Gamberi e Granachio – Arborio Risotto with Crabmeat, Shrimp, Garlic, Tomato and White Wine
Zuppa Del Doge – Half of a Maine Lobster, Scallops, Shrimp, Clams, Mussels, Crabmeat and Asparagus in White Wine Tomato Sauce