Ever reminisce about the good old days of mom's cooking or cringe at the memory of your first taste of college cuisine? Stuart Melling of Gastronomic SLC joins me, Eric Nielsen, to swap tales of our food journeys and how they've seasoned our lives. We traverse Stuart's transatlantic trek from the UK to Utah, his pivotal contributions to the Salt Lake Tribune, and our shared chuckles over the evolution of dining preferences shaped by childhood, college, and our inherent cultural roots.
Sneakerheads might understand the delicate balance of wearing a prized pair versus keeping them box-fresh, something comparable to the current state of food blogging. Our conversation takes a twist into the world of influencers, as Stuart and I reflect on the transformation from free meals to paid critiques, ensuring our voices remain genuine in the culinary crowd. We chew over the metamorphosis of Salt Lake City's gastronomic landscape, once a desolate food desert, now a burgeoning oasis of flavors that rivals the likes of Austin and Portland.
Capping off our culinary expedition, we muse over the ethics of food criticism versus the sheer joy of discovering a new restaurant. From the increasing allure of solo dining to the nostalgic tug of our favorite haunts, join us as we celebrate the community's role in the burgeoning Salt Lake City food scene. Stuart and I extend an invite to listeners, encouraging you to engage with our stories, discoveries, and the delectable future that awaits the city's ever-expanding palate.
Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time
https://smalllakecity.buzzsprout.com
Instagram: @smalllakepod
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast
TikTok: @smalllakepod
Other Platforms: https://smalllakecity.buzzsprout.com
Ever reminisce about the good old days of mom's cooking or cringe at the memory of your first taste of college cuisine? Stuart Melling of Gastronomic SLC joins me, Eric Nielsen, to swap tales of our food journeys and how they've seasoned our lives. We traverse Stuart's transatlantic trek from the UK to Utah, his pivotal contributions to the Salt Lake Tribune, and our shared chuckles over the evolution of dining preferences shaped by childhood, college, and our inherent cultural roots.
Sneakerheads might understand the delicate balance of wearing a prized pair versus keeping them box-fresh, something comparable to the current state of food blogging. Our conversation takes a twist into the world of influencers, as Stuart and I reflect on the transformation from free meals to paid critiques, ensuring our voices remain genuine in the culinary crowd. We chew over the metamorphosis of Salt Lake City's gastronomic landscape, once a desolate food desert, now a burgeoning oasis of flavors that rivals the likes of Austin and Portland.
Capping off our culinary expedition, we muse over the ethics of food criticism versus the sheer joy of discovering a new restaurant. From the increasing allure of solo dining to the nostalgic tug of our favorite haunts, join us as we celebrate the community's role in the burgeoning Salt Lake City food scene. Stuart and I extend an invite to listeners, encouraging you to engage with our stories, discoveries, and the delectable future that awaits the city's ever-expanding palate.
Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time
https://smalllakecity.buzzsprout.com
Instagram: @smalllakepod
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast
TikTok: @smalllakepod
Other Platforms: https://smalllakecity.buzzsprout.com
What is up everybody and welcome back to the Small Lake City podcast. As you know by now, I'm your host, eric Nielsen, and so for this episode, this is one that we've been waiting for for a little bit ever since Kendall Rodriguez, aka the Queen of Salt Lake City, wanted to have this person on the podcast, because it was the first person that she started following when she moved here to get her bearing of Salt Lake and especially a better bearing of the food scene here. Unfortunately, kendall was supposed to co-host on this episode but, as you can guess, based on the timing of it being March and her working for the Utah women's basketball team, she is completely swamped with all things basketball and Utah women's basketball right now, so unfortunately, we had to move on without her. But if you haven't put it together yet, our guest this week is a man by the name of Stuart Melling.
Erik Nilsson:Now, you might not have his name ring a bell but you will probably have heard about his blog Instagram account, gastronomic SLC. He's been running it for over 15 years covering the food scene in Salt Lake and even spent some time as a contributor to the Salt Lake Trib for content around restaurant reviews, food reviews, et cetera. So someone who has a great perspective of the food scene in Utah. He's not from here, he is a transplant and he actually comes from across the pond in England, from up north nearer Manchester. So a fun guy, fun personality, absolutely. One thing I will say is the audio got a little corrupted but let's hear from Stuart and hear about his story of how he became kind of the OG food influencer in Salt Lake.
