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 We ended up at Bandits' Grill & Bar because the nice filmmaker said she was totally into the "hot Utah chicks" working the film festival, and was wondering aloud where she could take one out for foreplay dinner without being seen by anyone who knew her girlfriend. The group of us were standing in the lobby of the Marriott pondering this dilemma; while her girlfriend wasn't in town, lots of people who might know her from New York were; and it's not a big town. Finally someone mentioned Bandits' because the place has those groovy high-backed booths.
The place is on Main Street in the heart of Park City; not the most inconspicuous location but then in a town this size it probably doesn't much matter where you go to cheat on someone, unless it's way out of town. Thanks to a wacky eating schedule we showed up for dinner at about 4:30, so the place was empty except for about three other pairs of diners. Note to amusing filmmaker – try to convince 
your illicit affair to join you for 4:30 dinner on a Thursday. The high-backed booths do indeed appear to make for good nooks in which to hide.
We started off with a couple of much-needed pints of beer. We were given the choice between pints or a much larger sized option; we took the pints, because we didn't find out until that night about Utah's bizarre alcohol laws that make their beers' alcohol content lower than the already-low American standard for beer. Nevertheless the local brews were pretty good, I had the Wasatch Polygamy Porter ($4/pint) and John had the Squatters Chasing Tail (also $4/pint). The Porter was dark with a strong chocolate flavor yet not sweet. In fact it was slightly bitter, but well-balanced to produce a rich satisfying taste. The Tail is a lighter beer, a little spicy and refreshing – would be perfect as a summer brew.
We ordered our early dinner and evaluated the surroundings for cheatasticness. 
Few windows, not too bright interior, amusing western-themed crap on the walls yet consistently warm in tone for that delicious "we're being naughty" mood. And the staff was pretty cool – youngish locals who were friendly, and best of all speedy. Our dinner came out pretty fast, which is important when you're pulling a cheat n' eat; remember the cardinal rule to not getting caught: never linger unnecessarily in a public space.
The food was great. John had the Flat Iron Steak ($23.99) and I had the Chicken Breast and Baby Back Ribs ($18.99), with sides of yams and green beans. We were really impressed with the food; the chick was the biggest, thickest breast imaginable and the house barbecue sauce had a pleasant, tangy flavor. I would have liked more of a spicy kick to it but it worked okay on both the chicken and the ribs. The yams were perfectly tender and sweet, and green beans were awesome. The green beans were cooked in simple spices that really brought out the best in their green beaniness.
After dinner I headed to the men's room to wash the rib sauce off my hands, and that's where I found a potentially fatal flaw. While you can't see who's in  any of the booths from most of the restaurant, you do have to parade past the lot of them to get to the stairs that lead down to the rest rooms. And a barbecue restaurant pretty much necessitates a hand-washing trip for anyone eating there, so the privacy play doesn't pan out. The one saving grace I noticed was that there appeared to be additional seating downstairs; if you can arrange that you might pull off a successful cheating-filled, and delicious, meal at the aptly-named Bandits' Grill & Bar.
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| chumwater |
| January 19, 2006 |
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