Holladay city creates a new hot spot for local dining

Holladay • At 2300 East and Murray Holladay Road (4680 South), a hungry person can look north, south, east or west and find a delicious place to eat. Gourmet tacos and hamburgers, imported cheeses and meats, fresh-brewed coffee and house-made pastries, even sushi and lamb — it's all there within a one-block radius of the stop light.

Some of the eateries are institutions: Leslie's French Pastries, Sharon's Cafe, Mountain City Chinese, Layla Mediterranean Grill and The Store.

But new restaurants — with strong ties to downtown Salt Lake City — have opened within the past six months, fueling a new foodie flame in the suburbs.

Taqueria 27, Caputo's Market and Deli, Tonyburgers and Copper Kitchen — the sister to The Copper Onion downtown — are now open in the new Holladay Village development on the northwest corner of the intersection.

"They have really brought life and some young energy to Holladay," said resident Julie Payne, while seated inside 3 Cups coffee shop and bakery, another new business with Salt Lake connections. Owner Derek Belnap previously worked at the Coffee Garden, and pastry chef Amber Billingsley moved from Vinto.

"I could sled to work if I needed to," joked Billingsley, who has lived in Holladay for more than a decade and has watched the area's rebirth. "When businesses like the old Pardners restaurant and Video Verns were torn down, there wasn't a cohesive center," she said.

Residents have waited for years while Holladay and its Redevelopment Agency and local developers wrangled over what to do with the area, all while being stymied by a downturn economy.

During the wait, longtime businesses "have been the glue that has held this town together," Billingsley said, naming The Store, Great Harvest Bread and Lettuce and Ladles.

But with the new multimillion-dollar, mixed-used development, things seemed to have fallen into place. The area has a definite food focus, but there are other locally owned shops, including a boutique, a bike shop and a hair salon on the street level as well as business offices on the upper floors.

"People are walking around and it feels like a proper neighborhood and a destination," Billingsley said.

The coffee and pastries at 3 Cups are one of the reasons. The bright, modern space, with cocoonlike booths and a community table made from natural wood, makes guests want to linger over coffee — from Salt Lake City's Blue Copper Roasters — or one of Billingsley's savory scones or morning tarts, a twist on a quiche with a whole baked egg inside.

"I can totally see this being my other conference room," said customer and Holladay resident Kim Smart.

Belnap, who worked at The Coffee Garden for nine years, said he always hoped to open his own high-end coffee shop. He and his partner Lisa Dickman knew it was time when the Holladay Village spot became open. Dickman's parents owned Video Verns and other businesses on the corner during the 1980s and 1990s.

Having historic ties to the location "wasn't the deciding factor" in starting the new business, said Belnap. "But it is a fun fact. And we knew it was a strong location that we didn't want to pass up."

Longtime business owner Bill Leslie, owner of Leslie's French Pastries, said he feels better about the project now that it is complete. A few years ago, he was forced to move his now-29-year-old bakery to its current location to accommodate the new construction. "And when they were working on the street in front," he said, "it nearly killed our business."

Leslie said he still thinks the city should have done things differently, such as installing a round-about so traffic wouldn't back up at certain times of the day. But for the most part, the 64-year-old has no complaints.

"We get a lot more people that walk in and it's the first time they've been in our business," said Leslie, who didn't have much time to talk last week as he was busy making pies and rolls for Thanksgiving.

A resident of Holladay since he was 8, Leslie has many childhood memories of festivals and Christmas events in the area, he said. "It will be nice if they can bring that back."

Mayor Rob Dahle said replicating Salt Lake City's walkable 9th and 9th business district is exactly what Holladay leaders hoped to accomplish with the new development.

"Holladay is an awesome place to live and as much as we can, we want to create spaces where our residents don't have to leave to do the things they enjoy," he said. "This is a huge step in the right direction."

Dahle said now that most of the office space is leased, the city is starting to see peripheral development, which will make the area even more attractive.

"It's just a cool place to walk around and be social and find a good place to eat," he said.

Todd Gardner has owned and operated Taqueria 27 on Foothill Drive for three years. He said Holladay was a natural place for a second location as the neighborhood had a similar upper-middle-class clientele. It also helped that some of Salt Lake City's most popular eateries would be moving there, too.

"One of the biggest reasons for pursuing this location was because of the neighbors we were going to have," said Gardner, noting that actor Ty Burrell, of "Modern Family" fame, is a regular customer. So is former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who owns a house nearby.

Ryan Lowder said many of his Copper Onion customers live in Holladay, so the decision to open in the area wasn't difficult. He said he believes the Holladay Copper Kitchen will attract a new group of customers — including tourists skiing in the nearby Cottonwood Canyons — who might not otherwise make the trip downtown.

"It was really about the area and the geography right up against the Wasatch," he said. "It's a beautiful setting and you feel like you're in the mountains."

kathys@sltrib.com