Salt Lake, Vietnam and Umphreys

So as all of you, my devoted readers, may have noticed, this is not the post about Five-Guys vs. In-N-Out. I realized that I lack sufficient information to make the final call. Eating at Five guys only once, and eating at In-N-Out like 12 times is not fair. SO, I will put it off till I get down to Five Guys again. HOWEVER, I do have an exciting food adventure to share

JUBBY!

Again, my good food buddy Jubb and I traveled to Salt Lake for a concert. I was without Mrs. Hunter on this one. Despite being one man down Jubby and I ventured south and decided to go for some Asian wonderment. Jubby guided me to a place he has eaten at before. He served his mission in Cali speaking the language of the Viet. SO, he took me to Cafe Trang an all Asian, but specializing in Veitnamese Cuisine Cafe of sorts. Interesting side note, Jubby says that Vietnamese noodle shops have one of two names, and Cafe Trang is one. So, we walked in and were seated amongst Salt Lakes elite. A group of wine drinking, adverb using, intellectuals.

I said in faith, Jubby, what should we get? He broke the menu down for me, and after a failed attempt at communicating with my waiter we managed to order. [ I attempted to ask him if their was anything bizarre or not commonly ordered as I often do, and he proceeded to stare at me.] Despite this fail, Jubb and I decided to order  to share so we could try more things. We decided on,

• Chả Gio
• Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho
• Hot Pot (The grill version)

FIRST!

Cha Gio

The Chả Gio was by FAR my favorite. This was kind of sad because it was the starter. HA. I suppose it was just because of my lame, fat riddled pallet. Yes, I love fatty things, you will learn this soon enough, you will notice a trend of my favorite dishes. The Chả Gio is the Vietnamese version of egg rolls, and might I say, I think the Vietnamese have got it figured out! It really was more of an egg log, it reminded me, as far as presentation goes, of some sort of "loaf". It was one long roll cut Juliann style in about 8-10 pieces. It was filled with the usuals but it was, Pork for the meat and carrots and cabbage and others. The breading seemed thicker than just usual rice paper. What made the dish however, was the sauce. A wonderful blend of hot spice and fish sauce. WONDERMENT! I love it. It added a nice fishy/spicy and rich flavor. Really really good.

Jubb and I are both pros with chopsticks, [I like to tell myself I am, when I'm really not, hehe] so we dunked and ate this dish in about 1.7 minutes.

Out of focus Cha gio

SECOND!

Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho

Hot Pot (The grill version)

Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho

We ordered both dishes and planned on sharing. First the My Tho.


 This dish was wild, I really liked it in principle, meaning I like all the ingredients, but their was something off about the dish. I couldn't really figure it out and I still cant. I really cant tell you why I didnt like it. It seemed fairly normal for the type of dish, glass noodles, and yummy vegetables, still confused. It was pretty fishy tasting and had half inch pieces of intestine.

Intestine

My bowl

The intestine was actually pretty good. Ive had it before, but only ground up with other meat parts. GUESS WHAT! So have all of you! Hot Dogs and Sausages baby. This intestine was very minerally, that really isn't a word, but thats the best description for it. Chewy, like all innards are, opaque in color and very minerally. Almost like it had been soaked in natural sea water. I cant really rave about it though. Pretty bland. I also had meat balls. OH BOY! I really like meatball. EXCEPT, these aren't your typical meatball, they aren't ground beef then hand packed and cooked, they were FINELY ground and then boiled, so the consistency was like almost like the top layer of Jello when it hardens too fast. It was very chewy and firm, not moist and soft like Italian Meatballs. They tasted okay, not much seasoning, but meat is meat. ha ha, oh, it  also had two large prawns, and quite a bit of my favorite!! Chashu Pork! 

Chashu Pork

by far the best of the meats in the dish. Overall, pretty bland. 

NEXT DISH PLEASE!

beef.....yummm.

This next dish was great fun!

On the Grill!

Veggies

Ive had Chinese Hot Pot before, which is basically the same ingredients as you see here, but added to a pot of boiling water that is on the table. This version has a small butane grill table side. Im such a sucker for interactive dinners. HAHA, I know some people think they are cheesy and just a gimmick, but I think they are  fun! So this is what they brought, Thin slices of garlic marinated beef, carrots, lettuce, shoots and some bitter leaf I'm not familiar with, and CILANTRO!?! what? I didn't know Vietnamese food used Cilantro, Jubby said its huge in Vietnam. Hmm? who would have guessed, I love it t so it was great! We threw the meat on the grill, along with some purple and white onions and a ,it seems like 1/8, stick of butter. mmmmmm. 

After the meat is about cooked,  you prepare your....wow really struggling to describe this bad boy. I'm sure there is an awesome word for it, but since I'm illiterate to most food terms, It will be called a rice Tortilla. HAHA Its thin piece of rice paper, that is pretty firm, So, they provide a bowl of hot water, you soak the rice tortilla in the water and it softens right up into a gelatinous wrap of sorts. You slap some meat on her, some veggies and wrap it up. Here is my first attempt.

First attempt

Second attempt

Wow, haha, it looked even worse in real life. HAHA, tasted great though, I just over packed it with veggies. I love em you know. I figured it out by the second one! It was really good. I really like this dish. The meat was tender because it was so thinly cut, the veggies were in good shape, no rust, the shoots still had a nice crunch. It was served with the same fish sauce and chili flake as the starter. I really like this sauce. Very very tasty. I am going to have to get some for home. The only complaint I had, was that by the time we got everything cooked and put together, the rolls got pretty cold. I'm sure that was just because I was slow and terrible at it, but as you will see, I HATE food that is the opposite of what it is supposed to be. If its a cold dish, I cannot handle it being warm, and vice versa.




Overall the Night was great, we made it the  Umphrey's McGee show, and had a great time. The good was overall very very good. I Highly recommend Cafe Trang. However, I don't just recommend the restaurants I visit. I recommend the EXPERIENCE! Get out of your Anglo comfort zone and try something new and exciting, just eat it! Its FOOD!