Mary Brown Malouf, Author at Salt Lake Magazine • Page 9 of 36

Jun 12

Restaurants coping with Covid: Re-imagining Oquirrh

By Mary Brown Malouf City Watch, Eat & Drink

Caught between COVID-19 and protest marches. local restaurants have been experiencing a double squeeze. Just when COVID-19 restrictions were starting to ease, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall slapped an 8 pm curfew on the city, a momentary additional setback. For a brief period, it looked like social distancing and mask-wearing were indeed flattening the curve. Now it looks like we’re in for a second surge of the virus. Over the next few days, we’ll be talking to restaurant owners about how they’re coping with multiple crises. Last week, we spoke with Bob McCarthy, owner of Stoneground Italian Kitchen and the Garage. Today we chatted with Angie Fuller. With her husband Drew, she owns and runs Oquirrh, Restaurants, one of the most exciting new restaurants in the city.

“When all this hit, we were still new,” says Angie Fuller. “And tiny.”

Governor Herbert’s guidelines for re-opening restaurants include a prohibition on groups larger than ten—easy in this small space, but also specifies that restaurants maintain a space of six feet between tables.

“We would only be able to accommodate seven tables in the entire dining room,” says Angie. “It’s hard to justify opening for seven tables.”

Not to mention the number of servers and cooks necessary to produce the kind of food Oquirrh is known for—the kind of innovative fare that inspired Chef Drew and Angie to open their own restaurant in the first place. The signature presentation of carrots, for example, for which carrots of several colors are roasted, cured in miso or braised, then planted vertically in a ground of carrot-top pesto with a brown rice chip to add back in some crispness, is a time-consuming, multi-handed dish to prepare. Not only that, but it’s spectacularly unsuitable for curbside pick-up, the service option that is saving many restaurants from completely going under. That’s true of many Oquirrh staples: It’s hard to imagine the whole lamb leg crusted with a curry mixture and deep-fried, accompanied by house-made naan, vegetables roasted in garam masala and eggplant relish in a styro clamshell.

Instead, Angie says, “We’ve been offering salmon or steak for two or four. But our curbside business is dying off severely.”

The current curbside menu features a sandwich, a Caesar salad, a hamburger (“We swore we’d never serve one!” says Angie) and a few other basics, along with a few of the regular menu stars, like the chicken confit pot pie. Family-style lasagne is also available.

But (except for the pie) those aren’t the dishes that draw people to Oquirrh. They come to be surprised and delighted by the food and the quaintness. “The dynamic of our restaurant is so important,” says Angie. “We want it to be a way to connect with the community.”

That’s hard to do with no-touch nitrile-gloved service of dinner in a box.

Can you save your business by changing it entirely?

“We want to try potentially to be open next week,” says Angie, “with just the two of us operating. I’m learning how to cook.”

What Oquirrh needs most is the support of the public who want it to be there when life gets back to normal. So call in and pick up—this city can’t afford to lose those milk-braised potatoes or that curried lamb leg.

For more on food, click here.

Jun 05

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Restaurants in crisis: How Stoneground Kitchen is coping

By Mary Brown Malouf Eat & Drink

Caught between COVID-19, curfews and protest marches restaurants have been experiencing a double squeeze. Just when COVID-19 restrictions were starting to ease, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall slapped an 8 pm curfew on the city, inspired by one afternoon and evening of riotous behavior followed by peaceful protests. She lifted that curfew to the relief of local—especially downtown—restaurants and businesses. But some are still suffering because of the regular protests, even though they support the cause. Over the next few days, we’ll be talking to restaurant owners about how they’re coping with multiple crises.

Today we spoke with Bob McCarthy, owner of Stoneground Kitchen and Garage on Beck. McCarthy’s a veteran; he’s been running restaurants in Salt Lake City for 20 years.

Stoneground Italian Kitchen And before I go any further, remember that on June 12, Stoneground Kitchen will be celebrating their 20th anniversary with a prix fixe dinner featuring their greatest hits.

“We were hanging on by a nail and she (Mayor Mendenhall) brought out the nail clipper,” he says about the recent curfew requiring everyone to be off the streets by 8 p.m.

“We are open for business, but there’s only 17 percent occupancy at downtown businesses. We got rid of lunches—it wasn’t financially worth it. We only did 31 covers last night. Then they closed 400 South because of the marches without any notice to the business-owners.”

McCarthy says the curfew was too late and too extreme. “The trouble had already happened and there should have been considerations for diners in restaurants,” he says. He thinks the community should have been included in the decision-making. “While it was in effect, it took half our business.”

