HOTEL UTAH BORSCHT RECIPE

Borscht served at Hotel Utah 100th Year Anniversary Gala.

 In June, I wrote about the Hotel Utah's 100th anniversary. During my 10 years as the Deseret News food editor, several people asked for the recipe for the old Hotel Utah's borscht. But I was never successful in getting one.

When the soup was served at the anniversary dinner, I thought I might have some luck getting the recipe this time.

Neil Wilkinson and Don Sanchez of Temple Square Hospitality emailed the recipe to me. Chef Sanchez noted that for the gala, he made some changes to the legendary Chef Girard's original recipe.

"We used chicken stock in stead of the beef stock and we pureed the beets instead of just using the juice from the cooking process. Also instead of adding the sour cream we used it as part of the garnish because I didn't like the color when we added the sour cream."

So, here's the original recipe, and you can feel free to switch it up as Sanchez did.

CHEF GIRARD'S HOTEL UTAH BORSCHT

4 cups beet juice

31/2 cups chicken or beef broth plus 1/2 cup
Juice of 1 lemon
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup sour cream
1 or 2 egg yolks
Sour cream
Chopped parsley
Hard-cooked eggs, diced
Lemon wedges
Bring beet juice and 31/2 cups broth to boil. Stir in the lemon juice, sugar and salt. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup broth and cornstarch until smooth. Stir into soup. Cook and stir until thickened.
Combine sour cream and egg yolks. Gradually stir 1 cup of the hot beet juice mixture into egg mixture. Then, stirring constantly, slowly add warmed eggs back to hot liquid. Heat without boiling. Strain.
Serve hot or cold.
Garnish with sour cream, parsley and eggs. Serve with lemon wedges.
Makes 8 servings.

HOTEL UTAH LIVES ON AT THE NEW YORKER

Those who wish to remember the glory old days at the Hotel Utah can enjoy pieces of its past at another Salt Lake City landmark  — The New Yorker. 

 Many people might not know that the beautiful banquettes (upholstered seating) in The New Yorker were originally from the Hotel Utah Sky Room. 

And the stained glass ceiling panels over the New Yorker's cafe area came from the Hotel Utah's Grill Room. They have been part of The New Yorker since it opened in 1978.

I had heard about this a few years ago from Mary Anne Farrier, spokesperson for Gastronomy, Inc. at the time. (Gastronomy, Inc. owns The New Yorker and the Market Street and Oyster Bar restaurants.) I tucked it away in the "Interesting Trivia" part of my brain until the Hotel Utah's 100th anniversary celebration came up, and a chat with Mary Anne reminded me about it.  In fact, Mary Anne had a photo of the banquettes at the Hotel Utah, circa 1961.

When the New Yorker purchased the banquettes from the Sky Room, they were candy- apple red leather.  Constructed in the 1940s, they are solid walnut with a metal railing. During a Hotel Utah remodel, Izzy Wagner, who was then on the Hotel Utah Board of Directors, made the banquettes available to the New Yorker, according to John Williams, president of Gastronomy, Inc.

The banquettes (since re-upholstered so they are no longer candy-apple red!) are a major focal point of the dining room at the New Yorker.

The stained glass ceiling panels came from the Hotel Utah's Grill Room, located on the lower level of the Hotel Utah, and were part of the original hotel construction in 1911, according to Williams.  The design of the Grill Room was embellished with stained glass panels placed between the columns in the room.  During a subsequent renovation, the panels were covered over by sheet rock.  Many years later during a remodeling project, the panels were discovered by the architect (Bob Fowler) who removed them. The panels were then purchased by the New Yorker and used in the ceiling over the Cafe section. 

