Frankie And Essls
It’s been a couple of months since this excellent breakfast sandwich shop suffered a flooding disaster that shuttered their SLC location (490 E 1300 S). While the business intially indicated it hoped to return quickly, this week saw a formal closure announced on Instagram. The post from the business reads:
“With a heavy heart, we are announcing that we will not be reopening. Frankie & Essl’s was built out of a love for you and all your wonderful idiosyncrasies, it’s why we even included you in the name (E.S.S.L Egg Sandwiches Salt Lake). It’s unfortunate that the store’s ending happened the way it did, but hey, you can’t control everything. We thank you for allowing us to be a part of your community. We’re grateful we were able to work alongside such a wonderful crew, especially our manager, Michele, who was with us before the doors even opened and deserves all the credit for the aioli and sausage egg and cheese you have all come to love. As well as with the best vendors, especially our partnership with @labarbacoffee and @eats_bakery who each took the time to help us elevate the customer experience, along with many other local bakers and makers. And lastly, we thank all our customers, especially our regulars who have been with us from the very beginning, it was you who kept us going during the new days, the slow days, and the hard days.
Salt Lake, we thank you, we love you, and we hope that you strive to help small businesses succeed in this ever challenging environment.”
The resaurant opened in 2023 and was often lauded as one of the best, if not THE best breakfast sandwich shop in the city. Pictured top is one of their sandwiches, image courtesy of the always fabulous Salt Plate City. Here’s my colleague Lydia Martinez waxing lyrical on their efforts over the in SL Mag.
The RUIN
Another fine name, and also recently calling it quits over on Instagram. The post reads:
We’re grateful for this community. To everyone who has walked through our doors and shared part of your journey with us, thank you. This isn’t farewell; we’re excited to create something new for SLC in the coming months. The Ruin has been a passion project for us, but sometimes shaking shit up and exploring new ideas is essential. We look forward to reconnecting soon. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your support over the past decade. Our last day is after service, April 5th. Be sure to swing in, say hello, and say goodbye.
The RUIN initially sprang to life in Sugar House along Wilmington Avenue, quickly becoming known as one of the better cocktail options in the city. A move to downtown SLC’s Main Street (159 S Main St) followed in recent years, the bar most recently hosting a series of popups from the likes of chef Kevin Finch, and the talented Nohm / Remora / Water Witch team. Per the businesses signoff, it sounds like we’ve not heard the last from them though…
Wasatch / Squatters @ 300 W
This week also saw the annoucement that the production facilities, tap room, and beer store of Wasatch/Squatters (1763 S 300 W) will close in May. The company announced the news on socials writing:
“Honoring our legacy, brewing for the future. Sister breweries, Squatters & Wasatch are making a move to grow distribution and bring you great beer throughout Utah and beyond. To support our plans, we will not renew the lease on our Salt Lake City brewery, taproom and beer store and will close at the end of May with production transitioning within our brewery network.
Rest assured; your favorite Squatters & Wasatch beers will remain available throughout our forever home state of Utah! Come raise a glass with us before May 23rd, when we will say goodbye to 1763 S. 300 W.”
To confirm this does not affect brewpub locations in town. Indeed, if you missed the news back in 2023, the likes of the downtown Squatters brewpub and Sugar House’s Wasatch are now ran and owned by Salt Lake Brewing Company. At the risk of repeating myself ad infinitum, be sure to read this story which explains the full story.
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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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