However, that’s over for now. Good for Mayor Mendenhall.

Unfortunately, restrictions on crowds and the number of guests allowed in a restaurant will continue for the time being. The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah is still rising.

McCarthy says he’s lucky, because he owns his own buildings. Other, newer restaurateurs may not be so fortunate.

“When this started, I told my team, ‘Don’t get sad, get innovative.’

So while his inside dining revenue shrank, he turned to other ways of making his space work for him.

“When I started my restaurants, I measured the square footage. I thought, I can only make money inside these walls.”

But he has expanded his walls, and even after virus precautions have loosened, he will continue to expand the parameters of his business.

“I think curbside will continue,” he says. I’m not in a rut. I can change. Rent the place, fill in with catering. I want to start our own delivery service—the services like Grubhub eat into our profit. I want to hire my own drivers, have them project the image of the restaurant, dress the way I want them to, use biodegradable containers, etc.”

McCarthy wants to deliver family meals via e-bike, develop an app that stores credit card info so ordering is seamless.

“The big problem with curbside pick up and delivery is that diners miss out on a huge part of the restaurant experience—there’s no ambiance. For restaurants like Stoneground Kitchen and The Garage, the experience is important.”

But, he says, “Restaurants are going to have to change.”

Best case scenario: He’ll get back to normal traffic in the restaurant and add the curbside dollars.

“I’m done with fear,” he says. “The only option is to adapt and be better than you were before. I feel like I was pushed off a cliff and my wings sprouted and I flew.”

For more food and drink, click here.

Jun 05

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Spike Lee speaks: Salt Lake City

By Mary Brown Malouf Arts & Culture

Diversity has never been one of Salt Lake City’s selling points—although only about 66 percent of he city is white. Just under two percent is black. The rest of the city is a mix of Hispanic or Latino, Asian, native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and other ethnicities.

We’re not as white as people think. But our image is pretty snowy.

So many of of us took the recent widespread protests about the murder of George Floyd as a good thing, a sign of civic empathy.

And that’s how Spike Lee saw it. In a recent interview with Associated Press, the outspoken and often controversial director said, “I’ve been very encouraged by the diversity of the protesters. I haven’t seen this diverse protests since when I was a kid,” Lee said.

“I’m encouraged that my white sisters and brothers are out there. That is the hope of this country, this diverse, younger generation of Americans who don’t want to perpetuate the same (expletive) that their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents got caught up in. That’s my hope.”

“My young white sisters and brothers are out there in the streets. How many black folks are in Salt Lake City, Utah? And let’s take into account that the NBA is not playing. The Utah Jazz are not playing!”

Lee was speaking Monday on the occasion of the release of his short film titled “3 Brothers” connecting the death of Radio Raheem in “Do the Right Thing” to the deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd.

For more city life, click here.

Jun 04

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Start birding in SLC—easy, fun and beautiful.

By Mary Brown Malouf Outdoors

Thanks to photographer Peter Volkmar and the Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center—a great place to learn more about birding— for the use of the image of the white-eyed vireo image.

The brightest blue head I’d ever seen.

The little bird was bush-hopping his way alongside the creek followed by what was obviously his drabber mate.

I walk up City Creek Canyon several times every week. I’ve been a birder all my life, a habit inherited from my grandparents. But I’d never really put the two together until last week. I lost interest in birding walks and expeditions since my partner died but the bright blue head of the Lazuli bunting caught my attention and rekindled my interest. I’d seen indigo buntings and painted buntings before, but never a lazuli.

I’m not the only one.

Interest in birding has exploded recently—because outside feels safe, because you can do it alone, because it’s comforting to connect with the natural word. Numerous articles have documented the trend and online sales of bird guides have skyrocketed.

Few things are as rewarding. My nephew always has his eye out for Tks. But birds are real.

Grab a copy of the Audubon, National Geographic or Sibley’s guide to birds of the American west and a decent pair of binoculars and start your list.

Or go to utahbirds.org and print out the list for City Creek Canyon.

Right here in the city you can see dozens of birds:

You don’t need magnification to see wild turkeys, robins and scrub jays, but other common canyon birds are black-chinned hummingbirds, dippers,black-headed grosbeaks, spotted towhees, northern flickers and downy woodpeckers

And, it turns out, lazuli buntings.

For more outdoors, click here.

