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Show Ethnic restaurants dose to campus O'Falafel, Tsunami strike writer as favorites Krista Smith Staff Writer Shake up your pasta and pizza hangovers with theses college budget friendly Sugar House restaurants. O'FALAFEL, ETC. OPEN MONDAY-SATURDA- Y P.M. 10:30 A.M.-9:3- 0 2100 SOUTH 790 EAST When I walked into OFalafel I felt immediately like I had stepped into a neighborhood diner in Egypt. Giant murals on the walls set the mood. I ordered at the counter and within 10 minutes my food was brought to the table. The menu is based on foods from all over the Mediterranean with an emphasis on Moroccan and Greek cuisine. Mustafa Khader, the executive chef and coowner said, I designed the menu to take from many places. My friends and I placed our orders for Caesar salad, falafel, chicken and kifteh. For the uninitiated, falafel is deep fried blend of beans garlic, onion and cilantro. The appetizer is served with pita bread and a cool yogurt dipping sauce. Although the bright green color inside the falafel is surprising, it was delicious. OFalafel has been open for two months, but it has been in progress for more than two years. It took two and half years of convincing, said Khader of his coowner and nephews efforts to open the restaurant. Khader has been in the food business for more than 40 years and is a third generation restaurateur. When Khader retired, he brought his wife and daughter to our small, big city. I was feeling adventurous so I tried the kifteh. It turned out to be grilled spicy beef strips served with a tomato sauce. Although, it was good it wasnt great so Ill order schwarma next time. The rice was cooked perfectly, but was in need of salt. OFalafel offers fresh ingredients and fair prices All of the vegetables were fresh, and the Caesar salad looked amazing. The sauces were all delicious. My favorite is the cucumber sauce served with grilled chicken. Its refreshing and cool, pairing perfectly with the spice of the rest of the dish. But the Middle Eastern hospitality goes beyond the food. We are in Sugar House, said Khader. Our customers are our neighbors. Khader proves his belief with an insistence that OFalafel serve the freshest ingredients possible. Everything on the menu is made fresh every single day including stuffed grape leaves and yogurt cucumber mint salsa. Plus, its amazingly cheap. It was $5.49 for a falafel appetizer that was big enough to serve as a meal. The entrees were just under $7 and the salad was $6. Good food, a different experience, great people and cheap... the recipe for my kind of restaurant. I have fully converted to the ways of falafel. Continued on Page 11 Local resorts prepare for upcoming season A look at what's new in the mountains Brad Watkins Staff Writer As the transition from fall to winter begins, snow enthusiasts may be asking what is new at local ski resorts. Many summers go by with no new terrain or lifts put in. This summer was not one of them. With multiple mountains putting up new lifts, this should be a very interesting ski season. Lets hope that these new lifts will help keep the congestion that keeps us in our beds on Sunday mornings to a minimum. Park City Mountain Resort (PCRM) has had a very busy offseason. The resort spent $10.5 million on improvements for the mountain, including a new highspeed quad chair lift. The Crescent Lift will take skiers and snowboarders from the base of the resort all the way up to Crescent Ridge, said Paula Fabel, communications manager for PCMR. The new chair lift will significantly increase accessibility out of the base area of the resort. This will hopefully help keep the lift lines at the bottom of the resort a little less hectic on weekends, she said. The Crescent Lift will give access to some of the more difficult runs on the bottom of the mountain. With seven VOLUME XLIi: ISSUE 5 black diamonds and handful of blues on the front side potentially increased its snowmaking by 30 percent. of the mountain this will be a fun lift for the upcoming The Caynons park was recently named one of the top season. PCMR also did a lot of glading, so tree skiers ranked terrain parks in Freeskier Magazine, as well as Transworld Snowboarder. will have more terrain to explore. Snowbird has no new on mountain updates but PCMR is taking control of the Lodge. Fabel said for the past 20 years, Vince Donile they are updating the Tram Club. Owner Bill Carter has been running the Lodge. Following Doniles rewanted to update the previous Disco feel to a more tirement after last season, PCMR has taken control of modem, apres ski setting, said Jared Ishkanian, public the Lodge. Over the summer they renovated it to allow relations director of Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. for more customers to enjoy some freshly cooked food Ishkanian also said that the Tram Club would have 12 flat screen televisions and three projection screens playin the historic Lodge. The Canyons was another resort that made big ing all of the major sports packages. Over in the Cliff moves over the summer. The Canyons put in the new Lodge, the Aerie Sushi Bar was also renovated. The Timberline Lift. This lift takes skiers from the Dream Aerie Sushi Bar is no longer a private club so the whole Catcher area to the Tombstone area. This will make it family can enjoy the extensive offerings, including a little easier to get back to the car after a long day of a cafe menu with items like burgers and The also woods. fries. in the Ishkanian also turns said that the Aerie Sushi Bar is Canyons powder up put up the new Frostwood Pulse Gondola that accesses the now open year round so you can enjoy it any time. Frostwood area properties. It will drop guests off at Alta has no new features for the season. Our sumthe base of the Flight of the Canyons Gondola. This mer work was mainly maintenance this year, said Altas Connie Marshall. However, the resort is celebrating its summer was also spent glading the Peak 5 and Tomballow The more tree skiing, stone areas to Canyons 70 anniversary this year, ff has increased its grooming staff by 25 percent. It also Mid-Mount- ain kid-frien- dly 10 OCTOBER i.,- .- - 21,20081 |