Table talk

Market Street Grill and Oyster Bar restaurants are hosting their annual Crab Festival through February. The restaurants are serving five kinds of crab (Dungeness, Alaska king, snow, rock, lump) nearly two dozen different ways.

Menu items include Maryland lump crab cakes, crab ravioli, crab-stuffed mushrooms and crab legs. The company's fresh fish markets also offer a free brochure and favorite crab recipes. The crab menu is offered at all Market Street and Oyster bar locations — downtown, University, South Jordan and Cottonwood.

Bambara, 202 S. Main, last week began serving a new "World of Flavors" menu developed by Dave Jones, who became executive chef last fall. Jones drew inspiration from Asian, Southwestern, Rocky Mountain, Low Country, Pacific Rim and other regional cooking styles.

Items include sesame-crusted ahi tuna with bamboo rice cake; grilled Angus New York steak with roasted corn-potato puree, ancho chili and coffee demi-glace; scallops with carrot chips, chervil and Meyer lemon sauce; and juniper-smoked elk carpaccio.

Popular favorites that will remain on the menu include blue cheese house-cut potato chips and roasted corn bisque.

Jones was a corporate chef at SYSCO Intermountain Foods, was executive chef for 10 years at Log Haven and served 11 years as executive chef at the Pasatiempo Country Club in Monterey, Calif. (363-5454 or www.bambara-slc.com).

Harmons grocery stores recently awarded Phillip Harrison of West Jordan the grand prize in Harmon's Choice Beef Recipe Contest. For his recipe, Strip Steaks with Blue Cheese Pasta, Harrison received $300 worth of USDA Choice Angus Beef and a barbecue grill.

The purpose of the contest was to help launch the stores' offering of Choice Angus beef in its meat counters. Individual store winners each received $100 in Choice Angus Beef. They were Kathy Soffe of Provo, Christine P. Bare of Ogden and Rachel McFarland of Kaysville. Here's Harrison's winning recipe:

STRIP STEAKS WITH BLUE CHEESE PASTA

4 slices of bacon

4 8-ounce New York strip steaks

Coarsely ground salt

Coarsely ground pepper

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound of spaghetti