SLC FLAKE: December 2015

Green Ant :: Ken Sander's Rare Books :: Copper Common :: Johnny's on Second :: Bar X :: Copper Onion

Last Saturday Devon and I took a rare date night and crammed 6 stops into one evening - it was not a bad call.

The Broadway District: How to live it up when you've spent the last year and a half rationing date nights like WWII-era sugar.

Learn the difference between a credenza, buffet, and a sideboard and set your buns on some mighty fine midcentury delights at the Green Ant before smelling all that old book goodness around the corner at Ken Sander's Rare Books.

If your heart and your belly long for Plum Alley's much beloved steam buns, give Copper Common a visit and split an order with someone you love,,. Or order two and a plate of chicken croquettes just for yourself and be the envy of every patron in the vicinity.

While you're there, you can't not order a Fernetflix and Chill. Based on name alone it's a must order. A healthy dollop of cacao whipped cream topping an ice-filled glass of buttered coffee syrup, egg, Carpano Antica Vermouth, and of course, its namesake, Fernet Branca - It's perfect for stealing sips of as you sip something a bit more robust like The Lorax - CC's wintry riff on a Manhattan with Zirbenz Pine Liquor and Black Walnut Bitters. [Insert Christmas Tree emoji.]

After a few rounds [all losses] of pool at Johnny's, order a drink at Bar X just as bitter as you feel - An Old Pal is like a slightly more tame wintertime Negroni, perfect for healing that post-loss rage.

And to top off your date of all dates, get lucky and score a table at Ryan Lowder and co.'s Copper Onion where you can enjoy eaves dropping on a slew of interesting-to-uncomfortable dates and share your bone marrow with the gentlemen to your right. Add a few shishito peppers and house pickles to the mix and you've got an unstoppable force of salty, smokey, briny, richness. Let's not talk about the pasta. It's Just. Too. Good.

Here's to superfluously jam-packed dates; a 45 minute coffee date can be just as fun, but may we all try to squeeze six downtown destinations into one evening at least once a year.[Or once a week if you're feeling young, wild, and carefree like that.]