Last week, 160-plus hungry guests flocked to the top floor of the “still got that new car smell” Millcreek Common civic building for WasteLess Solutions’ annual Second Chance Dance fundraiser. Apropos for a nonprofit organization that focuses on reducing and diverting food waste, the event centered around ingredients that, without WLS’s intervention, would have ended up in a landfill. For the third consecutive year, the event featured local chefs who threw down using up-cycled produce and products sourced from WLS’s deep pantry. And it was delicious.
Introduced by friend-of-SLmag and City Cast SLC podcast host Ali Vallarta as energetic emcee of the event, this year’s lineup did not disappoint.
Chef Travis Herbert of Felt Bar & Eatery prepared a delectable two-bite filet and brisket tartare. Elegantly served on an endive leaf, the dish’s WLS-sourced ingredients included apple, sweet pickle, red onion, basil, bbq lime aioli and juuuuuust the right amount of chili crisp hot honey to give it a nice kick. Topped with a ‘lil mushroom and serrano wedge (more flatbread than a cracker, but delicious), this dish won the People’s Choice vote of the evening.
Herbert had some stiff competition:
- Brighton Resort Chef Jeffrey Sanich, who brought to the throw-down a trio of bites bursting with reclaimed product goodness. We heard lots of oohs and ahhs over his mini tostada with bean-corn spread, smoked chicken, red peppers and roasted tomato drizzle.
- Chef Manoli Katsenevas (from, yes, Manoli’s) kept it simple and nailed the brief with a singularly refreshing bite of juicy watermelon topped with their house mizithra and glorious emulsion of basil and castelvetrano olive oil.
- Restaurateur Lavanya Mahate sent her talented culinary emissaries from SV Café with a generous selection of savory and sweet vegetarian bites, the comforting scent of spice coming from this table drew a long line throughout the evening.
- Surprising absolutely no one who knows their acumen with adventurous flavors, the Arlo team led by Chef Milo Carrier created a vegetarian bit of wonderment in the form of a chickpea crisp topped with a colorful assemblage composed of almost a dozen reclaimed ingredients. A stunning composition.
- Pastry Chef Shirley Butler Bordas dished up three spectacular desserts, including glossy chocolate coffee fig bars (gluten free, natch) and damn-right-they-were-as-delicious-as-they-looked individual Pavlovas layered with poached Utah nectarines, chamomile cream and basil-melon sauce. Absolutely dreamy.
By the end of the night, WSL supporters pooled over $40k in support for the organization. What does that go toward? While more than 400,000 face food insecurity each year, over 600,000 tons of food waste goes into Utah’s landfills annually. To put it in perspective: if that food didn’t go to waste, it could feed all of those aforementioned hungry Utahns two years worth of three-squares-a-day meals. WasteLess Solutions, along with industry partners and a slew of volunteers, uses their collective might to divert or redistribute food to people who need it, interrupting the stream of surplus produce and products.
And, through events like the Second Chance Dance, they educate our community about ways each of us can reduce our own food waste and seek opportunities for food equity at all levels. Waste not, want not, and all that jazz.
Learn more: https://www.wastelesssolutions.org
Thirsty for even more culinary competition? Check out our 2025 Farm-to-Glass Cocktail Contest!
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