Monte, the South Salt Lake fine-dining restaurant that was just awarded a Michelin star, is booked out for the next three months.

To get a reservation, you have to be incredibly lucky. Or, in my case, someone cancels and you get an email that they can fit you in that same night.

I’m The Salt Lake Tribune’s food reporter, not a restaurant critic. I report on food news and don’t like to put a lot of opinions out there.

And I’m a stranger to the type of food that includes a lot of foam and tweezer work. You’re more likely to catch me eating a messy sandwich or burger, or noodles that must be slurped, not anything super delicate.

But in the case of Monte (2245 S. West Temple), I felt like it was time to conquer my imposter syndrome and write an honest review of the restaurant.

My verdict of the evening: It was a cool experience, required dining for anyone who loves food, even if the proteins on the menu missed the mark for me.

‘Do I eat them too?’

At Monte, you can partake in the short tasting menu or the long tasting menu. The short is made up of eight courses; the long has 10.

I opted for the long menu, which cost about $200 before gratuity. The Salt Lake Tribune paid for the meal.

My server Jake told me at the beginning of the meal that 80% to 85% of the menu is sourced in Utah, and that chef Martin Babio gets a lot of his creativity from the Utah landscape.

The first course was an amuse-bouche that was a spoonful of beet meringue on a smear of goat cheese topped with a small amount of sturgeon caviar. I went in thinking it was going to be sweet because it was a pink meringue, but it was savory, which was a surprise. I thought it was a whimsical start to the meal, even if I ended up not tasting the caviar.

The next course was a dish called Walk Through the Forest that I thought was fun and interactive. Meant to mimic a forest floor, it was brioche breadcrumb and maitake mushroom “soil” with a bit of leek ash, a maitake mushroom cracker on top of hummus, a good amount of sauteed mushrooms, and fresh pea shoots.

I enjoyed pulling the leaves of the pea shoots aside to discover more still-warm mushrooms ready to be eaten.

Pretty soon, though, the glass vessel that held the food was full of nothing but curly pea shoots, and that made me panic a little. “Do I eat them too?” I wondered.

Server Jake assured me that everything on the plate was meant to be edible, including the pea shoots. I picked up some of the green leafy threads and got them into my mouth as gracefully as I could, and was happy to discover they tasted like peas straight from the pod.

The next course was my favorite of the night: an heirloom tomato salad with several kinds of fresh herbs, cherry tomato sauce, tarragon aioli, tomato water gel, shaved fennel, sunflower petal, green herb oil and balsamic vinegar.

The salad was like a game of “How many things can we pair with a fresh tomato to make it even more delicious?” But I thought the tomato gel was extraneous and a little too sweet.

After a bread course came trout ceviche, with a leche de tigre made with yellow Peruvian pepper, serrano pepper and lime juice. Wow, that sauce was so good, but the trout itself was the first miss of the night.

Cut into long thin strips, the pink, fleshy fish resembled earthworms, and I couldn’t get that image out of my head as I chewed, even if the flavor was great.

The poached trout was another miss for me. I loved the lightly grilled squash blossom filled with sheep’s cheese that came alongside, but the trout itself lacked flavor and was a bit dry for being poached.

The pasta course of house-made ravioli didn’t hit the mark either, and I thought its filling of chicken and ricotta was bland. The cheese foam on top seemed technically showy but didn’t add anything to the flavors.

The tom kha-inspired sauce that was poured into the bowl was the flavor of the night, though, made with ginger, galangal, lemongrass, lime, green onion and shallot. The combination of gingery with citrusy was so bright and tangy and lovely.

Next was the main protein of the meal: coffee-cured venison on top of a black truffle potato puree, with a roasted red pepper sauce, pea and spinach puree and a venison demi-glace.

This dish had a lot going on, but I thought the truffle overpowered all of the other flavors. I would’ve happily traded truffle flavor for some coffee flavor, not to mention the venison was too rare for me. I loved the roasted red pepper sauce though.

To finish, there were two dessert courses, the first being a pre-dessert (yes please, warm me up for more dessert) of a slice of cheesecake made with blue and Roquefort cheeses.

Covered in multi-colored rose petals and drizzled with honey, this “pre-dessert” looked like something a fairy queen would eat for breakfast. I thought the funk of the cheesecake and the sweetness of the honey were a great combination.

Dessert itself came in a white egg-shaped vessel with a lid that I lifted off to reveal a scoop of cauliflower gelato on top of a peanut crumble, with a touch of lemon gel and rose petals on top.

Thankfully, the gelato didn’t taste like vegetables, and instead tasted like almonds. The texture of the peanut crumble went well with the creamy gelato, and the lemon gel pulled it all together.

Final thoughts

I think Monte is doing some really special things, and it’s clear that Babio puts a lot of care and love into his food. I’d eat at the restaurant again for the sake of surprise and discovery; I’d just wait a bit for the menu to change.

Like I said, the proteins could’ve used some zhuzh and thought as far as texture, but for the most part, the flavors were there.

And maybe lose the foam.