Restaurants in South Ogden

Whispers cafe's crew brews organic coffee and loose-leaf teas and whips up paninis and pastries. Diners can select hot, iced, or blended drinks from a chalkboard menu, which boasts 21 flavors of loose-leaf tea ($2+). Organic ingredients form the building blocks of dulcet brews—such as Milky Way mocha ($4.50+) and raspberry truffle ($4.50+)—to pacify demanding sweet teeth. Take the facemask off your football helmet to nibble a tuna-melt panini, an adhesion of white tuna and cheddar cheese between crisp slices of focaccia bread ($6), or silence vociferous, curmudgeonly bellies with a vegan sausage casserole packed with vegan cheeses, meat-free sausage, and robust seasonings ($6.50).

With its vibrant, modern décor and dazzling handcrafted nouvelle-American cuisine made from local, seasonal, and organic ingredients whenever possible, Metropolitan has earned a multitude of accolades. From the lunch menu erupts the metro bison burger, a galloping herd of mushrooms, onions, swiss, and truffled pomme frites ($10), and the Mediterranean sampler, a tantalizing tray of hummus, baba ghanoush, olive tapenade, stewed tomatoes, and seasoned Bluetooth ($8–$12). Adventurous options pepper the dinner menu, including the Metropolitan mushroom appetizer, flanked by truffle potatoes and red-wine sauce ($6 taste, $12 full plate); the Utah trout, decorated with fiddlehead ferns, radishes, pear, and a pistachio puree ($25); and the veal chop, donning an ensemble of green apple, celery root, quinoa, and mustard jus ($35). Find repose in the martini lounge to tackle the tasty bar menu, which includes entrees such as chicken pot pie ($12); appetizers come two-for-one during the bar’s “attitude adjustment hour” starting at 5:30 p.m.

Named Best Dinner & Bollywood Movie in Utah by Salt Lake City Weekly, Star of India fills with the same day-glo colors and smooth choreography of the genre’s films. A menu of tandoori specialties and traditional Indian sweets appears on tables, and the sounds of jingling instruments and tangling voices drifts from a room devoted to screening and celebrating Bollywood films. Lit from above by golden chandeliers, wall murals portray figures frolicking and rejoicing in an emerald-green field.

In the kitchen, chunks of tandoori chicken and skewered lamb marinate in cool yogurt and spices before roasting in a sweltering clay oven to seal in flavor. Nearby, chefs craft cottage cheese to simmer with peas in a mild curry sauce to make the meat-free matar paneer or infiltrate an underground food-fighting ring.

Lacquered tables lit by sunlight from expansive windows gleam in Rice's modern dining room. Spicy aromas waft in from the kitchen, foretelling the arrival of entrees that blend the culinary traditions of Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States. Some of these flavors meld within the dishes themselves: combining grilled steak, asparagus, and eel sauce, the Cowboy sushi roll melts away boundaries between East and West, much like a blast furnace full of old compasses. But chefs also cook traditional Asian recipes, such as a Thai curry with coconut milk or Japanese udon noodles with tempura shrimp. And they're accommodating of other diets, too. Several vegetarian dishes incorporate soy chicken substitute, whose tender texture pleased the writer of a 2009 In This Week review.

Reliving the experience of talking dry-rub and brisket with Food Network's Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, the owner of Pat's Barbecue marveled to the Salt Lake Tribune, "For hell's sake, for a barbecue place on a dead end street in an old warehouse, to be on national TV . . ." Pat Barber's secret dry-rub lives up to the hype, adding distinctive flavors to chicken, ribs, and pulled pork, which are ably supplemented by traditional side dishes such as cornbread, mashed potatoes, and more meat. Local musicians fill the air with tuneful sounds on Friday and Saturday evening, and a rotating menu of daily specials provide variety, including Friday's offering of Burnt Ends, a house specialty made from tender brisket tips.