How soon will it be before all the cool stuff in Park City is owned by out-of-staters??
The beverage world is buzzing about a Bloomberg report yesterday that Pernod-Ricard is among the bidders in an auction for High West, the landmark Park City whiskey distillery, founded in 2009 by Dave Perkins.
Let me say right now that I have nothing new to report: Perkins isn’t talking and when I called Christa Graff, who handles High West’s publicity and marketing, she didn’t have a clue either. Pernod-Ricard is a brand gobbler, one of the top two companies in the wine and spirits industry. Think Chivas-Regal, Absolut, Ballantyne’s, Beefeater, Havana Club, Jameson, Kenwood, Kahlua, the Glenlivet…If you’ve drunk it, they probably own it.
High West, the first legal distillery in Utah since Prohibition, has been wildly successful with its Rendezvous Rye, Rocky Mountain Rye, Bourye and other specialty liquors, however, as at many other “craft distilleries,” High West’s products are based on the usual base from Indiana.
The original distillery/restaurant in the restored livery stable in Park City and the new distillery in Wanship have become beloved Utah icons—it’s sad to think of them becoming part of an international conglomerate…well, details to follow as people start talking.
West
Fall calls for mellow and that’s what Peter Bradley Adams excels at. So the first little bit of nip in the air set the right atmosphere for his show at The State Room Thursday night.
We’re talking Southern mellow—Molly Parden, a clear-voiced singer from Georgia, opened the night, pulling songs from her recent EP With Me in the Summer and her 2011 album.
Parden remained onstage as one of Adams’ backup singers with Lex Price playing a 1930 Tenor guitar that Adams claimed was magic. Adams played songs from his latest album The Mighty Storm and from his soon-to-be-released album, as well as what calls his oldies, as if this guy is not old enough to have a real oldies catalog.
He does, however, have that Southern sense of connection to the past that alternative singer-songwriters tend to express with melancholy tunes and nostalgic lyrics. Perhaps that’s what Robbie Robertson heard when he “discovered” eastmaountainsouth, the band Adams used to play with that first gained national attention.
Adams shared the story of the last time he played here in Salt Lake City. It was pretty much a nightmare.
My bad: I went to BTG wine bar last night to try their Farm to Glass Cocktail Contest Entry. Only after a confused encounter with a server did I realize the wine bar wasn’t participating in this year’s contest.
But there was an unexpected upside to this visit to my favorite bar which I will use to deflect embarrassment over my error: Sometime in the last few months, BTG has started offering an expanded menu. In the past, you could order food from Caffe Molise, right next door and also owned by Fred Moessinger, but somehow it was more than you wanted. Now there is a select menu just for BTG including pizza, mac and cheese and other wine-worthy food. We tried the eggplant meatballs in marinara
umami-rich, though somewhat lacking in texture. Maybe they should be fried like arancini? We also ordered focaccia with burrata, a delicious cold mushroom pate with baguette slices and a terrific hummus, smooth and creamy, with a swirl of basil oil.
There’s nothing like good noshes to extend bar time—we swirled and sipped through several flights and blew off cocktails in favor of wine for the evening.
1. Enjoy The Dairy Council’s Ice Cream Festival
If the vast selection of fried foods does not appeal to you, consider buying a ticket to the Dairy Council’s Ice Cream Festival. With vendors from across the state, a $3 ticket for adults and a $2 ticket for children buys you all the ice cream you can eat. Revel in sweet treats from Aggie Ice Cream, BYU Creamery, Creamies, and more. The 35th year of the event also features music and dairy trivia to entertain fair-goers as they satisfy their sweet tooth. Stop by on Monday, September 12 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the coolest part of the Utah State Fair.
2. Make new farm-raised and high flying friends
From cows and pigs groomed to win top prizes to acrobatic dogs, the fair is bustling with furry creatures. Little Hands on the Farm, an opportunity for children and their families to partake in the duties of farm life, allows city-dwellers the hands-on experience of milking a cow. If you are searching for the dog lover’s haven, The Canine Stars are set to perform their gravity-defying stunts every night of the fair for those who cannot get enough of man’s best friend. The fisherman, the farmer and the dog lover are all invited to enjoy the company of country critters
3. Participate in the year-end butterfly release
Over 200 butterflies will be spreading their wings and flying to California during one of the fair’s most popular traditions. An exhibit showcasing the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly and live Monarch chrysalises will be on display to teach those interested about their transformation for the duration of the fair. Attendees will also be able to watch and participate in their release on Saturday, September 17 at 4:15 p.m. This is your last chance to see Monarch butterflies before they migrate to California for the winter, so be there with your camera ready.
