• Find new dining experiences by following Ted Scheffler. In September he wrote about Current Fish & Oyster, upscale Mexican fare at Monarca, and Hong Kong Teahouse.
• Richard Markosian wrote about a homeless woman’s death at the hands of the SLCPD, the mental health crisis among the homeless, and the housing shortage that is forcing people onto the streets.
• Our online exclusive content included stories about a bus route’s last ride, how to water in a drought, Salt Lake Brew Supply, why diners are drawn to old-school restaurants, an examination of Peter Sinks and a profile of artist Paul Butler.
• Look for Utah Stories podcasts from Richard Markosian as he continues to delve into the politics and business of Utah.
• Coming in October we’ll feature stories about Salt Lake witches, what to know about CPR, a scary story about “Jay’s Journal”, and a look at Vernal's popular PhenomeCon.
Visit UtahStories.com for more stories and podcasts by Richard Markosian and restaurant reviews, recipes and events by Ted Scheffler.
Coming soon on our website will be an early release version of the Utah Stories issue Flipbook with additional online content. It will be available for a nominal fee.
Chris Bodily, also known as Hatrobot, has worked as a freelance artist for over twenty years. He’s the author and illustrator of the Halloween based graphic novel series, Black Lantern. His illustration style is known for its bold line work and dark humor, inspired by cartoons, comic books, tattoos, and graffiti. Chris received the 2015 Utah Arts Festival People’s Choice Award. He has also received two Del Close Awards, a City Weekly Arty Award, an Indie Ogden Award, and was named one of Ogden’s 40 Under 40. Additionally, Chris offers drawing courses through Weber Continuing Education and the Bountiful Davis Art Center. To see more of his work, you can follow him on Instagram @hatrobot or find his website at hatrobot.com.
Jess Knott is a queer, Ogden-based photographer with a diverse skill set. With experience in lifestyle, portrait, action, architecture and product photography, she is capable of getting a great shot, no matter the project. Her photography career developed rapidly after moving to Utah from her hometown in Maryland, but her drive to continue to learn and develop her craft is unlimited. Her work has been featured in various publications, art shows and commercial websites. She is an advocate for diversity and representation and hopes to make a difference in the arts, the media and the world with her career. She is an active supporter of local and small business. Outside of photography, Knott enjoys skateboarding, listening to music and playing a variety of instruments and spending time with her friends and family. Her desire to want to try new things knows no bounds. She feels strongly about always leaving herself room to grow and learn.
JPamela Manson is an experienced journalist who covered numerous beats at two statewide papers — The Salt Lake Tribune and The Arizona Republic — and worked at Texas Lawyer newspaper in Dallas and the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She has won many awards for her reporting and serves on the board of the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which advocates for a free press and works to inspire the next generation of journalists. Pamela, who is now a freelance writer, grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas School of Journalism.
For every dollar spent in a locally owned Ogden business, 55 percent stays right here in Utah.
Check out why you should shift your spending to support local below.
Per consumer dollar spent, locally owned businesses are better than chains or online retailers at creating jobs.
Our local businesses help create a sense of place and contribute to Ogden’s unique culture.
Fall Market by Farmers Market Ogden Saturdays through October 22, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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October 24 through October 31 Shop downtown and vote for your favorite fall themed window displays. www.ogdendowntown.com/shopogden
I just wanted to let your audience know that not everyone who’s homeless is a drug addict. If there was to have a study done on homeless and non homeless people, I would almost put everything on the odds of being almost the same or really close to being tied with mental health issues.
The stereotyping isn’t helping the situation. Maybe we can figure out how to stop letting our communities turn the cheek on their fellow citizens and fight congress to get off their high horses and do some work and investigate.
They sure are quick to give permits to the new builders. That just shows how racist they are and what money can do and for whom.... You gentlemen have a wonderful evening and I am subscribed to your channel. Now I will be tuned in.
Thank you for being honest and also brave enough to make your channel. The media is the best thing to get attention, and I love that there’s a channel that 90% of our citizens can agree upon!
When the police, government, and others keep us from having our constitutional rights, is when me and others see red flags and not freedom!
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By Richard Markosian
hosts and goblins have a better chance of finding affordable housing than young couples in Utah.
Today, when developers in Utah
claim to build “affordable housing”, they are now talking about two-bed room townhomes that can sell for around $400,000. So homeless
advocates had to come up with a new term: “deeply-affordable housing”, which is housing for around $200,000$300,000. The only problem is that even housing in this price range is now an impossible goal (without subsidies) under current market conditions.
What this means for the average firsttime home buyer in Utah in real terms is that including HOA fees, property taxes and insurance, it’s now $2,950 per month to own even a very small home in Utah. Even with dual incomes over $50K per year, nearly half of earnings are going to pay a mortgage.
With the Federal Reserve currently combating inflation via increases in interest rates, home prices are falling.
They dropped by nearly $10K on aver age in Utah already. So should buyers wait? “Don’t be afraid to buy a home, but just plan on holding it for at least five to seven years.” said Eric Gardner, a local Utah real estate agent on the Utah Stories show.