Jun 04

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Finca’s back: Third time’s the charm

By Mary Brown Malouf Eat & Drink

“I‘ve had a lot of time to think,” says Scott Evans, a bit wryly.

Ever since the much-lauded opening of Pago in 2009, Evans has been a force in the Salt Lake dining scene. After Pago’s success, he opened Finca, a Spanish tapas-style restaurant, which he soon moved to a large downtown location while opening diner-style Hub & Spoke in Finca’s original location. East Liberty Taphouse followed, then he opened Trestle where the beloved Fresco used to be, and Birdhouse near East Liberty at the height of the fried chicken rehatch.

It was a lot in a short time and with the shortage of good wait staff and the chef merry-go-round meant constant reshuffling and retraining. Evans is a self-defined concept and front-of-the-house guy. “I come up with a concept, organize and oversee service, develop a beverage program and give the chef a menu to start from.”

Like most of us during the downtime required by the Covid-19 pandemic, Evans has been reconsidering things. Also like many of us, he had to figure out how to survive in business and consider what he really wanted out of it.

“It’s always been about following a personal passion,” says Evans. Focusing on that, he decided to sell the Taphouse and Birdhouse, with the building they’re in, to his partners, while taking over 100 percent of Pago with Chef Phelix Gardner. “I’m relaunching Finca in the space where Trestle was with Mike Richey (former owner of the now-closed, much-lamented Fireside) as chef.” Richey was one of the opening chefs at Pago.

“I’ve always loved Spanish food and wine and tapas still aren’t really being done anywhere in Salt Lake,” Evans says. “It’s become a very muddled term.”

Both restaurants will continue to offer curbside dining and a limited, counter service lunch. “The market has become much more casual than it was when I started Pago,” says Evans.

And Covid has taught all of us, in every business, the importance of being able to pivot and expand our ways of doing business.

For Evans, this means working with an experienced, talented chef who understand the necessity of consistency as well as the power of invention and who can see the kitchen as a business as well as a creative space. He also believes in a chef-partner model of restaurant management—his chefs work towards partial ownership—he’s looking for people who have done their runaround time as young chefs and are more mature. “Guests shouldn’t be used as guinea pigs,” says Evans, whose chefs have gone on to start their own restaurants like Oquirrh or Table X.

“I’ve been thinking about when I was happiest in this business and what I really want to do,” says Evans.

“And that led me to launching Finca for the third time.”

A recent tasting of the preliminary menu was exciting—and how fun to be excited about new food in the middle of these most dismal days. Take a look at some of the dishes below.

This Finca will open with curbside takeout at the beginning of June; by the middle of that month, Evans plans to start limited availability at Finca for dining in. 1513 S. 1500 East, SLC, 801-532-3372

For more food and drink, click here.

Jun 01

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Tomato—or tomahto—sauce from own homegrown ones

By Mary Brown Malouf Eat & Drink

Everyone in Salt Lake City except for me is tending a patch of tomatoes right now. We’re a city of home gardeners.

Despite Fred and Ginger’s famous dancing argument , it doesn’t really matter how you say it: Garden-ripened tomatoes are the soul of summer. No one said—sang—it better than Guy Clark so: Play this song while you make tomato sauce from your own homegrown tomatoes. Because guaranteed, if you’re growing them, you’ll have plenty—enough to make a sauce, besides all the other things Clark mentions.

I like this recipe from Windy Cedar farm because even though it takes some time to reduce the water out of the tomatoes, it’s passive time: You don’t have to stand over it. I like the condensed richness of tomato flavor, and the suggestion to freeze it in useable portions instead of steam-canning it makes it easy to use for months so you can have that fresh tomato flavor even in midwinter when fresh tomatoes are just a happy summer dream.

May 26

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Ogden City Limits Chronicles the Creation of a Song

By Mary Brown Malouf Arts & Culture, Music

“We were all fans of “Song Exploder,” a podcast where an artist deconstructs the creation of a song,” recalls Shane Osguthorpe. For example, in one episode, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco breaks down the song “Magnetized” from the group’s Star Wars Album. He explains how each bandmate contributed, making the song a true ensemble creation instead of an ego-driven auteur work. “We thought it would be cool to do that the opposite way, document the creation of a song from the beginning. Only we wanted to do it with video.”

When Shane says “we,” he is referring to his bandmate in the group, The Proper Way, Scott Rogers (check them out below from our Small Lake Concert series). With a grant from Ogden Arts Council and videographer Natalie Simpson, they have finished season one—five video podcasts documenting how different groups of musicians interpret a cover song and an original piece. The series, called Ogden City Limits, is a unique way to experience art while it’s being created.

