Tastemakers 2017 – crowd
In less than a month’s time, Salt Lake Magazine’s annual Tastemakers bash returns to downtown SLC. Now into its eighth year running, this years celebration of food and drink will be held once again at The Gateway. This years event runs on June 14th and 15th, 5.00-10.00 p.m. both nights, mark your diaries now.
If you’re new to this event (scroll to the bottom to see pics from 2017), here’s a quick synopsis of the two day affair:
The Pavilion
The main attraction is held in the center of The Gateway al fresco. You wander from restaurant to producer, tasting a bite here and a sample there. Rinse/repeat until you’ve tasted the lot. Each time you stop and taste, the restaurant will mark this off on your Tastemakers badge. The Pavilion also features outdoor seating, a cash bar and live music.
Pro tip: get to the event as early as you possibly can, because everyone else does too; and in my own past experiences vendors these means vendors can sometimes run out of food earlier than they’d planned for.
The Tasting Tour Bus
Starting at the South side of The Gateway, the Tasting Tour Bus runs in a loop around certain downtown restaurants – New Yorker, Spencer’s, Finca, Ruth’s Chris etc – and passes each location every 15 minutes. The idea is to hop on, hop off, and enjoy a casual restaurant crawl on wheels, at your own pace. You can’t take drinks on the bus, but each restaurant will offer guests alcohol to purchase while they’re tasting. Again, each restaurant will mark your pass once you’ve tasted what they’ve got. And if you want to linger longer and order from their regular menu, they’ll be more than happy to have you in my experience too.
VIP Lounge
If you stump up some more cash you can grab yourself a VIP ticket. This grants you access to another 15 tastings in a separated VIP area. Pro tip: this is indoors and AC-cooled, so if the Summer sun is out to play, it can make for a handy respite. VIP guests also enjoy a private terrace and lounge area overlooking the festival, exclusive craft cocktails and private bathrooms. The VIP pass includes 5 free drinks too.
The general pass is priced $45 and the VIP pass (including access to the extra tastings, lounge and 5 drink tickets) is $85. In my experience, I’d definitely go with the VIP pass. The calmer break from the crowds and drink tickets more than make the extra $40 splurge worth it. Tickets can be purchased online at tastemakersutah.com.
Salt Lake Magazine's Tastemakers 2018 from Salt Lake Magazine on Vimeo.
Participating businesses for 2018 include:
FAV Bistro
Jafflz
Pig and a Jelly Jar
Martine
Park City Culinary Institute
Redstone Olive Oil
Rodizio Grill
Ruby Snap
Stone Ground Italian Kitchen
Texas De Brazil
We Olive
Yoshi’s Japanese Grill
Alpha Coffee
Beehive Cheese Co.
Creminelli Fine Meats
Del Mar Al Lago
Beltex Meats
Blue Lemon
Distillery 36
Dented Brick Distillery
Dough Co | The Garage
Harbor Seafood and Steak
Kid Curry| Flemmings
New World Distillery
Provisions | Ruin
Sugar House Distillery
Talisman Brewing Co.
Waterpocket Distillery
Rio Grande
Finca
Squatters
Market Street Grill
New Yorker
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Spencer’s Steak House
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to KidsEat Utah. Here are some shots of the Tastemakers 2017
Tastemakers 2017 – VIP food R and R sign
Tastemakers 2017 – VIP food R and R tacos
Tastemakers 2017 – VIP food RnR tacos
Tastemakers 2017 – Cache Toffee
Tastemakers 2017 – VIP food
Tastemakers 2017 – The Chocolate Conspiracy
Tastemakers 2017 – cuisine
Tastemakers 2017 – cuisine plated
Tastemakers 2017 – caprese
Tastemakers 2017 – Park City Culinary Institute
Tastemakers 2017 – plate of food
Tastemakers 2017 – more VIP food
Tastemakers 2017 – Liam Connelly of Proper Brewing
Tastemakers 2017 – VIP wine selection
Tastemakers 2017 – VIP cocktails
Tastemakers 2017 – more VIP wine from Vine Lore
Tastemakers 2017 – food, crowd, sun setting
Tastemakers 2017 – crowd, sun setting
Tastemakers 2017 – looking down on whole event
Disclosure: I usually receive free tickets to the event from Salt Lake Magazine to cover this event each year.
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV. Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.
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