Stuart Melling:I think I've got to listen to quite a few episodes of the show to get a feel for it. What have been some of your ones you've listened to? Or like Tanner and Amber? There's something else I forgot about. You haven't played Kendall yet, have you Kendall I have? Yeah, I think it was like. What episode was she? I think it was two or three ago.
Erik Nilsson:How many did you listen to? Yeah, it was fun. So you scroll back in a bit. Which ones did I listen to? I know I even forget, but then it's funny because I'll talk to people and I'll refer back to episodes. There's a lot of these now, we're not just picking back into a couple. How many episodes do you want? 24 releases this week, okay, cool. So it's weird to be like, oh, there's not an insignificant amount anymore. At the same time, it's so fun just to sit to get to know people, get to know different perspectives of the city.
Erik Nilsson:I didn't know anything about the art market or any of the artists and how actually special a place it is. And actually the episode this week. Do you know Micah Christensen? I don't think so. So have you ever been inside of or driven past Anthony's fine arts and antiques? So he is the. I mean it's him, his dad and his brother-in-law that run it. But he's kind of the one who does the most. And like just his stories of living in England and spending, I mean, six years ago at University College, getting his PhD at art and traveling across Europe, getting all these great experiences and bringing it here and run it's fast. He's such a high caliber person for what a lot of people are like. Oh, that cool building that I drive past when I'm going downtown, after going to McDonald's or on my way to McDonald's from being downtown. So, yeah, it's just fun All these little communities I never knew existed and hearing, like just making friends in general do.
Stuart Melling:I really like the way you end it, like who would you like to talk to? It's just a rabbit hole, right. Exactly, I love the place.
Erik Nilsson:No, I love it, but I'm also super excited to have you because you are actually someone who I did want to have is like one of my initial lists. Because so, my cousin he born and raised in like Roosevelt area and then moved to Salt Lake in like his 20s and he became even yeah, he ended up becoming a chef and he lives up in Oregon the lima valley now, but I remember when I moved back he's like we have to follow the Gessin on the Castle seat Like that's where you find, that's where.
Erik Nilsson:I look at food recommendations, I was like, okay, well, this is Bobby back in. I remember when I moved back from Seattle, so it's gonna be 2019. And then like and I think that was like an important part, because I was like right before, pre COVID, and then COVID came and like a lot of turn, like the restaurant and food scene on its head, yeah. And then now it's just kind of been like this like green, it's like after a forest as a fire show show and then everything kind of gets burnt and then all of a sudden these seedlings and saplings start to rise and like, oh, it's like kind of like a new era. So it's been fun to see from a distance.
Erik Nilsson:And then now, obviously, kendall mentioned that you were one of the first people that she followed when she came here and had a lot of admiration for you. And then unfortunately she can't make it because it is March and March madness is in full swing. So she had to do that. But hopefully we'll come get her back some other time. But I've been fun, just like. I mean, I just like reached out. I was like, stuart, I've been following you for a while, but I'm a podcast, so let's do it. So I was right.
Stuart Melling:I remember years and years ago. You know Gina Chris Holyfield. Yes, I was a big, I am solid. Podcast yes, I think he's rebranded it to something else.
Erik Nilsson:I know it is, but yeah, it's a little bit then years and years and years and years ago.
Stuart Melling:he reminds me of just after he started, and this is what my podcasting just started. It was this new thing and I said to my wife hey honey, is this like? Random dudes email me and like wants me to go to this, like building and.
Erik Nilsson:I said it was emails at the time and I was like, oh, I can't you really like what's podcasting was?
Stuart Melling:It's such a new thing, like so it never really happened. And then here's like podcasting, like yeah, no, it's like just such a normal thing. Oh, I know. But when you said like come back to that or something else and let's check it out, yeah, that's normal. Like 10 years ago some dude is like get in the back room. Did I say? Something about a brother's restaurant or like what's the story?
