Tuesday at 11:00 am was the opening of the last club in Utah required to get a club license: we paid the $1 membership fee from a pocket full of change—Utah's club membership requirements go the way of the dodo in one month—and checked it out for what turned out to be lunch.

Gracie's is a restaurant. Who knew?

This being SLC, of course, I have never received a press notice of any kind about Gracie’s opening, even though, judging by the menu, this place is far more than a bar. Salt Lake magazine's man-about-town, my cohort Dan Nailen the magazine’s bar expert, mentioned it to me and I was walking in Dan’s shoes, I thought, on this first visit.

But when I saw the menu—featuring lemon-steamed halibut or grilled trout for $23, a rib-eye for $25 and filet mignon for $28—I realized Gracie’s was on my beat.

The wine list, too, which is not quite finalized according to our server, looks like more than a bar. In fact, with its Adami prosecco and organic wines from Mendocino, the list has wine broker Francis Fecteau’s fingerprints all over it, and sure enough, the owner confirmed that Fecteau was his adviser. A wise move, in my opinion.

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Executive Chef Adam Kreisel Combines Centuries of Tradition with Finest Local Organic Ingredients to Showcase Italy’s Newest Culinary Region – “Lago di Sale” in Utah

TIPICA is a Caputo project that brings the perfect marriage of celebrated executive chef Adam Kreisel’s cooking and the award-winning ingredients from Caputo’s Market & Deli. At TIPICA, Utah’s first “nose to tail” restaurant, Kreisel intends to use every part of an animal, not just well-known cuts like tenderloin, to evoke the traditions of regional Italian cooking and highlight Utah’s sustainable ranches. Combined withKreisel’s passion forthe finest organic and sustainable local ingredients, the lovingly-crafted menu features an ever-changing line up of pasta and risotto to accompany seasonal salads, delectable desserts, wine and beer.

Hours: from 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday
PriceRange: $5 - $19
Located at: 314 West 300 South in Salt Lake City.

Reservations recommended and can be made by calling 801-328-0222.

Each day, the steel framework seems to rise higher out of the ground, as construction workers, dressed in orange vests and hard hats, scurry back and forth between churning cement mixers, clawing backhoes and the half-dozen cranes that make up the city's temporary skyline.

It is an otherwise unremarkable scene except for one thing: In a down economy, the $1.5 billion City Creek Center is the last of the large, mixed-use projects still going up around the valley.

"Construction ... is well under way, on schedule and increasingly visible above ground," said Dale Bills, spokesman for City Creek Reserve Inc., a development arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Richards Court, a pair of 10-story condominium buildings on South Temple, will be ready for tenants in the first quarter of 2010, Bills said. A new City Creek food court will be open this summer.

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