Eat & Drink

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary has become the biggest attraction and largest employer in Kanab and now, thanks to its hundreds of visitors, Kanab is slowly becoming a dining hotspot. (Mostly vegetarian, of course. The town is all about the animals.) The newest spot is called Peekaboo Canyon Wood Fired Kitchen, it’s located inside the Flagstone Boutique Inn & Suites and it’s run by none other than longtime Salt Lake City chef Kathie Chadbourne—last seen as proprietor of Avenues Bistro on Third. The menu focuses on artisanal pizza from the wood fired oven, but there is a full menu, including mac & cheese, cassoulet and the Impossible Burger in several iterations. Lots of the food can be made vegan and there’s a nice list of wine and beer and even craft cocktails. Not to mention desserts. Open for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.
233 W. Center St., Kanab,
435-689-1959

Sometimes you have more party planned than your house can hold. Ideally, you’d host a special party at your own home—you want it to feel personal, hospitable, reflective of you. But many of us simply can’t accommodate all our friends in our own houses. What are the options? Lose some friends? Some rental spaces are too big—the Natural History Museum of Utah, Rice-Eccles and the Hogle Zoo, for example—but a restaurant dining room is too small. Worry not: You have options that are, as Goldilocks said, just right—and here are some you may not know about.

P.S. Don’t forget to put us on the guest list.

The Urban Studio Story

Home for a night.

“This building was originally a grocery store, then everything from a bar and brothel to a storage and shipping space,” says owner Jo Packham, creator of The Urban Studio in Ogden and the globe-trotting creator/editor-in-chief of Where Women Cook, a quarterly magazine celebrating female foodies worldwide. Packham exposed original brick walls from beneath plaster and opened and reinforced the beamed ceiling to create a rustic urban backdrop for her spirited design. Industrial lighting, copper railings and a swoon-worthy open kitchen now teem with dazzling floor-to-ceiling glass shelves displayed with ready-to-use stemware, tableware, linens and decor items Packham’s collected over many years and now constantly curates. All yours for the using when you hold an event there.

Accommodates 30 sitting down or 49 standing

Amenities Cool and cozy urban space with all the accessories you need.

Perfect for A casual and creative dinner party that feels like it could be in your own home, if you were as creative as Jo Packham. Just pretend she’s you.

Urban Studio, 2485 Grant Ave, #106, Ogden, 801-394-3040

The Rabbit Hole at Lake Effect

The magic happens downstairs.

The semi-secret underground room below the main bar at Lake Effect has a completely different vibe than the bar-restaurant upstairs. The space is lit with gas lamps, which shed a light much gentler and flattering than electric cans and give the whole room an old-fashioned aura that makes everyone feel beautiful. There is a full bar, big cozy booths and sofas as well as tables, room for a band and an atmosphere of mystery and romance.

Accommodates Up to 150 people for a cocktail party

Amenities Order food from the catering menu; the establishment can also provide bar and staffing.

Perfect for A secret society initiation party. With masks.

The Rabbit Hole at Lake Effect, 155 W. 200 South, SLC, 801-532-20688

Kilby Court

The quirky performance venue
in an old garage doubles as a quirky event venue.

Kilby Court is actually a performance venue—Salt Lake City’s longest-running all-ages venue, known for hosting edgy and as-yet unknown performers like Jonathan Richman, Future Islands, Cloud Nothings, Twin Sister and Schoolboy Q. Since 1999, owner Will Sartain and partner Lance Saunders have booked 5,000 shows into the rustic DIY space (formerly a garage) at the end of a quiet downtown street. But they also book weddings and birthday parties for those who want a different and unexpected vibe. There is a base cost of $500 with extra charges if you want chairs or need extra staff. Sartain and Saunders also own Rye, so you can order catering from Rye. Or bring in your own.

Accommodates Up to 200

Amenities A performance area inside that flows into the courtyard outside; liquor allowed if it is private event.

Perfect for A millennial celebration. Bring on the pink hair, kombucha and cocktails.

Kilby Court, 748 S. Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, 800-513-7540

The Copper Nickel

This beautiful venue has bullet holes
and underground tunnels.

“The building was originally built by the Browning brothers, who owned Browning Arms. The kitchen was the original gun range where they would test their prototypes, and the Bride’s Room is where the research and development took place for Browning rifles,” says Kassandre Alvey, scheduler for The Copper Nickel in Ogden. Owned by Sheri and Jim Alvey, The Copper Nickel has a history that perfectly aligns with Ogden’s rough and tumble reputation. Pointing at the holes around the kitchen doors’ metal casement, Alvey says, “These are bullet holes from where they tested Browning guns.

