A Salt Lake City restaurant that sells Chinese steamed buns is among the businesses that will be opening as part of a development on 900 South, according to the developer and one of the partners that own the shop.
Xiao Bao Bao — a bao shop started by pastry chef Romina Rasmussen and twin brothers Dwight and Derrick Yee in 2023 — will be keeping its original location at 216 E. 500 South, Rasmussen confirmed. But it will also open a second location at 428 E. 900 South, in the Milk Block development, on Harvey Milk Boulevard between 400 East and Denver Street. That new shop is tentatively set to open around June, she said, “assuming everything goes fine with all the construction and all that kind of stuff.”
Since the new location doesn’t have enough room for production, Rasmussen said all the food will continue to be made at the original location on 500 South.
But what the new spot lacks in kitchen space, it makes up for with its larger seating area. Rasmussen said the second location will be a good place for groups to hang out, and the additional space will allow for events.
The second location will have an expanded menu as well, Rasmussen said, with the addition of noodles, and more snacks and drinks to choose from. Dumplings will also be on the menu; they made their debut at the original Xiao Bao Bao this week, starting with a pork dumpling.
Rasmussen said “it’s been really nice” to watch the Milk Block area develop, with businesses like The Tea Grotto, Veneto, The Legendarium and others close by. “It’ll be very exciting for us to be a part of that,” she said. “So we’re very excited.”
In addition to Xiao Bao Bao, other new businesses and organizations going in at the Milk Block include anchor tenant Wasatch Food Co-op, as well as MOZZ Artisan Pizza, Equality Utah, Simple Modern Therapy and Native Flower Company. Already in place on the west side of the Milk Block are the Greek small-plates restaurant Manoli’s, and the Basalt Day Spa.
The main building in the Milk Block was originally known as the O.P. Skaggs Market, built in 1941, according to the Milk Block’s website. After the building was sold in 1945, it eventually became Sudbury’s Foodtown and, in the 1960s, Super Save Discount Market. Over the years, the building housed several businesses, most recently the Southeast Asian Market, Pho 28 and Melewa Bakery, the website said.
