Hey look ma – we’re in the paper

Some big news today, so allow me if you will, to blow my own proverbial trumpet very briefly. Starting this week, Gastronomic SLC has entered into a content sharing partnership with the Salt Lake Tribune. Under this agreement you might see some of the stories published on this website appear online at the Salt Lake Tribune’s website. Sometimes one might end up in print too.

What, when and how our content appears over at the Trib is ultimately down to the hard working folks over at their Gateway offices; all furiously chain smoking and banging on desks, shouting about deadlines no doubt (how I imagine a real news office works). At my side nothing changes, apart from more of the same, which is to say one man’s written account of his own calorific intake in myopic detail. Actually, last year we started to build a bigger, more balanced writing team, and as well as my own writing you might see articles from a cast of local food experts too.

Those old and grizzled enough might recall I once had a stint as part of the freelance restaurant writing team at the Trib, and a very fun five years that was. Sadly, I had to turn in my badge and gun fork once yours truly became a bit too well known.

If you’re new to the site, welcome aboard and what took you fifteen years (how long I’ve been banging away on this keyboard); and if you’re a veteran reader, wow, you’re still reading huh? Thanks to one and all, here’s the Trib’s announcement earlier today.

. . .

Dear Eater:

Hello, it’s Sean P. Means, culture editor at The Salt Lake Tribune. I’m interrupting our guest columnist rotation this week to tell you some exciting news about Utah Eats.

The Tribune is partnering with one of Utah’s best food websites, Gastronomic SLC.

Under our agreement, The Tribune will share stories from Gastronomic SLC on sltrib.com and elsewhere, and Gastronomic SLC may publish Tribune videos and photos, if it likes.

To borrow a word popular in restaurants, this is an exciting pairing. Gastronomic SLC has been a go-to site for Utah eaters, and its creator/writer, Stuart Melling, is more knowledgeable about the Utah restaurant and bar scene than anybody working today. (Stuart also once graced the pages of The Tribune as a restaurant critic.)

We’ll continue to offer original Utah Eats reporting, just as we have for years. And by partnering with Gastronomic SLC, Utah Eats will offer you more information about Utah’s food and drink scene — more openings, more closings, and more insight into the people who create the menus, cook the food and serve the drinks.

Stealing a line from my favorite movie, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

If you have any tips or questions about what’s happening in Utah’s restaurants, cafes, bars, grocery stores or anywhere else food and beverages are being sold, drop me a note at spmeans@sltrib.com. 

Cheers! 

Sean P. Means
Culture editor,
The Salt Lake Tribune

. . .

One last thing – if you’re new to the website, here are some of my favorite pieces from last year, an idea of what you can expect on the site throughout the year.

• 160 restaurants opened anew last year – how many did you try?
• A first look at the fabulous Urban Hill
• The Pearl in Central 9th – an instant classic
• Chili crisp 101, what you need to know
• The best steak I ate in Utah all year long
• English pasties come to SLC at the Dough Miner
• Let’s bid farewell to this dining list of dont’s
• Dos Olas – a look at this top notch Mexican restaurant

Other useful links

• Free newsletter – signup and receive our weekly newsletter for free
• Food talk group – chew the fat with other like-minded Utah foodies over on Facebook.
• Best of SLC 2024 – what you can’t miss in the Beehive right now.

Stuart Melling

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.