The basement also has a remnant of underground tunnels from Prohibition.” Though the building has seen some wild times, it now has a beautiful combination of industrial and rustic touches to add the perfect amount of character to your event. Almost everything is original: the bricks, wall paintings, floors, windows and garage door all date back to the early 1900s. The large wood beams traversing the ceiling and the industrial-chic chandeliers (complete with Edison bulbs) really set the stage for an Instagram-worthy wedding or memorable 50th birthday bash.

Accommodates Seats up to 350 people comfortably, can hold 600 people if you have both sitting and standing guests

Amenities You can rent tables, chairs and linens from the venue for an additional fee. There is also a litany of other rentable items from mason jars and votives to hot chocolate machines and a dance floor.

Perfect for The bride on a budget who also majored in history, or an aspiring 20th-century arms developer.

The Copper Nickel, 2450 Grant Ave., Ogden, 801-822-7468

Park City Culinary Institute in SLC

Party in the kitchen.

Anyone who’s ever hosted a party knows that the most fun is in the kitchen. You may have your great room and dining room all prepared, but your guests will inevitably congregate in the kitchen. So why not skip the circling around and frankly host your event in the kitchen? Park City Culinary Institute has a Salt Lake campus that can double as a perfect party space—natural light and red brick, with commercial appliances provide a more warm and welcoming atmosphere than a run-of-the-mill room. For business–oriented gatherings, you can use cooking as a tool to build teamwork and rapport, foster better communication, practice problem solving, spur creativity, build trust, encourage leadership and relieve stress. Plus, cooking is fun.

Accommodates Up to 100

Amenities All tables, chairs, linens and staffing can be provided, or you can bring in your own.

Perfect for A party for people who don’t know each other—nothing breaks the ice and changes strangers into friends like cooking together.

The Park City Culinary Institute in SLC, 1484 S. State St., SLC, 801-413-2800

Talia Event Center

Party with the new girl in town.

Talia is the newest space on our list, so don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it. The company took over a space in Clearfield and transformed it into whatever you want it to be—big rooms facility with expansive ceilings, a sun-kissed solarium, outdoor gardens, a full bar and dance floor, conference areas with state-of-the-art AV equipment and everything you need to make your event specialized to you.

The choice of large and intimate areas means you can design your party to fit the space—19,000 square feet gives you ample space for a mega-bash or there are smaller areas for family affairs.

Accommodates All the friends you have, plus their cousins, twice removed

Amenities All tables, chairs, linens and staffing can be provided, or you can bring in your own personal touches.

Perfect for The biggest birthday bash for a special (or not) year.

Talia Event Center, 22 E. 200 South, Clearfield, 801-510-6509

Salt Lake County is the first county in the country to receive a “Certified Welcoming” label from Welcoming America, a nonprofit supporting communities that welcome immigrants. Maybe this is part of the reason why.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s data, the foreign-born population of Salt Lake County grew from about 116,000 to about 139,000 between 2012 and 2016—more than 12 percent of people in Salt Lake County were born outside the United States.

“In 2001, I was one of those immigrants,” says Lavanya Mahate.

Now she owns seven businesses in Salt Lake County. She’s  former director of the Women’s Business Center at the Salt Lake Chamber, has 15 years years of nonprofit and for-profit business development and management and owns six brick and mortar establishments: three Saffron Valley restaurants, Biscotts Pastry and Chai & Dhanya Spice Store.

Her latest venture is Saffron Kitchen, Inc., a program that combines her experiences as a  successful restaurateur and as a newcomer to this country. In collaboration with the State of Utah and other community partners, Mahate is developing a free training program to teach refugees and disadvantaged youth culinary skills so they can enter the restaurant and hospitality industry.

It’s a culinary school of a special and rigorous kind.

Their cuisine is often the only thing immigrants bring with them to this country—but how many restaurants (ethnic and otherwise) have been started by people from other countries who know how to cook, but don’t know how to run an American business?

Saffron Kitchen aims to teach both. Students will be selected through a competitive interview and application process.

Working chefs will teach kitchen skills; those will be augmented by business workshops and  paid internships, mentorship and job placement with partner restaurants. Each student will be matched with a seasoned chef or industry professional to coach them through career development.

“Our goal is to have trained 250 participants in five years of operation,” says Mahate.

