SLUG Contributor Limelight
September 1, 2016
Contributor Limelight: Amanda Rock
Amanda Rock made SLUG’s world a cheery one when she began writing for the magazine in January of 2013. Her positive, happy-go-lucky disposition brightens our day each time we get to see her! Rock deems her favorite SLUG article as this month’s “SLC VegFest: A Tasty & Free Vegucation” (pg. 10), which evinces her passion for writing about, researching and experiencing local plant-based cuisine. She marvels at our fast-growing local culinary landscape and takes pride in the work that she creates for SLUG to pronounce Utah’s food culture. Rock also enjoys interviewing and writing about local entrepreneurs in order to hear their stories and to help them promote their businesseses. Be sure to also read her story, “Festa Italiana: Authentic Flavors and Culture” on pg. 12. Amanda Rock charms us with her writing and personality, and SLUG loves having her aboard!
Articles by contributor
Waterpocket Distillery: Open Wild and Explore
Since Waterpocket Distillery opened this year, their compelling flavors have been used in cocktails served by the coolest bars in Salt Lake. … read more
Star of India: Indian Food Comes to North Temple
I miss the Bollywood movies and the murals of their old location downtown, but it’s the food and the family behind Star of India that make this restaurant shine. … read more
Journey to the Wasatch: A Fundraiser for GenR
If helping refugees is something you’d like to learn more about, you’re in luck. Journey to the Wasatch, a fundraiser for GenR (a group of young humanitarians who work with the IRC), will take place on April 19 at The Falls Event Center at Trolley Square. … read more
Laziz Kitchen: Lebanese to Please
A few months ago, Moudi Sbeity and Derek Kitchen opened Laziz Kitchen, a Lebanese restaurant in the burgeoning Central Ninth neighborhood. Under the brand name Laziz, which is Arabic for “tasty,” Laziz Kitchen’s hummus and spreads have long been popular mainstays of local farmer’s markets. … read more
The Rose Establishment: Cultivating Craveable Fare
Whether you sit outside on the cozy patio or inside, surrounded by wood, white brick and simple light fixtures, The Rose Establishment is a coffee shop you’ll enjoy spending time in. … read more
3 Cups: Simply the Best
Simplicity is woven through the architecture, design and menu at 3 Cups, located in a new development in the heart of Holladay. … read more
It’s All Good at All Chay
Nestled in a small Rose Park strip mall, All Chay serves vegan versions of traditional Vietnamese food. Over the past year, this neighborhood restaurant has become a cozy refuge with a homey, bohemian vibe. With friendly service and flavorful cuisine, All Chay is a hidden treasure worth seeking out. … read more
SLC VegFest: A Tasty & Free Vegucation
Demonstrating how easy it is to be vegan is the focus of UARC’s first annual SLC VegFest, which takes place on Saturday, Sept. 10, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Library Square. With free samples of vegan fare available, the biggest challenge at SLC VegFest will be deciding what to eat! … read more
Festa Italiana: Authentic Flavors & Culture
To pair with Italian beer and wine available at the festival, there will be an array of favorites from popular local Italian restaurants at Festa Italiana. Expect pasta as well as lesser-known dishes that Italians have grown up eating. … read more
Aimee’s Home Cookin’: Craft Lake City Craft Food
Growing up in a Vermont country inn, Aimee Toner spent a lot of time in the kitchen. After stepping up to help when her mother got sick when she was 15, Toner developed skills and a passion for cooking. … read more
City Grounds: Craft Lake City Craft Food
Patrolling Liberty Park, festivals, food truck rallies and late nights after the bars close, City Grounds pedal their brew from a custom-made tricycle fitted with a nitrogen tank and refrigerated cooler. … read more
Props to Proper Burger Co.
when Avenues Proper opened three years ago, diners were charmed by their crave-worthy fare and the beer brewed at their Avenues location. This year, they’ve expanded with Proper Brewing Co. and Proper Burger Co., a casual burger joint serving Proper Beer in downtown Salt Lake City. … read more
Foodtrepreneur Festival: Get to Know Your Foodtrepreneur
The second annual Foodtrepreneur Festival is your chance to hear the storiesbehind your favorite local products and discover new favorites. … read more
CY Noodles House
CY Noodles House opened in the summer of 2015 in Chinatown, offering diners something different in the shopping development. … read more
Review: Everyday Witchcraft: Making Time for Spirit in a Too-Busy...