Utah Stories has been extensively covering housing and homelessness for the past eight months on our Utah Sto ries Show. We believe that these are the most important issues receiving little coverage by local mainstream media. In the nearly nine months of covering this topic, we have reached a few salient conclusions:
11) Housing affordability is no longer a function of free-market principles of supply and demand but it is more over a function of NIMBYISM. Fewer politicians and homeowners are willing to adapt to projects that might impact property values: affordable-housing projects, such as manufactured-home or tiny-home communities are not getting green-lighted anywhere where it’s truly needed. This fear and protec tionism that the wrong type of neigh bors might move into their backyard is the main driver of housing in Utah (as well as every major city in the West) becoming unaffordable.
22) Housing in Utah could become affordable virtually overnight if government leaders began working for service-sector, working-class residents. They could work for their interests by insisting on the relaxation of zoning laws in every city and county along the Wasatch Front calling for tiny home communities and manufactured-home communities. Zoning laws in the Unit ed States are some of the strictest in the world. They are elitist, classist, and
racist in nature. (Search the Supreme Court Case “VILLAGE OF EUCLID V. AMBLER REALTY CO). Zoning laws are written to keep the poor out of rich neighborhoods and to monopolize and lock-down land under the auspices of “protection”. The reality is that zoning laws are designed to to maintain elevat ed property values for those who have enjoyed the upward trajectory of home and land prices for decades.
3) A good supply of affordable housing is a much better option than government-sponsored, tax-payer financed “housing projects”, vouchers or “Housing First: Long-Term Sup portive Care”. Why? Because when recent college graduates, working-class professionals, and seniors can purchase homes (and not depend on the gov ernment), they enjoy greater freedom through ownership. Acquiring home equity is the greatest form of non-tax able wealth-creation Americans can enjoy, but those who have it shouldn’t prevent others from getting their share, too. Every decent MLM in Utah knows this!
firms have become the new normal. If this continues, it will only lead to eco nomic stagnation, as fewer people will be able to become financially independent and be able to start businesses and retire comfortably.
5) “Millennials” and GenY and iGen (those who are in their early for ties to early twenties) are often the butt of jokes by GenXers and Boomers, but they are facing a serious disadvantage compared to prior generations when homeownership is out of reach. With home prices becoming so astronomically expensive, it becomes much more difficult for them to enjoy vacations; af ford raising children, and have dispos able income to set aside for savings.
4) Former President George W. Bush famously promoted the “Ownership Society’’ and pressured the Fed to lower interest rates and introduce more op tions for first-time homebuyers. Banks realized this was an opportunity for them to get wildly rich. The subprime loan fiasco didn’t end well in 2008, with the housing bubble bursting and the collapse of the financial sector. This collapse led to fewer homes being built over the subsequent decade. Certain ly a big part of the American Dream includes home ownership. But since the housing bubble, monopolizing housing units for the rich, and elite investment
6) Housing unaffordability is in part by design. I’m not a big conspiracy theorist, but there is indeed a mountain of evidence that suggests that big banks and the financial elites — as well as the Good ‘Ol Boys Club here in Utah — love limiting the supply of affordable housing so that a huge population of cash-strapped renters will continue making them rich. The sentiment is displayed via the elites in Davos: “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, re imagine, and reset our world.”
— Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.
Banking and corporate overlords can much more easily get a handle on en suring your money, and labor is under their control when fewer people are able to afford their own homes. Is the Great Reset Coming? If we don’t take control, things will certainly become worse.
Years after Cody Lynn Dodge was found dead in his West Valley City home, who shot him remains a mystery.
Investigators say there was no forced
entry into the residence, indicating the 27-year-old knew his killer. However, nothing that has been learned so far about the Sept. 21, 2008 slaying has led to an arrest and the case has gone cold.
Jimmy Gerald Barney never left his dog behind until Feb. 7, 2017, when he walked away from his home and his car in Escalante. A search by law enforcement and community members, which included the deployment of drones and the use of a helicopter, failed to find the 57-yearold, who took a pistol with him.
On July 16, 1965, two park rangers in the Cedar Breaks National Monument in Iron County discovered the remains of a man estimated to be 50 or 60 years old on the edge of cliffs near Sunset View. The body of an infant girl, along with a plastic bag containing placenta and an umbilical cord, were found in Beus Pond in Ogden on Sept. 15, 1974. Neither person has been identified.
These Utah cold cases are listed in a statewide database designed to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to share information. The centralized database currently lists 413 unsolved cases.
after Rosie Tapia, a 6-year-old girl who was kidnapped from her ground-level bedroom in Salt Lake City on Aug. 13, 1995. She was sexually assaulted and drowned in a nearby canal. The crime remains unsolved.
The Utah Department of Public Safety was provided funding for the database and a fulltime cold case analyst and it spearheaded the effort through four of its divisions — the DPS crime lab, the State Bureau of Investigation, the State Information and Analysis Center, and the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI).
After a case is entered in the law enforcement database, an entry is made in a BCI database that members of the public can access, cold case analyst Kathy Mackay said. That database, which was launched in February 2019, does not contain sensitive information that would jeopardize an investigation.
There are now 413
Senate Bill 160, which was sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, and passed unanimously during the 2018 legislative session, requires homicide, missing persons, and unidentified bodies cases that are more than 3 years old be entered into the database.