4. Get tickets for The Big Top Circus Spectacular
The candy-cane stripped tents are set up and are already producing the exciting rhythms of the circus. For a nostalgic experience you cannot find anywhere else, the Utah State Fair has brought back The Big Top Circus Spectacular. This year is star-studded with performances from “America’s Got Talent” contestants The Sensational Zeman Duo and Cirque du Soleil’s Pedro Carillos and Partners. The show is held three times a day and free seating tickets are distributed at select locations beginning two hours before the event.
5. Visit the annual cow-themed butter sculpture
Perhaps Utah State Fair’s most talked about feature is their creative sculptures made entirely of butter. Commissioned sculptor Debbie Brown is set to reveal a new design this year, and it is surely cow-themed. Past years have featured a cow wedding, a super hero-themed Bat Cow, and, last year, a cow punk band. Starting in 2011, the Dairy Council decided to begin a contest among Utah schools where students across the state submit sculpture ideas. If their design is chosen, the student receives tickets to the fair and ice cream festival as well as Dairy Council swag. The sculptures are located in a display refrigerator located in the Creative Arts building and is a must-see for any Utah State Fair first-timers.
-Brieanna Olds
Eat your carrots—it’ll make your hair curly.
Eat your carrots—it’ll make you see better.
How about: Eat your carrots—they’re delicious?
Ryker Brown, chef at Powder at the Waldorf Astoria Park City, is a farm-to-table devotee. I’ve already mentioned he keeps bees on the hotel property and uses their honey in his cooking. But that’s not all.
“Look in the walk-in,” he says. “Most of the stuff in there I buy locally.”
Which makes you see clearly why these carrots are so good. Locally grown, grilled, served with Thai curry-flavored yogurt, crunchy cauliflower crumbles and basil. 
Eat Local Week Utah, a community-wide celebration of the harvest and those who labor to produce it, starts this week!
Eat Local Week promotes local agriculture and the preservation of Utah’s agricultural heritage, and brings people together around the food they eat. Through a series of activities and events around the state, Eat Local Week Utah seeks to educate people about resources for eating locally, and increase awareness about food production, transportation, and access to healthy food for all.
A cornerstone of Eat Local Week is the “Eat Local Challenge,” which challenges people to eat and drink food that is grown or produced within a 250 mile radius of their home for one week. Now in its 9th year, the Eat Local Challenge is an opportunity for Utahns to garner a closer connection to food sources.
Utahns are encouraged to craft the challenge level of their choice: a strict option—no coffee, no chocolate, no olive oil, is one example. Alternatively, participants can choose specific food groups that are easy to obtain locally (produce, meats, dairy) and stay truly local to them for a week.
The goal of the challenge is to engage people to discover how much food we grow and produce in our region, and to show how changing small daily habits can have a profound effect on our health, our economy, and our diet. The Eat Local Challenge is a unique opportunity to learn more about local food and to foster creativity around what and how we feed ourselves, at the height of the harvest season.
Take a look at what’s on the calendar this week:
9/8
Governor’s Eat Local Week Proclamation
Utah State Fairgrounds, Dairy Barn; SLC
5:30pm
9/10
Education Station at Downtown SLC Farmers Market and FOODQUEST kick-off
Pioneer Park; SLC
8am -2 pm, Free
9/10
Wasatch Community Gardens Annual Tomato Sandwich Party
Grateful Tomato Garden; SLC
11am-2pm, Free
9/10
Cache Valley Gardener’s Market Farm-to-Table Banquet
Riverwoods Conference Center; Logan
6-9pm
9/12
Film Screening: “Sustainable: A Documentary”