In Everyday Witchcraft: Making Time for Spirit in a Too-Busy World, Deborah Blake shares easy, quick ways to recharge your batteries and reconnect with nature. … read more
Review: But I Could Never Go Vegan!
A collection of delectable and creative vegan recipes answers common objections of adopting a plant-based lifestyle in But I Could Never Go Vegan!. … read more
Brandy Is The Buzz At The Hive Winery
Located in Layton, The Hive Winery prides itself on making small batch fruit wines, mead and hard apple ciders using local fruit and honey. … read more
Current Fish & Oyster: Get Swept Away
Current Fish & Oyster has submerged Salt Lake City’s dining scene in fresh seafood, skillfully and simply prepared. … read more
Festa Italiana: An Authentic Italian Street Festival in Salt Lake...
The two-day festival was an ideal sendoff to summer. I’m happy to say that the Italian Civic League organized a great party for Salt Lake City. … read more
Passion Flour Patisserie: Authentic French Pastries Gone Vegan
Jessica Davies, a classically trained French pastry chef gone vegan, has brought high-end vegan pastries to Salt Lake City’s dining scene. Located at 165 E. 900 S., Passion Flour Patisserie is a charming shop, the type of place where you could lose yourself in a leisurely afternoon, nose in a book, enjoying a cup of
A Taste of Taste of the Wasatch
On Aug. 2, over 50 chefs will gather to feed the masses in the serene beauty of Solitude Mountain Resort. Taste of the Wasatch is an annual fundraiser for Utahns Against Hunger, The Green Urban Lunchbox and 3 Squares, Inc. There are a staggering 440,000 households in Utah that don’t have enough food to eat, and
Eat Drink SLC 2015: Salt Lake’s Finest Bites and Beverages
Storm clouds on the horizon created a cool atmosphere in the lush surroundings of Tracy Aviary on July 9. The fates smiled down on Eat Drink SLC’s inaugural event—there was no rain that night, only a cool breeze. The winding walkways of the aviary hosted popular restaurants, wineries, local distilleries and breweries, each offering generous
BEGging For Change: An Interview with Rory Freedman
It was only a matter of time until Rory Freedman, a longtime vegan and co-author of Skinny Bitch, wrote BEG, a straightforward book about our weird relationship with animals. … read more
Downtown Farmers Market Opening Day @ Pioneer Park 06.08
Taking over Pioneer Park on Saturdays with extended hours from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m, the Downtown Farmers Market in Salt Lake has become a one-stop shop for local, organic produce and artisan food products. If you can’t find it here, you probably shouldn’t eat it. … read more
Middle Eastern Cooking @ Caputo’s 06.09
An intimate group of about ten people gathered in the deli of Caputo’s Market downtown on a Tuesday night, hungry and eager to learn. … read more
Beer Flows Through Salt Lake at the Utah Beer Festival...
On Saturday, August 17 from 3–8 p.m., over 100 local and national breweries gathered at Gallivan Plaza to share samples of beer for a great cause, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for the fourth annual Utah Beer Festival. … read more
On The Edge of The Bed
The beautiful Hotel Monaco in downtown Salt Lake City was the setting for On the Edge of the Bed, a “ tastefully sexy” seminar presented by The Healing Group, a women’s clinic located in Holladay. … read more
Salt Lake Welcomes the Winter Market
Last winter the Downtown Salt Lake City Farmers Market held pop-up markets as a solution to the winter funk. They were enjoyable monthly events held at various places downtown where you could stock up on local goodies and get your food truck fix, but the strong demand for a year-round market warranted a better solution: The Winter Farmers Market at the Rio Grande Depot. … read more
Meatless Mondays at the Salt Lake Culinary Center
Julia Child said, “People who love to eat are always the best people,” and I agree. We were proven correct at The Salt Lake Culinary Center’s Meatless Monday:Vegetarian Basics class. … read more
Sundance Film Review: This May Be The Last Time
Sharing the story of his grandfather’s disappearance in Sasakwa, Oklahoma in 1962, and other personal stories of his family, this film gives insight into a small community that supported each other through a difficult time, both physically and spiritually. … read more
Mastering Martinis: Shaken, Not Stirred
I saw the Mastering Martinis class listed on the website for the University of Utah’s Lifelong Learning Classes and knew I had to be there. You’re not supposed to drink the fist martini—they expected you to sample it and put it back in the shaker with varying degrees of vermouth. Baffling. If you put a drink in front of me, I’m going to drink it. With that hiccup behind me, the rest of the class went smoothly. … read more
Chocolate: The Exhibit @ The Natural History Museum of Utah
Chocolate: The Exhibit seizes you the moment you enter. The heady scent of chocolate leads you through incarnations of the cacao bean in this exhibit developed by the Field Museum in Chicago. … read more
Stick Your Whole Nose In It: A Kiler Grove Wine...
