City Weekly reader and long-time food informant Scott Jinks writes: I ate at the new Asian fusion restaurant, Rice (1158 S. State, 801-328-3888) for lunch and found it quite good. They have several lunch specials, including pho and Chinese food. I had the bento box special of shrimp and vegetable tempura. (They also had several other choices of bento boxes, including salmon for only $9. My tempura was $8.) It came with two pot stickers (quite good), four pieces of California roll (also quite good), lots of sliced cucumbers in vinegar and a large portion of rice. I thought the tempura was excellent: three pieces of shrimp and about a half-dozen lovely vegetables, all in a light batter and quite delicious. Also, the regular menu items looked great, and I’d like to return for dinner.

City Weekly Staffers:

Jesse Fruhwirth: Wild Grape New West Bistro’s (481 E. South Temple, 801-746-5565) yummy Champagne and gin concoction, the “San Francisco to Bombay” is fresh and delectable. It’s enhanced with rose water, muddled cardamom and lemon and is a great patio cocktail.

Jamie Gadette: Faced with an overabundance of zucchinis (largely thanks to my lovely co-worker Andrea, who grows King Kong-sized squash), I turned to my favorite foodie blog 101Cookbooks.com to make good use to the veggies. We could have made a month’s worth of zucchini bread, but instead whipped up a batch of spinach and zucchini soup. With minimal ingredients and prep time involved, it’s a quick and easy solution to your garden surplus. Also, it tastes equally good chilled. Here is a link to this excellent soup recipe: 101CookBooks.com/archives/spinach-and-zucchini-soup-recipe.html