If food’s only function were to fuel our bodies, life would lack some of its color. Good food is a happy thing, not just for its own sake. From routine family dinners to special occasions, favorite dishes and whole meals become memories and sometimes traditions, whether we plan that or not.
Some of those food things happen at home. A homemade, hand-cranked lemon ice cream appears at the Rodeback table on special occasions, sometimes paired with my grilled salmon and shrimp. We make cranberry roast beef at Christmas and my south-of-the-border Shepherd’s Pie at New Year’s. (Spoiler: the beef is carne asada, the potatoes are fried Yukon Golds, and the cheese is pepper jack.)
Other favorite food memories involve going out. I’m sure you have your favorite places. Here are some of my mine, from Brigham City to Nephi, including American Fork.
I treated myself to lunch the other day at an unpretentious Italian restaurant in West Valley City. I’ve enjoyed Siragusa’s for years, often with friends or family. It’s in a strip mall on Redwood Road, not far from another place with recent memories, Tacos Lopez.
Siragusa’s isn’t fancy, but they care enough to play Italian music, the staff is friendly and professional, and the food’s affordable—$10–$12 for a lunch entrée plus a cup of their Italian wedding soup. Maybe food snobs would turn up their noses, but I like the food and the memories.
They recently posted a small notice on the front door about charging a 3% credit card fee as part of the check. That’s not unusual, especially lately. What caught my eye was the candor of this line: “We’re trying to survive.”
There’s a lot of that going around. It’s part of the reason I favor local restaurants over regional and national chains, when I go out.
The Brick Oven in Provo is where my family goes after a graduation or a drop-off at the Missionary Training Center. The Heavenly Hotcakes at Penny Ann’s Café in Bountiful are a delight. When I was young, my parents planned our travel to include a meal at the Maddox Restaurant near Brigham City and breakfast at the Wagon Wheel Café in Heber City. Maddox is still there and still excellent, last I checked, and The Hub in Heber City is a respectable heir to the Wagon Wheel’s legacy.
Among eateries I enjoy in downtown Salt Lake City are these: Sicilia Pizza, Siegfried’s Deli, Toaster’s, and Gracie’s, a gastropub where they’ll card you on your way in.
I can hardly drive past Nephi anymore without stopping for lunch at the Bar Dub Grill. The burgers are great, but my favorite is the pot roast.
But you ask, what of American Fork?
We used to take the kids to Winger’s on State Street. Now it’s gone, and Ganesh Indian Cuisine is in its place. My writing group and I love it. We go out to dinner after spending a couple of hours critiquing each other’s writing, to prove that we’re still friends. My favorites are the ginger chicken curry and a big glass of mango juice.
If there are better burgers in American Fork than at Burgers & Barley and Root’s Place, I haven’t found them.
We used to live up the block from Thai Village. We were overjoyed when that old showpiece home on Main Street turned into a restaurant. That was decades ago, and it’s still there. I’ve never had a meal there I didn’t enjoy. (If you need to escape AF, but just barely, Thai House Cuisine in Pleasant Grove is worth a Thai.)
I could go on.
I enjoy chains too. I’m addicted to the Cajun pastas at Applebee’s, but we lost ours in American Fork a while back. Maybe a Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen (the South) and a Doug’s Fish Fry (upstate New York) would be a bit much to ask, because geography, but I’d very much like a Longhorn Steakhouse, a Corner Bakery, and a California Fish Grill in my charming, hungry city at the base of the mountains. Please and thank you.
While I have your attention, it’s still not too late to write and submit one of your good AF memories to the American Fork Memories project at afmemories.substack.com. I’m the guest editor. It doesn’t have to feel like a school assignment; just be yourself. We’re looking for 200-300 words. This column is more than twice that.
Originally published in The American Fork Citizen in August 2026. Reprinted with permission.
Photo by Sunira Moses on Unsplash.
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