A&E

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net Information is correct at press time; visit event websites for updates on possible COVID-related cancellations or re-scheduling

Pioneer Theatre Company: Something Rotten!

Given the general subject matter of Something Rotten!—a theater company struggling to figure out what makes sense for their next production—it’s more than slightly ironic that it has taken two years for it to finally make its Pioneer Theatre Company debut. The 2015 musical and multiple Tony Award nominee was first scheduled for spring 2020, but we all know what happened to things that were scheduled for spring 2020, and why. Then it was tentatively planned for 2021, but again COVID intervened. “I have been eager to bring this crowd-pleaser to our audience for a long time,” says PTC artistic director Karen Azenberg, who also directs and choreographs this production, “but the pandemic kept getting in the way.”

But it’s finally all-systems-go for this charming tale set in Renaissance England, where a pair of brothers, Nick and Nigel

Bottom, face that most particular of artistic challenges while running a theater company in Renaissance England: getting out from the shadow of William Shakespeare. As the Bard keeps churning out hit after hit, Nick and Nigel fume over their rival’s popularity, until a relative of the celebrated soothsayer Nostradamus gives them a tip about how to change their fortunes. They should, Nostradamus suggests, get on board with a new theatrical form that will eventually be all the rage. It’s called … a “musical.”

Something Rotten! runs Feb. 25 – March 12 at the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre (300 S. 1400 East), with tickets $48 - $72. Visit pioneertheatre.org for ticket information and current health & safety protocols. (Scott Renshaw)

PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY

30% OFF!

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net Information is correct at press time; visit event websites for updates on possible COVID-related cancellations or re-scheduling

Odyssey Dance: Shut Up and Dance

Over its nearly-30-year history, Odyssey Dance Theatre has turned some of the staples of American popular culture into lively movement, from the Christmas magic of It’s a Wonderful Life to the gleeful ghoulishness of the Halloween staple Thriller. The company’s spring tradition has been a repertory program collectively dubbed Shut Up and Dance—and the 2022 installment will be the company’s last, as company founder Derryl Yeager has announced his retirement and the closing of Odyssey Dance after this fall’s Thriller production.

The 2022 Shut Up and Dance roster features four unique programs, each with its own unique slant. Sledgehammer (pictured) includes a suite inspired by the songs from Peter Gabriel’s hit 1986 album So, along with three shorter works from the Odyssey repertoire. Let It Be takes some of the most beloved works from the Beatles catalog—including “Yesterday,” “Come Together” and “Help!”—and sets them to dance. Chicago Nights evokes the spirit of Prohibition-era Chicago through a wide range of styles from tap to jazz, from ballroom to hip-hop. And Romeo & Juliet sets the classic Shakespeare story to choreography by former Odyssey principal dancer Eldon Johnson, with the Odyssey traditional twist of letting the audience vote on whether the young lovers live or die.

Take advantage of your final chance ever to catch these productions March 2-12 at the Midvalley Performing Arts Center (2525 Taylorsville Blvd., Taylorsville), with individual ticketing for each performance at $15 - $35. Visit odysseydance.com for more event info, and arttix.org for tickets and current health and safety protocols. (SR)

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Complete listings online at cityweekly.net Information is correct at press time; visit event websites for updates on possible COVID-related cancellations or re-scheduling

Matt Flint @ Gallery MAR

The stunning landscapes and biodiversity of the American West have long been sources of inspiration for artists, who sought to capture that natural beauty through a wide range of media from painting to photography. Wyoming-based artist Matt Flint is part of that tradition, but his style is not one that favors a strictly naturalistic approach to capturing his subjects. “My paintings are of animals, plants and landscapes seen through a moment of shifting focus,” Flint notes in his website’s artist statement. “I paint the way I explore the rugged mountains where I live, always pushing to see what is over the next hill, searching for the unexpected.”

That sense of exploration is certainly on display in the collection of new work offered locally by Park City’s Gallery MAR. Fragments of Arcadia, a one-man show of Flint’s work, presents oil-based and mixed media paintings with subjects including horses (a staple of Flint’s oeuvre), owls, bears and wolves (“Entering Winter” is pictured). The colors blur and mix around the edges in these evocative studies, suggesting the invariably transitory nature of animals that are in constant motion, while the tactile quality in the images brings them fully into the real world.

