Notoriously Delicious: A Full Day of Eating Off the Beaten Path in Ogden

Ogden is home to a growing number of fantastic local restaurants. There are classic 25th Street staples like Tona, Table Twenty Five, and Warrens Craft Burger. Expand your radius a bit further and you can include Slackwater, UTOG Brewing, and the Angry Goat. Each is an automatic recommendation for anyone visiting or new to town.

Where do you take your out-of-town friends to eat when they come to visit? You probably stop by at least one or two of the locations above, but there are many more fantastic restaurants beyond the usual suggestions. I wanted to come up with a full day of eating outside of the spots you typically think of when going out to eat in Ogden. They will keep you filled and fueled for your adventures throughout town and beyond!

If you’re anything like me you need to kick the day off with coffee. Luckily we have no shortage of locally owned coffee shops in Ogden. There is a shop for every preference but one I don’t hear people talk about often enough is Coffee Compound. Located conveniently north of 25th Street off Grant Avenue, Coffee Compound is owned by Yvette and Tony Torres and is a great place to get a convenient cup of coffee.

I prefer to keep it simple with a hot Americano or a drip coffee but they offer a wide variety of specialty drinks as well. Keep in mind - they offer both walk-in and drive-thru options but they don’t open until 7:30 AM.

Rosa’s Cafe keeps it simple and doing so lets them do what they do well. Their motto on the wall reads “Small place, small menu, BIG flavor!” and they couldn’t be more correct. Rosa’s is known for its homemade flour tortillas and chile, both chile verde and chile Colorado, and I assure you that you need to try both. (Note that both chiles have shredded pork so you’ll want to skip those if you’re vegetarian or vegan!)

Burritos are the specialty at Rosa’s because their flour tortillas are made fresh in-house every day. You can’t go wrong with a breakfast burrito; they’re the reason I would choose to start my full day of eating here. Rosa’s breakfast burritos are made with eggs, potatoes, a four cheese blend, and your choice of protein (bacon, ham, or chorizo), and you HAVE to smother your burrito with chile or you’re missing out.

After a hearty breakfast, I prefer something lighter for lunch and Lotus Cafe’s commitment to natural foods and clean eating means their menu is the perfect choice. Choose from satisfying smoothies, crisp salads, filling bowls, and fresh wraps and sandwiches. Almost all of their menu items are vegetarian as is but can be made vegan by leaving off an ingredient or two, or you can add a protein if you want a heartier meal.

I usually opt for the Turkey Avo sandwich or the Sweet Lotus salad. I love each crisp bite of the sandwich and the added kick of the pepperjack cheese is a nice touch. When it comes to the Sweet Lotus salad, I wasn’t much of a fruit-in-salad type of person when I was younger. However, Lotus Cafe does it right and the combination of apples, craisins, cashews, and avocado also creates an enticing texture combination.

I’ll spend my afternoon outdoors and working up an appetite, whether that’s mountain biking or paddleboarding in the summer and skiing in the winter, and then I’ll be ready for a delicious dinner at Kesari Indian Kitchen. This newer addition took over the old Even Stevens location and brought a much-needed blast of flavor to the Ogden food scene.

I guarantee you that one meal at Kesari Indian Kitchen will not be enough; once you try it you’ll want to come back and experience their other signature meals. Their chicken tikka and paneer butter masala are two can’t-miss dishes that pair perfectly with their garlic naan. If you haven’t tried Indian food before, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not stopping at Kesari Indian Kitchen for your next night out.

I have a crippling sweet tooth and have to cap my full day of eating in Ogden off with a stop at La Crepe OG. This spot serves sweet and savory crepes, paninis, french toast, smoothies, coffee, and milkshakes. They’re as much about presentation as they are flavor and as soon as you finish posting a picture of your dessert to your Instagram story you’ll be rewarded once you dig in.

Their milkshakes are some of my favorites and are essentially the dessert version of a Bloody Mary; a beverage decorated with an assortment of snacks. My go-to is usually the cookie dough or Reese’s shake, but I’ve been known to try a banana split shake here and there, too. Their desserts are MASSIVE and easily shared, even if you enjoy sweets.

Whether you opt for one or all of these restaurants, they are only a few of the many incredible options for food in Ogden. The food scene continues growing as local Ogdenites add their unique offerings to our already delectable town-wide menu. Next time you’re out and about, consider trying one of the options above and let us know what you think!