Cajun Boil
Laissez les bons temps rouler – as the doors on this new seafood boil business in downtown SLC are now open. The menu offers something for everyone, even those who don’t want to get their hands messy. Fried baskets start the menu which runs right through to build your own seafood boils and combo plates. If you do want to get dextrous with your dinner, selections and prices run the whole oceanic spectrum starting at $7 per pound for clams, up to $42 per pound for king crab.
618 E 400 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
(385) 252-6666
cajunboilutah.com
Coffee Mama
Slotting into the vacant unit left behind by Dough Co in Sugar House is this new coffee house that specializies, “in dark roast pour-over coffees.”
2121 S McClelland St, Salt Lake City, 84106
coffeemamaslc.com
Del Barrio Cafe
Now open in the former Mekong Cafe spot in Midvale, this brand new taqueria. The menu features the currently in vogue birria tacos (three for $11.99) as well as old classics like al pastor (3 for $10.49) and fish tacos (pictured top of page). Burritos, quesadillas and nachos round out proceedings.
7777 S State St, Midvale, UT 84047
(801) 902-9971
delbarriocafe.business.site
Electric Alley Sliders
Brand new inside Ogden’s The Yes Hell bar, this slider based business tentatively welcoming customers in soft opening mode right now. Nick Jones and Pat Bashō (former Red Iguana) are the names behind the operation which offers perfectly pub paired sliders; starting from around five bucks a formal grand opening is slated for October.
2430 Grant Ave, Ogden, UT 84401
facebook.com/ElectricAlleySliders/
Love N.T.
Fox 13 has all the details on this new North Temple (N.T. get it) eatery that hopes to help rejuvenate the area. LNT operates out of a former Wienerschnitzel building notable for their angular lines. The restaurant opens up at 7 a.m. most days with an affordable menu. Given the previous tenants of this location, the restaurant also offers drive thru too.
805 W North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84116
(801) 931-9576
Mercantile Cafe
Dishing Park City has the scoop on this modest new cafe on Park City’s Main Street. Packed into an efficient 100 square feet the cafe features a number of local products such as Normal Ice Cream and Vosen’s Bread Paradise.
523 Main St, Park City, UT 84060
(435) 631-0925
Moge Tee / Croffle House
The doors are open at his duo of concepts recently launched for the first time in SLC. Moge is a national chain that offers a broad and eclectic range of Asian teas such as cheese tea, tofu pudding and yogurt avocado tea. Perhaps the most noteworthy item though is the arrival of Utah’s first croffle. Huh? Here’s the info from the business on this new sweet treat:
The CROFFLE is a soft, buttery, and layered croissant toasted to a caramelized, honeycomb crispiness in a waffle iron before it’s dressed in either a sweet or savory manner. The initial menu launch will consist of 3 sweet CROFFLE flavors: Strawberry, Mango, Grape and 2 savory flavors: Nutella Almond and Triple Cheddar Bacon.
535 N 300 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84103
(347) 705-2136
mogeteeusa.com
Offset Bier
Scant information so far on this new brewery up in Park City. Back in Spring KPCW ran this half hour interview with owners Conor Brown and Patrick Bourque, co-owners and brewers. The doors are now open to the public and you can see what’s on taps here.
1755 Bonanza Dr Unit C, Park City, UT
(435) 659-7517
offsetbier.com
Salt City BBQ
It’s unclear to me *how* new this one is, but it recently popped up in a variety of places such as Yelp and Google Business as “new”. Anyway, check out the menu of this food truck, which offers a new option for smoked meats along the Wasatch. The owner’s of this one also run the fire fueled Pitmaster Podcast too.
facebook.com/saltcitybarbecue/
Tiger Sugar
Utah’s first location of this buzzy national chain is now open in SoSL’s China town. Tiger Sugar offers a visually arresting twist on boba drinks, the popular Taiwanese dessert drink. On their signature concoction the brand writes:
Tiger Sugar is the original caramelized brown sugar bubble drink with fresh mousse cream. Our dessert drink originated in Taiwan and has become an international sensation thanks to the unique “tiger stripes” created by our hand-poured syrups.
Many companies have tried to imitate our drinks, but nothing compares to our proprietary 8-hour method for cooking our syrups and tapioca pearls. The result is a perfect blend of tea, milk, and syrup featuring our one-of-a-kind stripes.
If social media is anything to go by, Utahns are already lining up in their droves to sample this one.
3390 S State St, South Salt Lake, UT 84115
(385) 418-7128
tigersugarec.com
Wild Ember BBQ
Wild Ember is a popup concept from tupelo chef Matt Harris. The menu is offered exclusively to guests of the St. Regis’ Snow Park Residences. If you’re luck to find yourself there in the upcoming weeks, here’s the full press release on what to expect:
The latest venture from the renowned Chef Matt Harris, Wild Ember BBQ combines the chef’s fine-dining background with the deep flavors of his Southern roots for a unique pop-up style dining experience. The upscale smokehouse concept begins offering curbside and catering services at The Snow Park Residences at The St. Regis Deer Valley
Designed to fuel a handful of friends or feed a large crowd, the Wild Ember BBQ menu highlights the seasonality of local agriculture while providing thoughtful vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Southern classics with surprising nuances abound with starters and sides like deviled eggs, jalapeño cornbread fritters, collard greens and passion fruit baked beans. Locally sourced meats, such as pulled Berkshire pork, smoked chicken, smoked elk sausage, Berkshire pork ribs and beef tri-tip are available by the portion, thoughtfully paired with housemade signature sauces like Cherry Ancho or Whiskey Peach. Sweet treats include decadent triple chocolate brownies, Rice Krispie cookies and Wasatch Creamery ice cream.
