Food

Truckin’ the world

Utah’s Food Trucks Dish Up Global Cuisines

By Ted Scheffler

Utah restaurants span international cuisines ranging from Latin America and Europe, to Asia, Africa and even Australia. But did you know that you can also explore global cuisines via Utah’s food trucks? Yep. If it’s international fare you’re hankering for, it’s time to get truckin’.

Let’s start with Europe. The Brugesmobile and Bruges Waffle Bus are the mobile outposts of the brick and mortar Bruges Belgian Bistro, which serves up authentic Belgian-style waffles, frites, and crowd favorites like the Machine Gun Sandwich.

For German fare on the go, look no further than Weller’s Döner Wagon, the home of the original German döner kebab. In addition to scrumptious döner sandwiches and kebabs, Jan Weller’s food truck dishes up schnitzel, falafel, currywurst, pommes, brats, curry frikadelle, desserts and more. And for Neapolitan-style pizza that an Italian would adore, grab a slice or entire pie from Fire and Slice Wood-Fired Pizza, which appears regularly at Wheeler Farm Sunday Market.

Fresh savory and sweet crêpes are the modus operandi for Chef Maxime Ambeza’s Monsieur Crêpes, which has vegan and vegetarian crêpe options in addition to menu items like the Versailles, with French brie, prosciutto, tomato, spinach and herbs de Provence. For the flavors of West Africa, head to Ibou Fall’s Balabé food truck where you’ll discover Senagalese cuisine and menu items that range from a rich peanut butter stew of veggies and tubers called mafé or tiep jenn — fish with fried rice and vegetables — to a classic Senegalese curry named thiou, and lamb with fried rice known as jolof. Namesh Swahili Cuisine is a truck and catering service where Chef Najati serves foods like tuna or veggie sambusa, chickpea bhajia, rice cooked with beef or goat called pilau, chicken curry, biryani, and other delish dishes.

South America is well-represented by trucks like The Llama Truck with a menu featuring lomo saltado, salchipapas, parillda Peruvian-style barbecue, ceviche, chicharron sandwiches, and drinks such as chicha morada.

The Made in Brazil food truck dishes up — you guessed it — tantalizing Brazilian cuisine ranging from the national dish feijoada (savory black bean stew with beef

and pork), coxinhas, brigadeiro, and salads.

More Peruvian fare is to be found at the Red Food Truck, serving pollo a la brasa, asado de puerco, pollo saltado, sliders and other tempting from scratch foods.

There are an abundance of food trucks here serving Mexican fare that go way beyond the standard taco cart. The Sobe Eats food truck menu is an eclectic one with temptations like the banh mi torta, rice bowls (spicy shrimp, tuna poke, birria, tinga & veggie), tacos, tostadas, mocktails and much more.

At the Facil Taqueria truck, you’ll find farm-to-table south-of-the-border fare such as tacos with fillings like Niman Ranch pork, beef short ribs, Mary’s Chicken tinga, and a Local Farm Taco that is vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free. Enjoy the sweetness of delicious churros from

San Diablo Artisan

Churros, which offers up gourmet fillings including decadent dulce de leche, Nutella and sweet cream, chocolate ganache, strawberry lemonade and coconut cream.

Silver Moon Taqueria is the truck for hand-trimmed steak tacos, seasoned grilled fish, big bad burritos, homemade quesadillas, from scratch salsas and other tasty things.

The Maize food truck specializes in homemade tamales and tacos with delicious handmade corn tortillas. And Maize offers flavors you might not find elsewhere, such as lobster and surf & turf tacos, with a side of nopales or paletas.

If you haven’t encountered the ubiquitous Cupbop Korean BBQ truck, you probably haven’t left the house in a while. In addition to killer Korean bbq, the mandu dumplings are divine.

Asian-style cups are also well represented at MisoYUM, including noodle and rice cups with honey glazed chicken, savory pork, veggies, potstickers and more.

Mongolian BBQ and Chinese cuisine are the main attractions at Harry’s Food Truck, with a menu that ranges from General Tso’s chicken and veggie spring rolls to shrimp, tofu, fried rice and potstickers.

Thieps Eats specializes in Asian street food like pho, takoyaki, spring rolls, rice bowls, mango sweet rice, and more.