The legislation is called Rosie’s Bill,
cases, 251 unsolved homicides, 128 missing persons and 41 unidentified person cases listed in the database. Seven homicides and two missing person cases were removed previously after being resolved.
The oldest missing person case is that of Everett Ruess, who set out alone into the desert in Garfield County on Nov. 20, 1934, taking two donkeys as pack animals. In February 1935, a search
party found the donkeys in Davis Gulch, a canyon of the Escalante River, and a corral Ruess made at his campsite there, but no body.
The oldest unidentified person case dates back to Sept. 8, 1944, with the discovery of a man’s body in Davis County four miles northwest of Kaysville.
The slaying of Tanya Weber on June 26, 1965, is the oldest cold case homicide. The 17-year-old Logan High School senior was found strangled less than two blocks from her home, and her partially clothed body had been hidden in bushes at a neighbor’s home. A suspect was found dead in Logan Canyon from suicide, but the slaying is still considered unsolved.
Mackay estimates there are a total of 550 to 600 cold cases in Utah.
“I am working with the agencies to continually get the cases entered,” she said.
The cases can be viewed at bci.utah. gov/coldcases, and information can be passed along to law enforcement on the Cold Case Tip Hotline at 833-DPSSAFE (833-377-7233).
The database was developed through a collaborative effort by, among others, DPS, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Salt Lake City Police, Unified Police Department, the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, the Utah Sheriffs’ Associations, the Utah Cold Case Coalition, Statewide Association of Prosecutors, and Rachel Walton, an expert in cold case homicides.
The number of viewers who access the database increases whenever it is mentioned in the media, Mackay said. In addition, a DPS report says more members of the public were sending in
tips after the COVID pandemic began.
In some entries, only a few facts are known or publicized, while other descriptions are more extensive.
One of the few details about the unidentified man whose body was found in Cedar Breaks National Monument is that he would have worn an 8.5 D shoe.
The entry about the badly decomposed body of a woman found floating in a canal east of the Salt Lake City Sewage Plant on Sept. 3, 1986, provides a number of clues that could help identify her.
The woman was wearing a long sleeve white blouse and jeans. She had a watch with a round, black face and an off-white checker pattern with the design of a swimmer on the bottom and a ring with a black stone and “sterling” stamped on the inner rim.
Among the items found near the woman, believed to be 20 to 40-yearsold, included a pink comb, pink toothbrush, a purple bracelet that unclicks and turns into a pen, and a blue-and-white dress that appeared to be homemade and had a cardboard tag with #10 written on it.
Karra Porter, co-founder of the Utah Cold Case Coalition, said only a few states have a public cold case database. She said the public can be helpful by, for example, doing internet searches to find slayings committed in the same manner as a homicide on the database, or to match the information about the discovery of an unidentified person to someone who has been reported missing.
“It’s a very good use of time,” Porter said.
haunted places
Utah is a haunted state. More so than most people realize. There are all manner of folkloric and legendary spooks and boogies lurking about in our backyard. Here is my list of the top-five most “haunted” and interesting places in Utah:
5 North Temple. In 2018 I spent several dangerous nights (collecting
stories here was one of the stupidest, most dangerous things I’ve done for an article) roaming about North Temple, specifically the area west of the Guada lupe Bridge. After midnight this stretch of road becomes Escape From New York meets Night of The Living Dead. I was collecting tales of headless phantoms that float around the TRAX station next to the State FairGrounds, and a
BY CHRIS BODILY
footprint-leaving specter that haunts the Mestizo Coffee House alongside a gnome who can be seen rushing across the dining room. There are numerous haunted spots’ along this stretch of road.
4
The lowest west section of Orem’s Center Street (between the freeway and Geneva Road) has a long tradition of weird events. I grew up on a racehorse farm that was tucked away in this area. During my time here, I heard rumors of shadow people, one haunted radio, mal functioning robots that hide in the abandoned buildings, hermit serial-killers who hid in the swampy areas just north of the street, four different haunted houses, a skeleton lady who hid in farm ers’ chicken coops, and one instance of two escaped elephants. The area has since been developed, but if you decide to go exploring, there are several spots in the area that might be worth taking a closer look at.
3 The Provo Vortex. This is my baby. I’ve been actively collecting stories about this area for almost twenty years. There is a square mile radius of spooky joy that sits predominantly in the Grandview Neighborhood of Provo, with the epi center being Lion’s Park, at 950 W 1280 N Street. I have single handedly col lected more than forty different stories involving missing time, teleportation, Faerie and Gnome sightings, Ufological phenomena, and shadow people. I give a two-hour after midnight walking tour of this area to those brave enough to follow me into the woody abyss.
2 Logan, Utah and the surrounding Cache Valley. There is a lot to unpack here. I’ve only been collecting data in
this area for a year, but I have already found a plethora of great stories. I’m in the process of collecting them for a ghost tour I am building as my Master’s Project at Utah State University. I’m up to my neck in rumors of “haunted” comic book stores, a female spirit that haunts the local skate shop, and thespi an spirits who continue to “perform” at pretty-much every theater in the area. If you are ever in town, I recommend you look skyward, as there are lots of strange things going on in the skies above Cache Valley. I have personally seen seven different unexplainable objects flying about the night sky. Then there are the urban humanoid sightings — or, as it is more commonly known — Bigfoot.
