Jim's Family Cooking

Jim's is a place that the lunch crew likes to go to every once in a while.  We like it not only because of its nice interior, but also because of how close it is to work.  The interior is rather homely and sports an outdoorsy decor.  The center of the room features a fireplace and wood posts line up every so often perhaps more for looks than to actually hold up the ceiling.  This is the kind of restaurant one would expect to find in a small town and offers a nice escape from the everyday big city feel.

Usually the lunch crew ends up getting something different every time, and this time I decided to go with Jim's Special which consists of two choices of meat, potatoes covered with American and Cheddar cheese, three eggs, and a choice of pancakes, toast, or for $0.89 extra biscuits and gravy. Because I went later than usual (about 2:30pm) the meal came out very quickly and went down about as quick.  The over easy eggs were cooked as I like them and the meat was excellent.  Some of the potatoes, though, were a little undercooked but the cheese was nicely melted on top of them.  I liked the cut style; you wouldn't want the eggs and ham on top of hash browns.  As it is, though, the cut is very nice and offers a great balance to the rest of the items.

The biscuit, though, I have mixed feelings about.  The gravy was excellent; I thought it was some of the best I've had on a biscuit.  The biscuit itself, though, was rather heavy and dense not light and flaky like I was expecting.  I wasn't too disappointed with that, though, because I thought it went well with the gravy.  However, next time I won't pay the extra amount for it.

All in all I've enjoyed every meal I've every had from Jim's.  I highly recommend it -- especially if you want a small town meal.

Tried and Proven Classic

The lunch crew decided to hit a favorite of ours -- the Chinese Gourmet.  From the outside this is definitely a Chinese restaurant; from the inside it offers so much more.  The Mongolian grill always grabs our attention from the get go.  This is the only Mongolian Grill I'm aware of in Utah County and it definitely deserves attention.  As with most any Mongolian Grill, you need to be cognizant of what others around you are ordering because it will more than likely end up with yours as well.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen carrot strips in mine and other items I intentionally did not add but somehow came into fruition after the grill.  But I definitely wouldn't eat it if I didn't think it was worth it.  And it is worth it.  Not only do you get to choose which items you want on your plate (such as pineapple, water chestnuts, carrots, noddles, chicken, beef, or pork) but you can also choose your sauces (such as BBQ, garlic, sesame, and a few others).  It truly is good, but hold off on your second plate -- there's several other good things to choose from as well.

On the right are a few of the items (a few of my favorite items) that I also get every time I come.  But this is only a few things of what they have.  They also have fried rice, a salad bar, chocolate and vanilla moose, cut up fruits, pot stickers, soups, and many other food items.  The only thing they do not offer that some other Chinese buffets offer is sushi (which isn't Chinese, but with sushi who's that picky?).  However, even without the sushi this is probably the biggest Chinese buffet in Utah County as well.  There are some buffets around town that offer only a very limited number of items; this has a lot.

Did I also mention that all of this only costs $8 at lunch and includes a drink with refills?  Great value!  If you don't want a soft drink, no sweat!  It also includes hot chocolate (with unlimited refills) as well.  The waitresses always keep the drink topped off and I've so far never had to ask for another refill.

True there's already a lot of good options on the table, but don't fill up quite yet.  They also offer a dessert bar with several different choices.  I usually like their chocolate chip cookies; however, the last time it wasn't soft and chewy like I've had in the past.  They also offer small cake slices of chocolate cake and carrot cake as well as sugar cookies.  And, of course, after you've officially stuffed yourself with the last bite of dessert, they hand you a fortune cookie on your way out the door.  This is definitely a good find and worth coming back.

Good Food Great Price

The lunch crew decided to try Koi Japanese Cuisine as we said farewell to a fellow coworker who will be leaving us for Australia.  This location is a very busy part of town and there were a fairly good number of people there for lunch.  The interior has a very stylish Japanese look and allows a good deal of privacy in a booth or tables closer on the floor.

In looking over their menu (available here), I was glad to see that they had a significant lunch menu.  It took me a while to decide which item I was going to pick, but finally decided to go with the Tonkastu Bento Box lunch which came with a breaded pork loin, California Roll, two pot stickers, rice, orange slice, and miso soup.  Granted there were 10-15 of us there so I wasn't expecting fast service, but I was still rather disappointed with the length of time it took to even place an order much less bring out our food.  However, the food looked and tasted very good.

The Bento Box starting in the upper left: Breaded pork loin,
California roll, rice, pot stickers, orange peel, and in the
middle a dipping sauce.

I really appreciated the variety that came with this bento box and thought that it was the best value out of all their lunch items.  The pork loin could have been more tender, but the rest was excellent.  The pot stickers were really good and well cooked.  Too often I find them undercooked which may be to some people's preference, but I prefer mine cooked for a little longer and these came out perfectly.  The four slices of the California Roll were your average roll and the miso soup was excellent.  For me the thing that makes or breaks the miso is the tofu.  This tofu wasn't strong but it provided the broth with a good amount of flavor and really went well with the meal.

Next time I come, though, I will have to try one of their specialty rolls.  I was hoping for an all-you-can-eat menu, but this place doesn't offer one which makes it difficult to order the specialty rolls.  However,  I would like to see if these rolls compare in taste and excellence to some of the other ones I've had elsewhere.  All in all, I came away from this place very satisfied.

Not the Greatest but Very Good

I wonder if they came up with the name "coop" before or after they chose their location.

It is a small place, but they put the small space to good use.  One large screen TV faces you immediately upon entering and two smaller ones are in the corners behind you.  The tables are arranged to fit several in the small seating area; anymore and it would start feeling very cramped.  As it is, though, I didn't feel at all claustrophobic.