Sounds ambitious and optimistic, but Mahate is used to making things succeed and in this case, she has a hungry audience—not only do refugees need jobs, the restaurant industry desperately needs them. The nationwide shortage of restaurant workers is one of the biggest problems in the food industry today.

“We plan on opening mid-November at SLCC Meadowbrook campus and starting classes the first week in January,” says Mahate.

Bagel Project—a name already familiar to Salt Lakers who flocked to the self-proclaimed authentic bagel vendor at the Downtown Farmers Market and rejoiced when the part-time cart became a full-time store. The Bagel Project (779 S. 500 East, SLC) has been a success and the Abrams decided, as American restaurant owners almost inevitably do, to expand. The new Bagel Project serves more than bagels, bialys, lox and coffee—sandwiches are also part of the menu. And that seems to have been the starting point for the downtown location, which serves a variety of sandwiches made on bagels as well as healthy green salads.

Bagel Project downtown, like the bakery, is clearly designed more as a pick-up-and-go cafe than a sit around and eat place. We took our plastic containers to a table, anyway. The space was designed by FFKR Architects, a big-name designer for a business that started as a farmers market stand, and the tall walls of glass and spare fixtures make it a pleasant place to lunch and linger, though I don’t think that is what it was designed for. It sort of projects (haha) a Goldman-Sachs-eat-at-your-desk mentality—modern
and efficient.

The bagels, as you probably know, are not those humongous unchewables that pass as authentic nor are they another squishy rendition of American white bread, like a lot of grocery store bagels. They’re chewy but tender, perfect for holding sandwich fillings. Like too many restaurants these days, you order your food at the counter and find a table  yourself, choosing a soda from the cooler.

The salad menu is concise and ranges from chicken (or not) Caesar and Greek to more exotic mixes like the 9.25: soft-set egg, bacon, gorgonzola, shaved fennel, fried shallots, baby arugula, spring mix, dijon dressing. Choose herbed chicken or cured salmon. And they are huge. Dressing comes on the side. I drizzled mine, but my dining companion was smarter: She poured the dressing over the salad, fitted the top on, and shook. Perfect. Sandwiches are not your usual chicken salad—how about smoked trout, fried egg, pickled asparagus, truffle salt and scallion cream cheese? Or soy chorizo, avocado salsa, fried egg, tomato, red onion, cheddar cheese and cilantro? I did taste the basic BLT—the filling was great—good thick bacon, ripe tomato, crisp romaine—and, like I said, these bagels work well as a bun.

I can picture Projects all over town.

IF YOU GO

• Address:  170 S. Main Street, SLC
• Phone: 801-355-2400
• Entrees: $ (Inexpensive )

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Evans opened his first restaurant, Pago, to great acclaim. He may have been the first in town to serve beets with Greek yogurt, now a staple on many menus. Then he opened Finca, an homage to his abiding love of Spain, its food, wine and culture. In quick succession, he opened Hub&Spoke, East Liberty Tap House and Trestle. He has more projects in the works, including a chicken restaurant next to the Tap House, but recently, his focus has been on the transformation of Finca (which he moved into a cavernous downtown space in 2012) into its new George configuration. Named, in case you’re wondering, after Scott’s dad.  Alongside the sibling space, Bar George (see Barfly, p. 138) George is a re-visioning of the over-large single room that was Finca.

Some things are the same—Chef Phelix Gardner is still head of the kitchen, so you know the gnocchi is always going to be a good bet—he just has a way with those little dumplings, here served with mushrooms. But the restaurant is all over the map: The raw bar is impressive. The grill section features burgers, sliders with tallow added to the beef for a taste as rich as wagyu; a Cuban sandwich, a fish sandwich, a cauliflower poboy. Small plates include vestiges of the Spanish-American detente, like the mussels with chorizo, the stuffed piquillo peppers, garlic shrimp. But there’s also poutine and Americana too:  gorgeously rare cold-smoked beef (slightly oversalted—is this an equal and opposite reaction to the no-salt ’90s?)—even fried chicken. Because—evidently—you can’t run a restaurant anymore without fried chicken on the menu. There were some misses—the “cheeseburger egg rolls” ended up a little too reminiscent of a  7-Eleven hot snack—but most of what I tried was good, and certainly the eclectic selection has something on it to please everyone, anytime.

IF YOU GO

• Address:  327 W. 200 South, SLC
• Web: georgeslc.com
• Phone: 801-487-0699
• Entrees: $-$$