Small Lake Concerts – “Helpless” – The Proper Way from Salt Lake Magazine on Vimeo.

Find Ogden City Limits on Facebook or YouTube.

To learn more about The Proper Way band, click here.

May 22

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RIP, Jerry Sloan, Utah Jazz Hero Coach

By Mary Brown Malouf Community

I might be the only living person in Salt Lake City who is not a Jazz fan. Just not interested in pro sports generally, plus I’m not from here so I don’t have that nationalistic fervor.

But I do know Jerry Sloan is fanatically beloved. So I asked my (step)son Sam Warchol, a basketball fan from birth, what was so special about Jerry Sloan, the longtime Jazz coach who died yesterday after a bout with Parkinson’s and Lewy Body dementia. Here’s what he said, with all the hyperbole (or is it?) reserved for sports heroes:

“Jerry Sloan was the greatest coach of all time.

With 1,223 wins, Sloan is in the top five amongst his peers. However—perhaps more importantly, —Sloan’s hard-nosed coaching laid all the groundwork for a fledgling Jazz team, in a city without any semblance of jazz music, struggling to stay in the NBA.

Epitomizing 80s and 90s basketball, Jerry Sloan was tough as nails and grittier than sandpaper, without a single damn about what anyone had to say. With these qualities tied to two of his most notable players, John Stockton and Karl Malone, the trio carried the Utah Jazz to become one of the most greatest franchises today. There would be no Jazz without what he did.”

Famous for his salty mouth, most of Sloan’s notable quotes can’t be quoted. Because, as Sam Warchol says, Sloan was at heart just a tough, gritty, blue-collar SOB.”

He loved riding his John Deer tractor around his Illinois farm. The team made this picture to sum up their beloved coach—1,223 is the number of his wins.

Why did you love Jerry Sloan? We’d love to hear your memories and comments.

For more happening in Salt Lake City, click here.

Mar 29

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Read for the times: Best books about pandemics. IMHO.

By Mary Brown Malouf City Watch

The Decameron

Bocaccio

I’m kidding. You’ll never get through it, even an English translation. But it IS relevant: Sort of like Canterbury Tales, it’s a collection of stories told by a group in certain situations. In this case, it’s a group of nobles, 3 men and 7 women, who hole up in a castle outside Florence (actually, Fiesole) to escape the Black Death. The tales they tell include love stories, erotica and practical jokes. Bocaccio wrote it in the 14^th century, not long after the plague had ravaged Florence. It’s tough reading, though, in any translation. A new one by came out in 2017—before delving into the full story, you might want to read this review from the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/11/11/renaissance-man-4

Plague doctors wore those scary beaked masks to keep them from inhaling pestilence—kind of like our 6-foot rule.

The Plague

Albert Camus

I have seen so many references to The Plague (La Peste) on Facebook since we met Covid-19 I begin to doubt how many who talk about it have read it. I haven’t, since 1972 when it was an assignment. It’s probably time to revisit it, but looks like it may be hard to find a copy. Sales have been skyrocketing in recent weeks. According to the Guardian, “The British publisher of The Plague, Penguin Classics, says it is struggling to keep up with orders. “We’ve gone from shipping quantities in the low hundreds every month to the mid-thousands,” said Isabel Blake, the senior publicity manager.” You can read that article here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/28/albert-camus-novel-the-plague-la-peste-pestilence-fiction-coronavirus-lockdown

The Plague, written in 1946-7 and set in Algeria, where the philosopher writer was born, and tells the story of how different characters react to the plague when it overcomes their town. Based on a historical outbreak of cholera, of course, it can also be read as an allegory of how people reacted to Nazi occupation. The author said so.

Doomsday Book

Connie Willis

Willis writes humanist science fiction—less about the science and more about what if—and in this book she plays, as she often does, with time travel. Set in near-future Oxford, of course, there’s a mistake and our heroine ends up in England at the height of the 14th-century plague. At the same time, virulent influenza strikes the Oxford scientists—uh-oh! It’s a fun read, though the living conditions in the plague years are sometimes more horrifying than the disease.

And the Band Played On: Politics. People and the AIDS Epidemic

Randy Shilts

San Francisco Chronicle journalist Shilts documented the plague that was not to be named. Famously, for years, President Ronald Reagan wouldn’t mention the disease that was killing thousands of gay people in his home state. The totally heart-rending tale tracks the disease from San Francisco bath houses around the world, emphasizing how little was done by the government to contain or even study it because it was regarded as a gay disease. Shilts died from complications from AIDS in 1994.

