Eater New York restaurant critic Ryan Sutton is on the road this week, filing on a meal at tasting menu restaurant Forage in Salt Lake City, Utah. He'll be back in NYC next week with a starred review.
Just as Manifest Destiny once expanded our young nation across the fruited plain to the mighty Pacific, divine gastronomic providence (or perhaps the influence of the World's 50 Best List) has given more and more Americans access to restaurants serving 18 precious little courses paired with 36 pours of wine.
Never mind recent moves by Danny Meyer and the like to focus on short form gastronomy. The Long Ass Tasting Menu, a staple of Japanese kaiseki cuisine that's since been internationalized by El Bulli, The French Laundry, Noma, and obscure dinner clubs in the deepest basements of Brooklyn, is here to stay. I know this is true because the Long Ass Tasting has established itself in the heart of Utah. Welcome to Forage in Salt Lake City, which serves a set menu of 13 - 16 courses in a little under three hours.
One of the more affordable and prudent American tasting menus. >>