1 Coming in at number one in our countdown is Utah Lake. Several Utah cities border the lake, each area having developed many of its own interpre tations of the strangeness within and around it.
From a strictly aesthetic standpoint, Utah Lake is a creepy place to visit. There is a “monster” in the lake that has been pulled from early Native Ameri can tales as well as reports and sightings from the early Mormon settlers of the area. The morphology of the beast(s) range from a fire-breathing alligator to giant serpents with dog-like ears, to small, dangerous merfolk known as “water-babies.”
I have also found several accounts of people finding large three-toed footprints along the west side of the lake. These have been found near the shore areas and further west from the Lake. I find Utah Lake to be one of the most supernatural places in Utah.
Be careful out there!
Fiona burning sage in the labyrinth outside her home. She uses the labyrinth to help people work through dilemmas.
Fiona Raison has been a healer for 30 years, helping both the living and the dead. She can help living people find the roots of physical and emotional pain, resolve internal dilemmas or get in touch with lost loved ones. She can help ghosts — “trapped souls” — get
unstuck from the “in-between.”
Raison explained that ghosts don’t know they’re dead, and can’t move on to the next phase of existence. They’re invisible to those living in the third dimension. Ghosts can see and hear living people, but they can’t
communicate, leaving them lonely, frustrated and confused. If this sounds like the plot of the movie The Sixth Sense, Raison said it is very much like that.
Souls can get stuck, she said, when a person dies quickly and unexpectedly.
“Murders, car crashes, accidents — that’s when souls just get trapped,” she said. “They don’t have time to transition gently.”
Raison, who is from England, began her service to the spiritual world decades ago when she was approached by a ghost in London.
“Ghosts come to people who can help them,” she explained. She wasn’t sure what to do at the time, and sought advice from her masseuse, who she knew was a healer. Together they helped the ghost move on.
Since then, she’s helped many ghosts. She remembered one instance when she was part of an event-planning team organizing a gathering in a 15th Century castle outside London. As she lit candles on a long, formal dining table, preparing for a party of 50 guests, the flames suddenly all went horizontal. She felt a heaviness — “a sense of wading through treacle,” she said — and realized there was a crowd of ghosts in the room.
before the guests could enter. She had a “group conversation” with the spirits, asking if they knew they were dead.
“None of them did,” she said. She gently helped them accept their state and connect to the divine energies that facilitate moving on. An army of angels, Raison said, was ready to receive them.
Once she discovered that could hone her intuition to perceive ghosts and that she had the ability and willingness to help them, she felt a sense of duty to keep doing it. There’s a creative side to it, she said, like an artist who feels a painting come through them from a higher place.
Raison has also been a tour guide for many years, and it was that profession that first brought her to Moab 17 years ago. Early on, she said it felt like the whole town of ghosts approached her, with many souls having been stuck since the years when Euro-Americans first arrived in Moab — a time when the town was “pretty rough around the edges,” she said.
She told the event host that she needed some time to clear the building
She recalled various buildings she’s cleared in the Moab Valley, including a vacant funeral home that was being converted into a thrift store, and the new owner asked Raison to cleanse the building first, a job she said was “really mucky.” A now-vacant lot used to have the old elementary school where a teacher asked her to clear a classroom before
opening for the school year.
Recently, new owners of the historic Apache Motel asked her to clear the old building. One of the ghosts trapped there, she said, was a dog that guests could hear lapping water throughout the night, until she helped it to transition.
Raison said that once people understand what ghosts are and what they’re going through, their fear of them subsides.
“People are in fear of the unknown,” she explained. Ghosts aren’t trying to hurt anyone. “They just need to go. They don’t have the capacity to hurt you.”
For both living clients and trapped souls, Raison said she can only facilitate the healing process. The person has to do the work — self-reflection, acceptance — on their own.
“We have to go through that individual process of making a connection with the divine,” she said.
Read about the ghosts at the Apache Hotel in Moab.
Most avoid the paranormal, while oth
ers, like Ogden local Andrew Tims, chase it, record it, and even collect it. Tims is a filmmaker, an abandoned building explorer, and a collector of haunted items. In his home live an ar ray of things many people would never touch, such as a handmade Ouija board carved from a cemetery tree, a cursed candle, graveyard dirt and a demon in a box.
Even without seeking it out, it seems as though the frightful and the para normal find their way to him. Before moving to his current home, he lived in a house that he says had a surprising life before becoming a residence.
“The basement,” he says, “is really weird. There were all these little storage rooms, but they were metal. I asked the landlord what was up with it, and he said “Oh, it was an old mortuary. I bought it and turned it into a house.”
Ogden has been around a long time. The streets are lined with historic build ings and landmarks, many of which are said to carry spirits of those who once wandered the city. Tims loves to explore, especially places he describes as “frozen in time.”
He and his cousin have been making films for 13 years together, and utilize actual haunted locations as sets or in spiration for their horror films. He says
that when exploring, his goal is simply to experience and show others the mo ment as it stands without causing any harm to the place or its contents.
“We won’t break in. We never damage property. I try to figure out if I can talk to the owners of the buildings before I enter. We won’t go in if there’s not a wide-open entrance,” he explains.
