A Vegas Style Night in Salt Lake

I have never been to The Metropolitan in all of my nine years living in Salt Lake area until tonight. This restaurant and bar is a modern, chic and expensive looking place positioned on the well trafficked 3rd west next to Squatters. The Metropolitan has advertisements in the City Weekly wherein it propogates the various awards received since its inception 15 years ago. This particular locale always seems to be frequented by successful, attractive people and it wasn’t a place that necessarily had pull for me as an angsty, anarchist vegan in her early 20s. But like the idealist protagonist in the movie SLC Punk, I changed drastically from my early 20s to my late 20s and now have a palette for this type of dining experience.

I reached out to my friend, Tosha, who had just posted on Facebook that she was newly single and asked if we could meet up and talk. She responded saying that she wanted to go to Vegas. Being that it was already mid-day Saturday, I decided that Vegas was off the table for this weekend but we could do SLC Vegas style. The Metropolitan was the best match in terms of look and menu offering. They serve nothing but American cuisine. A smart move on their part – it makes them stand out amongst a panoply of ethnic restaurants in the SLC valley, particularly sushi restaurants that I swear are taking over every corner. So Tosha and I got dressed up in our fancy pants suit attire because girls night out deserves nothing less.

We drove up together and took the valet parking option (I’ve learned to carry cash on me after traveling to many major cities over the past year). We were going to be seated in the back of the restaurant and I asked if we could be seated in a more centered area. After the hostess consulted with the gracious enough Maitre d', we were led the front table looking out at the street – much better! Court, our waiter, was composed and engaging. We discovered that The Metropolitan was offering a great fall menu that ranged from pumpkin soup to roasted hen, which Tosha ordered. I requested the Semolina pasta and it was just a delight – al dente fresh American pasta and tome de chevre, dates, toasted almonds, orange zest, sage. Brilliant combination.

Court recommended two wines to compliment our meal and Tosha chose the Helfrich Guwerztraminer 2005 from Alsace. It was described as a normally sweet wine that is more dry than most of this variety. Tosha noted its crisp pear taste and other reviews mention notes of lychee, a berry which originates from China that I have never tried. I do believe Court was right, that this wine was a great pairing for our seasonal meal. We drank a bottle between us and discussed not only the challenges of a relationship but we expanded to subjects like travel, human conflicts and literature. A decent wine can really make for enriching conversations. We also talked back and forth with our waiter about some of our favorite spots in San Francisco since he used to live there and Tosha and I spent an adventurous and memorable weekend there recently. For the finale, we both ordered ice cream made in house in three flavors: chocolate, espresso and cream. The ice cream was a bit dry but it was edible nonetheless. I have decided that I will be a returning patron as The Metropolitan has the whole package and they also have a fall tasting menu paired with an add-on for wine tasting that I want to try. Honestly, the food was a great price and so was the wine. In fact, it was shockingly affordable. Reservations are needed and you can book using Open Table on their website.




The night wasn’t over as that is typical for a Vegas style outing. We went over to the SkyBar which does not have the best reputation amongst my crowd since there is a fear of seeing someone from work picking someone up at random (it has happened before). While the Skybar touts itself as being the only Vegas style club for no other reason I can think of than in your face cleavage, scary drugged out blonde in a corset look and the VIP bottle tables, the hipper-than-thou audience and the vibe is not equal to that of the only true city of neon. Perhaps if the owners made the bar look less like inside of the Stratosphere, that would be a step towards transplanting the Vegas ambience to Salt Lake.

At the bar I asked “What is your cocktail recommendation for someone who has just broke off a relationship not 24 hours ago?” and Tosha ordered for me “What’s a drink for someone who is twitter-painted”? Tosha's order turned out to be a large mixed drink with a melon flavor and slightly sour aftertaste which perfectly emulates how one feels after a break up. I received a sex on the beach which is fitting for someone in the beginning stages of a fairy-tale romance. Tosha followed her drink with a tasty, girly shot of Hypnotic, another first for her (each place and drink was a first for her tonight… she tends to have firsts with me). After the waitress went to put our drinks on the tab and forgot to ask our name, we decided it was time to close out and perhaps never visit this side of Vegas in SLC again. But not before dancing practically alone on the dance floor to Michael Jackson's "Rock with You" which is a moment that I think will stick with me for a while. Tosha and I will be doing Vegas early next year and be rest assured that the edited commentary will make its way on to this blog.

Tonight just affirmed my knowledge that the places you visit are truly memorable based on the people you bring along on the journey.