Longevity is a funny thing in the restaurant world. We celebrate businesses that mercifully pass the twelve-month mark. A decade in the biz is practically worthy of a ticker-tape parade. Two decades, though? Coupled with consistent high quality? There are scant names in town that can lay claim to the combination. One, however, is Bambara, the signature restaurant in SLC’s Hotel Monaco.
An unquestionable factor behind the continued success is Kimpton’s unrelenting commitment to talented hires. It’s something that deserves praise, after all, most hotels aren’t ordinarily known for looking beyond their captive audience, and scaled operations. Through the years, many talented toques have starred here: Dave Jones, Patrick LeBeau, Jerry Pacheco, and Nathan Powers – just a few I recall. Chef Jv Hernandez is the latest to sign on, and dare I say, the best for some time.
Hernandez’s resume includes tutelage under both Michelin and James Beard credited kitchens, and it shows; his dishes are precise and purposeful. The menu is modest in size, featuring just six entrees as I write. The restraint is as much a panacea for the indecisive as it is a welcome relief for jaded foodies. Less is more and all that.
The backbone of Hernandez’s current menu (see below) is driven by French technique and smart sourcing; local cheese, Utah-sourced proteins, and produce all make appearances. A great example is the Whistling Springs Trout (pictured top). You might recall I previously spoke breathlessly about the Brigham City boutique fishery; they’re tapped again here for a conversation-stopping composition.
The flawlessly cooked fish (all crisped skin and coral-pink flesh) is sauced with a luxurious beurre monté, a fancy French technique that enables the emulsification of an improbable amount of butter. Pops of roe pierce the richness with salty brine. Foraged mushrooms and a drizzle of herb oil complete the graceful picture. Four core ingredients handled with deft craftsmanship.
A Bison Manhattan Steak showcases more Gallic flair. Two slices of bison (effectively a strip masquerading as a filet via attentive knifework) are accompanied by a potato pave (pronounced pah-vay). It’s an exacting dish, requiring time and care. Gifted a Thomas Keller book, it’s the type of dish you commit to mastering over a lazy weekend, only to end up in a sobbing fetal state, covered in hubris and starch.
The dish is a modernist take on scalloped potatoes; mandoline-sliced layer upon layer of potatoes are soaked in cream, baked, pressed, cut, and fried into geometrically pleasing logs. The result is texturally bewitching. A dash of rich truffled bordelaise sauce accompanies, as do braised onions. Essentially beef and taters, the final rendering is elegantly intelligent.
Beyond the European anchors, Hernandez isn’t afraid to flip the globe with his thumb. An appetizer of charred octopus is brought to vivid life with mojo rojo and chili crisp. Harissa, yuzu-sabayon, pesto, just a few stamps on the menu’s passport. As ever, service is expert and well drilled, some of the best in town; there are names and faces here I’ve known for twenty years. That speaks volumes.
And yes, those intransigent blue cheese potato chips are still here, as they have been for twenty years. As much as we’ve all poked fun at their persistence (they were once removed, only to be restored weeks later after howls of dissent), at this point, their continuity offers a certain reassurance. As much as things change, they stay the same. And after all these years, Bambara remains an excellent dining destination.
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Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV. Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.
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