West Valley Squatters adds new bar alongside several keenly priced specials

Squatters Pubs

You might recall it was early last year that Squatters Pubs expanded its Westside footprint. If not, here’s a refresher story on the opening of their WVC location. Since the launch, the brewpub has clearly been listening to patrons, with a fairly big update.

The business has now been separated into two. As you enter, to the right, the area has been remade as a 21+ bar space – replete with a full bar license. Stop by and enjoy a beer or two without the need for ordering food. The remainder of the space still operates as an all-ages restaurant too – the best of both worlds under one roof.

For my fellow folks whose Venn circles of football and food perfectly overlap, keep this one on your list for the upcoming World Cup in June. Sure, it’s tenuoulsly food related, but yes, my inbox will soon start filling up with requests for where I can get a burger, beer, and – a guarantee the staff won’t look at me weird for asking the TV’s set to…soccer…

Marketing manager Rick Seven assured me the bar will be ready to welcome football fans this Summer, without the usual confused looks; the same goes for the downtown location, by the way, with the upstairs area planned to be utilized for watch-along events.

As a last update on the Squatters Pubs, several of the locally owned brewpubs are offering some keen lunch deals right now as well. West Valley City last advertised a quartet of options for just $10. These include:

• Chicken Caesar wrap, with fries or tots
• Deluxe grilled cheese, with fries or tots
• Half turkey club sandwich, with fries or tots
• Salad and soup

Check out their social media pages for other specials at locations around town – all priced at $10 for lunch hours. Onto other menu news then…

Post Office Place

Expect a whole new menu to roll out at this James Beard-nominated spot this Thursday. By way of backstory, former chef Brendan Kawakami moved on a little while ago to take over at Escalante’s North Creek Grill. This week sees Brice Okubo officially take the reins with a whole new menu. Okubo has long worked at both Post Office and Takashi, as well as running the Japanese pop-up Sunakku.

The business previewed the menu refresh, writing, “Chef Takashi Gibo and Chef Brice Okubo have put together a fresh collection of shareable dishes that stand at attention with our formidable drink menu. The food showcases Chef Takashi’s Japanese and Peruvian roots. You’ll find ceviche with cashew leche de tigre, chicken karaage with cured yolk dip, as well as handrolls and other fun snacks. Come in for a full meal or just a drink and some bites. Monday-Saturday 5-10”.

Small Bites

Aroon Thai Kitchen – This well regarded Murray Thai restaurant is offering a keenly priced lunch menu right now. Options start from $11.75; see more on their Instagram page.

Drunken Kitchen – There are some crazy deals at this South Salt Lake spot during lunch hours at present. An order of Taiwanese fried chicken is just $4.99, and a fried chicken sandwich is a measly $7.99. Those are some preposterously low prices. More on their IG here.

Fiddler’s – Another World Cup food/drink nod. New owner Jimmy Brown posted this over on IG, indicating that the bar would remain a big destination for the quadrennial event. Since Brown took over the past early last year, the whole food menu has been refreshed, and there’s been a big overhaul to the AV setup to boot. There’s not a spot in the house without a decent view of a screen.

Hill’s Kitchen – The Park City location of HK will host a ‘Masala Weekend’, May 22nd through May 24th, 5.00 – 9.00 p.m. Special dishes will include vegetable samosa, chicken pakora, tagine, chana masala, and bruleed kheer rice.

Salt Lake Bees – KSL has this piece on some of the new showstopping dishes at the Bees’ new location. The culinary team certainly looks to have done their research as well – a whopping 18-inch dog is provided by the excellent Bovine & Swine out of Wyoming (I wrote about them years ago here).

Sushi By Bou – The new omakase experience in the Peery Hotel is offering the 12-course experience for just $55. That’s practically half price if you want to go try it out. The special pricing is available for 5.00 p.m. reservations Thursday through Sunday. Reservations need to be made via OpenTable with the discount code 555. At least I believe that’s what an ad I saw online was saying, do double check.

Xiao Bao Bao – The downtown location of Romina Rasmussen’s bao-forward business is now offering soft-serve ice cream. Flavors are expected to change each month, this month seeing matcha and strawberry.

Park City Dine About

There’s still a little time to catch this Park City dining event. Here’s the full presser courtesy of the media team overseeing the promotion:

. . .

Member restaurants of the Park City Area Restaurant Association (PCARA) are rolling out fresh menus for a special spring edition of Dine About Park City. Limited-time lunch, dinner, and après specials at shoulder-season prices will be offered throughout the month of May.

