This article is reprinted from the Utah Eats newsletter, compiled by Kolbie Peterson, The Salt Lake Tribune’s food and drink reporter. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday, become a subscriber by going to sltrib.com/newsletters.

Hello, Eaters!

When it comes to eating steak, I have pretty simple tastes. I like a medium rib-eye with salt and pepper, and a little butter. And I usually prefer to make steak at home, in my own cast iron skillet.

But when I got an invitation to STK Steakhouse’s recent grand opening, I was curious. What would it be like to try a fancy steak, at a franchise of an international restaurant group, that’s at a price point well outside of a lot of people’s budgets (including mine)?

The grand opening at Salt Lake City’s new STK — at 111 S. 300 West, near the Delta Center — was designed to be an event that made an impression, and I think I would need to go back and actually sit down and have dinner there to get an idea of what dining at STK is really like.

STK’s event definitely demonstrated their “vibe dining” aesthetic. Known for having a DJ pump out music every night, STK feels less like a restaurant and more like a club that serves good food. At the grand opening, there was a literal red carpet leading up to the door. The well-heeled crowd in attendance showed that STK was the place to be seen that evening.

But let’s get to the food. First, my dining companion and I tried some appetizers from STK’s happy hour menu, including the short-rib quesadilla, the sliders, the beef tartare and raw oysters on the half-shell. The oysters were my favorite, served fresh on ice with a zippy mignonette sauce, but the quesadilla also had some great flavor. For items on the happy hour menu, prices normally start at $3 and go up to $9.

We also tried some brunch bites, including spoon-size portions of a Dungeness crab omelet and steak & eggs (the egg being a tiny quail egg), and a sample of the hot chicken & waffles.

After brunch, we moved on to a mini dinner and cocktails. We had truffle mashed potatoes; a sample of a roasted tomahawk steak rack served with signature butters, salt, a spice rub and STK Bold Sauce; and a sample of the miso-glazed Chilean sea bass.

Those signature butters were decadent. They had three types: truffle, lobster and wagyu umami. The server would melt the butter onto your steak using a mini blow torch, which was a cool touch.

It was fun to try a steak that normally costs a whopping $163. However, that Chilean sea bass, $61 on the regular menu, stole the show (more about that below).

For budget-conscious diners like myself, it would be worth going to STK for dinner for a really special occasion — like if you’re going all out for Valentine’s Day. But for the everyday, I’ll be sticking to my home-cooked steak in a pan.

Live deliciously,

Kolbie

Food News

• Want to plan something special for your Valentine? Our roundup of romantic Valentine’s Day meals at Utah restaurants will give you plenty of options to choose from, and lots of opportunity to create an evening to remember. Just plan on making your reservation as soon as possible, because seatings will fill right up.

• Piroshky Piroshky, the Eastern European-inspired bakery founded in Seattle in 1992, is coming to Utah for a pop-up event on Saturday, Feb. 17. The event will be held at Salt Fire Brewing, at 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake, from 4 to 6 p.m.

A piroshky is an Eastern European turnover sandwich with ingredients that range from savory to sweet. For this pop-up, people will be able to order online at PiroshkyBakery.com beforehand, then pick up their flash-frozen order at the event. Items available to preorder include their apple cinnamon rolls, the chocolate cream hazelnut roll, the chicken pot pie piroshky, the beef and cheese piroshky and more. Orders must be a minimum of $50.

Openings:

• Macey’s Market — a smaller, more boutique version of the Macey’s grocery store — opened last week in Sugar House, at 900 East and 1700 South, in the space formerly occupied by Fresh Market and Albertsons. This is the second Macey’s Market to be built; the first opened in Park City’s Pinebrook community last year, according to a spokesperson.

Designed to serve a more centralized area than Macey’s regular stores, the new Macey’s Market in Salt Lake City features a diverse selection of hyperlocal products, a large produce section, a delicatessen, a bakery, a Starbucks, and many specialty items such as kosher, gluten-free, vegan and others, according to a news release. Fans of the nearly foot-tall Kong Kone will find their beloved soft-serve ice cream treat at Macey’s Market, too. Visit Maceys.com for more information.

• Tsunami Restaurant & Sushi Bar is back open in Sugar House, at 2223 S. Highland Drive, after being closed for four years. The restaurant — which flies in its fresh fish daily and supports local food suppliers whenever possible, according to their website — serves a variety of sushi and other Japanese classics.

Booze (and Drink!) News

• For a long time, Brian and DeDe Coleman of 2 Row Brewing were making beer but didn’t have a place for people to drink it. As of early November, the Colemans finally have a taproom, at 73 W. 7200 South in Midvale. Inside is room for a full-size bar, all of their manufacturing equipment (in full view of the customers), a kitchen, beer storage, a stage, pool tables and four regulation-size cornhole courts on a lawn of synthetic grass. The Colemans live in Draper, so they wanted to service the south end of the Salt Lake Valley, they said, especially Midvale.

• Every January, Etta Place Cider co-owners Ann Torrence and her husband, Robert Marc, hold a special blessing ritual for their apple orchard in Torrey. Called “wassailing,” the midwinter ritual is “an old English custom from the cider country, the west part of England,” Torrence said. “And it probably goes back before Christian times, to thank the orchards for previous harvests and encourage them to do well in the following year.”

This year, for the first time, Torrence and Marc had a new taproom to welcome revelers to afterward. The taproom will be used year-round, as Etta Place Cider goes through its annual cycle of agriculture and public events, determined by the changing seasons.

• Utah-based custom soda company Swig is now the official soda shop of the Utah Jazz, according to a news release. When the Jazz win, Utahns can score a free treat the next day through the Swig app. And during certain home games at the Delta Center, Swig will “take over” the Bear Bowling halftime show by substituting the pins for 6-foot-tall Swig cups.

Dish & Drink of the Week

The miso-glazed Chilean sea bass at STK Steakhouse was a welcomed fresh element during a tasting event that heavily featured beef. Served with sauteed bok choy, ginger and crispy shallots, the sea bass was flavorful but not overpowering, as befitting its delicate texture.

I’d also like to mention the cocktail I had that night, the Cucumber Stiletto (not pictured). Made with vodka, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, lime juice, simple syrup, cucumber and mint, this cocktail was a refreshing palate cleanser to sip while tasting a lot of different dishes. It was at once tart and sweet, with a nice note of cucumber.