Nineteen Utah restaurants and two bars given green light for liquor licenses this month

October’s DABS meeting was a relatively brief one, but not without a few interesting highlights. Here are the key details from this months session:

Bars

Eleven bar licenses were available in the state entering the month, with two bars receiving the thumbs up:

• Last Call Sports Bar & Grill, Springville
• 2 Row Brewing, Midvale

The following operations are expected in the months ahead, their respective planned opening dates detailed too:

• Etta Place Cidery, Torrey, November
• El Moab Hotel, Moab, November
• Neptune’s Palace, Salt Lake City, November
• Marquis, Park City, November
• Aker Restaurant and Lounge, Salt Lake City, December
• Thieves Guild, Salt Lake City, January 2024
• Repeal, Salt Lake City, January 2024

Full service restaurant licenses (beer, wine, liquor)

Thirty one full service licenses were available in the state of Utah at the start of October’s meeting. Five restaurants were ready to open – all received their licenses without fuss:

• Canyon Steak and Waffle, Moab
• The Notch Pub, Kamas
• Yoko Taco, Salt Lake City
• 11Hauz, Park City
• Hash Kitchen, Draper

In a curious move however, they weren’t the only ones. Flying in the face of months of precedent and process – the commission ripped up the playbook and awarded licenses to several businesses not quite over the finishing line. Commissioner Thomas Jacobsen was the sole dissenter to a successful motion that subsequently saw the following also receive their licenses:

• WildFin American Grill, Farmington
• STK Steakhouse, Salt Lake City
• Scelto, Salt Lake City
• Bartolo’s, Farmington

This gung-ho approach was driven by a predicted doubling of available licenses in this category come next month. It’s renewal season for licensees, and based off expected data, we might see North of sixty full service licenses in November’s meeting. Still. It was an unexpected moment, going against month upon month of precedent and instruction to applicants.

Three more full service restaurants are on the books right now for the months ahead as follows:

• Piko Mexican Grill, Salt Lake City, December
• Root’d Cafe, Riverton, December
• Tip Top Club, Salt Lake City, January 2024

In other news, Under Canvas (Widtsoe) was approved to change to a Summer seasonal license and 98 Center (Moab) was approved for an extended closure, due to extensive ongoing renovations and delays. Lastly liquor license change of ownerships were approved for El Habanero (Magna) and Zest Kitchen & Bar (Salt Lake City).

Limited service restaurant license (beer, wine)

The following six restaurants all received limited service licenses. No data was given on the number of limited licenses remaining:

• Happy Lamb Hot Pot, Murray
• Magleby’s, Springville
• Canyon Smokehouse, Bluff
• Bombay Palace, Murray
• Red Fort, La Verkin
• Heber Hub, Heber City

Crepes & Coffee, (Garden City) switched to a Summer seasonal license while the license for YellowFinn (Salt Lake City) was approved for a change of ownership.

Other notes

Rosales Mexican Food (Brian Head) and Hacienda Mexican Grill (Salt Lake City) both received a beer only restaurant license while Top of Main Brewery (Park City) received both a manufacturing license and Type 5 package agency license.

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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.