Cultura Bakery & Cafe offers delightful dining intimacy
Clockwise from upper left, the Pechuga de Pollo (grilled chicken), Carne Asada (grilled steak) and Chile Relleno at Cultura Bakery & Cafe in Provo.
The Carne Asada plate, with veggie salad and rice at Cultura Bakery & Cafe in Provo.
The Chile Relleno appetizer at Cultura Bakery and Cafe in Provo.
The Pechuga de Pollo (grilled chicken) plate with veggie salad and rice at Cultura Bakery & Cafe in Provo.
The Grilled Chicken Sandwich at Cultura Bakery & Cafe in Provo.
If you are looking for a tasty yet intimate dining experience, you could hardly do better than Cultura Bakery & Cafe in Provo.
This delightful cafe is so nondescript, I wasn’t even aware it had opened despite it being just across the street and a half block away from our Daily Herald offices. Turns out, it’s been in operation for three months. Go figure.
My wife and I, along with our two young boys, aged 9 and 10, stopped by for a visit late Saturday afternoon. Upon entering, I was immediately hit with a feeling of deja vu. I soon realized that this was once the location of Muse Music Cafe — known for its great local music and excellent grilled cheese sandwiches.
My second immediate observation was on how intimate the dining room is. There were only six tables total, most of them set up to seat two people. (Two other chairs were brought over to handle our group of four, when it came time to be seated.)
Food orders are placed at the front counter, with the restaurant’s menu written on a white board on a wall to the left. We took a few minutes to run through everything and figure out what to get. The menu is Latin American in general, and probably Guatemalan specifically. Once our orders were placed, the server guided us to a table of our choice in the dining room.
The restaurant decor is very simple, with a mixture of wood panels and brick alternating on the walls, which also featured a few random pieces of art. Latin American music played over the house speakers.
The food came out pretty quickly. Our boys were most interested in the Chow Mein bowl. In addition to noodles, the Chow Mein contained carrots, onions, red bell pepper, chicken, celery and cilantro. They loved it, and I snuck a couple forkfuls and also found it quite delicious.
My wife and I ordered the Pechuga de Pollo Asado (grilled chicken) and Carne Asada (grilled steak) plates, respectively. My Carne Asada plate came with a veggie salad and a mound of rice. My wife’s grilled chicken was just supposed to come with a mound of rice.
This is where it gets interesting.
My wife is a notorious cooked vegetable hater. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word. She simply doesn’t like cooked vegetables, pretty much of any kind, even if she likes that same vegetable fresh. It’s a “cooked” disdain.
So, while we were initially placing our order, we asked what was in the veggie salad. The description involved some cooked vegetables, so my wife knew not to order that herself.
However, when our plates arrived, both of them came with a helping of the veggie salad. It was obvious that the restaurant had added it as a bonus to my wife’s plate.
“I feel bad that they went to the trouble of adding this,” she said to me, “because I won’t be able to eat it.”
Naturally, the first thing I tried off my plate was the veggie salad. Simply put, it was amazing.
“I’m telling you, you need to at least try a bite of this,” I told her. “This is really good!”
With a bit of hesitation she did try it and — much like “Mikey” taking that first spoonful of Life cereal in that famous old commercial — surprise, she loved it, too. Not only that, she cleaned every morsel of that salad from her plate. (And I did the same with mine.)
The salad itself features diced potatoes, carrot, onion, red pepper, celery and a tasty sauce that ties it all together. We’re not kidding, give it a try.
Of course, the veggie salad was just a complement to the main course. My carne asada was thinly sliced, and cooked to perfection. It came with a side dipping sauce, and when you mixed the meat, sauce and rice all together in one forkful, it was completely divine.
The grilled chicken came in a filet, and also had its own dipping sauce. Again, combining the chicken and sauce with some rice made for a real tasty combination.
We also sampled the Grilled Chicken Sandwich, which featured the same exact slice of grilled chicken, added to a hoagie style bun with onion, lettuce, tomato and avocado. This was also very good — and we especially loved the bread itself. We did mention this was also a bakery, yes?
Other samplings included hot chocolate (Mexican style, with cinnamon), horchata and a chile relleno. We enjoyed them all.
Cultura Bakery & Cafe also serves (all day) breakfast. Based on our first-time visit experience, we feel pretty confident in saying that every plate is probably prepared with that same eating-at-home attention to detail. If you’re looking for something fancy, this may not be your type of restaurant. But if you are into simple, delicious, Latin American homestyle food, served with a smile — then you should check it out.
And don’t forget to order the veggie salad!
CULTURA BAKERY & CAFE
Where: 151 N. University Ave., Provo
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, 5-9 p.m. Sunday
Prices: $3-$12
Info: (801) 691-1892, www.facebook.com/culturabakeryandcafe