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, watch it back. Yeah, no, that's something I learned and we kind of talking about it when we walked into the green room. But, like, we went out first time like, so where am I going to record this? Because, like I built everything so I could, I mean, essentially, record anywhere as long as I have an outlet. But at the same time, I can't just like DM people randomly on Instagram Like, hey, do you want to go over my house and record a podcast? Because, like, I'm buying a house and there's a guest room and somebody like why do you put a podcast studio there? And I'm like, because people get creeped out if you find more than that, like that makes sense. So that plus 10 years ago, I probably would have brought a friend with me to last one year and began my first.
Stuart Melling:Left like open the door and be like. I'm just going to tweet my followers right now.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah.
Stuart Melling:If I do like you kind of like sketchy, then like 5,000 people are going to find you guys. Yeah, so that was a good one. You're not mine.
Erik Nilsson:But yeah.
Erik Nilsson:So I'm excited to listen to kind of a little bit about how I mean obviously how you got here because anybody listening can probably put it and be together and realize you're probably not born in the Salt Lake Valley and then just being one of the people who was kind of tracked all this information from the beginning and has like as long as longest running record of it all, and seeing how I mean how much it's changed both recently and gradually over the past time, but I mean starting from the beginning, obviously born and raised and I'm going to cross the pond in England, but I mean what was that like, like or did that setting of the foundation for where you got to today?
Stuart Melling:I mean I guess. I mean I had a store on the site like a few years ago called like the food that followed me. Yeah, I would. I just read that. But like nothing like people would expect. Like, if you ever read like Anthony Boddain's first book, Kitchen Confidential, he's, like you know, waxing lyrical and shucking oysters in like normally to his child. Mine's nothing more than that. But it's like, oh, my doubles opened in that time for the first time I did.
Erik Nilsson:I did have to because I was reading it and like it was swiping through that song, like the section on the phone and I was like I had to like double take it back, but also like going back to my cousin. There was one time where, I mean, I was in college, I was dating this girl and she hated that I like had this habit of every now and then I'd go drive by fast to McDonald's and get something to come up, and so my cousin flies out and he used to do more but hasn't come in a while where he'd come prepare like a five course meal for our family and some friends and you just whatever he wanted to make, we would make it happen and every show would be a really good time.
Erik Nilsson:And so I was dating her at the time and it was funny because when I started dating, or she was vegetarian, when it had been vegan prior to that, and I have this picture of her just eating this lamb leg. That's like raw.
Stuart Melling:And it was just like I said it to her dad.
Erik Nilsson:He's like I'm so proud. But at that time, like Jeremy was coming around, my cousin was coming around and like how is everything? And this girl was dating. She's like Jeremy, what do you think about McDonald's? And it's funny because I'd actually already had this conversation with him, so I love the way that she teed it up, because he was like well, you have to understand that there's like shit that's good and good shit and McDonald's is good at shit. And he's like in my favorite things, like I'd go buy maybe once a month and get a filet of fish and her chair face just dropped because not only did he say he too partakes?
Erik Nilsson:but he said like the most in my opinion, like what most repulsing things on the menu. Oh, I mean like if you talk to chefs.
Stuart Melling:they're not going home at the end of a shift like cooking golden meals, right? They're going home and like eat the worst instant food imaginable. How do I get calories in my body, like as quickly as possible?
Erik Nilsson:Totally, and I think they're. I can't remember there might be a scene in the bear where he goes home. He's in this like crappy apartment which is in do is crappy fridge and grab some like crappy little thing and just starts looking at the T-Nose with some Cheetos and the crumb to the crumb. So, yes, you didn't have your afternoon ordain experience. No, I mean my parents.
Stuart Melling:they always cooked and I remember as a kid we always baked and we made dinner and you know that kind of thing, but I don't think I ever really I mean we didn't come from like a really wealthy background, we kind of super working class, because I don't think I even went to a restaurant until I was like in university, yeah, and I spent a lot of my student loans oh. Hey, look, restaurants, let's try that. Yes, but yeah, this old food was always like part grown up like cooking and making, but never like go make things yeah.
Erik Nilsson:So it wasn't like your mom being like now here's how you make the proper tart or how. This is why we did this. Oh, nothing went bad, Got it? Nothing went bad at all. Nothing, nothing, Anthony Bourdain. No, it shouldn't.
Stuart Melling:be oysters on the on the coastline no.
Erik Nilsson:And then so, just like, so I can put my pin on the map so what part of the world were you raised in?
