Hell’s Backbone Grill returns in 2023 with Powerhouse Team

Blake Spalding, Jen Castle, amara Stanger (Blake Peterson)

The ladies of Hell’s Backbone Grill will return for the 2023 season renewed, refreshed, with a new reservation system (thank you) and with a new team member! Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm Co-owners and Founding Chefs Blake Spalding and Jen Castle will be joined by Executive Chef Tamara Stanger (pictured, credit Blake Peterson). “We’re excited … Read more

Rooftop cocktails, African cuisine and a food hall – new restaurant highlights for March

Van Ryder - view from rooftop bar

Welcome back aboard the good ship new and notable, and frankly, what’s been a relative calm sea. The pace of openings over the past month has been more sedate than that prior,; though looking ahead, it still seems like we’re in for a buoyant year. So, hoist the mainsail and allow me to stop torturing … Read more

What’s new on Utah restaurant menus as we hit the weekend

Flanker - brunch fried chicken and waffles

Headed into the weekend and stuck for inspiration? Want to avoid all that cabbage and corned beef stuff? Look no further than our latest menu watch update – a roundup of everything notable hitting plates and glasses. Oh – you did want St Pats info too? O.k. scroll to the end for everything we know … Read more

Empanada fest coming to SLC next month

2023 Empanada Fest logo

It’s a surer sign of Spring than Punxsutawney Phil for my money. Nope, it’s not my trusty farmer’s almanac – it’s actually the increasing preponderance of food festival news hitting my desk. Any day now I’ll have the full lowdown on the full roster of events to keep an eye on this Spring and Summer … Read more

Chocolate and cheese festival hits SLC this weekend

Ritual Chocolate

After a lamented two year absence, this yearly festival of chocolate and cheese returns to the Natural History Museum this weekend. The two day celebration (Saturday March 11th and Sunday March 12th) starts 10.00 a.m. each day running through to 5.00 p.m. The event features tastings from nineteen different local businesses – offering everything from … Read more

The Utah meat collective – bridging the gap in meat education

Tom Wheatley - Utah Meat Collective

Tom Wheatley, founder of Utah Meat Collective, is on a mission to assist meat consumers on seeking out sustainable meat sources that stay true to traditional methods of butchery. Making a connection to the meat we consume through education is the main goal behind Utah Meat Collective. Bringing together the diverse group of farmers, chefs, … Read more

Want to open a bar in Utah this year? Maybe think again…

Pendry Park City - Apres Pendry bar seating

As reported today by Sean Means in the Tribune, efforts to stave off a total collapse of bar licensing in Utah, have now almost certainly failed. Despite year-long insistence that communication with law makers would help matters, it would appear we’re looking at Utah’s bar licensing conundrum go unaddressed for a further year. This year’s … Read more

101 Utah restaurant dishes to try this year

Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club - pulled pork sandwich

Sometimes it’s hard to see the woods for the trees. Or should that be gyro for the tzatziki. Feel free to insert your own edible idiom, then proceed onto this most mammoth of lists. Essentially a rough recap of the better plates of food that were placed before my greasy mitts in 2022. Stuck in … Read more

February’s DABS liquor meeting points to a challenging year ahead for Utah

Mar Muntanya interior bar counter

With all the headlines decrying a departing NBA’s labeling of Utah as boring – today’s DABS meeting left one feeling a better phrase might have been, dysfunctional. At least inasmuch in describing the current state of Utah’s stalled liquor policy. Highlighting the enormity of challenges businesses can expect to face this year, today’s DABS meeting … Read more

Restaurant menu updates and deals around Salt Lake City

Level Crossing Brewing - White Wine Salami pizza special (Level Crossing)

Level Crossing Brewing Hopefully that pizza pic grabbed your attention. It’s the latest effort from the crew over at Level Crossing Brewing and a tantalizing segue into this month’s menu watch – a look at what’s hitting menu board around Utah. The pizza is the current special over at the South Salt Lake brewer; who … Read more

Is Salt Lake City the next destination for the famous STK Steakhouse

Mishima Reserve American wagyu from Beltex Meats

Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles… Salt Lake City? Might the Beehive state capital be the next port of call for the ultra-hip STK Steakhouse? At least that’s what this permit application filed last week implies which lists STK Steakhouse as the client for, “A new restaurant in new building shell and interiors, with related site improvements … Read more

Two dozen new Utah restaurants opened over the past month

Adelaide Urban Brasserie - window seating

After a brisk start to the year in January, it’s heartening to see yet another strong month of restaurant openings across the state. In this latest roundup of openings across Utah, the total for the last thirty days or so comes in at a smidge under the two dozen mark. If we keep that cadence … Read more

The Local – Utah’s next big food hall is almost here

The Local Market + Bar - interior dining room

As with most culinary trends, it can often take time for big national movements to filter down o the streets of Utah. Food halls are a perfect example. For years we visited our big city cousins in NYC and San Fran and cooed at their fluid food spaces. We’d return home with tales of flexible … Read more

A unique new restaurant in downtown Salt Lake is set to debut

Xiao Bao Bao - pork bun

Here’s one you’ll want to keep a very close eye on, and one I’d been sworn to secrecy on. Until now. I’m giddy, you should be too. As you might recall then, 2022 ended with the sad news that Romina Rasmussen would be shuttering the doors to her iconic Les Madeleines bakery and cafe. Rasmussen … Read more

Utah cider makes national mark in Chicago

Elisabeth Osmeloski and Rio Connelly of Scion cider

It’s been a busy few weeks for local businesses receiving national kudos. January saw the Good Food Awards name checking two Utah makers, while theJames Beard Foundation followed in their footsteps recognizing seven more of our homegrown talents. For those always bemoaning Utah’s food and bev scene, I take great pleasure in recapping each and … Read more

Proposed Utah liquor law tweaks offer short term bar license fix

Stanza bar area

No sooner than I declare January’s liquor news a damp squib – Ben Winslow over at FOX13 drops this spicy preview of what we might expect from the 2023 omnibus liquor bill; the all singing, all dancing liquor legislation that will come into force this Summer. For some context, here’s what happened in 2022 and … Read more

Umi Shabu Shabu – an all you can eat extravaganza

Umi Shabu Shabu - buffet

All you can eat. Four simple words that have by now either instilled a sense of dread and terror, or perhaps, sent a surge of greedy endorphins rushing. Maybe both, we’re complex people after all. Should your tolerance for all things unlimited skew toward the insatiable – let me introduce you to the new Umi … Read more