Best of Utah

The City Weekly, SLC's local independent news magazine, published its annual "Best of Utah" winners this week. And since, as Tyler has pointed out, this blog is little more than a vehicle for us to endorse the many things we like, we are going to list OUR "best of Utah." We'll keep it short. Enjoy.

1. Best Cool Local Pizza Place- Gabor Brothers. Who would have guessed that a tiny, old building, hidden among the antique shops of main street Layton, would have such wonderful pizza? And you get your diet coke in a mason jar! Also try the Spinach salad with warm house dressing and the breadsticks. Give yourself like 15 hours to eat there though because sometimes they can be slow.

2. Best Cool Local Record Shop- Slowtrain, 221 E. Broadway, SLC. Super nice guys. Always have this weeks new indie releases. Great vinyl selection. Very supportive of local music. You should buy all your music here.

3. Best Cool Local Music- Atherton, Band of Annuals, Paul Jacobsen and of course Cori Connors. Go to the website of all these artist. You will not be sorry. You will not regret you ever cared. And, you may see the next President of the USA (Vote Cori. See 3 AM post.)
http://www.myspace.com/athertonmusic
http://www.myspace.com/bandofannuals
http://www.myspace.com/pauljacobsenmusic
http://www.coriconnors.com/

4. Best Cool Local Art- Sunny Belliston, Leia Bell You can check both these artist out at their web pages, or better yet, if you are around, they will both be featured at this months gallery stroll. Also, look for Leia's shop opening up under Slowtrain later this month. Leia's cute prints hang in our kids rooms, and one day we will own a really large Sunny Belliston original, so help us.
http://www.leiabell.com/








http://sunnybellistonart.com/










5. Best Sandwich- Turkey with Swiss at the Dodo, It comes with bar-b-que dipping sauce. Oh, it's good. The Dodo also wins best dessert for their Toll House Pie, which is literally the first thing Ash has eaten after each of our children were born. Thanks to Big Dave for making sure the pie was there.

6. Best Hotel- Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City. John works here during the film festival each year. They have good hot chocolate. John saw Dan Fogelberg in a speedo here (extreme low point.) He also met Neil Young here (extreme high point.) And, as of this year, Stein's is Utah's only 5 star/5 diamond Hotel. Go in September, it's a cheaper time, and the leaves are beautiful. Or go during the festival and see John.

7. Best Breakfast- Doug and Emmys, Kaysville. John used to ditch school and go eat scones here. Ash met some of John's friends for the first time over breakfast here. Casey slipped on the ice and did a full spread eagle onto the ground in the parking lot here and that image still makes us laugh.

8. Best Local Farm- Borski Farm. Based out of Kaysville, Borski has a great Community Supported Agriculture program. For under $200 you can get 15 weeks of fresh, organic produce, and you can shake the hand of the guy who grew it. Plus, (shocking personal history alert) John Borksi, who runs the farm, taught John Connors ballet when John was a wee lad.

9. Best Fine Dining- Tiburon. We have never been disappointed eating here. It's a small beautiful place in Sandy (yes, it is possible). The salmon and the squash are particularly good. John likes the steak. We will go with you. Call us. (The owners of Tiburon have another, slightly less expensive place called EPIC in Ft. Union which is also very good.)

10. Best Triathlon- Salem Spring Triathlon. Salem is a very pretty place and this race is less expensive and more fun than any race, anywhere in Utah. If you have ever wanted to do a triathlon, this is the one. The crazy bearded guy that is in charge of the race is really nice. He's got a couple other good races too. Check them out at http://www.racetri.com/.

11. Best Street- Quail Run Road, Farmington. Come up in a few weeks, when the trees are blossoming. It's awesome. We'll give you a cookie if you come.

Feel free to add to the list.