For me, there are two Little Americas: the one along I-80 in Wyoming near Green River, where I spent some of my growing-up years, and the one in downtown Salt Lake City, which to my childhood eyes was the pinnacle of the staying-away-from-home experience.
I especially love the restaurants at those two hotels, and in particular the coffee shop in downtown Salt Lake City. Even now, as a fairly grown-up person, I revert just a little to my childhood when I walk across soft, elaborately patterned carpets through those acres of lobby full of flowers and soft lights and deep, comfortable chairs, past the stores and down the hall to the coffee shop, which has the kind of classic food, carefully made, that was much more common a couple of generations ago.
I'm talking about the kind of classic menu that offers shrimp cocktail, club sandwiches, calf's liver, halibut, steak, even "roast baron of beef," that still has a section of blue plate specials that focuses on pies, cake and bread pudding for dessert. That's not to say there haven't been updates over the years: there's an enticing-sounding chop salad on the menu, and you can get quesadillas and other staples of contemporary dining out. The overall atmosphere, from the mellow silver flatware to the latticed booths and greenery, is as classic and soothing as the homemade tomato soup.
Speaking of which, that's how I started my meal when my husband and I had lunch at the coffee shop on a recent weekday. The soup itself is worth the visit, even for someone, like me, who doesn't usually like tomato soup. It's both creamy and tangy, with a sweet, buttery finish. My husband had a mostly iceberg salad with lots of cherry tomatoes and chunky bleu-cheese dressing, and we both had one of the shop's puffy, crisp-crusted rolls with butter and blackberry jam.
For lunch, he had one of his favorites, the chicken-fried steak. This particular version focused much more on the "steak" side of that equation, with thin, nicely seasoned breading that showed off the juicy beefiness of the meat and a big ladleful of savory brown gravy on top. With it he had exquisitely creamy mashed potatoes, so lovely they don't need any gravy themselves, and baked squash with baby asparagus, an inspired vegetable pairing that was wasted on him, since he likes neither asparagus nor squash I was happy to finish it for him.
Of course, that left less room for my own meal, but I managed nicely with one of my all-time favorites, the hot turkey sandwich. Little America's is just about the best around, with thick slices of white bread supporting thick, piled-up slices of moist, tender white-meat turkey. The gravy is thick and savory without being gummy, and alongside is a little cup of jellied cranberries and a big mound of mashed potatoes.
Our son ordered from the kids' menu, cunningly printed on the back of a paper penguin mask complete with eyeholes. He had the cheeseburger and fries, which looked so delicious when it arrived that we reconsidered our own choices. It was huge, too, a nicely seared and beefy patty on a floured bun with a mound of light golden thick-cut fries.
For dessert, we had the pumpkin pie, strongly spiced, dark and delicious; and the banana cream pie, just about the best of its kind anywhere with its flaky crust, rich filling and scads of fresh sliced bananas with cream on top. It's a simple classic done right, which might as well be this restaurant's motto.
Sandwiches $5.45-$11.75, soup and side salads $2.95-$9.65, main-dish salads $10.25-$13.25, blue-plate specials and luncheons (includes soup or salad, potatoes, vegetable, roll and butter) $10.85-$14.95, desserts $3.25-$4.95.
Little America Coffee Shop
Rating: ***
Where: 500 S. Main
Hours: Breakfast: Daily, 6-11 a.m.; Lunch: Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Dinner: Monday-Saturday, 4:30-11 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Payment: Major credit cards accepted; no checks
Phone: 596-5700
Wheelchair access: Easy
Web: www.littleamerica.com/slc
Stacey Kratz is a freelance writer who reviews restaurants for the Deseret News. E-mail: skratz@desnews.com