Dining out: Culver's fast food is far from ordinary

A few years ago, we took a driving trip to Chicago for a family reunion.

Heading back across the state toward Iowa, we passed through miles and miles of beautiful Illinois farm country, just about as green and fecund and lovely as you've ever pictured in your mind.

And every few miles, there was a billboard with a huge, gorgeous hamburger piled high with toppings, or a luscious, dew-beaded shake. "Frozen custard," the signs read. "ButterBurgers."

Finally, I couldn't stand it, and we pulled off the highway to have a ButterBurger and some custard ourselves. That was my first trip to Culver's.

And now, thanks to a Culver's opening in my own town, it doesn't have to be my last.

A trip to the Midvale Culver's won't be nearly as picturesque as a drive through the Midwestern countryside — it's west of I-15 in a WinCo parking lot.

But diners will get plenty of brisk Midwestern service — many of the store's managers are Culver's veterans imported from Wisconsin. And the food? I'm not going to lie: it's fast food, at fast-food prices. But with high-quality, never-frozen beef, toasted buns spread with butter and a whole menu of custard delights, it's fast food that's quite a distance from ordinary.

My husband and I joined our friends Brady and Carla for dinner at Culver's, and though I was excited to eat another ButterBurger, I was temporarily diverted by the "Favorites" side of the menu, which includes various chicken entrees, fish, a pork tenderloin (signature sandwich of the Midwest, by the way) and, most temptingly of all, the pot roast sandwich.

My mouth watered as I heard a Culver's staff member tell a customer the pot roast is an actual roast, slow-cooked and hand-shredded. But I remembered the excellence of that first ButterBurger and focused, eventually straying just a little off the burger path with my Wisconsin Swiss melt.

A twist on the regular patty melt, this sandwich featured crispy toasted wheat bread layered with tons of sweet grilled red onions, nippy Swiss cheese and a nicely seared beef patty. That was it; but the quality of the ingredients and care of preparation were obvious.

Rather than combo meals, Culver's guests can construct "value baskets" of any entree item, one of eight sides and a drink. The sides are a nice selection — everything from fries and soup of the day to coleslaw and seasoned green beans.

There also are meals, complete with dinner roll and sides, that you'd expect to see at a diner: butterfly shrimp, chopped steak, fried chicken.