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World

Laura Spinney

Okay, I haven’t read this one, but the Spanish flu of 1918 touched my life. I always knew my grandfather spent as much time in a French hospital sick with the Spanish flu as he did flighting in WWI. And my great aunt, Florence Mary (after whom I’m named) died young from the same flu. Historians argue that the Spanish flu (which didn’t come from Spain) changed the world as much as the grotesque war—the disease infected a third of humans on earth. Pale Rider follows the infection around the world, and examines its effect on different societies as scientists searched in vain for a sure cure. I’m gonna read it. Really.

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

A can’t-put-it-down post-apocalyptic story set about 20 years after a fast-spreading, fast-killing disease has destroyed human culture. From the shocker opening—a production of King Lear on a Toronto stage—to its wistful ending in an airport museum holding mementos from the height of civilization, including the graphic novel, Station Eleven.

And please remember, Salt Lake magazine is a small local business too. We’re doing everything we can to keep you up-to-date on the local businesses you love and how they’re faring in these difficult times. We’re also doing everything we can to add some fun and color into your quarantine. To subscribe to SLmag, go here.

Mar 28

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“Order online. Pick it up. Spend money on your local favorites.”

By Mary Brown Malouf Eat & Drink

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with Michael McHenry about the state of restaurants in Salt Lake City. Investor in several local favorites, Provisions, Oak Wood Fire Kitchen and Dirty Bird and Ginger Street and a member of the Executive Board of the Utah Restaurant Association, McHenry has a good micro-and macro-view of the restaurant business during the COVID-19 crisis.

“Keeping our community safe is the overarching principle,” McHenry says. “Then focus on the economics.” McHenry pointed out that because the independently owned fine dining scene is a relatively young industry in Salt Lake City, it’s more vulnerable.

Just like everyone else, McHenry’s restaurants are closed to seated dining and has switched to solely third party delivery and pick-up. The change means changes throughout the restaurant. To survive, according to McHenry, restaurants need to have one essential quality: “The ability to pivot.”

“Normally, in a kitchen you work close with co-workers—social distancing is not a thing when you’re working the line in a kitchen. So to maintain proper distance, we’ve marked out where you need to stand with caution tape.” (Much like the lines in DABC stores have been marked.)

“We’ve also reworked entries and dining areas, designated areas for third party delivery and pickup. Anytime someone crosses the service barrier, they have to wear gloves; when they re-enter the restaurant, they dispose of those gloves and wash their hands. We’ve had to stagger our activities, prep and line cooking sections.”

“Revenue is down 80 percent so we only need 1 person where we used to have 3 or 4 people. Just three weeks ago, restaurant positions were hard to fill—staffing has been a problem for months all across the country. Now we’ve had to let go lots of our staff,” McHenry says.

“Our Ginger Street location was designed for takeout, but at Oak and Provision we had to implement takeout and delivery suddenly, within the last 10 days. But I want to make sure the neighborhood is aware that we’re going to be here.”

McHenry says he doesn’t expect Americans, who eat out an average 18.2 times a month, to change their habits quickly, in spite of the Internet being flooded with recipes right now. Still, fewer people know how to cook than a generation ago and “Not everyone has a large pantry or likes to cook,” he says. “We just need to make sure people know they can still enjoy a restaurant meal as often as they like.”

“We have to innovate,” McHenry says of the restaurant industry. “Nine percent of the restaurants closing now will not re-open. Hundreds of restaurants have closed here and thousands of industry workers are out of work.”

Because America has shifted from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, unemployment has skyrocketed during the pandemic. We’re trying to keep that core group employed.”

And despite the advent of GrubHub and DoorDash, most people perceive delivered food as lower-priced—like pizza.

“Some of our restaurants have curbside pickup; others, like Provisions, delivers its own food. Every restaurant encloses a handwritten note with every pickup, to add the restaurant-style personal touch missing from the pickup experience. Oak Wood has shifted to a family meal menu and added a BOGO for pizza.”

Delivery is always free and McHenry re-negotiated with Door Dash and Grub Hub.

“My message to Salt Lake City is: Get out. Order online. Pick it up. Spend money on your local favorites. And buy gift cards for any upcoming occasion.”

For a list of restaurants offering pickup or delivered food, go to https://saltlakemagazine.com/restaurants-offering-pickup-or-delivery/