Stuart Melling:Okay, we'll start like really general and see if you can see when you like so nice to the Northwest. Yes, manchester, yes, I was having Manchester. It was a little time called Wigan, okay, and probably you haven't heard of that. No, it's like if you came from like Biva, utah, you'd probably tell some of the Alps from Salt Lake City, right, exactly.
Erik Nilsson:Great, I wouldn't know that. Oh yeah, so super small town outside of Manchester, yeah, yeah yeah, Very provincial, very yeah, Point Point.
Stuart Melling:Should we say yeah.
Erik Nilsson:It says yeah, because I have been to Manchester, because that trip I was telling you about, like we took the train from London to Manchester and my stepdad's family there's a lot of minks in their blood. So we took a flight from Manchester over the Isle of man and back, which was interesting because it's like such a unique Hello Gosa. Oh, that was 11 years ago.
Stuart Melling:Oh well, Too long, I think one time it's like Salt Lake City. So every five years you know how people here say oh, you wouldn't believe how it was five years ago. Manchester's exactly the same way, on steroids. It's just that time you go back it's like, wow, that building is here. This skyscraper was like this is our new. It's a really energetic really. My wife always like equates it to my San Francisco because it's very compact. Yeah, you can walk across it really quickly. A lot of restaurants, a lot of bars, a lot of trendy districts, things like that. It's a very, very cool city and work is the opposite.
Erik Nilsson:It's the thing that balances it all. You have always little sacrilege tones around the big city. That makes sense. I mean, it's kind of the same. It's like anywhere. There's always these little. I think my brain actually goes like Boston, where what you realize about Massachusetts is it's really just like Boston and like the surrounding area. So you just kind of keep going east or west and just like little town after little town and like by the time you reach the end of Massachusetts, like, oh cool, like you're here, you're out of Boston, right. So you mentioned University. Where did you go to University?
Stuart Melling:It sticks up anymore, I mean it was called University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Okay, so you came into the city first of all, yeah, and then it became just like Manchester University, which I think is the biggest in Europe, so it's a really big student. It's like a hundred thousand students. Was it a pretty fun time? I mean give that many people together? Yeah, half the student long goes on food and the other half goes on beer.
Erik Nilsson:I mean, that's, that's, it's a college student, yeah.
Stuart Melling:I can imagine.
Erik Nilsson:I mean it's a lot of fun.
Stuart Melling:I mean it's a lot of fun. I mean it's a lot of fun. I mean it's a lot of fun.
Erik Nilsson:I mean it's a lot of fun I was doing like, yeah, I can imagine just like. I mean public culture in England is always like one of my favorite sort of like I mean drinking experiences and I can imagine like pairing that with college and Well, I think my first year is why I studied computer science.
Stuart Melling:Okay, and my first year, I think my class had 300 students and by year two it was done until like 90.
Erik Nilsson:So there's like a few, like two thirds, of going out of the country.
Stuart Melling:And whether they kept cope with it or money's run out or yeah, the pubs killed them. I yeah two thirds of gone out for year one Interesting, it's like an episode of survivor, but like British and educational Pretty much so.
Erik Nilsson:you studied computer science, and you so. At what point did you? I mean, how long were you in England? For what part of the timeline did you migrate across the pond or the US side of?
Stuart Melling:things. Yeah, so I started a business. Okay, oh, I set the many businesses after leaving the university. That was a way to not get a real job, yeah, but essentially my last year of university, they so my eventual business partner who I followed my business with. He went on kind of the more programming track and I went on the more business development track. It was part of that. They were teaching you when you leave university with your degree, you go to like an IBM and this is how you place people in the workforce and I'm thinking about background confidence, work in class time. Yeah, like they're teaching me how to fire, like my mom and dad. Like this is how you explain how computers sorry, your job scale. I don't like that. So I said to like my flatmate, he became a business partner. Do you want to start?
Erik Nilsson:a business.
Stuart Melling:He's like what I don't know, started throwing things to the wall and eventually one stuck and that's 26 years later. But yeah, that's sort of my track, it's okay.
Erik Nilsson:What kind of business was it?
Stuart Melling:We're a web hosting company. So we don't make websites, we just provide the infrastructure and technology Got it? That was my point. I run the time of form in the business. I was just chatting online, you know, over forums before we had like TikTok and Instagram and all that and just talking about music and I started talking to a lady about music from the north of England and that turned into emails and emails became too long. And when the emails became too long, so phone calls and phone calls brought me to an airplane ticket and they brought me to Utah and then that's kind of how I met my wife and moved here. So that was kind of the point of the story of letting me start the business Internet stuff. I met my wife and that was 29. But when we held, was that 98? Yeah, so that's what 26, 23 years ago, interesting.
Erik Nilsson:So I mean I imagine, coming from a place like Manchester, very vibrant, I mean big city, but like, also like compact and communal, and coming all the way over to Salt Lake City, Utah, which is a very unique place culturally. In a lot of things Before your first impressions did you think you made the worst mistake possible?
Stuart Melling:The one thing that sticks in my mind is coming out of the airport and seeing all the billboards or like neon signs and the road, I'm like, wow, this is really American. And still, to this day, I'm so often like, even though I'm more American than I am English or something, I still pinch myself. I'm still like, oh, wow, this is like America, this is cool. I like movies, so I know like a lot of Utahans, a lot of Salt Lakeers kind of down on Salt Lake For it being like the provincial backwater, small, but for me it's the opposite.
Stuart Melling:Like, hey, this is America, it's cool, that's cool. What do you guys think about that?
Erik Nilsson:This is awesome. Do you love the billboard thing? Because I lived in, I think, outside of Seattle UCAM, where I was in Seattle.
Stuart Melling:You cut it.
Erik Nilsson:I got so sensitized to it, and then I came back and was like, oh, I feel like the friema's yelling at me and it's interesting because in England they don't have billboards.
Stuart Melling:No, not at all. I think Salt Lake, salt Lake is particular.
Erik Nilsson:Oh, it's all like more solid in like America, right? Oh yeah, like we are very pro if we can put a sign in front of you.
Stuart Melling:So I still will do that Rootbin Dazzle come to the airport and the rest of it was just like a cool shot for like three weeks. Oh, I meant because we met talking about music, like I'm like a grunge era kid. So we flew up to Seattle your time, saw the yellow cook bang statue, the Jane Henry, the whole Seattle thing and explored Salt Lake and a bunch of food, and then they kicked you out of the country After like 90 days, like you're done, See you again in a minute. And we did that kind of back and forth thing for a few years, Like they don't say how long you have to stay out of the country for I just couldn't say for 90 days. So we kind of did that for a bit, 9-11s and that somewhere, and I didn't come back for like a whole year.
Stuart Melling:Oh Jesus, Because I mean that effort stopped. Yeah, Like you're not traveling, you can't get on plane, no, nothing. So that stopped happening for a year and then eventually we just kind of said, Shall I, should we get married? I mean it wasn't the point.
Erik Nilsson:This is a lot cheaper than all these flights back in the morning. Can we just make this a little more official?
Stuart Melling:Probably could be a more romantic proposal. Oh yeah, there's a story there. No, no, no. I mean, should we get married?
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I feel like I was talking to someone the other day about this, but like huge, grandiose surprise, like engagements. I couldn't imagine doing that, but some people still do, because of hiding the ring in the lobster roll and hoping they don't like. Yeah, and then also having like, no, like conversation beforehand, like pure surprise. Like that never happens, like you know it starts with a decent conversation of like so yes, no, are you thinking? Then I mean going from there. So yeah, so we talked for like like.
Stuart Melling:I say all those emails and phone calls and then the visits, and it was always a kind of when we're going to do this and eventually it was like we should do this because this is getting the same. We're talking about the visa stuff.
Erik Nilsson:And you said you were messaging her when she was in Northern, so she British as well. No, she was like she's like the town was built, got it, so okay. So you were message. Was she in England when you started? Messaging? No, she was okay, oh, okay, sorry. I thought you said that messages to Southern, northern England and then, okay, I'm back, cool. So I thought I'll have a little caffeine as well today.
Erik Nilsson:Oh that's what I'm here. That's like. The hard thing is they have like I mean, the bottomless caffeine. I mean caffeine coffee, wow. And so I'll just like kind of just like refill it, and then by the time it's two, I'm like this is too many, we need to not. But thankfully my body's adjusted successfully. So you get here. You've had this experience in web hosting, you have this degree in computer science. I mean, now that you've kind of been like okay, I'm here, we're going to do this, I mean, what was your plan at that point? Is it still kind of working in computer science and doing that? Or, and if I guess kind of like doing my time? There's got to be a little bit of period between you moving here and being like, hey, I think I want to document all of this.
Stuart Melling:Yeah. So, that first visit, when I came here, my wife took me to Snarev, india, and those guys are still here. They used to be right down time, yeah, on the corner of next to where that Galsam's guns were, the second place, yeah, right there.
Stuart Melling:And then they moved. They moved again but they're still here. Anyway, she took me there because you know Indian cuisine is such a huge thing. I went to that restaurant. They kind of piqued my interest. Went to the restaurant and then started picking the city weekly and reading the time I think it was Ted Sheffler who was the critic there. It was reading.
Stuart Melling:Ted's reviews, and then there was Vanessa Chang in the tribute at the time. Just don't read nobody's reviews, and then they can. Hey, I've got some thoughts on this too, and I also can make a website pretty quick and easy. These two things come together and I don't mind speaking on mind. So, that came together really quickly and said to my wife like you, okay with this? Yeah, sure, I mean, at the time there was no, no Instagram, no social media, I think, even though I thought oh, no I think we saw that flip phones or the made the cool matrix thing, yeah, but yeah, it came together pretty quick.
Stuart Melling:I started writing reviews, local restaurants, just getting my brain on paper, on the screen as it were, and Calisthenics from there. Really, I'm like all the original reviews are still online. I think Gashmombik will be 18 years today, this year, yeah, it doesn't feel like 18 years. It's a legal adult, it really is. Well, maybe not you too. But all the original ones are still there and you look at them and you kind of cringe, Like you know, look through your fingers at them. It's kind of like did I say that Wow, Okay.
Erik Nilsson:But it's all about the matter of fact. I mean, imagine it's pretty because I mean it's the same like any sort of I mean writing, art creates it. Whatever it is like, you always go back to your older stuff.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, I've learned so much, Pretty much it's. It's kind of frightened right, that kind of like exponential, like curve yeah, Of how fast you learn.
Erik Nilsson:And then yeah, and then you criticize all so much at the same time. So because I didn't notice that when I was like looking at your website, I mean it still do, but like you can tell it's not like a, I mean a Squarespace template or anything like that. Like this is. This is written in either JavaScript or or. Oh, I can't think of the other coding language right now. But yeah, but it makes sense. Now I haven't talked to you that you built the website, sure.
Stuart Melling:And I'm most likely self-hosted in my real life, but the web hosting I'm kind of an SEO guy. It's a lot of SEO components and performance and speed and you know all that.
Erik Nilsson:that goes, stuff, that goes on behind the scenes and nobody thinks oh, he just goes out and eats food all day.
Stuart Melling:No, no, no, there's, it's like 2%.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, he just goes and sits at a restaurant and right, you're like well no thank you, but yeah, there's a lot more to it. Wish he was there. Oh, I know.
Stuart Melling:I get get complaints all the time about grandma errors. People are like, hey, you should find an editor. I'm like, hey, it's just me, I'll talk to him.
Erik Nilsson:We had a lot of coffee and it's fun for us to hang in. It's always funny when because I still do pretty everything by myself and it's funny that someone DM me. Be like you guys should, or like when you guys have a second, like just talking with them, like me myself and I, we would love to.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, but yeah, it's like it's so fun because, again, like, if you don't do it, nobody will it's kind of I mean it's things that you enjoy, like you said. I mean it brings together your opinions. You like to write. You have this website that you now have as your own.
Erik Nilsson:It feels like it's kind of the perfect thing to lead up to all of that especially in this world before, where I mean it's not like anybody at the time, to your point I mean there's no smartphones really. Yeah, cause, yeah, no smartphones. You, this is before any sort of like real blogging had taken off. And then also, um well, I remember at the time there was probably like two dozen local blocks.
