Thyme and Seasons
I recently discovered the most unusual restaurant I’ve ever
heard of: Thyme and Seasons in Bountiful.
If you’re looking for a sophisticated or elegant place with linen
tablecloths and well-established fame, this place is not for you.
Thyme and Seasons is totally funky, completely the opposite
of fancy. Half the room is a bare-bones
restaurant but the other half is a warehouse storing his goods. As I entered and scanned the place, I couldn’t
believe my eyes and struggled to suppress a laugh of surprise and wonder.
They don’t have a menu or post prices. There is only a board listing the meats and
main vegetables in stock that day. Thyme
and Seasons only cooks with foods that are in their peak of the particular
season, all kinds of vegetables and fruits alongside steaks, chicken and seafood. In fact, they specialize in seafood, a great
variety, but only what is the best that month, the freshest that can be found. The owner doesn’t have his produce brought in
by delivery truck either; he goes to the producers himself, hand-picking his
ingredients. He also grows much of his
produce in his own garden.
The owner, Hai Fitzgerald (pronounced “Hi”), is just as
interesting as his restaurant. He was
born in Vietnam in 1962 and adopted by the American GI who married his mother. At age 13, he came to the United States to
escape the war and have access to a better life. He graduated from high school and got a
degree in computer science. Then he traveled all over the country doing a
variety of high-level IT projects. Hai was
assigned to a short-term project at the IRS center in Ogden, but he fell in
love with the area, joined the LDS Church and made his short-term stay
permanent.
Having grown all his own food as a youth in Vietnam and
having an exposure to Asian, European and American foods, he loved to cook and
always dreamed of owning a restaurant. In
2008 he put away his computer, put on a chef’s jacket and opened Thyme and
Seasons.
To determine your meal, Chef Hai interviews you. He asks what your tastes are: Do you prefer
sweet or savory? Spicy or mild? What kind of meat do you like? If seafood, what kind is your favorite? Then he goes back and crafts a custom meal
according to your answers and what he has in stock. No two dishes he serves are the same.
My meal consisted of fish called “walu” with a mustard sauce
and a beet and kale salad accompanied by a bowl of red rice. My wife ate curry chicken with butternut
squash sauce. For desert, Hai brought
out flourless Belgian chocolate cupcakes.
It was all outstanding.
Chef Hai also sells his own spice blends out of his store
and on Amazon. That accounts for the
large warehouse on one side of the room.
He also teaches cooking classes featuring grilling, baking, stir-frying,
pastry making and sauce making.
Thyme and Seasons doesn’t advertise; they don’t need to,
keeping plenty busy just by word of mouth.
They don’t even have a website, only a Facebook page. Hai delights in telling about his world-wide
clientele by showing two fat albums of paper currency from countries all over
the world, given to him by customers.
Eating at Thyme and Seasons and meeting Chef Hai was a
singular experience in my culinary adventures.
We’ll be back.
3211 Orchard Dr.
Bountiful, Utah
84010
801-294-4099
Mon-Sat 11:00 AM -
9:00 PM
