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!

I live on Salt Lake City’s west side, so it takes a real effort to make it up to east-side pockets like 15th and 15th. But that neighborhood has seen some new businesses open in the past few years, including one that opened very recently, so I decided to visit the area last weekend.

When I do go to 1500 South and 1500 East, I have my favorite haunts, like Mazza and Caputo’s. But a couple of new doors have opened since I’ve last been up that way, including Encanto Restaurant (pictured above) and Casot (pictured below), so let’s check them out. While we’re at it, we’ll stop by Sweetaly Gelato; it has been there for a while, but I’ve never eaten there before.

Encanto, a sit-down Colombian restaurant with casual food, opened at the end of June. They list their address as 1500 S. 1500 East, but the entrance is actually located on the north side of the Mi Buena Vida building, a little ways down Emerson Avenue. (Look for the Colombian flag out front.)

The Encanto space is small but pleasingly decorated, with warm wood, stained glass, flowers, plush furniture and lots of color. We had a dynamite dinner there; see the “Dish of the Week” section of this newsletter for more details.

For dessert, we ambled down the street, past a live jazz outfit performing on Caputo’s patio, to Sweetaly Gelato, at the corner of 1500 East and Kensington Avenue.

There, I got my favorite gelato combination: chocolate and coffee. We had a pleasant time sitting outside in the setting sun and eating our gelato, watching people walk by.

Sidelined that night by a sudden migraine, I returned to 15th and 15th the following evening to visit Casot, at 1508 S. 1500 East. I’d never been to a wine bar before and don’t drink wine very often (because of said migraines), but I liked Casot, which opened in 2022.

Most of the front of Casot is taken up by a garage door, and on this night they opened that door to let in the warm evening air.

We sat outside on the patio, and when I went inside to order a glass of wine, I admired the bar, which is a century old and was imported from Milan.

By the way, if you’re hungry, Casot offers a cheese board that sounds lovely, or you can order small plates from owner Scott Evans’ restaurant Finca, across the street.

P.S. Speaking of Mazza, the Middle Eastern restaurant has a sign on its door saying it will be closed for a few days while it waits on repairs from a small fire that happened July 3. Follow Mazza on Instagram (@mazza_slc) for updates.

Live deliciously,

Kolbie

Food News

• Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream is releasing several summer flavors in July, which is National Ice Cream Month: Mango Lime Tajin, Strawberry Lemonade, S’mores and The Big Blast, which is cotton candy ice cream with Pop Rocks and marshmallows. Sub Zero has four locations in Utah: Provo, Sandy, Lehi and Cedar City. Visit SubZeroIceCream.com for more information.

• If you take a drive down Redwood Road, it’s near impossible to miss The Other Side Donuts (pictured above), a new doughnut shop at 760 S. Redwood Road in Salt Lake City. On June 26, the shop held a grand-opening party that attracted dozens of people ready to sample its decadent confections. When you buy doughnuts there, 100% of the proceeds goes toward The Other Side Village, a neighborhood of tiny houses for formerly homeless Utahns that has long been promised for the west side.

Openings:

• Oakley grocery store Ken’s Kash held a grand reopening on Saturday, after it closed for six weeks for renovations, according to KPCW. Everything got an overhaul except for the longtime store’s charm, store manager Nichole Miller told KPCW. The Ken’s Kash building dates back to the 1890s, according to the Kamas Valley History Group. Ken’s Kash is owned by Deer Meadows, KPCW reported, which also owns the new Oakley Diner, Oakley Bakery and almost all of Oakley’s city center.

Dish of the Week

The menu at Encanto is mostly made up of casual food, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, arepas, wings, empanadas and sandwiches. Wanting something more substantial, we ordered one of the “sharing platters” portioned for two people, called the Enchanted Platter.

It came piled high with food, mostly meat — carne asada, chicken, chorizo, morcilla black sausage (made with pig’s blood) and chicharron (pork cracklings) — but also fried plantains, yellow potatoes, fried arepas, guacamole and Colombian salsa.

It was all absolutely delicious. Everything was seasoned really well. The morcilla was my favorite part, and it stood out thanks to some type of herb inside akin to mint.

My other favorite part was the plantains, and they were delicious dunked into a mayonnaise-based sauce that our server brought to our table.

If you’ve never tried Colombian food, the Enchanted Platter is an excellent introduction, and one that shows off the cooking chops of a brand-new restaurant.