Fragments of Arcadia opens at Gallery MAR (436 Main St., Park City) on Feb. 25, with an artist reception on that date from 6 – 9 p.m.; masks will be required for all attendees at the event. The exhibition runs through the month of March, with closing date as yet undetermined. Visit gallerymar.com for more details and additional event information. (SR)

MATT FLINT

Nassim @ Kingsbury Hall

Live theater is always a risk, but there’s an added level of working without a net in the works of Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (pictured). His 2010 work White Rabbit, Red Rabbit introduced the idea of staging a play without a director, without rehearsals and without a set, as the actors discover the script along with the audience. As Soleimanpour told Broadway World in 2019, “I think it’s mainly to live it together for the first time. … It becomes, of course, an experiment in form, but [also] a shared experience for all of us in the room.”

Soliemanpour continues that experiment with Nassim which he describes cryptically—so as not to tip off either the audience members or the upcoming cast members—as “about language, about making friends, about the concept of home.” Each of the production’s six performances will feature a different solo actor, representing a wide range of the local community, including X96 Radio from Hell co-host Gina Barberi, Fox13 reporter Ben Winslow, former Salt Lake County Council member Shireen Ghorbani, and University of Utah Tanner Humanities Center director Erika George. With Soliemanpour on stage, each cast member takes the script from a sealed box for the first time, and the experiment begins anew.

Nassim plays Kingsbury Hall (1395 E. Presidents Circle) March 1-5, including a matinee performance on Saturday, March 5. Tickets are $5 - $25; face coverings are requested but not required of all audience members. Visit utahpresents.org to buy tickets and for additional event information. (SR)

NIMA SOLIEMANPOUR

Spirits in the Material World

Utah author M Dressler flips the script on ghost story conventions in Our Eyes at Night

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

Your typical ghost story has a familiar arc: It’s set in a world where people assume ghosts aren’t real, they need to be convinced by events in the story that the ghosts are real, and then they set about solving the obvious problem of getting rid of the ghosts. For Southern Utah-based author Mylène Dressler, none of that obviousness was interesting. What if everyone in the world already took it for granted that ghosts existed? And what if the ghosts were only a “problem” because of the mind-set of the living?

Dressler—who writes as M Dressler—mines rich allegorical territory in her The Last Ghost series, which concludes with Our Eyes at Night (released March 1). Continuing the story begun in The Last to See Me and I See You So Close, it follows the conflict between Emma Rose Finnis, an Irish immigrant who drowned off the California coast in the late 1800s, and Philip Pratt, a professional “ghost hunter” who pursues Emma Rose with a Javert-like obsession.

It took a little time for Dressler to find her way to ghost stories, and indeed to find her way to writing in general. “I started out life as a ballet dancer,” Dressler says, “but I always had this idea of moving on after dancing, which is a very short career. Writing and dance, it’s all storytelling— writing is a form of dance; it’s very rhythmic and lyrical. I’m interested in the music of language.”

The concept for the Last Ghost series in particular came both from the kind of literature Dressler grew up on, and a visit to the California coast. “When I was growing up, I loved gothic narratives,” Dressler says, “things like Henry James, Shirley Jackson, Jane Eyre. Then I got lucky, because I had a moment a few years ago traveling on the coast of California, zoned out in my writer’s space, and I thought, ‘Even if you died here, you wouldn’t want to leave.’ And it was all there, poof. … It took me a little while to find, but it combines everything I love.”

One of those things she loves is the Southern Utah landscape where she lives, and as Emma Rose moved eastward in successive books—from the California coast to the Sierra Nevadas—the often-contested lands of Southern Utah became a natural place in Our Eyes at Night to continue investigating the idea of ghosts as an allegory for marginalized people.

“Ghosts tend to represent things that really shouldn’t be erased so easily,” Dressler says. “Emma is an immigrant, and a servant—expected to be invisible in life, and now expected to be invisible in death. The minute you step out and show yourself, in the fullness of your humanity, that’s the moment you’re in danger. … [In this world], the desire to erase them is out in the open.”

The danger in The Last Ghost books comes in the form of Pratt’s hunter, a character who might typically be the protagonist of a conventional ghost story. For Dressler, it was important to recognize what makes someone so singleminded in perceiving an “other” as a threat, and in finding it hard to incorporate new information that might allow for a shift in perspective.

“[Pratt] also absolutely believes in the worth and goodness of what he’s doing; it seems like a righteous task to him,” Dressler says. “It’s really this clash of worldviews. He doesn’t strike me as unintelligent, but he has very high stakes invested in this career. … It’s certainly recognizable in our culture right now, that people just will not let go of things that are patently false, because your identity will be destroyed.