A rowdy group of retirees, my husband and I gathered in the winery. Tables were set in up the warehouse amid huge barrels of wine and machinery. Michael Knight, part owner and winemaker, meticulously explained the art of winemaking, or “voodoo” as he calls it. … read more
Beer and Ballet: A Fun Night with Ballet West and...
Beer and Ballet, a fundraiser for Ballet West, was a magnificent event. Guests enjoyed an elegant gala (with beer!) and a preview of “The Rite of Spring.” Epic Brewing co-hosted the evening, providing bottles of a few of their most popular brews. Mingling in the lobby of the beautiful Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre, delectable bites were served by The Annex, Epic’s gastro-pub located in Sugarhouse, in addition to Epic Brewing’s ales and lagers. I happily used my three drink tickets (and one of my husband’s) on the Spiral Jetty IPA. Food and beer lines moved quickly and service was friendly. … read more
Animal Inside Out: A Body Worlds Exhibit
The Leonardo’s newest exhibit, Animal Inside Out, is a menagerie of creatures preserved through the art of plastination, where the fat and water in a body is replaced by plastic. The result is startlingly, beautiful and eerie. … read more
Small Plates, Slow Food and Decadent Cocktails @ The Rest...
“The Ark of Taste is just one of the programs that Slow Food has created in order to preserve traditions and culture throughout the world,” says Chantelle Bourdeoux, Slow Food Board Member. “It’s simple—if people don’t learn to cook, we risk losing some of the great food pleasures of the world.” … read more
Food Truck Rally @ Whole Foods Market South Valley 05.21
Get your reusable grocery bags ready, Draper! Whole Foods Market South Valley is ready to open its doors. In celebration, a few folks were lucky enough to tour the beautiful new store and attend a party with the locals at a family-centric food truck rally. … read more
Cheese Flights Take Off at Caputo’s in Holladay
Caputo’s, a world-famous Italian deli and market, is quite a draw. Locals can relax on the patio and discover new foods in the shop. Half the store is wide open with large windows facing the patio. The Italian market is modest, but has everything you need like fresh baguettes from Eva’s Bakery, an impressive meat and cheese counter and all the accoutrements you can imagine. … read more
Taste of the Wasatch: Food, Fun and Fundraising
Everybody loves to eat. Unfortunately not everyone gets to. A whopping 22.2% of households in Salt Lake City face food hardship, meaning they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Taste of the Wasatch is changing that sad fact. This popular fundraiser brings together some of Utah’s best restaurants, breweries and people. Every last cent of the proceeds support hard working organizations that insure everyone has access to food. … read more
A Taste of Mexique with Chef Carlos Gaytan
You might recognize Chef Carlos Gaytan from his stint on Top Chef. Trained in French cuisine, he used that skill to revitalize Mexican gastronomy. His restaurant in Chicago, Mexique, has recently earned a prestigious star from the Michelin Guide, the only Mexican restaurant to do so. It was a once in a lifetime treat to have Gaytan cook for us, since my husband has sworn to never leave the West. … read more
Birds and the Bees, Flowers and the Trees: A Fundraiser...