Yoshi’s Enso Grill offers rice bowls, sushi, gyoza, teriyaki, egg rolls and other tempting Asian dishes, while the Bento Truck dishes up Japanese comfort food like curries, yakisoba and teriyaki. The Ramen Mobile serves delicious noodle dishes with homemade broths and a variety of toppings, and Crunchy Munchy has famous Filipino lumpia rolls, pancit and such.

Mediterranean and Middle Eatern items like Lebanese manouche, wraps, kebabs and shawarma are found at the Manouche food truck. The Falafel Tree truck serves, yes, falafel as well as kabobs, dolmathes, hummus, Mediterranean salads and more, while the Fab Pharoah dishes up fresh, homemade Egyptian and Mediterranean dishes.

For more food truck fun, plan to attend the Food Truck Face Off 2022 on Saturday, July 16th at Liberty Park, Utah’s largest food truck rally for charity.

MAKING A DENT

Local distiller sells Mormon whiskey?

By Sona Schmidt-Harris

Tucked away on a side road off 300 West is the Dented Brick Distillery. The spirits distillery is not only a functioning entity, it is also literally built upon the legacy and land of an early pioneer distiller, Hugh Moon.

With the war raging in Ukraine, consumers are not purchasing as much Russian vodka. Managing Member Marc Christensen is energetic and speaks quickly and enthusiastically about The Dented Brick and its products which include vodka. “It has been our number one seller even before this, and it’s been growing pretty rapidly, so I don’t know if it is contributing to our increased sales or not,” he said.

Not only is The Dented Brick distributing widely in Utah, it also distributes in Washington (state), Wyoming, Arizona, Missouri, New York and Florida. “I’ve gotten into some really cool, fun dining establishments in New York,” Christensen said.

So far, Christensen and his associates’ marketing and products have increased sales steadily. Though canned cocktails have come on the scene, they have no plans to jump on the bandwagon to stay competitive.

Another factor which makes The Dented Brick competitive is the artesian well used onsite. “It’s very mineral-rich water, which is fantastic,”

Christensen said. “The chemicals in city water — chlorine, fluorine, bromine — all those things are detrimental to the fermentation. We don’t have any of those chemicals in the well water, and the minerality improves fermentation even more, creating esters that are not found in other spirits brands.”

The well was used by early pioneer settler and distiller Hugh Moon. “The Moon family was the first family that was converted to Mormonism overseas,” Christensen said. “They sailed across from Liverpool, England. Hugh Moon and his brother were both literate, and they wrote detailed journals. And in fact, Brigham Young commanded Hugh Moon to keep a journal of his experience of converting to the church.”

In a surprising anecdotal note, Mormon settlers were commanded by Brigham Young to only buy their whiskey from Moon. In honor of the first recorded distiller in Utah, The Dented Brick created a commemorative whiskey, “Hugh Moon White Whiskey.”

In addition to their whiskey and vodka, Dented Brick also offers rum. Their “Glitter Rums,” so named because there are literally iridescent particles throughout, sparkle in the bottle. Mango, passion fruit, pineapple and disco nut coconut are nice summer tropical additions to any cocktail. The pineapple glitter rum is sweet, beautiful to look at, and stands alone as a single offering.

Trained as a distiller primarily in Kentucky, Christensen noted that Utah is known for its tough liquor laws. However, he asserts that it is actually middle-of-the-road in comparison to other states. “In some of the states in the South, you have to ship your product

Marc Christensen, owner of The Dented Brick.

Ma Vie en Rose.

to the state warehouse, and they don’t pay you until they sell it,” Christensen said. One of the benefits of distributing in Utah is that there is only the State to deal with instead of numerous liquor distributors.

Overall, he believes that the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services is heading in a good direction. Christensen is particularly impressed with the Executive Director, Tiffany Clason.

“She’s trying to provide more education to staff as far as getting people to get their wine certifications,” Christensen said.

Putting products in Utah liquor stores is competitive. “You have to apply for a listing, they call it, and they ask you what your budget is for the year,” Christensen said. It’s difficult for local, small distilleries to compete with national or international liquor distributors whose budgets are big. However, Clason is attempting to showcase Utah-made alcohol.