“One of the things Emma recognizes early on, is that [Pratt]’s got that thing on his wrist, this [ghost-dispatching] weapon. Emma sees that he’s manacled to his destiny. He’s as much enchained as she is.”

The connection with contemporary societal issues gets even more complex with the way Dressler folds climate change into her story, including the hidden “bunker” where a wealthy couple is preparing for an expected apocalypse, and where Emma and a group of fellow ghosts consider settling down. “I think of this book as an ‘eco-gothic;’ it’s very deliberate on my part, combining these two different discourses,” Dressler says. “Emma pretty much says this baldly at one point: Are the living leaving the planet more fit for the dead?”

Most intriguingly, Our Eyes at Night recognizes that the fixation of people like Pratt on solving the “ghost problem” is a distraction from the much more pressing and threatening circumstances accompanying climate change. “Instead of thinking about big things,” Dressler says, “we’re encouraged to worry about things like ‘others’ and ‘bordercrossers’—and that’s what ghosts are in the trajectory of most narratives. We’re taught to be afraid of the wrong things. We allow ourselves to be frightened and distracted.

“Pratt’s very invested in what’s on what side of the line. But there are things that have no boundaries, like climate. If you’re writing a contemporary book, how do you ignore that? How do you pretend that’s not real?” CW

Mylène Dressler

MAIA DERY

OUR EYES AT NIGHT By M Dressler Skyhorse Publishing, March 1, 2022 $26.99 hardcover mdressler.com

O-Town Alive

A trio of Ogden gastropubs that are worth the trip.

BY REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ comments@cityweekly.net

Thirsting for a road trip?

Here’s what I looked for in O-Town pubs. They must:

• Have local Ogden owners who brew their own beer • Feature a bar with a full liquor license • Offer lunch and dinner menus—not just snacks • Have a family-friendly atmosphere • Have employees who hung on through COVID • Sell crowlers, growlers and merch • Offer curbside takeout with assigned times • Allow patrons to order online • Be a place to “get your beer nerd on”

Ogden is one of those beautiful mountain towns that Salt Lakers scurry to for easy access to trails, ski resorts (Snowbasin, Powder Mountain and Nordic Valley) and the charm and mysteries of Historic 25th Street.

With Ogden’s Union Station, Salomon Center, Eccles Dinosaur Park as well as myriad museums, gardens and nature centers, O-Town is an active, family city—think welcoming, laid-back, fun vibes with a nod of a generous community fan base. You hardly need convincing to take the 45-minute drive north on Interstate 15 or a UTA FrontRunner train ride (free through the end of February!) to Ogden.

But, as with most cities, COVID hit the town hard. It’s a small miracle that the town’s restaurants and bars survived after being forced to close for two weeks in March 2020, when most food and beverage workers were unable to work. Then, as eateries reopened, some workers returned to handle takeout and delivery orders.

When, at last, restaurants were able to open for dining-in, they had fewer tables due to social distancing requirements.

So, if Salt Lakers haven’t been showing up lately, it’s not surprising. We were all busy hunkering down.

But business in Ogden is picking up now, and new players have appeared on the scene. This story shines a light on three gastropubs, aka microbreweries—Ogden River Brewing, Roosters Brewing Co. and UTOG—that make up the beating heart of Ogden’s downtown.

Yes, the city boasts many noteworthy restaurants, bars and pubs! But these topped our list for their craft beer selections, delectable food, full bars, welcoming atmosphere and family-friendly offerings.

The owners and managers of these pubs harbor such passion for what they do, yet—with supply-chain and staffing shortages—they continue to adapt and find their footing. And due to the pandemic’s fluxes, many hospitality workers have moved on to seek careers elsewhere. Thankfully, not all abandoned ship.

UTOG’s Carson Foss noted his employees “stepped up and worked so hard through 2020 when many people chose not to. Without their hard work, we would not have been able to come through so strong. [Most of our] employees have been with us since Day 1, and we consider ourselves the UTOG family.”

In fact, these three pubs have come back with a stronger presence than ever, with loyal employees now able to make a living at something most customers take for granted. Few even realize how much these businesses give to the Ogden community.

Whether you drink beer or not, craft brewers naturally brings communities together. Friends, neighbors and customers have rallied to support these pubs in Ogden, and it’s easy to see why.