Despite being difficult to scare, The Ogden Exchange Building was a frightening visit for Tims. “It was such a big crowd that I thought, ‘This won’t be scary,’ there are 10 of us.”
The Exchange building has had
feeling sick to their stomach, so a lot of people just got up and left and they went to climb out.”
Nonetheless, his friend and himself, being very superstitious, refused to leave without saying goodbye to the spirits. While bidding the afterlife adieu, Tims says he and his remaining friend had an experience that had them running for the hills.
“We turned down the hall and heard a noise. We both, at the same time, turned our flashlights on. At the very end of the hall, we saw a pitch-black figure take a step from one side of the hall to the other. We looked at each other and I saw the color of my friend’s skin go straight white, so we booked it out of there.”
Tims highlights the old Lucky Slice building and Union Station (which offers ghost tours in October) as other places he experienced activity from the other side. The Smith and Edwards build ing and the Ogden Cemetery are also supposedly haunted locations, but he says he’s never experienced anything otherworldly in them.
its fair share of visitors. What was once offices for the stockyard and the railroad, became a trade school, then a mental health clinic, and later, a haunt ed attraction. Now, what is left of it is entirely abandoned.
There are an abundance of rumors surrounding the building and many vis itors have reported paranormal activity. Tims shares that his group visit ended abruptly. “Everyone started getting a bad feeling … It started getting really sketchy. It was cold and people started
According to Tims, many buildings on Historic 25th Street are haunted, but he has yet to explore most of them. While Ogden is full of fun for ghost hunters, there is only one place that has ever scared Tims to the point of not wanting to return — St. Anne’s Retreat in Logan. While some places don’t live up to their lore, that one, he says, exceeded it.
Read about the St. Anne's Retreat in Logan on UtahStories.com
hate cilantro. There, I said it. To me, fresh cilantro ruins everything from Mexican street tacos to chicken vin daloo. It tastes like soap. But then, there are folks who would put cilantro on everything if they could. Which is just a way of saying that it takes all types to fill the freeways.
I
What is horrifying to me might just be heaven to you. So, it is with a large grain of salt, and hopefully, not too much jingoism, that we take a brief tour of some of the world’s freakiest foods, including one from right here in Utah.
I like octopus. Grilled. But if you’re looking for the strangest octopus eating
BY DUNG HOANG
experience I can think of, you’ll need to book a flight to Korea, where the sannakji craze is fully blown. If you don’t believe me, just do a search on YouTube for videos of people eating live, wriggling, young, raw octopus. According to the Internet — which is always accurate, right? — an average of six people die each year from choking on live octopus.
What a way to go.
The next time you’re in a fancy Italian restaurant and the cheese cart comes by, you might want to pass on the casu marzu. It’s a stinky cheese from Sardinia that literally translates as “rotten/putrid cheese.” That’s because casu marzu goes beyond fermentation to a stage of decomposition caused by larvae of the cheese fly — translucent white worms about a quarter inch long. I’m told that casu marzu has an intense flavor. I’ll bet.
Can’t find your pet guinea pig? Maybe it’s on someone’s plate. In Peru, guinea pigs are farmed for their meat, which is called cuy, is usually grilled, and supposedly tastes like chicken. (Doesn’t everything?) You can even find it in some Peruvian and Ecuadorian restaurants here in the US.
Back when I was in college, my friends and I would occasionally ven ture over to Severance, Colorado, which is home to Bruce’s Bar. What is Bruce’s Bar known for? Well, country music and dancing, for one. And Rocky Mountain oysters for another. Yes, in addition to chicken fried steak, burgers, steak dinners and such, Bruce’s is best known for their world famous beef and buffalo balls — as in testicles. This is truly nose to tail butchery at its most literal.
And while we’re on the topic of foods that may disgust some, let’s not skip over Utah. If I told you I was going to make you a nice salad, side dish, or dessert made primarily of animal bones and skin, you’d probably say “No thanks.” But that’s precisely what gelatin is — the key ingredient in Jell–O, along with things like artificial flavors, adipic acid, disodium phosphate, fumaric acid, sodium citrate, and, in the case of Strawberry Jell-O, red dye #40.
While we’ve got red dye #40 in mind, how about a helping of KoolAid pickles? In the Mississippi Delta region, some folks are wont to liberate pickles from their standard vinegar and salt brine and submerge them in Kool-Aid for a week or so. Doesn’t really matter what color or flavor — blue, red, purple, green — those pickles are going to taste both sweet and sour, thanks to their sugary Kool-Aid bath.
The Scots have their haggis, of course. But did you know that some thing similar exists right here in the good ol’ USA? Yep. In southern Louisi ana you can track down a dish rooted in French Acadian cuisine called chaudin (also called ponce). It’s a Cajun prepa ration of pig stomach which is stuffed with things like herbs, pork, rice, veggies, and spices and then typically smoked, sliced, and served over rice.
Thanks in large part to Mario Batali, Italian lardo became a gourmet treat in this country. And, most of us have cooked with lard and/or bacon fat. But in the Ukraine there’s something called salo, which is straight up pork fat from the back of a pig served cold, usually with bread, and maybe not surprisingly, often followed by a shot of vodka.
Na zdorov’ya!