When going to order, they have a display of all their different sauces off to the side to assist in determining the proper one.  Today it was just me and one other individual, so we went with the Wednesday special which consisted of 20 wings, 2 drinks, and a large fry all for $15.  I gotta say -- that is a very good price for what you're getting.  It's not every day you get wings for less than a buck much less fries and two drinks.  Plus with the 20 wings you can choose four different sauces.  My friend chose two and I chose the Confucius and the Kansas City BBQ.

That is a good amount of fries and food for two people.  I'm a guy who likes to try new things but I'm also very partial to the tried and proven, hence I kept it safe with the Kansas City BBQ and tried the new Confucius.  First the Kansas City BBQ.

The first thing I noticed about the sauce is the thinness of it.  I prefer thick sauces especially with something like the Kansas City, but this one just wasn't thick enough for me.  One thing it does do is make the sauce noticeable but not overwhelming; however, I like the majority of my sauce on the chicken wing and not in the container.  I thought the wings in general could use a bit more time in the fryer.  The just weren't cooked enough for my preference.  Despite those two items (which applies to all of their wings by the way), the Kansas City BBQ lived up to the rest of its expectations.  It is a sweeter sauce, not at all spicy, and tastes great.

The next sauce I had was the Confucius.  From the moment I saw the seeds on top of the wing I knew it was going to be a good sauce and now it is one of my favorites.  This one has a good ginger taste to it which I thought was a pleasant surprise and really went well with the wing.  I normally wouldn't think of a ginger wing as being something worth remembering, but this definitely was.  Again, I would have liked it thicker, but I wouldn't want it too thick because the lightness of sauce is part of what makes the sauce.

All in all, would I come back here again -- yes.  Would I recommend it -- definitely.  Next time, though, I think I'll stick with the Confucius and try another one of their 17 difference sauces.

URL:
Their website.

Their downloadable menu (pdf version).

Good Carrot Cake, Average Food

My buddies at work decided it was time to give it a try. We're always ones to look for places with cheese steaks and this place offers one. Because my coworker ordered the cheese steak (his review is here), I decided to go with a half-and-half and ordered a Turkey Club and BBQ Chicken salad (you can locate their menu here). I really liked the crispness of the bacon. I like variety of tastes and textures and the crispy bacon was a nice addition to the sandwich. I also liked the guacamole. However, although this was a turkey sandwich I didn't taste as much turkey as I was expecting; for that reason alone I was disappointed with this sandwich. I don't expect to taste only turkey; I want it to blend. This turkey was almost unnoticeable.

The salad, on the other hand, offered a lot. The chicken was nice and tender; I would order the salad again just for the chicken. But that's not all the salad offers -- the juxtaposition of the sweet barbecue sauce with the bite from the honey mustard really adds to an otherwise ordinary salad. Combine it with a tender chicken and you have a tasty salad. The next time I order a half and half I will remember this salad.

And, of course, you can't forget the carrot cake. This three layer cake really gives a great value for the buck. I always like a good carrot cake and this is a good cake. I definitely have a sweet tooth and the cream cheese frosting really satisfied that craving for today. I had to eat this bad boy quickly in order to keep the other people at my table from devouring it. Definitely worth the cash.

Next time I will get the Philly steak. For what they offers, Magleby's is definitely competitively priced and a good place to eat.

Small Burgers Big Taste

This restaurant took me a long time to find, mostly because the map is wrong. The map shows Sliders Gourmet right off the freeway near Thanksgiving Point. Not true. There's a JCW's, Dell Taco, and Iceberg in that area but no Sliders Gourmet. I followed Highway 92 for several miles past Cabellas and next to the Smiths way up there and finally found it. It's about time.

I was a little disappointed at the size. I know they're sliders and they're supposed to be small, but these were smaller than the pictures depicted. That could just be because they were compacted, but still. Small. Tiny. For the fries I was expecting small fries but these were pretty big and a lot of them as well. The fries are definitely worth the cost.

About the sliders. I ordered the two slider combo and ordered two different kinds of sliders. Slider #1 had grilled onions, Havarti cheese, a tomato slice, slider sauce, two patties, and bun. The second one had a pickle, no cheese (cheese costs $0.25 extra), and only a small amount of slider sauce. I thought the meat had a great taste, I really liked the slider sauce, and the spongy bun really added to the texture of the slider. Those were the three things I liked the most about the burger. The cheese, though, was forgettable; I'm not going to get it next time. I really didn't notice it on the burger and it costs twenty-five cents for just a little square. Not worth it.

I really liked their dining area as well. They have three different TVs to watch while eating and their soda machine offers a good selection (which is important; not everyone does). Next time I'm in the area I'll definitely need to remember this place.

Good Food on the Go

Driving along State Street in American Fork, I've driven past this place so many times it's not funny (it's really hard to miss because it's on a busy corner and sits just a short distance from the intersection) and each time I kept thinking to myself, "Hmm, I wonder what they're all about. Maybe I should stop by sometime and check it out." That sometime finally came and now I'm stopping by more often. The last time I was there I got the Range Burger; something I usually get. The burger is a good burger and something I will probably get again when I go there. To me, tough, I really like the fries; their fries are really good along with their fry sauce. Fry sauce is hit and miss for me and this is definitely a hit. I like how the mayo isn't overwhelming and is a perfect compliment for the fries.
I'm the type of person who likes to drive around town. Sometimes I'll go up AF Canyon, sometimes I'll go out to Eagle Mountain and sometimes even around Utah Lake. As part of my driving tradition, I like to grab some food from there on my way back home. There are only a few outside tables, so typically whenever someone goes there the order is to go. The inside waiting/ordering area is very small so people typically wait in their vehicles. But so far when I've been there I haven't had to wait longer than I typically do elsewhere.