Tower Theatre; SLC
7pm, Free
9/13
Quickle (Quick Pickle) at the Harvest Market
Gallivan Plaza; SLC
4:30pm, Free, donations accepted
9/14
A Better School Lunch
Liberty Heights Fresh; SLC
11am & 7pm, Free
9/14
Education Station at Sugarhouse Farmers Market
1040 E. Sugarmont Dr.
5-8pm, Free
9/15
Real Food Rising Fall Celebration
Real Food Rising Farm, SLC
5:30pm
9/16
Local Food and Art Show
Sugarmont Plaza; SLC
6pm
9/17
Ethnic Cuisine Demonstration
Sunnyvale Farmers Market; SLC
1pm, Free
9/17
Harmons Rooftop Wrap-up-Party
City Creek Harmons; SLC
6-9pm
One of the cool things about making the rounds, sipping the entries at this year’s Farm to Glass Cocktail Contest is the collateral advantages: We stopped in at Pallet to try the “Street Corn named Desire”, since bar manager Bijan Ghiai’s creations are alway stellar. Sure enough, we loved the cocktail—a highly original concoction made of blended sweet corn, ancho liqueur, dry curacao, lemon and honey. The blended corn is strained out, leaving the drink with a light and foamy consistency, reminiscent of the texture eggwhite gives a gin fizz. It’s served in a martini glass washed with mezcal with one outer side dipped in powdered ancho chile and garnished with a toothpick skewer of ancho-dusted corn kernels. 
The inspiration for the cocktail can be ordered from the appetizer menu: Sous Chef Jerry Pacheco makes Elotes (translates to fresh corn) from Utah sweet corn kernels mixed with creme fraiche, cotija cheese and truffle aioli and tops it with ancho chili powder and red vein sorel from Frog Bench Farms.
But then we saw another cocktail going out and immediately ordered one of those: For the “Life of Poblano,” Bijan scrapes the seeds and stems from a fresh poblano pepper and balances it in a glass of ice water. Then he mixes Wahaka Espadin Joven Mezcal with lime, orgeat, Ancho Reyes 
(a liqueur flavored with ancho chile) and some other things and fills the pepper with it. You drink directly from the pepper, getting a green, vegetal aroma with every sip that offsets the smoky liquor. 
(a liqueur flavored with ancho chile) and some other things and fills the pepper with it. You drink directly from the pepper, getting a green, vegetal aroma with every sip that offsets the smoky liquor. Genius. Get out there and start sipping—who knows what you’ll find? Here’s a list of Cocktail Contest participants. And don’t forget to buy tickets for the grand finale party.
Over 45 restaurants in downtown Salt Lake City are set to participate in the 13th annual Downtown Dine O’Round. The event runs September 9 – 25, including three full weekends for locals to get out and try something new. Specially-designed dinner and lunch menus have been created for the event with the frugal in mind. Two-item lunches are either $5 or $10 and three course dinners are either $15 or $35, depending on location.
“Dine O’Round is important to encourage diners to try a new restaurant or return to an old favorite during the seventeen delicious days of the event,” said Nick Como, communication director for the Downtown Alliance. “Our fantastic restauranteur partners have elevated Salt Lake City’s brand as a culinary hotspot with quality dining options, culinary talent, and varied ethnic cuisines.”
Participants include local favorites Gracie’s and Blue Iguana as well as award-winning restaurants like J. Wong’s Asian Bistro and Tin Angel Cafe. By asking for the special Dine O’Round menu, diners can choose from a variety of choices and add on additional drinks and appetizers from the regular menu if they choose. The Downtown Alliance puts on the event every year to draw new people downtown and encourage downtown residents and office workers to explore the city’s diverse dining options.
This year, the event also offers diners the opportunity to “win dinner for a year.” To enter, participants can upload photos from their Dine O’Round experience, use the hashtag #DineORound and tag @downtownslc on Instagram to automatically enter to win.
For more information on participating locations and samples menus, visit www.dineoround.com.
-Brieanna Olds
Be an Athenian for a day and enjoy all that the 41st Greek Festival has to offer. Put on by the Greek Orthodox Church, the event has become a popular tradition among residents of the Salt Lake Valley with as many as 50,000 visitors attending the weekend event. Beginning on Friday, September 9, the festival is a three-day journey into Greek culture, music, entertainment and cuisine.
“This annual event gives the Salt Lake Greek Community the opportunity to share our deep-rooted culture with the great people of the state of Utah,” Parish Council President Thomas W. Peters said.
Utah has one of the largest Greek communities in the country, which is reflected in the annual festival’s expansion into the largest cultural event in the state. From its beginning in the basement of the church, the festival has grown to offer dance performances, tours of the church and museum, and a variety of food choices. Attendees are encouraged to come feast on classic Greek cuisine, like gyros and baklava, while sitting in the majestic shadow of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
Admission is $3 per person and many of the proceeds will be set aside by The Greek Orthodox Church to support charities in the community. Children 5 and under are free.
The Salt Lake Greek Festival is located at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 279 S. 300 W., and runs September 9 – September 11. For more information visit www.saltlakegreekfestival.com.
-Brieanna Olds