One of the most desired advertising tools in Utah is a “shelf talker.” Shelf talkers are descriptions of an alcohol product directly on a liquor shelf. Obtaining one of these is not easy.

Christensen is thrilled to be in Utah operating a distillery and even more thrilled to be on the very property of the first-known distiller in Utah.

There’s something literally in the water that makes it so great.

(801) 886-1700

MENTION UTAH STORIES AND GET A $100 GAS CARD WITH ANY CAR YOU BUY!

From the ground up

Utah entrepreneur brings culture, history and geology to downtown Salt Lake.

By Amiee Maxwell

At a time when historic buildings are being leveled and small businesses are being driven out of downtown Salt Lake City to make room for more multi-level condos, Kathie Chadbourne has created a little sanctuary in the dust of downtown.

“It doesn’t matter where we are, we can create our little bit of heaven,” she says about the tiny oasis she’s created on East Broadway Street.

“All my loves are in one little space right now — rocks, coffee, and beautiful plants,” she says about her new shop, From the Ground Up.

Chadbourne is best known for her previous restaurant endeavors including the Avenues Bistro, a once-beloved neighborhood farm-to-table restaurant on Third Avenue.

But, for the past thirty years, the idea of a rock shop was always in the back of her mind. In the post-pandemic climate, putting her energy into a new restaurant didn’t seem like the best idea, so she thought, why not sell the rocks she’s been hauling around with her for years? “It just came together like magic,” when a little space opened up on Broadway, she says.

Located just a few doors down from what is to become Salt Lake’s tallest building, the Astra Tower and its 39 floors of luxury apartments, and nestled between a nail salon and barber shop, From the Ground Up is certainly an oasis in an otherwise parched downtown district. In fact, the sound of running water emanating from a curious collection of horned instruments on the wall was one of the first things I noticed when entering her shop.

From the windows in her apartment above the shop she can see at least five new buildings currently under construction, “And here I am a little tiny rock shop in the middle of it all,” she says.

In addition to her expansive collection of local rocks, the shop also features Native American art, including works by the current artist-in-residence, Michael Haswood, jewelry, and unique gifts. My eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to the giant hunks of polished petrified wood on a display table, a wall clock simply stating the time is “now”, and the huge array of sparkling crystals slowly spinning around in a giant rotating pastry case. There’s also a small coffee bar in the back where she’s proud to donate ten percent of coffee purchases to Utah Dine Bikeyah, an Indigenous-led nonprofit that works to protect culturally significant ancestral lands, including those in Bears Ears National Monument.

Walking into From the Ground Up is like being transported into someone’s eccentric aunt’s living room, and Chadbourne fits the part. She calls herself a bit of a Mother Earth person and I couldn’t help but feel instantly welcomed and calmed by her presence. It is easy to tell she sincerely loves what she’s doing.

Chadbourne describes her store as being much more than just rocks, but a place to hold real conversations, whether it be about the developments in Salt Lake City, the ongoing homelessness problem she observes daily from the vantage point of her shop, and the state of the environment in general. She says it’s sad to see so much growth downtown, especially in a state where everyone seems to be talking about drought all the time.

“Water is not an inheritance,” she says, “and we need to watch over it,” and having a place to hold these types of conversations is the real purpose of her shop.

Despite the changes to downtown, Chadbourne says she still loves downtown Salt Lake City. “I live and breathe downtown and I see beautiful things happening here even though they are building a 30+ floor building right next to me.” Ironically, her shop has become popular with several high-rise construction workers that have come to rely on her for their morning coffee.

People really miss the little small businesses downtown, she says. “Almost every single day someone walks in my shop and says, ‘gosh I really love your shop and I wish we had more.’”

For now, she says, she’s very happy to be part of it all and is happy to provide a cold drink and plenty of pretty things to look at, which is a welcome contrast to all the construction that surrounds her. She has twenty months left on her lease and she’s crossing her fingers there will be the opportunity for many more.

