Two new updates on Sugar House’s rapidly evolving Highland Drive

Another week, and another refresh of the central Sugar House food and drink scene. With the exhausting roadworks along Highland Drive quickly becoming a distant memory (ok, let’s just pretend folks) the central Sugar House thoroughfare continues to evolve.

To remind you, Sugar House Station opened in March, with Hearth and Hill arriving quickly on their heels just a week or so later (hint: try the laksa). I should also note Taste Of Thai is another relative newcomer (2130 Highland Dr) who opened late last year, and are rather darned excellent too. Next up…

Hill’s Kitchen

Sister-cafe to the adjoining Hearth and Hill, this new spot (2188 Highland Dr) has quite a lot up its sleeves. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week – much like the Park City original – the business seeks to be a community hub, fit for myriad occasions. I’d say that’s a slam dunk given the expansive, all weather patio that anchors the spot to the North.

The restaurant occupies a ground floor spot in the previously ill-fated Sugar Alley apartment complex, that suffered extensive fire damage in 2023. It’s remarkable that the building has risen phoenix like in the intervening 24 months. At a ribbon cutting event, SLC Mayor Erin Mendenhall recalled the ashes from the event landing on her property, and how the Kirchheimer family (owners of Hearth Hill, Hill’s Kitchen, Urban Hill) were one of the first on the phone, restating their commitment to the location come what may.

Local residents will be happy they did. Hill’s Kitchen menu seeks to be as flexible as possible. Grab and go pastries, to fully plated breakfasts in the morning. Ample seating in and out for a coffee and email catchup during the day sandwiches, salads, larger entrees, frozen meals to heat at home – even custom made cakes – all part of an extensive package for a booming residential mix.

Corner Brew Pub

Taking the baton from their recently opened Squatters Corner Pub in West Valley City, Salt Lake Brewing Co have refreshed their popular location in Sugar House. What was formerly Wasatch will now be known as Corner Brew Pub.

Speaking with Rick Seven of SLCBO, he highlighted the “new tap handle sign which we hope becomes part of the iconic signs in Sugar House. With the revitalization of Sugar House, road construction finishing, new business coming in after so many have left, apartments opening, we wanted to re-brand to better reflect us being the neighborhood Sugar House brew pub.

Seven continues, “Only our name has changed, everything else has stayed the same. We still have the same local ownership, same great management and staff serving the same menu of delicious food and our tasty local Salt Lake Brewing Co. and Top of Main Beers (along with some Squatters and Wasatch beers). And of course, the same killer patio. We will be slowly revitalizing the interior décor as well.”

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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.