At an Indochine lunch with my friend John Becker, he told me a charming story about the restaurant. He lives in the neighborhood and had eaten there a couple of times. One early Sunday evening, he phoned the restaurant to place a takeout order for his family. “I’m so sorry, but we are not open” was the response when John called to place his order. It turns out that the folks at Indochine had been a bit premature when they initially had menus printed, indicating that they were open on Sundays (they are now). Well, Indochine’s owner/chef Tuan was in the kitchen doing some prep work so he asked, “What did you want to eat?” To which John replied, “No, no. We’ll just come in when you’re open.” But Tuan insisted that John’s family not go hungry, so he prepared an entire meal for them, even though the restaurant was closed. How many restaurateurs do you know who’d do that?
• Vienna Bistro (132 S. Main) is hosting special Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve dinners, priced at $50 and $65 per person, respectively. Among the tempting dishes chef Frody Volgger will be preparing are roasted goose, house-smoked Berkshire ham, beef Wellington with black truffle demi-glace, and Christmas stollen. Phone 322-0334 for reservations.
• Congratulations to owner/chef Ian Brandt and his wife Kelsey of the longtime Salt Lake City favorite Sage Café and the newer Vertical Diner. The latter was voted Restaurant of the Month at VegCooking.com, a Website devoted to vegetarian food. VegCooking lauded it for its veggie versions of comfort foods like “chicken” fried steak, “meatball” subs, and Pennsylvania Dutch-style shoo-fly cake. The Vertical Diner is 100 percent vegan and serves only fair-trade organic teas, chocolates and coffee in addition to several organic beers and wines. Located at 2260 S. West Temple, its phone is 484-VERT. Visit online at VerticalDiner.com
• Quote of the week: How to make a scrambled brain? Add television to a child. —Indochine fortune cookie
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