Can you go for just a pint? Sure! Local Ogden Pub Runners are weekly regulars about town completing their runs or stopping along the way at these locations. Can you take your family for a nice dinner or brunch outing— even if you don’t drink beer? Of course! How about taking a date and not being bothered by loud children? Absolutely! Sit in the 21+ areas.

The excellent service of knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff will help challenge you to sample new beers from the Independent Brewers board or create a flight for yourself using cues like a ski map (in the case of UTOG) from green to blue to black diamond.

The one thing easily learned in creating this pub crawlwith-food story is that quality beer demands quality food. With this trio, you’re sure to find something to make every palate happy.

All three pubs have beautiful wooden bars for sitting and dining solo with friendly faces at the taps to keep you company while not being invasive. All three have ample dining-room options for large or small parties with a wide menu variety, and all three have brewing equipment in plain sight, which is fun when you’re talking fermentation stations and IPAs.

If you’re craving socialization and something new (that still feels comfortable), get your motor running and head on up to O-Town to explore this vibrant trio of gastropubs, giving Salt Lakers multiple reasons to return to this hopping city.

Ogden River Brewing founder Pat Winslow

Extra Special Bitter Cali Invasion California Common Style

MIKE RIEDEL

New Zengland IPA Hop Train Pale Ale

REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ

Becker’s Best American Pilsner

REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ

REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ

Family-friendly menu options hit the spot, such as wood-fired pizza.

REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ

Ogden River Brewing: A brew-aholic’s dream come true

(20-minute walk from the Ogden FrontRunner station; bus/trolley services and ride-sharing available)

Pat Winslow, a former railroad conductor and longtime homebrewer, started a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 to make his dream of a brewery a reality. The happy result of his efforts, Ogden River Brewing., opened in 2020 and is located along the Ogden River Parkway trail, where it has quickly become a fixture in the Ogden community.

Inspired by the Becker Brewing and Malting Co., which operated about a block from ORB’s location in Ogden from 1890 to 1964, Winslow had hoped to honor the legendary family of brewers with his Becker’s Best American Pilsner and other food items on the menu. The Becker family descendants, however, have recently lodged their concerns about the brewpub’s use of the family name, so it remains to be seen if the theme will hold.

Regardless, Ogden River Brewing is an uplifting space where regulars and tourists alike come for lunch or to just explore the beer selection. With its windowed garage doors and airy upstairs outdoor seating, ORB offers majestic views of the mountains that guard the city’s east side.

Outdoor seating is a big draw when it’s warm enough to dine al fresco. “Guests will ride their bikes or walk along the parkway and stop in for lunch,” Winslow said, “which is what we wanted in a community restaurant and pub.”

And yet, winter weather is hardly a deterrent. Arrive early and you’ll hear a light buzz of activity that turns into a full roar by 7 p.m., when you’ll have to wait for a table.

My partner ordered a flight of beers, and Becker’s Best American Pilsner hit all the right notes with its light, citrus finish and low bitterness. The New Zengland is cloudy, with notes of tangerine and a hint of vanilla, overtones of grapefruit—a hazy and unfiltered IPA. The favorite was the Hop Train Pale Ale with its little bubble, medium golden, nice balance of hops and a smooth finish.

With an Extra Special Bitter English-Style Pale Ale (which reminded the author of her time in Leeds as a university student) and a Cali Invasion California Common Style—a classic amber with refined caramel notes, there really was something for every taste.

Paired with the beers was a nice mix on the menu of wood-fired pizzas, sandwiches that rotate by season, fresh salads that can be topped with grilled salmon or chicken, yummy Niman Ranch beef burgers, fish and tots and the favorite ingenious appetizer of “Mormon hush puppies,” which are funeral potatoes rolled into a ball and fried, aptly served with fry sauce. Paired with roasted Brussels sprouts, it was much like a fun Thanksgiving starter.

Family-friendly, Ogden River Brewing offers a kids’ menu and has plenty of open space. It is boisterous enough that patrons likely won’t notice any noise kids make.

Meanwhile, adults at the full bar can enjoy a seasonal cocktail called “Sue’s Apple Pie,” which is swirled around in a bowl-shaped coupe champagne glass. The cocktail (‘tini) had notes of vanilla vodka, cinnamon, apples and brown sugar. The bartenders create delicious and beautiful seasonal craft cocktails for bar clientele in the mood for something more celebratory or those wanting a nice way to finish with a dessert drink.

On the way out, there are choices of growlers or crowlers to take home, merch, as well as the fermenting equipment to view. And yes! There is a beer store offering even more.