In honor of Hotel Utah's anniversary, The New Yorker is displaying a poster that tells their patrons about the history of the banquettes and stained glass ceiling. The New Yorker boasts some history of its own, since it is located in the 1906 New York Hotel and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

  

HOTEL UTAH 100TH ANNIVERSARY GALA

I was one of the lucky people to be invited to the Hotel Utah/Joseph Smith Memorial Building's 100th Anniversary Gala last night.  It was a modern-day party with the elegance and charm of a bygone era. Many people came in "period" costumes — top hats and jackets, and enough frilly bonnets to rival British royalty.  


And some of Utah's own "royalty" were there — LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson, Governor Gary Herbert, Mayor Ralph Becker, Deseret Book president Sheri Dew, and Gail Miller of the Larry H. Miller Group, to name a few.

Deseret Book President Sheri Dew chats with former Deseret News publisher Jim Wall and his wife,  Connie Wall.

President Monson at dinner, with Gov. Herbert to his left.

"Even the chairs are wearing dresses!" my husband, Kim, commented as we made our way to our table.

You could stroll through the anniversary memorabilia on display, which will be there until Oct. 1. There's a shiny 1912 Cadillac, and a bright red Model T. 

One of the hostesses poses with the Model T Ford. 

The chef display with old menus reminded us of an era when the Hotel Utah offered the finest dining in Salt Lake City.

The culinary staff pulled out all the stops with a meal that looked back on some of the hotel's past signature dishes. The crusty "Hotel Utah roll" was served, and is going back on the menu in the building's current restaurants. 

I'm new to the idea of taking photos of menu items when I'm eating out — a lot of the time they don't end up looking very appetizing, and it seems a little pretentious. But I thought this was a special occasion, and maybe readers might be interested. So here goes:

When I was food editor at the Deseret News, several readers mentioned fond memories of legendary Chef Girard's chilled borscht. So I guess I wasn't surprised that this was a starter course.  

It was followed by smoked duck salad, with fresh white asparagus and creamy raspberry vinaigrette.

Here's the lime sorbet "palate cleanser." (and FYI,  that the drink you see in the background was Martinelli's sparkling cider. Honest!) 

The entree was a juicy beef tenderloin with a lobster tail perched on basil mashed potatoes.  

Dessert was strawberry shortcake with a curvy white chocolate garnish.

At each place setting was a commemorative coin. Mark Willes, president of Deseret Management Corporation, said the coin reflects back on the days when the Hotel Utah "laundered money." The coins were washed before going into the cash registers, so that they would be bright and shiny (and not soil the white gloves of the ladies) when given out to their guests. Willes said the Hotel Utah was the only hotel that did this. But actually, the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco has been washing coins for its guests since 1938. (How do I know this bit of trivia? Years ago, a guy I dated stayed at the St. Francis, and brought me back some shiny coins as a souvenir, along with the Village People's album with the song, "San Francisco" on it. But, I digress.) 

Gov. Herbert reminded us that every president from William "Big Bill" Howard Taft to Ronald Reagan had stayed at the Hotel Utah, and that the National Governors Convention had taken place there in 1947.  Mayor Becker said his parents stayed there when they visited his family in Salt Lake City, and they all noticed that Becker's young son liked jumping and flipping on the Hotel Utah bed a lot. This was his start to becoming a gymnast. Becker offered a non-alcoholic toast to the city's past and future.

President Monson recalled two fond memories of the Hotel Utah: first, taking his then-girlfriend, Frances, out to dinner after he enlisted with the U.S. Navy. (She eventually became his wife.)  And, as a bishop, he took an elderly couple in his ward out to dinner there. They had been to a restaurant so rarely that they didn't know how to order their meal. 

The building's grand history as a hotel came to an end in the late 1980s. By that time, said Monson, the hotel was having a difficult time competing with some of the first-rate chains that had moved in. Also, the hotel needed renovation work. 

He added that when the hotel closed, the silverware, dishes , tables and chairs were donated to the Salvation Army "to help serve the homeless and hungry in the community."

The renovated building reopened as the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in 1993. Some of the floors are offices for staff with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but people still enjoy the restaurants, the parties, receptions, business luncheons, and so on that take place there.  "This glittering white palace is as vibrant and essential as it ever was," President Monson said.

