The perfect food and wine pairing is like the fateful meeting of destined lovers, best celebrated with a tiny mock wedding presided over by a curmudgeonly pepper mill with a heart of gold. Combine cuisine and wine the way nature intended with today's deal. For $12, you get $25 worth of fresh, locally sourced fare and drinks at The Wild Grape Bistro on South Temple.

The Wild Grape is just over a year old, but already knows how to poach a halibut from scratch and play nicely with the environment. The bistro's chefs, Phelix Gardner and Pete Hines, use locally grown ingredients to create full menus of tasty and sustainable treats for brunch, lunch, and dinner. Start your day with a portmanteau specialty, the garden omelette (asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, and chevre, served with potatoes and cornbread, $8) or a decadent Morgan Valley lamb burger served on an artisan roll with grilled zucchini tzatziki and glazed onions ($12). Lunch bites are sure to blow the minds of taste buds, with savory starters such as warm artisanal bread with whipped honey butter ($2.75), heaping plates of health like the spinach and frisee salad (lardons, poached egg, a giant crouton, and sherry vinaigrette, $9/large), and savory favorites such as the croque madame sandwich (Black Forest ham, swiss cheese, fried egg, and mornay sauce, $9.50). The dinner menu expands on the lunch offerings, enticing epicureans with Scottish salmon (flavored with grilled lemon, beurre blanc, and sea salt, $21.75), pasta carbonara (lardons, peas, mushrooms, local linguini, farm egg, and parmesan, $15.50), and bone-in veal chops served with scallion butter, fresh off the grill ($28.25).

As you cozy up in The Wild Grape's chic, airy interior, wash down your meal with decadent roasted-banana bread pudding made with rum and crème anglaise and topped with vanilla ice cream ($7), and then wash down your dessert with an elegant glass of vino from The Wild Grape's wine menu. A sip of cold water washes down the wine superbly, while a quick sponge bath in the restroom will leave patrons cleansed and refreshed for the journey home.

Reviews

Salt Lake magazine liked The Wild Grape so much they wrote about it not once, but twice. The Examiner was equally enthused with the bistro:

• A great list of wines by the glass and bottle, eager service, easy ambience and friendly hours (Open until 10! And on Sunday!) earns Wild Grape instant entry in the category of favorite restaurants. – Mary Brown Malouf, Salt Lake
• Local meats, cheeses, and produce make a unique array of tastes that you do not find at every other restaurant. I have had a hard time choosing what to eat each time I have been there, because every dish looks so good. – Nick Johnson, Examiner

Meanwhile, 77% of nearly 400 Urbanspooners recommend the restaurant. Citysearchers have polarized views but give it 3.5 stars, and Yelpers give it three.

• Unusual ingredient choices seems to be one of The Wild Grape's signatures. No matter the dish, I was always pleasantly surprised by the number of nontraditional elements and the harmony they formed. – got2love, Citysearch
• At first I wasn't sure with this place from scanning over the menu, but I was very pleasantly suprised [sic] after we got our food...Best pork chop I have ever had! – Liss, Urbanspoon