What counts as ‘sustainable’? Utah restaurants don’t all agree

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

Hello, Eaters!

Earlier this week, I wrote in The Salt Lake Tribune about five Utah restaurants that are working to incorporate sustainable practices into their operations. These changes toward sustainability can involve how a restaurant’s kitchen appliances use energy, where an eatery gets its ingredients, and even how many mass-produced dishes a restaurant purchases.

The main takeaway from my reporting was summed up by Milo Carrier, executive chef and owner of the Salt Lake City restaurant Arlo: “The way that we produce food and consume food in this country is extremely energy-intensive and wasteful.”

That’s no reason to give up and never eat out at a restaurant again, but it is something to be mindful of. The question becomes, “what ‘counts’ as sustainable?” The word will mean different things, depending on the restaurant.

Most restaurants that are trying to be sustainable will be particularly careful about which beef they serve and how much of it they serve. Arlo, for example, orders only about two cows per year, and all of the animals come from farms within 100 miles of Salt Lake City, Carrier said. Pago has such a vegetable-forward menu that it just serves less beef overall, and when it does, it’s sourced locally, said Scott Evans, founder and president of Pago Restaurant Group.

Some restaurant owners will go hyperlocal with sourcing their produce whenever they can, sometimes growing a portion of it themselves. Among the owners I spoke with, no one took this as far as Hell’s Backbone Grill, which has historically grown literal tons of produce on their farm near Boulder. Others make do with the space they have — for example, Sego Restaurant in Kanab converted a lot of the landscaping that surrounded the restaurant into a garden.

The reporting I did also showed me that restaurants will sometimes disagree on what “sustainable” means. Some use that word as something to strive for. Others, like Hell’s Backbone Grill, use that word as a “lens” through which they make every decision, said Blake Spalding, one of the founding chef-owners.

(One of our readers weighed in, with a letter to the editor asking why a story about “sustainable” restaurants — in a state with a thriving vegan community — focused on eateries that serve meat.)

The one thing they all could agree on is that they’re fighting for a better world.

Live deliciously,

Kolbie

Food News

• National Pretzel Day is Friday, and what better way to celebrate than by making (and then eating) your own soft pretzel? Every Thursday and Friday at 2 p.m., the Goldener Hirsch hotel in Park City offers a hands-on cooking class where attendees can learn how to twist and turn fresh dough into delicious salty pretzels. Afterward, chow down on your creation in the Antler Lounge. The class lasts two hours and costs $75 per person; beer pairings are available for an additional $45. Visit AubergeResorts.com for more information.

• Also on National Pretzel Day: Visitors to Wetzel’s Pretzels in the Walmart at 3180 S. 5600 West, West Valley City, can get a free soft pretzel from 3 p.m. to close on Friday.

Openings

• Tossd, a new fast-casual eatery from Heirloom Restaurant Group (Communal, Black Sheep Cafe) is holding its grand opening Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Center Street and Mill Road in Vineyard. This drive-thru concept serves healthy salad and bowl options, according to a news release.

Dish of the Week

The grilled jerk chicken from African-Caribbean fusion restaurant Kafe Mamai ($15, pictured above) isn’t the most photogenic dish, but there’s a ton of flavor packed into this homey food.

The chicken leg quarters (which you can get boneless, like I did) are marinated in a housemade jerk marinade and then topped with jerk sauce, and served with rice and beans with fried plantains on top. Reading the label on a bottle of the restaurant’s tomato-based jerk sauce (which you can buy), I learned that this bright, spicy and slightly sweet sauce gets its heat from red habanero pepper.

To go with my food, I ordered a Swahili chai ($5), which is black tea brewed with ginger, nutmeg and cardamom. The beverage was sweet, fragrant and warmly spiced.

Kafe Mamai, at 49 E. Gallivan Ave. in downtown Salt Lake City, got its start through the Spice Kitchen Incubator as a food truck in 2019. It opened its first restaurant last September, according to Spice Kitchen. But when my dining companion and I were there for lunch on a recent Saturday, it was empty except for a couple picking up a to-go order. Don’t forget about this gem in the Gallivan Center!