A BAR NAMED SUE

Full bar, food, pool tables, pingpong. 3928 S Highland Dr, SLC + 8136 S State St, Midvale

BEERHIVE PUB

Main Street just got a whole lot cooler! A big, gorgeous bar, hundreds of great beers and good company. 128 S Main St., SLC

BIG WILLIES

Good pub food, sports bar and pool tables. 1717 S Main St, SLC

BODEGA

Home of SLC’s best kept secret. 331 S Main Street BOHEMIAN BREWERY

Czechs know: Amazing food. Amazing beer. 94 E 7200 S

CHAKRA LOUNGE

Tapas, exceptional cocktails, DJ. 364 S State, SLC COTTON BOTTOM INN

Classic aprés ski, famous garlic burgers. 2820 E 6200 S, Holladay

DESERT EDGE PUB

Great food and atmosphere for a night out. Trolley Square

FIDDLER’S ELBOW

Watch the Utes and drink a stein in Sugar House. 1063 E 2100 S

GRACIE’S

Service, drinks, food and ambience—all top notch. 326 S West Temple, SLC

GREEN PIG PUB

Great place to watch the game and have a pint. 31 E 400 S, SLC

HOG WALLOW

Offering spirits & bar food, live music. 3200 E Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd, Cottonwood Heights

KEYS ON MAIN

Live dueling piano bar in the heart of downtown. 242 S Main

LEGENDS SPORTS GRILL

Perfect spot to watch the Jazz and enjoy a burger and a brew. 677 S 200 W

LUCKY 13

Excellent food and a friendly atmosphere. 135 W 1300 S

PIPER DOWN

SLC’s Most Amazing Rooftop Patio. 1492 S State St, SLC

POPLAR STREET PUB

Good food, great selection of local beers. 242 S 200 W PROPER BREWING CO.

Craft beer and a full bar. Food available next door at Proper Burger Co. 857 S Main St., SLC

RED ROCK BREWING CO.

Utah’s most awarded brew pub: taste why. 254 S 200 W + 1640 W Redstone Center Dr, Park City

SQUATTER’S

Where great dining and beer was born in Salt Lake City. 147 W Broadway (300 S)

THE BAYOU

A must see ‘Beervana’, 100s of beers. 645 S State St., SLC

TWIST

Renovated 19-century boiler room with a patio for clever small plates, pub classics & craft beer. 32 S Exchange Pl, SLC

UINTA BREWERY

A small pub attached to Utah’s biggest brewery. 1722 Fremont Dr. (2375 W)

WASATCH BREW PUB

Superb food and beer. 2110 Highland Dr, SLC + 250 Main Street Park City

WHISKEY STREET

High West and a great vibe classic feel. 323 South Main St.

Celebrating America’s Craft Breweries with over 300 Brands

July 8, 15, 22, 29

Free concerts every Friday evening from 7:30 to 8:30pm at the Brigham Young Historic Park on Temple Square, 50 West North Temple Street. Blankets, lawn chairs, and picnic food are allowed. In case of inclement weather, the concerts will move inside to the Assembly Hall. July Concerts: July 8 will feature Relic Acoustic Band, July 22 is a “Broadway Getaway,” and July 29 is Wasatch and District Pipe Band.

July 11

Horse and Hitch Parade in Ogden. This parade is held from 7pm to 9pm from Park Blvd. to 28th Street on Washington Blvd. This Horse & Hitch event is one of the finest in Utah, and everyone is invited to bring horses, wagons, and carriages to ride with hundreds of fellow entries.

July 18-19

Days of 47 Float Preview. Many of the floats participating in the Days of ‘47 Parade on July 23 starting at 9am, will be on display at the Mountain America Expo Center, 9575 South State Street, from 11am to 9pm each day. Participants can vote for their favorite float and admission is free.

July 16

International Market. Held at the Utah State Fairgrounds, 155 N 1000 W, the International Market will feature ethnically-diverse foods, goods by artisans from around the world, and globally represented entertainment. The event starts at 2pm.

July 29

Mega Peruvian Festival 2022. Hours are July 29 at 4:00 pm (Fri) and July 30 at 12:00 pm (Sat) at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on 279 S 300 W, Salt Lake City. Celebrate Peruvian Culture with folklore, arts, live music, and from their website, “arguably the best food in the world.”

SUGAR HOUSE DISTILLERY

Handcrafted, Small Batch Spirits