Enjoying local food and drink among the largest botanical garden in the West is a wonderful thing, and a great idea for a fundraiser. … read more
Feast of Five Senses: A Fundraiser for Slow Food Utah
Slow Food Utah wants you to care where your food comes from. A celebration of all things Slow Food, The Feast of Five Senses, is one of the finest food events held in Utah each year. … read more
Utah Arts Festival: Masquerade Party
The Masquerade Party is an annual fundraising event for the local festival with dancing, drinking and just-for-fun gambling with a Mardi Gras theme. The crowd donned elaborate masks, ranging from robots to fancy jackalopes. … read more
Beer, Blues & Brats – A Good Time for A Good...
A gorgeously sunny Sunday afternoon in Salt Lake City was the ideal time to get together to enjoy food and music. “Beer, Blues and Brats” is a fun, down-to-earth fundraiser for Crossroads Urban Center, advocates for the state’s low-income population. … read more
Frisch is the Word for Compassionate Food
In the spring of 2012, after a successful Kickstarter campaign raising over $8,000, Rachel and Leigh Kade opened Frisch Compassionate Eatery. Frisch has found their niche, offering healthy, plant-based comfort food in a friendly atmosphere. Everything on the menu is lovingly prepared with fresh (local when possible) ingredients. Facebook and Twitter are constantly flooded with gorgeous photos of daily specials, luring you back time and time again. … read more
Beer Pubs with History and Swagger
There is no better way to learn more about Utah’s history with beer than to take a guided tour of a few of the most charismatic pubs in Salt Lake City. The Thirst Fursday Historic Pub Crawl is sponsored by the Utah Heritage Foundation, an organization committed to preserving Utah’s historical buildings through outreach like this fun and drinky tour. On the first Thursday of the month, three pubs are crawled to, all offering insight into Salt Lake’s history. … read more
Tastemakers 2015: A Taste of Salt Lake City
Tastemakers, billed as “Utah’s Premier Dining Event,” is an annual event hosted by Salt Lake Magazine featuring tasty bites, beer and wine from popular restaurants in SLC. … read more
Foodtrepreneur Festival – A Chance To Feed Your Entrepreneurial Spirit...
On April 23, Pierpont Place will host the Foodtrepreneur Festival. The first of its kind, this free event will highlight local food-and-beverage brands. There will be a panel where guests can pick the brains of some of the top foodtrepreneurs in Salt Lake City and later, hobnob with more than 30 local companies.
The Annex by Epic Brewing
The arrival of Chef Craig Gerome from San Francisco this year, however, has rocked this gastropub. The Annex is now more like a fancy restaurant with lots of great beer.
Ganesh Indian Cuisine: Authentic Indian Food in Midvale
Tucked away in a nondescript strip mall in Midvale, serving authentic dishes from North and South India, Ganesh Indian Cuisine is a gem to discover.
Food Review: Rawtopia
Omar Abou-Ismail is thrilled to examine people’s expressions as they taste raw vegan food for the first time. As a skeptic by nature (and junk food vegan!), I was surprised at the palatable flavors and textures—I’ve never had anything like the food from Rawtopia. I’m sure Omar could detect the suspicion fade and turn to bliss as I stuffed my face. … read more
Sage’s Cafe and the Jade Room: Vegan Reinvented
When the Jade Cafe, a Chinese-American restaurant built in 1956, became available, Brandt saw the opportunity to reinvent Sage’s Cafe and become an important part of an up-and-coming area of Salt Lake. Reopening in early 2014 with a fantastic menu update, Brandt has certainly increased the restaurant’s appeal. The new location has plenty of parking (and is just a short walk from Trax), lots of kitchen space and ample seating. And here are the best parts: an updated menu boasting delectable small plates, an impressive vegan wine list and a full bar. A vegan restaurant with a full bar? Yes, please. … read more
Zest Kitchen & Bar: Where Flavor Comes to Dance
There are few places in Salt Lake City as unique as Zest Kitchen & Bar, an intimate bar serving spot-on, downright craveable food with lively flavor. Contributing to Salt Lake City’s reputation as an up-and-coming vegan hot spot, the menu boasts intriguing cocktails and sustainable vegetarian (mostly vegan) fare as well as live music, DJs and dancing on the weekend. … read more