a call to dinner

Slowly we are accumulating restaurant recommendations aside from the brewpubs and dive bars we are drawn to on our own.  It seems like we should know more places already but then I have to remind myself that we've only been here for three months, one of which I was entirely unemployed, so easing into the restaurant scene is fine.  My work neighbor Jody, a self-proclaimed foodie, has been great about giving me places to try; we've got a list of Thai, Indian and dim sum prospects, not to mention the Red Iguana that we STILL haven't been to.  Soon, I promise, soon.

But I feel like I need a couple of go-to restaurants - good, solid places where you always know you're going to get a good meal, dependable for when folks come to town to visit.  What I'm looking for is one place like the Front Room and one place like Street & Co., but in SLC.  The Front Room and Street & Co. were two of H's and my favorite restaurants in Portland.  The Front Room is a popular, noisy, long-wait-on-the-weekends, neighborhood kind of place, with great food at great prices, serving "New American comfort food" with entrees ranging from $11.00 homemade macaroni and cheese to $19.00 planked salmon (and great dirty martinis too!).  Street & Co. was our go-to place for special occasions - birthdays, anniversaries, etc. - where we always split an appetizer of the mussels, and then H got blackened swordfish ($26.95) and I got the scallops pernod ($same).  The atmosphere at both places is busy and casual/sophisticated, but these are spots where people go specifically to enjoy the food and don't mind the noise and the wait for a table.

So all you Utah folks, past and present, who read this blog: what are your suggestions?  I'm not looking for seafood here in the desert, but I definitely need new go-to restaurants.  What does greater SLC have to offer me here? Where do I go?