Though the West was won years and years ago, the pioneer spirit lives on in Salt Lake City (SLC). The local food scene is ripe with opportunity and alive with food entrepreneurs filled with ideas that many thought would never take off in Salt Lake City—let alone fly.
SLC’s brand is better summed up by the Golden Spike connecting the Transcontinental Railroad than the culinary adventure that now defines the emerging urban food scene. The western myth of the cowboy riding into the sunset is alive and well here—only now the cowboy is just as likely to be a chef, and the opportunity formerly found in the elusive sunset is found on Main Street and State Street and all the neighborhoods clamoring for identities of their own.
This is the Salt Lake City food scene, a group of foodies leading the charge for a renewed city, serving everything from bone marrow to tumbleweed, foraging for mushrooms and new ideas to elevate the city and its culture.
As with any pioneer-spirited place and mentality, the future is bright with hope. Salt Lake City deserves recognition for its innovation at the chef’s table, the barman’s bar, or the sommelier’s cellar. For years the tourists have come for the world’s greatest snow, and rightly so. But now the adventure seekers are pleased to find food on par with the great cities of America. Some would say that the state color is orange for all the construction cones and signs downtown. The massive awakening of food culture boosts our economy as well as our palates.
The pioneer spirit lends itself well to generous collaboration in the great Salt Lake City. Restaurant owners and chefs approached this project with open hands, offering us more food, more recipes, and more story than we had space to put in these pages. Not only did neighborhood restaurant owners open their doors to us, but they also made sure we knew of their neighbors so they could be featured in the book too. On our visit to Alamexo, Chef Matthew Lake made sure we knew that Ryan Lowder’s latest endeavor, Copper Common, was on par with his already successful local staple the Copper Onion, a must-visit for us. Steven Rosenberg from Liberty Heights Fresh told us that no book about the SLC dining scene is complete without a trip to meet Scott Evans of Pago and Finca fame. In fact, many restaurant owners told us that Scott is one of the best guys to work with in the industry.
The state of the food scene here is marked by this type of generosity and pioneering nature. Comprised in these pages is a snapshot of the scene as we saw it as we wrote this book. Things are changing rapidly, and new restaurants spring up regularly. But these new restaurants would never have found their place without a few names that have gone before them. Similarly, the state of the scene today is influencing a meaningful movement told only in the future tense.
Steven Rosenberg, Pioneer
Utahans regularly use the word “pioneer.” We even celebrate the day the pioneers came down through Emigration Canyon with handcarts (conveniently called Pioneer Day). It carries a lot of weight in Utah and is not to be used or taken lightly.
Perhaps in light of this, it sounds a bit sensational to call Steven Rosenberg a pioneer. It’s not. Steven is one of the few food business owners who survived the last twenty years, who pushed for better food and better ingredients then, and who continues to be out in front of food trends now, still advocating for better food and better ingredients. He opened Liberty Heights Fresh in 1993 when Utah’s idea of locally grown, locally owned, and fresh had died off with the pioneers of the previous century. At the time, his operation served only fresh produce and flowers.
If the present condition of Utah is exciting, it’s because of the groundwork of people like Steven, who worked hard to help Utah tell a better story about itself by putting great producers and food entrepreneurs on display in every way possible.
Copper Onion, Today
Copper Onion likely sees the most patrons of any locally owned restaurant in town. For a place that’s always packed, always hustling, they’ve achieved something few can maintain at their size—quality.
The success that Ryan Lowder experiences at Copper Onion tells a lot of other timid potential entrepreneurs that perhaps a quality local restaurant with a top-notch chef and uncompromised wine list can succeed in Utah. Ryan Lowder and the rest of the restaurateurs in his class have all confidently and capably pushed our city over the hump from seeming culinary insignificance to a place other culinary capitals are watching. Not that we’ve arrived yet, but there is a groundswell. Salt Lake City is working hard to achieve its own identity. It’s not a version of Portland or San Francisco. It’s Salt Lake City, storied warts and all.
Ryan Lowder embraced Salt Lake City and aided in elevating it.
Church and State Spirits, Our Future
Yes, another strong statement about something entirely unknown. I don’t mean to put so much pressure on Scott Gardner, Sean Neves, and Matt Pfohl. In fact, let me remove it quickly. These individuals are not the future of Utah, but the way they think, operate, and interact is the future of Utah. They embody the future that most SLC urban dwellers prefer, one that pushes to think differently about everything. But the new ideas they bring to the table aren’t those of innovation. No, they’re actually those that call us to simply embrace what tastes good in an environment that feels right.
Church and State Spirits is a group of three guys committed to great spirit-based beverages. And they’ll search long and hard to find these beverages and present them in a way that encourages you to drink them. This explanation sounds overly distilled, but it’s really not. The art of taking something world-class and opening it up to the masses to enjoy is a gift. You don’t have to be an expert to love something made by these guys. But if you are a connoisseur, pay close attention and you’ll see them shake hands with every devil in the details.
We think that’s where Utah is leaning now: accessible meets master craftsmanship. Thanks to Steven Rosenberg, a foundation was laid for creative experts to find quality food in Utah. Thanks to Copper Onion, Utah believes in itself. Both of these pioneers laid the foundation for Church and State Spirits and similar-minded food entrepreneurs to blow the top off what’s possible in Utah.
The soul of this book tells the stories of people wanting something to be proud of and finding it in the dining room seats of Utah’s latest version of pioneers.
SALT LAKE CITY FOOD EVENTS
Salt Lake City and the greater Salt Lake area are host to several incredible food events. We mark our calendars every year to make sure we can attend all of our favorites.
• Save a summer evening in June to attend Park City’s Savor the Summit, when restaurants move all their tables to the center of Main Street, creating one long communal table and an incredible evening of food and drink.
• In the fall, Caputo’s Market puts on The Chocolate Festival, showcasing chocolate creations from all the best chefs in town.
• Tastemakers, a two-day progressive dinner hosted by Salt Lake Magazine, is a great time to taste many of the best downtown Salt Lake restaurants.
• Celebrate the Bounty, Local First’s annual benefit, features Utah’s finest fare from local producers.
• Oktoberfest at Snowbird pairs an incredible mountain scene with tall steins of local brews, as well as brats loaded with sauerkraut.
• Red, White & Snow Vintner Dinners, small dinner parties in Park City with great wine and food, have become a most enjoyable way to raise money for the National Ability Center.
• The annual Greek Festival, in September, has had as many as 50,000 visitors during its three-day experience. The classic gyro is especially good, but don’t miss out on the more unusual items, like the tyropita, a cheese triangle wrapped in flaky phyllo pastry; the stifado, a spiced beef stew with pearl onions; and the loukoumades, addicting honey-soaked donuts.