OGDEN RIVER BREWING 358 Park Blvd., Ogden 801-884-6939 ogdenriverbrewing.com

UTOG: What’s Buzzing in the Beehive

(12-minute walk from the Ogden FrontRunner station; bus/trolley connections and ride-sharing available)

For those looking to dine out in Ogden, walk outside afterward and think, “Wow … that didn’t feel like Ogden—it felt like vacation,” UTOG gastropub’s Carson Foss has you covered. That feeling is exactly what Foss, who created UTOG in 2019 and opened right before the COVID pandemic started, was going for.

Foss is a retired airline pilot who, as a hobby, traveled the world and visited brewpubs in every state. The Ogden native said he wanted “to brew great beer for distribution and to have an amazing onsite familyfriendly brewery with great food in Ogden.”

The magic of UTOG’s location is that it sits on a spot that oh-so-ingeniously lies just beyond the outfield of the Ogden Raptor’s baseball diamond. During the summer, customers can sit on the UTOG patio and watch the ballgame.

Upon arriving, a large, open and well-lit space greets you. The atmosphere is pub comfort, albeit with a more modern/garage-style brick and concrete. The Sunday brunch is a must—just make sure you order a “Table Mimosa” ($25 includes a bottle each of champagne and orange juice).

But as you are in a brewery, beer lovers should try the Son of a Peach, a wheat hefeweizen with peaches that’s wonderfully fruity and smooth.

As for the food, brunch hits are the Country Skillet, with vegetables and prime rib topped with eggs; Chef’s French Toast; and anything with bacon (as always, bacon is the bomb). Biscuits and gravy, anyone? Of course, with bacon.

UTOG’s got some great work coming out of the kitchen. The wings are divine as are the salads, daily soups and sandwiches. And yes, there are vegan options and even Brussels sprouts. “Elevated” pub food is the best description for this experience, and afterward, “satisfied” is the word tablemates shared.

Foss was on his way down the mountain from skiing when we chatted about his launching UTOG in the midst of COVID. “Being forced to close and then reopen really allows a company to know what they can shed and still survive,” he said. “It really helped, financially, to organize things and run as lean as we could while still providing great products and a great customer experience.”

Foss noted that staffing was not a big issue for them. Employees were given options, and some left, “but most of them stayed and returned, and now our projections are better going into this year than they were before the pandemic hit,” he said.

He has succeeded in creating a place that’s an escape, a retreat—but one that feels familiar, a nice place to just “be,” where you can unwind from work and home responsibilities. It’s a place to make a memory and return. Isn’t that what makes going out so special? UTOG accomplishes that.

Our server impressively confided that the owner gave employees gift cards to other brewpubs in town at Christmas so they could share the community spirit of giving and also to experience their food and beers. She concurred that, yes, the pandemic was scary for a while—but they came out of it stronger than before, and the staff have formed a bond because of it.

From pilot to brewmaster, Carson Foss launched UTOG in 2019.

COURTESY PHOTO COURTESY PHOTO

A UTOG’s brunch favorite: Country Skillet UTOG’s Chef’s French toast

COURTESY PHOTO COURTESY PHOTO

Roosters co-founders Pete and Kym Buttschardt got things brewing in Ogden

Strawberry Milkshake IPA The spicy Korean chicken sandwich is topped with green and red peppers, fresh cabbage slaw and side of fries.

COURTESY PHOTO COURTESY PHOTO COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO COURTESY PHOTO

Roosters Brewing Co.: Home of Liquid Love

(11-minute walk from the Ogden FrontRunner station; bus/trolley connections and ride-sharing available)

It all began in 1995 on Ogden’s Historic 25th Street when Kym and Pete Buttschardt—the matriarch and patriarch of Ogden’s gastro brewpubs —opened the city’s first modernday brewery (keep in mind that the modern brewpub trend was just beginning in Utah with Wasatch Beers of Park City launching the state’s first microbrewery in 1986). As their website states, Kym and Pete “are the driving force that is the lifestyle known as Roosters!”

Roosters literally anchors 25th Street with its signature neon sign and a style that’s welcoming, friendly and generous. They’ve expanded recently with a location in Layton as well as Roosters B Street Brewery and Taproom in Ogden—a 21+ establishment—and a satellite location at the Salt Lake City International Airport.

