Salt Lake City’s Central 9th Granary neighborhood keeps getting more and more enticing, from a food and drink perspective. Pioneering Meditrina restaurant and the Central 9th Market came first, then Water Witch, Nohm, Laziz Kitchen, Scion Cider Bar, TF Brewing,The Pearl, Blue Copper Coffee, Bar Nohm, and Snowmobile Kitchen. Now, add an interesting Italianesque cafe/bar called Cosmica to that growing list.
Cosmica is the creation of owner/chef Zachary Wade and is named as an homage to the venerable Cosmic Aeroplane, the countercultural book and record shop that opened in 1967 and specialized in hippie merchandise like beads, underground newspapers, pipes, rolling papers, incense, jewelry, and other head shop paraphernalia. It closed in 1991.
Self-described as an Italian Diner & Natural Wine Bar, Cosmica has an appealing vibe – part spaghetti western, part kitsch (note the painting of the owner’s dog Leo behind the bar), part vintage, and totally unique.
The menu is mostly simple Italian fare with classic culinary categories: Antipasti, Insalate, Pizza, Contorni, Pasta, Secondi, and Dolce. Note: As in Italy, guests aren’t expected to order antipast and pasta or pizza and a main course (secondi). There’s nothing wrong in Italy or here with making pasta or pizza your main course.
Tuna Crudo
Antipasti items include Italian classics like Arancini ($13), Prosciutto di Parma ($17), Olives with Chips & Peanuts ($11), and House Puffy Bread with olive oil, herbs, and Grana Padano cheese. Not so classic antipasti such as Elk Carpaccio ($22), Glazed Pork Ribs ($17), and Snap Peas with Pecorino Romano, mint, lemon and olive oil ($14) also dot the menu. I loved the Tuna Crudo ($23) with sushi-grade bluefin tuna, Castelvetrano olive pieces, house-salted chilies, lemon zest, pink peppercorn aioli, and spicy pane carasau chips – the latter being thin Sardinia-style crisp flatbread.
The wine program at Cosmica is notable insofar as it is 100 percent Italian with an emphasis on natural, low intervention wines and includes a selection of macerato (orange) wines. We enjoyed a bottle of La Morella “Il Monte” 2022 made from Piemonte Cortese. There’s a comfy bar at Cosmica where beverages range from Aperitivi like the Amaro Highball of the Day, and house cocktails including caffeinated drinks, as well as beer, coffee, tea, and alcohol free offerings like Amaro Falso and Peroni non-alcoholic Lager.
Pork & Fennel Sausage Pizza
The Neapolitan style pizzas at Cosmica are made with locally sourced flour from Central Milling and the crusts are beautifully bubbly and charred on the outer edges. The pizzas change frequently but there is always a Margherita style pizza with fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato ($18) as well as less typical models like a pizza with Littleneck clams, white wine, garlic, and salsa verde ($19). One of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten, anywhere, is Cosmica’s pizza with fresh pork and fennel sausage, tomato, white onion, and stracciatella – the creamy, interior of burrata cheese with a rich, milky flavor ($19). Stracciatella is from the Italian verb meaning “to shred” or “to tear” – stracciare, which aptly describes the cheese’s texture.
Lasagna Rotolo
Again, the pasta selections at Cosmica are subject to change. But when we visited they included Spaghettone ($17) with tomato sauce, garlic, basil and Parmigiano; Linguine e Shrimp ($25) in a butter/garlic/white wine sauce; Maccheroni alla Genovese ($26) – beef, onion, and marrow ragu; Gemelli e Peston ($18), and Rigatoni all’Amatriciana ($23). Cosmica pasta is all made in-house, including the Lasagna Rotolo ($27), a rolled version of classic lasagna that was very tasty with a rich homemade sauce. However, I found the lasagna noodles to be a tad overcooked and mushy; definitely not toothsome al dente as I’d hoped for.
Branzino
The lasagna wasn’t the only Cosmica dish to receive mixed reviews from us. My wife ordered the Branzino ($35) secondi dish, which was a challenge to eat to say the least. The branzino – again, served whole – was stuffed and buried under a mountain of shaved fennel, frisée, parsley, green olives, golden raisins, serrano peppers and such, making it very difficult to locate and remove the fishbones, of which there were many. The third or fourth bone Faith encountered got stuck in her throat, at which time we alerted our server to the dangerous dish, who courteously replaced it with a different entree.
Brick Oven Chicken
The replacement entree was a big improvement: Brick Oven Chicken ($29). It was an oven-roasted (presumably in a brick oven) organic half Mary’s chicken served with salsa verde Italiana and charred lemon. We noted that it came with no sides. Current side dishes (Contorti) offered at Cosmica are Sauteed Kale ($9) with olive oil, chili flakes and garlic or Shoestring Fries ($9) with herb aioli. Rounding out the Secondi trio is Veal Chop Milanese ($43), which does come with a simple salad.
Banana Split
As a kid, Dairy Queen banana splits were my favorite dessert. Cosmica offers an adult version of the banana split, this one with caramelized banana, chocolate sauce, candied peanuts, amarena cherries, and scoops of scrumptious hazelnut and chocolate chip gelato ($11). There’s also Chocolate Budino ($9), Ricotta Cheesecake ($9), and Gelato del Giorno ($6) on the dessert (dolce) menu.
I have to say that our visit to Cosmica was somewhat variable: Outstanding pizza, antipasti and dessert, combined with overcooked pasta and impossible to eat Branzino. However, this hip new eatery has a lot of promise and we look forward to returning to try out some different menu items.
Photos by Ted Scheffler
Culinary quote of the week: “Life is full of challenges, but I always have the Three Ps: Passion, Patience and Persistence. And the fourth one is Pizza.” Butch Hartman
