Eight more Utah food and drink closures, permanent and temporary

The restaurant closures section of the site has been dramatically more busy these last few months than I’d like to see – and sadly – here we are again. Here’s the latest names to add to this year’s list:

Fillings & Emulsions (WVC)

Signing off today, the West Valley City location of this award-winning bakery. The business confirmed the closure of the West side location on social media as follows:

“Hi everyone. We are so sorry to inform you all that our West Valley location will be closed permanently starting next week. This Saturday will be the last day. We have loved the last five years here but the wind is blowing us in a different direction. You can still enjoy our pastries in our Main Street location as well as all the other vendors that carry our products. Stay tune for future updates and we get ready for our next adventure. Love you all so much and thank you for your support.”

The Fillings & Emulsions locations around the valley have waxed and waned for several years, but have always been lauded for chef/founder Adalberto Diaz’s creative confections. Beyond the sweeter options lurk several savory highlights too. Pictured top is their ropa vieja Cuban pie, a beautifully buttery hand-held pastry, stuffed with ground chicken breast, Cuban sofrito, olives, capers, red wine, raisins, tomato, and spices. If you’ve not tried one, the impending cooler weather is what these are made for. Head to their SLC location (1475 S Main St) to sample one stat.

98K Fried Chicken

Local Redditors tipped me off to the loss of this South Salt Lake fast casual. The Korean fried chicken spot opened in Spring earlier this year, and could be found on the exterior row of restaurants at SoSl’s China Town complex; the business was a tendril of a larger NYC-based group of restaurants. I can’t see a formal confirmation of this one, but the Google listing for the business does note this one is indeed closed.

Per the name, fried chicken was the order of the day, with prices notably wallet-friendly. A simple chicken sandwich clocked in at an almost unrecognizable (these days) six bucks.

By The Bucket

After two years, this Sugar House spot appears to have called it a day. The restaurant opened two years ago to much intrigue – the concept hailing from the Grand Canyon State. At the time of their arrival, the mini-chain touted the title of Arizona’s fastest-growing casual restaurant; and as their name boldly pronounces sold, “ hot spaghetti to go in a bucket.” As founder Bret daCosta put it, “Colonel Sanders sold chicken in a bucket so why not spaghetti”.

Taco Taco

After several weeks of speculation, it does seem that this downtown taqueria has indeed closed. After online speculation in various quarters, Kolbie Peterson in the Trib confirmed their closure in her weekly newsletter last week. While there appears to be no formal announcement from the business itself, the website for Taco Taco has now fallen dormant, with their Google and Yelp profiles also showing closure notices.

Pig & A Jelly Jar

Update September 17th – After this went live yesterday, several people have reached out to ask about the closure of both the Ogden and SLC locations of this restaurant. I am afraid I can find no normal information on this one. The website for the business has gone offline, while the social accounts for the two restaurants (SLC and Ogden) have both seemingly been removed. I did manage to find this Instagram post that confirms the owner’s decision to close the duo of locations.

Amour Spreads

Signing off via social, this long-lived – and loved – preserves maker announced their final days as follows. Catch them one last time this weekend at the Salt Lake Farmer’s Market and be sure to stock up. The business writes:

“Jam lovers, we’ve got some news to share with you and there’s no easy way to say it. We have made the difficult decision to take an indefinite pause on our jam operations. While we are uncertain of what the future holds, this pause is necessary to reflect on our journey, evaluate our processes, and consider the best path forward.
To our friends, farmers, customers, and fellow small business owners: thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It has been our privilege to be a part of this food community, sharing our passion for high-quality, handcrafted spreads. Your support has been invaluable to us, and we are deeply grateful.

To John and Casee, thank you for dreaming up this little jam business back in 2011. We have made so many amazing connections through this experience and there’s nothing better than seeing someone’s eyes light up when they taste Amour Spreads jam.

We’ll be operating until the end of this month so stock up! We’ll be at the @slcfarmersmarket at Pioneer Park the next couple of Saturdays. Our last market will be on September 21. @picnicslc will remain open and there’s plenty of jam on the shelves. We’d love to see you there. Thank you, thank you, thank you for loving these jams as much as we do. With love and so much gratitude, Carly and Vi”

Sirop

Another local maker again taking to Instagram to confirm the end of their operations as follows:

“Dear Sirop Co. Community, 4 years ago we launched our website and made Sirop Co. a reality. This fun project began during the pandemic as a way to share our love of making quality drinks at home and led to the incredible journey of starting a business together.

With a heavy heart, we wanted to announce the official closure of Sirop Co. to focus on our careers and families. To our loyal customers, thank you for your incredible support and love for our products. To our friends and family, your encouragement made this adventure possible. We couldn’t have done it without you all.

Though this chapter ends, the memories and relationships we’ve built will last a lifetime. Thank you for being part of the Sirop Co. with us. With gratitude, Nate and Jacob.”

Gone… but coming back…

Star Of India

A personal favorite of mine, and one that recently announced a huge setback to their business – thieves causing over $125K worth of damage to the business’s premises. The following message was posted to the business website and socials, and this fan hopes their proposed comeback is swift and successful:

“As you know, for the last several years, our restaurant has been located in the building that was once the Ramada Inn. The hotel part of the building has been vacant and in various stages of demolition for quite some time. This situation has led to break-ins, fires and extensive vandalism.These repeated break-ins have been detrimental to The Star of India.

During a recent break-in, individuals cut and stole wiring essential to the operation of our restaurant. As of now, we are sitting in the dark.The complete demolition of the Ramada may happen in a couple of years maybe sooner.
We had plans to move to a new space across the street from Utah Power’s offices. This space is currently under construction and is expected to be ready in mid-2025. Our total loss of power requires a change of plans.

Since the Ramada building is scheduled to be demolished, the owners do not want to pay the estimated $125,000 cost to make the necessary repairs. That leaves the cost of the repairs up to us. We are simply unable to bear the cost of such extensive repairs ourselves.Therefore, we have made the decision to find a temporary location until our new space is ready next year. We are currently working hard to relocate, and hope to be back open soon.

We are grateful to all our loyal customers and appreciate your patience while we work to get back on our feet.
Paramjit Kaur and Avtar Singh.”

I’ll keep you posted on their plans to return, Star Of India holds a very special place in my belly, being the very first restaurant I dined at in Utah, and one that instantly has me head over heels. Back then the restaurant was located downtown around the 2nd and 2nd corner before their host building was ultimately emodeled. From there the restaurant has moved around the greater downtown area a few times. Here’s hoping the next location comes sooner rather than later.

Enrico’s Deli & Pizzeria

Finally, one more business that has shuttered up shop, but hopefully, only temporarily so. Taking over the former Gandolfo’s in Murray (5430 S 900 E) earlier in 2024, Enrico’s has now closed. That said, in communicating with online commenters the owners do seem to have plans to re-open, at an as-yet-to-be-announced new location.

Of their menu, the business formerly explained to me, “our deli is New York style, and we decided to bring a unique experience to Utah. We went to New York three times, trained there in pizzerias and delis, formed great alliances with proven vendors, and currently, we are bringing a lot of the stuff that we use in our deli, such as pickles, bagels, mustard, pastrami, corned beef, roast beef, black and white cookies, cheesecake and….

Water! Yes, Water! After finishing our training there, we came to Utah, but the dough recipe didn’t work! It was either too hard or too soft. The majority of [NYC’s] water comes from the Catskill and Delaware watersheds, then is transferred to the Hillview Reservoir for chemical treatment and pH balance. That, with the yeast, makes the dough unique. Now we ship water from [NYC].”

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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.