When you enter the 25th Street establishment, Roosters has a winding iron and wood staircase that adds to the restaurant’s quirky charm, as does the large-format local art. During a recent visit, a man who had resided in Ogden in 1996 and now lives in Phoenix shared that he’d played darts upstairs while a young officer at Hill Air Force Base.

He noted that the bar now looks brand new to him. “This just wasn’t here. It’s so much bigger, and the menu has expanded,” he said. “It’s great to see how much Ogden has grown.” And if you ask an Ogdenite about the team, you’ll get a consistent answer: “Kym and Pete are really, really nice people.”

UTOG’s Foss agreed. “If I need hops, or anything, they’ll help me out. We all work together to support one another,” he said, referring to the community of brewers in Ogden. The Buttschardts have worked hard and have given of their time, talent and treasure to create a community-minded place where “liquid love” is on tap.

COVID hit Roosters employees hard, and a manager who has worked their way up the ranks noted, “It was a really scary time, not knowing what was going to happen next.

“But we all got really good at takeout orders, did what we could with limited supplies and worked really hard. They let us do what we needed to do. Some people stayed at home and received benefits while some people worked extra-long hours to keep the business going. We got a lot of support from our customers, and things are almost back like before,” the manager said.

“I’d never want to do a mandatory shutdown ever again,” Kym Buttschardt said. “But it showed us how strong, resilient and creative our team is. We didn’t know what would happen this year, but [business] has turned back on.”

Kym noted that Roosters went through a dark time in 2021 when the second wave of COVID hit. “But now,” she said, “there’s a magic in the air. All the restaurants are packed and busy. I think people just crave being back together and having dinner and drinks.”

She said the business is projected to be better than ever this year, even when compared to 2019’s pre-pandemic levels. “I’m so grateful for the resiliency of our employees,” she said. “We did not do layoffs. We really relied on our team, got creative and took care of our people and the kitchen. We pooled tips, and we did whatever we could to ensure that everyone who needed help received what they needed from us.”

One silver lining from the ordeal: “It took 25 years plus two weeks to get an online ordering business system going,” Kym Buttschardt said. “And we do a lot of online ordering now. It’s complicated, but it’s incredibly successful, and it made me that much more appreciative of our hardworking people who provide a beautiful quality of life and service to our community.”

A server, Memo, shared, “I just love working here. This was my first job. I left to experience some other work for a while, and now I’m back. I hope to be a manager one day!” His enthusiasm and menu recommendations were more akin to an old friend giving advice than that of a typical server.

New menu items like a Korean spicy chicken sandwich and a Wagyu beef entrée have appeared on the menu—nice complements to the old favorite drafts as well as some new ones. Check out the Strawberry Milkshake when it’s on the board. A fruity beer with lactose, Strawberry Milkshake is one that Jacquie King—head brewer at the 25th Street location since 2016—said she finds fun and challenging to create. It’s flavorful and hazy, yet delightfully surprising in how refreshing the finish is. And, by the way, King is a chapter leader of Utah’s Pink Boots Society, a professional organization for women in brewing.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, the Bee’s Knee’s Honey Wheat Ale is where many folks start. It’s a classic wheat ale with a light body, golden color and a sweet finish. And for something full, black and toasty, the Junction City Chocolate Stout pairs well with the turkey enchiladas and the salmon dinner, both perennial favorites of regulars who head to Roosters for lunch and dinner.

The pizzas, pastas (Kym’s Capellini is still there), salads and sandwiches are always well thought out. The muchloved “Veg Head” sandwich has been creatively translated into tacos. Don’t miss the “naughty fries,” served with three dipping sauces. And the brewery’s Blood Orange Hard Seltzer? One word: refreshing!

Favorite craft cocktail? A grown-up “Loaded Root Beer,” made with Five Wives Heavenly vanilla vodka, butterscotch schnapps and Roosters Homemade Root Beer. Trust us, it pairs great with a burger.

The challenges of COVID made Kym Buttschardt love and appreciate the brewery more than ever. “Now is the most fun time in my business,” she said. “There are a lot of new and exciting developments happening (The Coop in Layton is coming soon!) that we can talk about later.”

But for now, Kym takes stock and appreciates the fact that they have employees who’ve been with them for 25 years. “And my goal,” she says, “is to be the preferred employer in the Ogden food business.” n

ROOSTERS BREWING CO. Multiple locations: Ogden, Layton, SLC International Airport 801-627-6171 roostersbrewingco.com

Rebecca Ory Hernandez is a food writer and personal chef based in Ogden.