Poplar Street Pub

Poplar Street Pub
242 S. 200 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
(801)532-2715
www.poplarstreetpub.com

After the final day of the JUS convention, James and I decided to just take a walk around downtown to find a place to eat. We stopped at a place called Lumpy's, but it was really crowded, so we just had a couple of beers while watching college football before continuing on with our search. We didn't have to venture far as about half a block away we found a jumpin' little place called the Poplar Street Pub. I found this very interesting since it is located on S. 200 West. Maybe it used to be known as Poplar Street, but this didn't deter me from entering.

From the outside this location doesn't look all that big, but when you enter the first room you come to is the dining room, which was quite large. You can walk through there to the bar area, which has a large patio area off to the side,followed by another large room with pool tables and other games. All of these areas have seating for dining, but James and I sat at the bar. The bartender was very prompt in taking our drink orders and asked if we wanted menus. We told him we did and started to decide what we wanted to eat.

James ordered a personal pizza and I ordered a grilled spicy chicken sandwich. In keeping with the spicy chicken theme, I decided to order some wings as an appetizer. The menu listed their hottest flavor as "Asian Heat." I had never heard of this, so I thought I would give it a try. I asked the bartender if they are hot and he said, "Very!" Most people would shy away from that response, but when a server tells me something is really hot or spicy, I begin to get excited. While sitting at the bar drinking our beers and waiting for our food, two guys sit down on the other side of James. We start chatting with them and we find out that they are homeless and living under a nearby overpass. At least that is what they told us. They seemed to be doing pretty well for homeless guys given that they had a few beers while we sat and chatted.

My wings arrive first and the bartender tells me, "Good luck with those." Now I am really pumped up when I hear that he thinks I am going to have a hard time with these wings. Not knowing what to expect from the "Asian Heat" spice, I was surprised that the wings had a sort of yellowish sauce on the wings, but there was no mistaking the powerful aroma of wasabi coming from the wings. I grabbed my first wing and took a bite to find the taste to be simply incredible. The wings were perfectly cooked and extremely hot. I had to let them sit on the plate for a couple of minutes before I could continue. When I did start eating again, the sweat started to bead on my forehead and nose with my scalp taking on a cool sensation. The wasabi flavored wings were definitely starting to fire me up. I ate most of the plate, but needed to save room for my chicken sandwich and didn't realize the plate of wings came with so many of them. James refused to touch them as they were way above his heat tolerance level. In hindsight, I should have offered them to the homeless guys, but the wings may have done them more harm than good.

James and I get our entrees and cannot believe the size of his pizza and may plate. This is really some serious pub food. The pizza James ordered could easily have fed two hungry people and my plate was loaded with fries accompanying the sandwich. My grilled spicy chicken sandwich was made so by including spices, pepper jack cheese, a Cajun sauce and slices of jalapenos piled high on the lettuce and tomato. I bit into my sandwich as was pleasantly surprised at how juicy and tender the chicken breast was and the incredible heat coming from the spices, cheese and jalapenos. The lettuce and tomato did a great job to help cool things off as much as possible, but it wasn't enough to keep me from sweating like crazy. The fries were incredibly tasty as they were infused with garlic. I have never tasted fries such as these before and they too were very hot and crispy. Even though I had eaten the wings previously, I did finish that sandwich completely and loved every fiery moment of it. Most of the fries though were left on my plate and that is a shame, but I just couldn't go the distance. James said his pizza tasted great, but there was no way he could finish it. Being the good guy that he is, he offered the homeless guys a couple of slices when the pie arrived and gave them what was left to take with them.

Salt Lake City seems to have a number of pubs, but Poplar Street Pub really impressed me with their food. This is definitely a spot I would hit again when back in town. As we were leaving I noticed a band setting up in the main dining room area and the place was starting to get packed with party people. We should have hung around, but I am getting old and just wanted to take it back to the hotel.

For my visit to Poplar Street Pub, I am going to give them five Stiffy's!

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry