This article is excerpted from the Utah Eats newsletter, written 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!
Kiitos Brewing in Salt Lake City has produced a new beer that its maker says is the first of its kind in the United States, and possibly just the second made in the world.
Gluten free and almost clear when poured into a glass, this beer is made with 100% fonio, an ancient grain native to West Africa. Fonio started appearing in beer only as recently as 2024, when Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver brought it into the United States to use in brewing.
Fonio is cultivated in West Africa, and it grows without pesticides, irrigation or weed killers, Oliver said in a video about the grain. You can cook and eat it the same way you would eat quinoa, rice or couscous.
When Kiitos production manager Patrick Borque heard that Brooklyn Brewery was adding fonio to its beers, he said he had to try a version that was 100% fonio.
Kiitos has a special piece of equipment that allows it to brew with alternatives to the typical barley, like fonio, millet and buckwheat — ingredients that most breweries “just can’t handle,” Borque said.
Called a mash press filter, this device uses high pressure to separate the sweet wort (which becomes beer) from the grain and water mixture (mash) during the brewing process, he said. This method is a lot different than just letting gravity separate the liquid from the mash, which is what most breweries do, he said.
The fonio was tricky to brew with, Borque said, and almost resulted in clogged pipe work. But Kiitos got it done, and it’s now offering this test batch to the public in cans and on draft.
What does this new beer taste like? Stephanie Biesecker, executive director of the Utah Brewers Guild, said the fonio beer has a fruity flavor but isn’t too sweet, and is “really light, very, very refreshing.”
“I think it would be a perfect beer for summer,” Biesecker said. “It’s not heavy at all. It’s not too strong. I think it would be a perfect beer for people who aren’t sure if they like beer yet.”
Borque said the fonio beer has notes of passionfruit, lychee and white peach that come directly from the grain. No hops were used in the making of this beer.
To try it for yourself, visit Kiitos Brewing, at 608 W. 700 South in the Granary District.
Live deliciously,
Kolbie
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fresh naan, a traditional flat bread cooked in a tandoor clay oven is prepared at Saffron Valley in Sugar House. Saffron Valley's owner, Lavanya Mahate, was named a semifinalist in the prestigious James Beard Awards for 2025, in the Outstanding Restaurateur category.
Food News
• Six Utah chefs, a Salt Lake City restaurant and a bar in Central Ninth are all semifinalists for the prestigious James Beard Awards, which recognize the best in the world of food and drink. “A lot of people nationally don’t know about our scene, and each one of [the nominees] so richly deserves it,” said Sean Neves, one of the owners of semifinalist Water Witch. (I recently visited the Utah restaurant that was nominated for a James Beard — you can read about my experience in the Dish of the Week section of this newsletter.)
Openings:
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) White Tomato Artisan Pasta in Draper on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.
• Italian restaurant White Tomato opened last week in Draper, at 278 E. 12300 South. Owner Roberto Calcagno told me the menu will be a mix of Italian and Americanized Italian food, but everything (pasta, sauces, soups, etc.) will be made in-house. Think traditional foods like sage ravioli, and nontraditional dishes like chicken Parmesan.
• Luna Coffee & Crystals, at 25 E. Kensington Ave., held its grand opening last Saturday. This cozy little shop sells coffee, tea and light fare, as well as crystals and other spiritual items.
Dish of the Week
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The lamb burger, from Manoli's in Salt Lake City.
Manoli’s, the small-plates Greek restaurant at 402 E. 900 South, was nominated for a James Beard Award this year in the category of Outstanding Hospitality, and it was nominated in the same category in 2022.
With Manoli’s receiving all of these accolades, I knew it was high time that I visited and tried their food.
My dining companion and I got a reservation and went there on a Saturday night. We started out with the keftedes (pork and beef meatballs in tomato sauce) and got an order of psomi (grilled pita bread and olives) to go along with it. The pita was perfect for scooping up the extra tomato sauce, and everything was just delicious.
But the star of the show was the lamb burger ($19), which was a lamb and beef patty that came on a pillowy brioche bun and was topped with red pepper feta, garlic aioli and fennel slaw. My first impression of the burger was that it was a little small. But so much flavor is packed into that burger that its size didn’t matter.
The tanginess of the feta and the garlicky flavor of the aioli just sang together, and the texture of the bun with the juicy meat was burger decadence. I’ve still got this burger on my mind.