“As we transition from one peak season to the next, we’re excited to introduce our first spring season Dine About Park City,” PCARA Executive Director Ginger Wicks said. “This is a special opportunity for our restaurants to showcase new menu items, and for patrons to relish quieter dining rooms, value pricing, and an incredible meal while supporting our local dining community.”

Dine About Park City features two-course lunches for $15, $20 or $25 per person, 3-course dinners for $30, $45 or $65 per person, and après cocktails and bites for $20 at participating PCARA member restaurants throughout the month of May. Restaurants participating in the spring edition of Dine About Park City include:

7880 Club at Stein Eriksen Residences
Alpine Distilling Social Aid & Pleasure Club
Café Terigo
Cena Ristorante
Deer Valley Café
Grappa
Grub Steak
Handle
Hearth and Hill
KITA
Le Depot
LOMA
Matilda Park City
The Nelson Cottage by High West
Old Town Cellars
Pine Cone Ridge
Powder Restaurant & Bar at Waldorf Astoria Park City
Purple Sage
Red Rock Brewing
Squatters Roadhouse Grill
Timbers Bar & Restaurant
Troll Hallen Lounge at Stein Eriksen Lodge
Twisted Fern

Carson Kitchen

A new menu update has rolled out over at the Downtown SLC location of CK. Available for lunch and dinner, new selections include:

• Tomato stack, mozzarella, smoked balsamic vinaigrette, $15
• Scallop puttanesca, harissa cream, fried olive, $19
• Peas & carrots, balsamic butter, pepitas, $15
• Sweet potatoes, avocado, cottage cheese, jalapeño, $15
• Grilled oysters, Michelada butter, fried pickle, $12
• Mexican flatbread, beef, bean, Catalina dressing, $19
• Seoul’sbury steak, gochujang glaze, kimchi slaw, $27
• Sloe berry cheesecake, sugar cookie crumble, $13

Seasonally refreshed cocktails also include:

• The lottery, made with scotch, vermouth, Elixir d’Anvers, orange bitters, $16
• Bad decisions, rye, rhubarb, egg white, lemon, strawberry, lavender bitters, $16
• My little pineapple, rum, amaro, pineguava syrup, lime, tiki bitters, $15
• Dancing on the moors, vodka, egg white, matcha, hazelnut, $14

Midway Mercantile

Four new items are now available at this Midway restaurant as follows:

• Panko-crusted fresh Alaskan halibut, yellow curry, coconut rice, spinach, sesame apple chutney
• Spring salad, foraged morels, local asparagus, and other spring vegetables, served warm atop Meyer Lemon ricotta, linguica sausage oil, leaves, served with local country sourdough bread
• Florentine pizza, (local rancher George Hansen’s) bison sausage, spinach Florentine, red onions. tomatoes, gruyere cheese, whole fresh basil
• Bison sliders, Hansen’s bison, wild huckleberry aioli, Heber Cheese Sharp Cheddar

North Italia

A menu refresh has hit at this Riverton restaurant, too. With the update, there’s also a new two-course prix fixe lunch and brunch menu for just $25, available daily until 4.00 p.m. through May 31st. Back to the new menu items, then, these include:

• Kale & goat cheese, fresh strawberry, avocado, broccolini, Campari nuts, herb breadcrumb, poppyseed vinaigrette
• Grilled steak Panzanella, charred ciabatta, heirloom tomato, green bean, red onion, cucumber, egg, roasted shallot vinaigrette
• Agnolotti al pomodoro, ricotta, pecorino, simple tomato sauce, basil
• Seasonal chef’s board, stracciatella, truffle honey, red wine glazed figs, marinated olives, giardiniera, campari nuts, pecorino toscano, prosciuttio di parma, speck, hearth bread
• Limoncello bombolini & Italian doughnuts, lemon curd, blueberry compote
• Caramelized banana seasonal butter cake, house-made caramel sauce, fresh banana slices, vanilla gelato, vanilla wafer crumble
• Heirloom tomato burrata, grilled bread, stracciatella, pesto, heirloom tomatoes, grilled piquillo peppers, Calabrian vinaigrette, kosher salt, Aleppo pepper, fennel pollen, arugula, micro planed pecorino Romano
• House focaccia, Sicilian pistachio pesto, whipped ricotta, or house bomba sauce

Beverage updates also include:

• Sole Toscano (available at happy hour), made with Lalo Blanco, Luxardo del santo, fennel, cucumber, and lime
• Donatella, gunpowder fig gin, Luxardo bianco, grapefruit, honey, lemon
• Don Giorgio, crafted with Stranahan’s whiskey, mango, Italian orange, lemon, and ginger

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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.