The menu/program included a few stories that people had written in about their memories of Hotel Utah.  So here's mine: As a teen-ager, I had the privilege of staying at the Hotel Utah during the annual Future Homemakers of America convention. I remember feeling very cosmopolitan the first time I walked into the lobby and saw the gigantic crystal chandelier. We felt so grown-up!  
Some of us went to an afternoon matinee of "Love Story," the blockbuster movie of the day, and tried to see who could out-do each other with sobbing and sniffles. "Love means you never have to say your sorry," sounded so profound at the time, now I think it's one of the dumbest pieces of advice I've ever heard! 

    

Hotel Utah History: "Recipes From The Roof" Cookbook

While I was the food editor at the Deseret News, I would sometimes get calls and letters wanting recipes from the legendary Hotel Utah (now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building). So when I heard that Deseret Book was publishing “Recipes From The Roof” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Hotel Utah/JSMB, I was excited to think that some of those old recipes would be finally in print. 

But while the new book has a lot of old stories, the recipes are all modern-day dishes from the restaurants that now occupy the building: The Garden, The Roof, the JSMB Bakery and the JSMB Catering Services. 

At a press conference Monday to showcase the book, I asked Deseret Book editor Jana Erickson about it. She said that cooking techniques and tastes have changed so much from the Hotel Utah’s early years that people probably wouldn’t want to eat those old dishes.  I understand the point — today we use a lot more fresh produce, more ethnic seasonings, and this new book has such a wide variety of flavorful recipes. But I still wish that a few of the old recipes had been tracked down and included, just for “old times’ sake.” 

Temple Square Hospitality chefs who contributed to the book demonstrated some of the recipes at yesterday’s press conference. Don Sanchez, Pedro Mauricio and Val Ayrapetov made Tomato & Kalamata Olive Bread Salad, Avocado Gazpacho and Lemon Meringue Pie Parfaits. 

Hotel Utah was built in 1911 as the premier hotel west of the Mississippi River.  When I did research for my own historic book, “Dining Through The Decades,” I found out that President William Howard Taft stayed at the Hotel Utah in October of 1911. The 300-pound Big Bill polished off the following breakfast: Cantaloupe, sliced peaches, broiled sirloin steak, bacon and eggs, potatoes mashed in cream, toast, rolls and coffee.  The cost of this chow-fest was $2.15. 

The top floor restaurant over the years was known as the Roof Gardens, the Starlite Gardens, the Sky Room; and today, it's the Garden Restaurant and the Roof Restaurant. As the Starlite Gardens, it offered dance music and a romantic atmosphere. I imagine there were plenty of marriage proposals that took place.

A few historic tidbits:

-in 1936 the cost for dinner and dancing in the Empire Room was $2.50 per person.

-Will Rogers was once denied entrance to the Empire Room as he lacked acoat and tie. He borrowed them from the front desk in order to be admitted.

-The Crossroads Grill, located on the lower level of the hotel featured a live trout pond that ran down the middle of the table.

After 76 years as a hotel, it closed in 1987 and some floors were renovated into office space for its owner, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Gordon B. Hinckley, in the church's First Presidency at that time, requested that it be renamed the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in remembrance of the church's first prophet, and that it be used as a place for gathaerings and celebrations. The restaurants as well as many of the ballrooms are still used today for those celebrating weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, company parties and so on. In fact, when my oldest son, Jess, went to his first prom, he took his date to The Roof for dinner beforehand. 

Here’s one of the recipes from the book:

Artichoke Spinach Cheese Dip
6 servings

6 ounces cream cheese
1½ cups chopped baby spinach
1 cup drained and chopped canned artichokes
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
5–6 slices pita bread, grilled

Heat the cream cheese in microwave for 1 minute or until hot and soft.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the bread) and mix well.

Cut the grilled pita bread into 8 triangles per slice.

Serve the dip hot with the sliced grilled pita bread.