Stuart Melling:Oh, interesting, and I still know a few people on Instagram from that era and I was kind of like you know much of them. Hey, you should come right for me, remember when you start the blog. Toby is time, yeah don't do it. It's surprising. I mean, I'm sure you found it right with the podcast. Oh yeah, that pushing yourself constantly to make the content, because those weeks where I'm sure you're like I just don't am I any good at this?
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I was listening once I was. Why do I want to spend two hours trying to create content? Yeah, and you?
Stuart Melling:just got to push, constantly push that wall and I think a lot of people just give up somewhere on the line yeah, it's like.
Erik Nilsson:The cliche picture that comes to my mind is that like? It's like that old, like motivational picture where the guys like digging for diamonds in the mind and one of them quits like right before the diamonds the other one does it Like it's funny too, cause, like you never know like you'll post something like oh well, I think this one's going to do really well.
Erik Nilsson:I like my writing was really like succinct, and I mean just all of the things that you think, and then you put it out there like wait, like what do you mean? Like this is supposed to be? Like throw it to us, well, or like, and then you'll throw out one. You're like man.
Stuart Melling:I will write a book. I'll write this really in depth. There's the chef and he's porous, so I'm not, I'm not. I could respect this guy's talent, so I'm doing my very best. I was flyery pros, yeah, you know, spending hours perfecting this article, which I think you know he's like no better winning and like three people will read it, yeah, and then I'll write that like, oh, it's going to come to 21st, 10 million people.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah.
Stuart Melling:I think about like the vegetables in the meal and the desserts.
Erik Nilsson:People really like that dessert there, but you can have both, right, yeah, yeah, give it up. I mean so you. So you started this idea like, hey, I'm going to start this blog. There's these new people doing this, we'll see. I mean it's something that's fun. It's probably not motivating as far as, like, I mean some sort of I mean called side hobby or passion project, but really just probably just out of having food, having opinions, wanting to write it, seeing how I mean you see how the internet's already taking off and then like this platform, I mean it's got to be funny.
Erik Nilsson:Now Look back at me like I was right.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, I mean like it's my whole life, Right, the businesses we're posting and the like gastronomics, and I turn into a business. It's an LLC. You know we have advertisers and like paint writers, it's a full. It's our little mini business.
Erik Nilsson:But yeah, I mean, I think that was all, like I don't want to say I told you so I still had to build it brick by brick and do all of the work and then make it as I mean the thing is today, because you're a point. I mean some people are like, oh, do you just go sit at a restaurant and write something and go do whatever you want? I know there's a lot more to it than that. And so to acknowledge that there was so much more to it and to see where it is today I mean it's not like you just went viral from a Tik Tok. You posted and, but it was like all of these I mean it'd be interesting to see how many words you've written over the years or how many articles together.
Stuart Melling:I'd be a bit frightened to actually know that, but at the end of the day, I just like eat them and I just like hey Eric, I found this really cool run spot. You really need to go there.
Erik Nilsson:Because I want that run spot to survive.
Stuart Melling:So if I can convince 10 people to go there, they'll tell 10 people. So it's it's really kind of just greedy selfish.
Erik Nilsson:My restaurants. I like staying business, and I will be sure that people will do that, because that's always. One thing that bugs me is, like a restaurant, we're about a business and you'll tell someone like, oh my gosh, but I love so and so when was the last time you went to so and so? Like five years ago? Well, no wonder, like, how bad can you actually be about it? And and I think that's an important one to have, because like if you like a restaurant, then it's like almost a way to selfishly keep your like hobbies going Like.
Erik Nilsson:One thing I do is like I buy and sell sneakers.
Stuart Melling:I can help pay to have sneakers and so it's kind of the sneaker guys with the GF. Lucky in the new home you're going to have a big closet with the smile says all.
Erik Nilsson:There's a couple of things. There's a lot of shoes to store and I'm already tinkering away with it. I have to at least think of. These are nothing. I think everything's in a box right now, so I kind of have to just Do normal ones.
Stuart Melling:Do you keep them in there? See, I don't know a lot about sneakers. No worries, Do they take them out of your cell phone? Have a nice look, wrap them up, don't want to do anything.
