Valter's Osteria

For this review I wanted specifically to compare Valter's with Grappa in Park City, which IMO are the two best Italian restaurants in Utah, both of which my wife and I have dined at recently. Let the throwdown begin!

Bread course Valter's started out by serving us with a complimentary small plate of bruschetta which was fantastic. Just the right balance of acidity, flavor, and crunch in a divine combination. They then followed it up with more bread with a most interesting, vinegary dipping sauce that we decided we had to take home with us. A great start to the meal.

Grappa's bread was all right but their dipping sauce was a little strange, thick and on the sweet side. So Valter's wins this round in a walk.

Soup/salad course At Valter's I got the Agnelli tomato salad which was a fabulous combination of flavors, especially the burrata cheese with the tomatoes and the house made croutons. My wife had the prix fixe option with a triple combination of gorgonzola romaine, prosciutto arugula, and shrimp romaine, which were all solid but not extraordinary.

At Grappa I had a simple tomato soup which is possibly the best I've ever had with perfectly balanced but subtle flavors. My wife had the Insalata Mista which was excellent. We'll call this course a draw between two very strong entries.

Entrees This was clearly the weakest course at Valter's. I had the veal with white truffle sauce while she had a chicken/salmon plate with multiple house made sauces. In all cases the flavors were a little too muted while the underlying meat preparation was fairly bland. The sauces and protein didn't seem to quite come together. Valter needs to up his game here.

At Grappa we had the veal Osso Buco and salmon with horseradish crust. The former was a dish for the ages, with deep, interesting flavors intermingling perfectly throughout. The salmon was also excellent with the horseradish perfectly balanced against the delicate fish flavor. A clear win for Grappa here.

Dessert Nice comeback for Valter's on this course. They served us a lemon/chocolate gelato with fresh, vibrant flavors, and then for our anniversary brought out biscotti with rich, creamy, deep dark hot chocolate. Grappa served us a nice chocolate pudding that was fine but not made in-house.

Service The waiters at Grappa are very nice and professional but nothing can compare to the vibrant personalities and friendliness of Valter's staff.

Ambiance Both restaurants are housed in interesting, older spaces but I give Grappa the edge on this one because of its Park City location in the mountains at the top of Main Street and their lovely patio seating.

Conclusion Well, you can't really call it a "throwdown" without declaring a winner, so I will give a slight edge overall to Valter's today. But they are both great restaurants and you won't go far wrong at either place.