I
By Heather L. King
tah’s mixologists know a thing or two about cocktails — from layering nu anced flavors to finding the best locally made spirits, liqueurs and bitters — and then putting all the right ingredients together to WOW, all while working within the narrow parameters of the state’s arcane liquor laws. As fall begins to fade into the holidays, now is the time to raise a glass and celebrate five drinks highlighting local spirits across
As much a visual treat as it is for the tastebuds, the I Scream cocktail, found on the Spicy section of the craft cocktail menu at Side Bar, is jaw-dropping in more ways than one.
Served in an ice cream cone-shaped glass with a smoke bubble for the scoop, this whimsical cocktail packs a punch once the wispy smoke dissipates. Tip your glass to enjoy Underground Herb al Spirit — a robust herbal liqueur lay ered with plum, molasses, baking spices and anise flavors — mixed with ginger syrup, tart lime juice and peach jalape no jam that adds a surprising sweet heat kick at the bottom of the cone.
Side Bar is the craft cocktail bar on the side of the Ogden’s Own Distillery in northern Utah, so every drink on the extensive cocktail menu is made with spirits crafted just on the other side of the picture window looking into the distillery.
As the months get colder and darker, it’s nice to know where to go to find sunshine and tiki happiness — Tiki
Tuesday at Under Current. With a focus on tropical-driven cocktails that lend themselves to bright colors and bold garnishes, Under Current’s The Mintxibition doesn’t disappoint on either front. Island staples of pineap ple and coconut come together with Waterpocket Distillery’s Temple of the Moon Gin and curacao to punch up the Easter egg pastel blue vibe. Lime and a fragrant bunch of mint will immedi ately send those winter blues packing. Enjoy it with some of Under Current’s seafood bar bites to make your island experience complete.
Wood.Ash.Rye (W.A.R)
Head south to enjoy Utah’s north ernmost agave spirit produced in Eden. Wood.Ash.Rye (W.A.R) is one of St. George’s hottest bars and restaurants located in The Advenire Hotel. Their bar program utilizes local ingredients and Utah-based spirits to reflect the smell, taste and essence of Southern Utah. Enter Desert Rain, featuring New World Distillery’s Rabbit and Grass Agave Spirit, a fruit-forward blanco tequila distilled from 100% blue agave. This is mixed with smoky Wahaka Mezcal and citrusy grapefruit oleo sac charum and lime. W.A.R then counters with prickly pear (cactus fruit) for that sweet desert flair, all topped off with Topo Chico.
For six years, The Witch has been making friends and working magic from behind the bar in Central Ninth. Although they bring in all manner of
obscure and hard-to-find liquors from around the world, they never forget their local distillers close to home. Currently featured on the curated cocktail list, you’ll find The Westfold high lighting Beehive Distilling’s original botanical spirit — Jack Rabbit gin, paired with a tangy ginger shrub and fresh lemon juice topped with a splash of soda. Best of all, once you try one, the bartenders can craft another round based even more care fully on your feedback and personal taste.
Take in the local flavors of Sugar House Distillery’s regionally sourced, smallbatch, grain-to-glass spirits at Burgers and Bourbon at Montage Deer Valley, an establishment that pays homage to local artisans and farmers whose passion pro duces the finest ingredients. Found on the Whiskey Flight menu, customers can sample three of the distillery’s earli est and most award-winning spirits–Sugar House Rye, Bourbon and American Single Malt for a taste of what grains, yeast and time can produce here in the Wild West.
Stop me if you’ve heard this; what’s the difference between a bartender and a mixologist? About 10 minutes per cocktail.
Jokes aside, there’s a cocktail re naissance afoot in the big Salty, fueled by a brood of committed alchemists with eclectic palates excited by the dimensions of taste texture and aroma. I’ve wandered large cities and asked bartenders for favorite classics only to
see bartenders googling away and “Last Words” that look like Nyquil without the charming punch.
Salt Lake? I can hit 10 spots in two blocks and get impeccable renditions of my favorite classics. No googling needed. Salt Lake is a cocktail Briga doon, and no, not just the bars, it’s the restaurants, too.
I chatted with a few of these dynamic personalities, curious to see what they
reach for and what fuels their craft. The answers were personal and heartfelt.
Mackenzie Wallace of Oquirrh credits her Louisiana heritage with shaping her palate and her cocktail instincts. She likes framing primary spirits with a sense of grace and bal ance. She has a tender spot for Ran som Dry Gin framed in a classic Last Word (equal parts Luxardo, lime, Dolin Genepy/Chartreuse and Gin). Why? “It’s the perfect all season sipper; a refreshing chill in summer and palate warmer in winter. Why, it’s a year round answer.”
Maddy Schmidt of Alibi loves “Nos talgia Bombs” — comfy fuss-free cocktails sparked by fond family memories like eating pineapple upside down cake on Grandma’s porch. She’s a fan of big, boozy, layered cocktails balanced with acidity. A go-to for her? The Classic Navy Grog — a high-octane blend of rums from around the Carib bean framed by fresh citrus juices and pimento dram. Hamilton’s new Navy Grog rum blend provides a perfect shortcut as it combines the rums called for in the classic recipe.
