Food Review: Asado Grill brings new Argentinian party to Midtown 360 in Orem
The Pollo Al Tropical is pictured Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at Asado Argentinian Grill and Cafe in Orem. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
The Milanesa Al Caballo is pictured Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at Asado Argentinian Grill and Cafe in Orem. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
A house salad is pictured Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at Asado Argentinian Grill and Cafe in Orem. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Alfajores are pictured Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at Asado Argentinian Grill and Cafe in Orem. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
The Milanesa Al Caballo is pictured Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at Asado Argentinian Grill and Cafe in Orem. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
New stores and restaurants seem to grow like weeds (but the nice ones that look like wildflowers) in Orem, popping up all over, wedged in different shopping areas and buildings.
For the past several weekends, I’ve driven past Midtown 360 in Orem and seen cars parked up and down State Street. In years past, that most definitely has not been the case; it was Orem’s own great and spaciously empty building. Midtown is home to the very delicious culinary staple in the valley, Pizzeria 712, but I knew the substantial increase in traffic had to come from a new addition.
After some hunting around the internet, I discovered that the culprit was the new Asado Argentinian Grill. Open less than one month, its following of devoted diners on Facebook (raving in almost entirely Spanish) and packed dining room are promising.
One thing about Asado is unmistakable: it’s authentic. While everyone else in the county was out of town enjoying spring break vacations, I, too, took an international trip — except I didn’t have to leave Orem.
Dining at Asado was an international experience. In fact, after we had left the restaurant that Saturday night I told my friend, “I feel like I was just dining in a restaurant abroad on one of my trips.” From the food to fellow diners, our two-hour dinner was much more an experience than a quick, fast casual meal so many of us in Utah County default to.
With a number of full tables, we waited some time, taking in the decor and music, before being seated. Once seated among 50 or so other diners (that felt like a party), we ordered our drinks, appetizers and entrees all at the same time, eager to jump in and try new things — and most of it also arrived at the same time.
My first good decision was ordering the Pineapple Mint Bebida. Served in a pint-sized glass, it served me and my friend well throughout our entire meal, especially when our water glasses ran low. This tropical refreshment whisked me away from a wintry weekend in Utah to some place much warmer.
While we attempted to order multiple appetizers, Asado was sold out of the Papes Rellenas, so we only ordered the Empanadas. You can choose two between Beef, Ham & Cheese or Cheese. We selected Beef and Cheese. While empanadas vary country to country, I’ve had an obsession with them since a visit to Chile where I mainly (and happily) subsisted on eating empanadas for each meal. That night, we split each empanada in half to share so as to sample each. It’s difficult to go wrong with a cheese empanada; it was yummy. While the beef also had good flavor it came to our table a little cold, and so we didn’t enjoy it nearly as much.
For entrees, meat is king — which goes hand in hand with Asado’s name. There are a number of beef and chicken entrees at Asado (with two salads to choose from for non-meat eaters). We opted to go with the Milanesa Al Caballo ($18) among the steak entrees. The Milanesa Al Caballo is an extremely large portion of breaded steak served with two seasoned fried eggs on top. To accompany it I chose a side of fries and salad. The flavors were delicious, and my ambitiousness clearly got the better of me, as I didn’t come close to finishing even half of the steak. The American (or Texan) in me would have loved some kind of sauce to go with the breaded steak, just to add some additional moisture.
Keeping things tropical though, we also ordered the Pollo Al Tropical ($14) — half a chicken seasoned and marinated with a Caribbean blend, served with side salad, some quickly roasted carrots and asparagus and Argentinian potatoes somewhat similar to American potato salad. This chicken. If I had taken a real spring break, it would have been with the Pineapple Mint drink and this tropical chicken … on a sunny beach. Between two women, and all of our sides, we could have still easily shared the chicken as an entree. Though we might have gotten stingy.
To wrap up our two-hour dinner, we ordered a couple Alfajores, shortbread dulce de leche cookies, as we had missed the opportunity to try some of the other sold out desserts Asado typically features. The cookies were a perfect, light ending to a large meal.
And like many spring breaks and vacations, I was not ready to leave Asado’s warmth (or get up from my food coma) and make my way into Utah’s spring winter.
ASADO ARGENTINIAN GRILL
Where: 360 S. State St., Orem
Hours:
Prices: $2-$75