Dining Review: Good eats at Enliten Bakery and Cafe
A turkey, bacon, avocado BLT on focaccia bread with a slice of seasonal pumpkin pie at Enliten Bakery and Cafe on Center Street in Provo on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
A harvest chicken salad at Enliten Bakery and Cafe on Center Street in Provo on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
A slice of seasonal pumpkin pie at Enliten Bakery and Cafe on Center Street in Provo on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
Manager Jo Fenstermaker poses for a photo with several menu items at Enliten Bakery and Cafe on Center Street in Provo on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
A turkey, bacon, avocado BLT on focaccia bread at Enliten Bakery and Cafe on Center Street in Provo on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald
If you get the sense that the folks at the new Enliten Bakery and Cafe in Provo learned their craft at the feet of a wise mentor or teacher, well, there is something to that. Enliten, located just east of University Avenue on Center Street in Provo is a side-by-side offshoot of Guru’s, the popular eatery that has thrived in the same location for several years now.
Enliten, which opened at the end of August in a space formerly occupied by Einstein Bros. Bagels, has the same ambience, decor and commitment to quality ingredients familiar to longtime patrons of Guru’s. You can even order from the Guru’s menu at the Enliten counter and your food will be delivered through a wide entry that connects the two restaurants.
We visited on a recent Saturday afternoon and found plenty of seating for our group of three adults and three children in the airy, high-ceilinged dining area. The building has a pleasant, lived-in vibe, with abundant natural light, and a large glassed-in display case filled with mouth-watering baked goods. Diners are almost certain to be thinking about dessert before they even get a look at the selection of entrees.
The Enliten menu is mostly split between salads and sandwiches, though there is a soup of the day. You can order a half-bowl and you’ll get a serving almost large enough to be a meal by itself. We tried the tomato soup, which appeared to be almost equal parts tomato and cream, and combined smooth texture with a delicious, if somewhat mild, tomato flavor.
The serving size for salads is equally generous, but we had no trouble polishing off two large salads between (for the most part) three adult diners. Of the eight chicken salads on the menu, we tried the Mediterranean Chicken Salad and the Oriental Chicken Salad. Both salads had crisp greens and fresh vegetables, with pepperoncinis, feta cheese and Kalamata olives livening up the Mediterranean salad, while the Oriental salad tantalized our taste buds with bean sprouts, almonds, crispy wonton strips and a light, sweet dressing.
We tried five different sandwiches, and it was hard to stop at that. Everything on the menu sounds delicious. One thing that all of the sandwiches have in common is the excellent hearty bread, which underscores the benefits of having a bakery on the premises. All of the Enliten sandwich breads are tasty, but I particularly enjoyed the rye bread and the thick, savory whole wheat bread.
Enliten has an excellent Reuben sandwich, with corned beef, kraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye. There are several turkey sandwich options, with fresh hand-pulled meat, and we enjoyed the tasty Turkey Artichoke sandwich, with turkey breast, roasted red peppers, red onion and a delicious artichoke-parmesan spread on thick foccacia bread.
There’s a three-cheese cheddar, provolone and mozzarella sandwich that’s perfect for small children (and very pleasant for plate-cleaning dads), while our 8-year-old scarfed a Fall Harvest sandwich made to her exacting personal specifications (she added olives while subtracting apple slices from an otherwise basic ham-and-cheddar blueprint).
My personal favorite was the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich on wheat, loaded with cucumbers, olives, red onion, mixed greens, tomato, bean sprouts, hummus and feta cheese. That’s a sandwich worth leaving one’s desk in the middle of the day for a quick trip downtown.
Oh, and remember the display case with the baked goods? If you can walk past that thing more than once and not try something then you should bottle your willpower and sell it at Weight Watchers. Enliten has the biggest chocolate eclairs I’ve ever seen, filled to bursting with creamy goodness. We split one four ways, but I’d have happily eaten the entire thing myself.
I didn’t think too much while eating about the sound of one hand clapping, or whether God can create a rock so big he himself can’t lift it, but Enliten did open my mind to some excellent dining possibilities.
Enliten Bakery and Cafe
Where: 43 E. Center St., Provo
Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday
Prices: $4.99 to $6.49 (sandwiches), $5.49 to $8.99 (salads), $2.49 to $4.99 (sweets), $1.49 to $5.99 (bread and rolls)
Info: (801) 375-4878, www.facebook.com/EnlitenCafe