For Michael Edwards of Island Time and Water Witch, it’s an odd
mélange of Rum culture and Parisian nostalgia. While bartending in Paris, he became enamored of the classic Ti Punch — a simple assemblage of lime peel, a drip of cane syrup, ice and the national spirit of Martinique, Neisson Rhum Agricole. It was his comingof-age sip, his “go-to”, it made him feel classy, and as he says, “not like a schmuck” — that and it was simple enough that anyone could make one.
Crystal Daniels at Post Office Place opts for clean balanced and pure spirits. She’s an unabashed fan of
Waterpockets
Minthe and Wahaka Mezcal (the botaniko bottling).
While she’s happy to drink either
neat, a goto is a 50-50 gin martini laced with Dolin
Dry or Ransom Dry Vermouth or a Vesper variation with Mezcal.
Arianna Cicely, bartending nomad last seen at High West and Post Office Place, answered in seconds. Favorite cocktail? “The Negroni, because it’s always delicious and a chameleon with Whiskey or Mezcal variants,” and it contains something called “The Red Angel”, or, as she put it, Italian red bitter liqueur — think Cappelletti/Campari or Aperol.
Journey Is a scrappy, alert miniature schnauzer. She approaches the training enclosure with the air of a veteran hunter, and once inside, quickly gets to work. It takes seconds for her to sniff out the first rat. Her handler, Jalynn Davis, knows she’s found her prey, buried in straw and encased in a PVC tube, because Journey stands stock still with just a slight lift of her tail. When Davis goes to her and yells out, ”rat,” Journey barks ferociously for a beat and then moves on to find the next one.
Barn Hunt is a competition in which dogs of any breed (as long as they can fit through an 18-inch-wide by straw bale-height tunnel) can earn titles. It was started, in part, to give dogs other than terriers a chance to compete in Earth Dog type events. In Earth Dog, the terriers go underground to find the prey, while in Barn Hunt above ground bales of straw
are used.
The competition was originally start ed by Robin Nuttall, whose miniature pinscher did not qualify for Earth Dog events. She came up with a sport that all dogs could participate in and enjoy. It has its basis in dogs that were used to hunt and eliminate vermin on farms. Nuttall created the sport as an independent com petition, not tied to the AKC or any other organization.
Davis, a long-time Earth Dog judge, along with Cynthia Heyman, a local trial secretary for various dog events, started the local club to bring Barn Hunt to Utah. Desert Rats Barn Hunt Club holds local trials as well as clinics for instruction.
Patricia Smith is vice president of the club as well as the main trainer for those interested in trying the sport. “The first thing we test is instinct,” Smith says. “We
check to see if the dog is interested in rats and what their natural inclanation is.”
Training the dogs includes training the handler as well. “A good trainer needs to read their dog and how they indicate if they are on track or not,” Smith says. There is a lot of trust involved and every dog is different. The handlers have to learn the dog’s “tell” or how to know when they’ve located the well-protected rat. The most important thing is that the dog is interested and wants to do it.
Shannon Price is the President of Desert Rats Barn Hunt, and she competes with her mixed-breed dog, Kennedy. “She
then let Lari in.
It took Lari a few moments to figure out what he wanted. But once she figured out the play she was all for it. Running through the course, sniffing and pawing, she successfully found all five rats. She was very proud.
Like all competitions Barn Hunt has rules to make the competition interesting and to keep the dogs and rats safe. The rules also make it hard for the handler to give signals to the dog to help them find the rats.
And rewards play a big part, whether food or toy, outside the ring once the course is completed. Or praise inside the ring, although there are rules about overly exuberant petting.
Dogs can earn several titles starting at novice where dogs are required to navigate a course that is only two bales high. Only three tubes are hidden: one dry, one litter, and one live rat. The competitor needs to tunnel, climb, and find the live rat within two minutes without going to the decoy tubes. A dog who successfully completes this course three times earns the Barn Hunt Novice (RATN).
loves it and will Kool-Aid Man through the bales to get the rat.”
Smith, besides training, competes with her Kerry Blue Terriers, Donovan and Mable. She has one dog, Onnie, who not only smells the rats, but stands still and listens to help find them.
In order to get a feel for how it works, my husband, Terry, tried a course with our German Shepherd, Lari. The straw bales are arranged at different heights and configurations. Some towers have tunnels that the dog must go through to success fully complete a trial. They also climb the bales. Smith hid five rats in the course and
There are many levels to complete after Novice all the way up to Crazy 8s Plat inum which involves finding 8 rats and navigating tunnels with turns. No previous titles are required to participate in Crazy 8s.
Many dogs love a challenge and a job. Barn Hunts lets them use innate skills and burn up a lot of energy.
Does your dog have what it takes to be a world-class rat catcher? Go to the Desert Rats Barn Hunt Club Facebook page for information about training and events to find out.
By Sona Schmidt-Harris
You may have seen him in one of his memorable commercials. On television, he fits the profile of the shameless used car salesman, but in person Nick Markosian is much more subdued. Tanned and handsome, he is neatly dressed and speaks confidently without any of the fanfare he exhibits in his commercials.
It isn’t from nowhere that Marko sian’s comfort in front of the camera came. As a boy, he was in commercials
that were filmed in what was then Os mond Studios. It seems he has always wanted to put it out there.
When he was in high school, Marko sian managed to break his leg several times, so to pass the time while he was down, he learned to play the saxophone very well. So much so, that he was of fered a full-ride scholarship in music to the University of Utah. But ever restless, he spent only a year in college.
