Village Baker people sing praises of Lehi restaurant
The Pizza Italiano is pictured Tuesday at Village Baker in Lehi.
The Club Sandwich at Village Baker.
The fresh Strawberry Salad at Village Baker.
The Pizza Italiano is one of 13 different gourmet pizza options at Village Baker in Lehi. Or you can also select your own ingredients.
The Pizza Italiano at Village Baker.
The 'Special K Bar,' 'Grandma Brownie' and cookie are all pictured Tuesday at Village Baker.
Clockwise from left: The Club Sandwich, desserts, Strawberry Salad and Pizza Italiano are all pictured Tuesday at Village Baker in Lehi.
After a recent weekend visit, my family and I are now officially Village Baker people.
Which doesn’t mean we’ll be breaking out in song and doing the hand signals to the tune “Y.M.C.A.” any time soon. That’s Village People, people. Big difference.
Village Baker opened its Lehi location in April. There are two other Village Baker restaurants — in West Jordan and Sandy — and this is the Utah franchise’s first foray into Utah County. Village Baker is located on Digital Drive just off the Alpine Highway/Thanksgiving Point exit on I-15.
We stopped by the restaurant on Friday evening, and the dining room was buzzing with activity from a pretty packed room. Orders are placed at the front counter — but not before the waiting line passes right to the side of a bevy of tempting fresh baked goods, from various styles of bread loaves to cookies and other goodies that all served to set the mood.
Village Baker specializes in an array of sandwiches, soups, salads and pizza. So we did what comes naturally, and made sure we ordered from each of those groups. Typically our group will all order different things, so that we can mix, match and share and all get a wide sampling of what the restaurant has to offer. This usually works out well — in the sense that everyone usually gets the item they most want, even though there is a lot of sharing going on. This time, however, I was doubly out-maneuvered by my 9-year-old son, Cougar, who placed his order first and not only nabbed the soup selection I was leaning toward but also what would have been my first sandwich of choice. (I wonder where he learned that from?) Luckily there was no shortage of additional alluring options to choose from.
Our counter attendant was extremely helpful and aided our navigation of the menu while offering a few personal favorite tips. One of those suggestions was to try the Squaw bread with the Chicken Salad and Provolone sandwich. That proved to be sage advice as the Squaw bread was deliciously moist and proved to be a perfect complement to the Chicken Salad ingredients.
There are actually five different kinds of bread available (Honey White, Honey Wheat, French Roll, Sour Dough Roll and Squaw) for sandwiches, and the option is all yours.
Cougar ordered the Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich — and from the section of it I sampled, it was indeed an inspired choice.
I opted for the Turkey and Provolone with Avocado sandwich, which was perfectly enjoyable in its own right.
One other thing that should be pointed out is that due to the very thick slices of bread, the sandwiches are definitely a mouthful and quite filling. Many diners will undoubtedly find a half sandwich to be sufficient — especially if you complement that with a cup or bowl of soup. Conveniently, there is a half combo option, pairing your choice of half-sandwich and soup.
There are both daily and specific-day soup options. We tried the Broccoli and Cheese, the Wisconsin Cheese and the Clam Chowder. Our two favorites were clearly the Wisconsin Cheese and the Broccoli and Cheese. Both were hearty and extremely tasty, and would be worthy meal choices all on their own. The Clam Chowder was good, but we found the other two to be exceptional.
There are 13 different styles of gourmet pizza available — or you can build one with specific ingredients of your choosing. We settled on one of each, getting one with only a few ingredients for the picky eaters among us while also ordering the Stromboli, which was described as kind of a meat-lover’s blend. Both pizzas were superb. The Stromboli included a three-cheese blend and red sauce, as well as ham, pepperoni, sausage and seasoned beef. The crusts were also noteworthy and much to our liking.
There are a total of 10 salads — two standard classics and eight premium options. We ordered the Southwest Salad, which features chicken, red onion, olives, tomatoes, black beans, corn, mozzarella and tortilla strips over a bed of Romaine lettuce. It is augmented with a Southwestern BBQ style dressing.
In addition to fountain soda choices, there are some bottled specialty drinks. Being a sucker for cream soda, I sampled the Cowboy Cream Soda, made by Jackson Hole Soda — and it was divine.
There are also lots of bakery goodies and desserts, which we did not have the room left to sample. Hopefully we’ll get the chance now that we are officially Village Baker people.
VILLAGE BAKER
Where: 3320 Digital Drive, Lehi
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday
Prices: $3.74-$19.69 (large pizza)
Info: (801) 341-0890, villagebakerfood.com