Curbside and catering services are available Wednesday – Saturday, 4 – 8 p.m. at the pop up location at The Snow Park Residences at The St. Regis Deer Valley beginning Wednesday, September 15 Although there is no dining room or seating available at this time, there are future plans for a brick-and-mortar location. For more information, a full menu, and to order online, visit wildemberbbq.com.
Via 313
The first Utah location of this national chain is now slinging Detroit style pies down in Orem. The business is part of the local Savory Fund which also owns R&R, Mo Bettah’s, Crack Shack and more.
212 E University Pkwy, Orem, UT 84058
(385) 292-4313
via313.com
Re-opening
Edit: it was brought to my attention the following two businesses aren’t new opening per se, but rather restaurant’s forced to closed – and now back in business. Still, show them some love huh 🙂
Manuel’s El Burrito
Barely a couple days back in business, this Mexican restaurant in Clearfield. The menu is a wallet friendly affair stacked with hearty looking plates; smothered burritos, chimichangas, chili relleno – all those rib sticking dishes your rumbling belly is dreaming of as temperatures drop this Fall. Also of note, the menu advertises both a lunch and dinner buffet.
1145 State St, Clearfield, UT 84015
(801) 773-7579
el-burrito.com
Murphy’s Cafe 126
Purportedly home to one of the best cheese steaks in town, check out this new casual eats spot in Riverton. Quarter and half pound burgers oozing at the seams are offered along with plenty of other stacked cheese steaks.
12575 S Rhetski Ln, Riverton, UT 84065
(385) 237-3903
murphys-cafe-126.square.site
Coming soon
Brick & Mortar
Not much info so far beyond this snap someone sent to us recently. The picture indicates a possible new business coming to the now shuttered Campos Coffee spot at 228 South Edison. More info as we get it.
Park City ramen bar
No name on this one yet, but a local Facebook group post confirmed this new ramen option for Park City-ites. Coming to “6546 N Landmark Dr #D park city across from taco bell.”
Richie Lush’s Tennesse BBQ
The signs are now up on this impending BBQ shop in Kamas. Richie Lush’s will offer “Tennessee native’s southern BBQ. Pulled pork, ribs, brisket, and more – smoked to perfection!”
The RUIN
The Downtown SLC Alliance broke the news this week on the second location for The RUIN. The cocktail-focused bar currently has an established operation in the heart of Sugar House along Wilmington Ave. The additional location is expected to land in the former Mollie And Ollie space along Main Street, with the bar’s existing Sugar House location remaining in place.
Santorinis Greek Grill
In her piece for the Standard Examiner, Val Phillips writes about a possible third and fourth location for this growing Greek business. Phillips’ confirms, “After surviving the pandemic shutdown, Dehghani opened his second location in November 2020, at 135 N. 500 West in West Bountiful. A spot in Sandy is currently in the works, with future plans for Phoenix and Riverton.”
Sergio’s
For those of you out there still not satisfied with East coast cuisine here in Utah – check this one out. NYC based Sergio’s has earmarked Utah as one of only two new states for their authentic New York Style Pizza. A new Sergio’s is planned for South Jordan at the District – no more specific details yet.
Previously mentioned with no further update
We’ve written about the following new restaurants in recent posts tracking new restaurants around SLC. We’ve heard no further news on these at this time:
- Capital Grille – last mentioned August 2021
- Captain D’s – last mentioned March 2020
- Coffee & Tonic – last mentioned June 2021
- Congregation Spirits – last mentioned in June 2019
- Crack Shack – last mentioned July 2021
- Crane Ramen – last mentioned March 2020
- Famous Daves – last mentioned June 2021
- Fenice – last mentioned August 2021
- Fife Brewing – last mentioned March 2020
- Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club – last mentioned September 2021
- Garage Grill Herriman – last mentioned June 2021
- Greek Streak 2 – last mentioned August 2021
- Gyro Shack – last mentioned October 2020
- Hangry Dog – last mentioned March 2021
- Killer Burger – last mentioned June 2021
- Loco Burger – last mentioned August 2021
- Lemon Shark Pole – last mentioned October 2020
- Les BBQ – last mentioned September 2021
- Monarca – last mentioned August 2021
- Mountain Mike’s – last mentioned March 2021
- Niccoli’s – last mentioned October 2020
- Noemi’s – last mentioned March 2021
- Nona Bistro – last mentioned June 2021
- Pizza Twist – last mentioned September 2021
- Pizza Nono – last mentioned August 2021
- Pago On Main – last mentioned June 2021
- Pretty Bird Park City – last mentioned August 2021
- Roots Coffee Co – last mentioned March 2021
- Scion – last mentioned August 2021
- Slack Water SLC – last mentioned June 2021
- Super Chix – last mentioned June 2021
- Tavernacle – last mentioned September 2021
- Yoko Taco – last mentioned October 2020
Opening a new restaurant in Utah? Be sure to check out our Utah restaurant resources mini site for the businesses and services you will need to help you open your restaurant.
Purchase a subscription
Subscribe to our paid newsletter for $5 and help keep our stories free of automated advertising
Subscribe NowOther 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.
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.
This article may contain content provided by one of our paid partners. These are some of the best businesses in Utah. For a list of all our current and past relationships see our partnership history page.