“For whatever reason, I wanted to
grow up real fast. I don’t know why, but I just had that propensity — that proclivity to grow up fast and have my own business and move forward,” he said. “I owned four rental houses by the time I was 22.”
However, Markosian has some re grets. “I would have liked to have gone to school and gotten better at music,” he said. “Life’s a long time. I don’t think I would have necessarily sacrificed much by enjoying that period of my life a lit tle bit more and not being so gung-ho.”
Markosian has been gung-ho about cars since he was a young teenager and subscribed to auto magazines. In ad dition to his natural curiosity, his great uncle was Rick Warner, who was one of the largest dealers in the area. “I always admired and liked him,” Markosian said.
Drawn to the used car model, he opened Markosian Auto. “I kind of modeled my business after the customer that was walking in the door,” he said. “And we were always out here, west, you know, catering to more blue-collar customers that walk in the door with credit problems.”
Markosian wanted to help his target customer obtain the car they wanted. “How can I make it easier for them? How can I get them into a better car?” he asked. “How can I make the buying experience better for them?”
His business model worked, and to day Markosian has locations in Taylors ville, Draper, Tooele and Ogden.
Though successful today, he faced near financial ruin 15 years ago. “You know, I think anybody can recover from anything if they have persever ance, and I felt like that was the only option I had,” Markosian said. “There
were many, many times when I was highly discouraged and thought, ‘Well maybe it’s time to throw in the towel,’ but I just kept coming back to work. I kept the doors open and kept trying to make my business better, and it wasn’t very long until we were one of the top dealers.”
He has this advice to others facing financial troubles: “Be honest. What got you here? I know what got me into my financial difficulties,” Markosian said. “I was reckless and overspent and just didn’t pay attention, and it got me into a really ugly situation. So, I think the number one thing is to be honest with what got you there in the first place, so you can fix it.”
He added, “Realize that elephants are to be eaten one bite at a time. And if you just look at the long picture, if you persevere, you’re going to be fine.”
Though Markosian is currently swimming in success, he has not forgotten others. “We have started a program where we sell cars to formerly homeless kids who are getting back on their feet”, he said. “The county has a program to help get them housed, get them jobs — teach them about basic finances, and my role in that is to sell them a good running car for a thousand dollars out the door. I don’t want to give it to them because I want them to have skin in the game and have to work towards something, but I do want to give them a subsidized, really good deal on these cars, and I’m really proud that we’re able to do that. We also give away a minivan every year to a family in need. We’ve done that for about 15 years.”
Say what you will about his commer cials; Nick Markosian is a class act.
Full bar, food, pool tables, pingpong. 3928 S Highland Dr, SLC + 8136 S State St, Midvale
Main Street just got a whole lot cooler! A big, gorgeous bar, hundreds of great beers and good company. 128 S Main St., SLC
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
Live dueling piano bar in the heart of downtown. 242 S Main
Perfect spot to watch the Jazz and enjoy a burger and a brew. 677 S 200 W
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
Craft beer and a full bar. Food available next door at Proper Burger Co. 857 S Main St., SLC
Utah’s most awarded brew pub: taste why. 254 S 200 W + 1640 W Redstone Center Dr, Park City
Where great dining and beer was born in Salt Lake City. 147 W Broadway (300 S)
A must see ‘Beervana’, 100s of beers. 645 S State St., SLC
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.
Visit any of the nearby canyons for a hike or a drive and enjoy the changing leaves and color. Logan Canyon and the Alpine Loop always put on a spectacular show.
Gardner Village Witches. Scavenger hunts throughout the village are free and lots of witches will be on display. Other activities include Witchapalooza, Witches Night Out, and a Witch 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon run. Visit gardnervillage.com for a complete list of activities.
Strut Your Mutt at Liberty Park! Sponsored by Best Friends Animal Society, this is a walk and fundraiser to save homeless pets. It will be held from 9am to 12pm. Pre-registration can be found at support.bestfriends.org. The fund raising portion is ongoing through October.
6th Annual Ogden Hispianic Festival. Held at Ogden Union Station, 2501 Wall Avenue from 2pm to 7pm. This is a celebration and promotion of Ogden’s Hispanic heritage along with an art and literature show. This year’s theme is “Civic Engagement & Culture, the Path to Education and Success.” The event is free and open to the public.
Castle Valley Gourd Festival. This annual festival, started in 2001, is to celebrate the beauty and versatility of hard shelled gourds and gourd art in Castle Valley at the Castle Valley Community Lot. All kinds of gourds will be on display with gourd artists showing their work. Activities will be available for kids and adults. Admission is free.
Pumpkin Festival at The Gateway. From 6pm to 9pm this pumpkin festival will have all kinds of hand-carved and painted pumpkins decorated by local artists on display. There will also be pumpkin painting stations, scary photo-ops, games, zombies and more. The Gateway is located at 400 W 200 S.
Antelope Island Bison Roundup. This event is hosted each year at Antelope Island State Park and helps ensure the continued health of the island’s bison herds. Join the watch party and exposition at White Rock Bay and watch horseback riders move around 700 bison in the corrals. Crafts, games, food, and activities will also be available. The event begins at 10am
