Lots of tasty variety at City Creek Food Court Center

This past week, while my children were enjoying a day off from school, we decided to visit an eating spot I'd been hearing about but hadn't yet experienced.

It's hopping every lunchtime, serving up old favorites alongside some invigoratingly creative food. And, depending on where you park, you can watch 'em remake downtown on the way to and from your car.

That's right — I'm talking about the City Creek Center Food Court.

Now before you laugh me off as a fast food-lovin' fool, hear me out.

First of all, I do love fast food — the good stuff, that is. And this food court has some nice surprises for grown-ups, while the kids can still get their nuggets, apple dippers and chocolate milk at McDonald's.

I'm not sure if all of the vendors are in at City Creek, but I did spot some familiar faces from the old ZCMI Center food court: the aforementioned Mickey D's, Sbarro, Great Steak and local Chinese-lunch favorite Chang Chun.

But one difference between food courts then and now is that, while the din at lunchtime is similarly raucous, the vendors aren't jammed together so thickly that customers can barely get around.

Instead, multiple skylights and what will eventually be outdoor views make things nice and bright, and subdued, fade-into-the-background décor lets the eateries take center stage.

I thought there was a nice balance between traditional fast food like Subway and more unusual places, like local smoothie chain Roxberry Juice. As my husband put it, "All it needs is a Chick-fil-A."

Our kids ate at Sbarro, long one of my food-court faves for its delectably sinful spinach and cheese calzone. Three kids divided up two generous portions of spaghetti with big, nicely seasoned meatballs and tangy red sauce; while our third daughter, ever the outlier, went with Sbarro's crisp-crusted pepperoni pizza; spicy, cheesy and sprinkled with herbs.

Just to be thorough, we all shared a plate of green bean chicken with fried rice, noodles and an egg roll from Suki Hana. For something pre-made and kept warm in a chafing dish, it was well flavored and full of nice, greeny-bitter beans, though the texture of the chicken is almost bound to suffer with this serving method. The plain and simple fried rice and noodles with veggies were a good, if starchy, accompaniment; while the egg roll was average but tasty.