This article is excerpted from the Utah Eats newsletter. To get the full newsletter every Wednesday, subscribe at sltrib.com/newsletters.
Hello, Eaters! How lucky are we that Salt Lake City now has two new brunch spots, which opened one block and one month apart, both on 900 South?
Skillets opened in November at 282 E. 900 South, and Atomic Biscuit opened in December at 401 E. 900 South. Last week, I went out to try them.
Opened by Jorge and Will Garcia-Kesler, Skillets started as a food truck in 2021. After the couple’s business grew so much that they “weren’t able to handle the demand,” they said, the Garcia-Keslers decided to open a brick-and-mortar location.
The menu is made up of breakfast and lunch classics like French toast, a yogurt bowl, sandwiches, a breakfast burrito and more. Many of the dishes are influenced by Jorge’s Venezuelan roots.
The breakfast burrito, for example — which City Cast Salt Lake said was the best in Salt Lake City in 2022 — is filled with Venezuelan shredded steak, along with black beans, scrambled eggs, cheese, pico de gallo and tater tots. I thought the burrito was really satisfying, as well as tasty, especially with the house green sauce, made with cilantro and garlic.
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The breakfast burrito from Skillets is shown on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.
There are also several items that will take your next brunch into the stratosphere, like the lemon mallow French toast (spritzed with gold dust!), the French toast flight, the waffle fondue, and the breakfast tower for two.
Just down the street is Atomic Biscuit, whose focus is, you guessed it, biscuits made fresh daily from scratch. Owner Jennifer Felton said she grew up baking, canning and “jamming” with her grandma.
Influenced by Felton’s time living in North Carolina, this spot definitely has a Southern bent, with dishes like the Sweet & Sassy (a biscuit with fried chicken and sriracha coleslaw), the Fried Bologna Benedict and The Filthy Animal (a biscuit, fried chicken and bacon smothered in sausage gravy). All are made with traditional cathead biscuits, so named because they’re “as big as a cat’s head.”
There are also a wide variety of waffles on the menu, along with two breakfast skillets. A full menu of coffee drinks rounds out the offerings, and the self-serve Jam Bar — which features several housemade jams — gives you plenty of options to customize your biscuits.
I ordered Atomic Biscuit’s unique twist on French toast, which you can read more about in the “Dish of the Week” section of this newsletter.
Skillets and Atomic Biscuit join a growing list of restaurants and food businesses that have been popping up along 900 South, including Chubby Baker, Loki Coffee, Parea, Tandoori Taqueria, Early Owl and others, alongside existing spots like Manoli’s, La Barba Coffee, Pizza Nono and many more.
Live deliciously,
Kolbie
Food News
Openings:
• A new location of Bismarck Doughnuts — which sells made-to-order, gluten-free doughnuts — is now open in St. George, at 1480 S. River Road, according to an Instagram post. Bismarck Doughnuts also has a location in Orem, at 560 E. University Parkway.
Closings:
• Bocata — in the City Creek shopping center at 28 S. State St. — is now closed, a customer service representative for the mall confirmed. Bocata (a sister restaurant to Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana) was known for its artisan sandwiches made with meats that its staff would prepare in-house, along with all the brines, rubs and sauces.
Booze (and Drink!) News
(High West Distillery) High West Distillery's new High Country American Single Malt Whiskey.
• High West Distillery has released a new American single-malt whiskey called High Country, according to a news release. High West’s tasting notes for this blend of single-malt whiskeys say it delivers scents of wildflower honey, lemon peel, chamomile and sourdough French toast. On the palate, it gives flavors of toffee, ripe cantaloupe, graham cracker, cocoa nibs and leather, the notes say. This Utah-only release is available at the High West General Store in Park City, at High West Distillery in Wanship, or in state liquor stores for $79.99.
• Google says Jack Mormon Coffee Co. is “temporarily closed,” but it’s not. While the roaster stopped selling coffee drinks in March last year, owner Cruser Rowland told me that Jack Mormon Coffee is accepting online orders for freshly roasted beans to be shipped or picked up in the store, at 82 E St. in Salt Lake City. The shop is open for order pickup on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 a.m., and on Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m.
• Hobbled Dog Cidery is “a couple months” away from opening in Cache County, founder Ben Kuethe told The Tribune’s Sam Morse. Kuethe and his partner, Lori, bought 10 acres in Paradise, Utah, in 2014, and started planting cider apple trees the next spring. The cidery received its manufacturing license from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services in January, and aims to open a tap room in Logan this summer.
Dish of the Week
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The french toast from Atomic Biscuit is pictured on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.
At Atomic Biscuit, a lot of the food incorporates a biscuit in some way. And that’s even true for the French toast ($12), which is made with two biscuit halves, each dipped in a French toast mixture and deep fried. I took one bite of this French toast and then couldn’t stop; each bite was so soft and biscuit-y, with crispy fried edges. I recommend you add on a heaping helping of whipped cream for just a dollar more.