Erik Nilsson:There's some that I'll keep and not wear because I like them. For example, there's this designer that led the sneaker era, neighbor Lab Lo, and he did this last collab before he died of cancer. I bought those and those are never getting open, never getting sold, okay. Then there's someone who likes to wear my shoes because I like to wear my shoes, but I also have this. The truth is, somewhere in the middle there's a top shelf that just gets looked at and never touched. I don't like to have those many because, again, at the end of the day, shoes. You can try to justify all of these prices and market values and blah, blah, blah, but at the end of the day, it's shoes.
Stuart Melling:It rolls past in time, right, we still have to enjoy.
Erik Nilsson:Exactly so. Whatever it may be, as long as it doesn't hurt me, cost me money or in fact, it impacts my ability to do what I want to do. Then have at it, life short. If it makes you happy, why would we complain? Also, you start the blog and I'm curious were there any milestones along the way?
Erik Nilsson:that you're like, oh, wow, this is happening, or any restaurants, this is going to be an amazing spot, or that you're super excited about that ended up being one of those ubiquitous solid restaurants. I'm curious of some of those moments that you look back on.
Stuart Melling:I mean, there's been a lot of restaurant moments. There's some where I've called, hey, this is going to be a thing. It wasn't, or this was something that it was, but milestones. I remember I got invited to my first restaurant invite. Everybody knows that restaurants invite people, especially Instagram and TikTok. It's a lot of influence events. Back in the day it wasn't like that. It was more to invite like seven people, like this restaurant.
Stuart Melling:Because there just wasn't influencers, wasn't even a thing to eat, yeah. So I remember going to my first one. My wife went there and we had a kind of hidden Macau and pointing across and I think that's such a body from the Solid Magazine I think that's him from the tribute, I think and very, very intimidating, very scary. But then you're like, oh wow, these people think I'm one of them.
Erik Nilsson:And that's Stuart. He's got the gastronomic block. Of course he's here. Oh, he's one of those bloggers, get him.
Stuart Melling:Well, they used to call some publications, used to call bloggers, like Citizen Journalism, which always felt a little demeaning.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, it's like I've done citizen journalism.
Stuart Melling:I have a journalism degree, so that doesn't count what, yeah, that's completely changed though. Oh, totally so, but yeah.
Erik Nilsson:There's been a couple of different changes in like verbiage along the way of how you describe it, to guess you over the years.
Stuart Melling:So that was one big thing. I remember that that was kind of okay. They're letting me play in that kind of environment. That's kind of interesting.
Erik Nilsson:It's like you literally got your seat at the table to have that. I'm sure now it's.
Stuart Melling:I mean, if anybody's opening a restaurant there's some sort of email or DM to you of saying, stuart, love to have you come by. Sure, yeah, that does happen quite a lot. And the skip for today. I hardly go to any of those things, mainly because of the silver I'm really interested in. I just rather sneak in there, pay my money I mean, it's a business now. I can afford to do that and pay my money and just kind of look around, not while somebody's like you know, looking over my shoulder I like it, is it, is it kind of like that? Yeah, can we get a write up note Because we gave you like, we gave you like, an appetizer. That's cool. That's not how that works. It doesn't really be wrong. There are some places that open up and you're like, wow, I would love to go and check that out. Yeah, so, but very, very rarely these days. And then I think the second big thing, for.
Stuart Melling:Gashnomic is. So I'm trying to work out the timeline of the brain. For about five years there I ended up becoming one of the freelance restaurant critics for the Solid Trading, yeah, and that was kind of like a five year period and again I'm scratching my brain from what that happened. And they put Gashnomic on the backbone per se, but it got a little less attention.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, even if you, even by nature, if you're focusing on two things instead of one thing, you can't focus as much time as you did on the first day.
Stuart Melling:And I, but they called me up and said hey, we need it was myself and have the cake. We need some new like critics. Are you interested?
Erik Nilsson:I'm like yeah, I'm interested.
Stuart Melling:That's how you end, so that was usually where I ran when I first got here yeah.
Stuart Melling:And I was like no, the words actually in print. This is like wow, this is crazy. And then so I was to get the altitude, respect it deserved and we'll go to restaurants two, three, sometimes more times to get you know multi-faceted picture, because for the tribute was very much give your open like obvious opinion. No, if this is a bad restaurant, you're going to say it's a bad restaurant. So you need to, before you crush somebody's dreams, make sure it really is a bad restaurant.
Erik Nilsson:You got to be able to double down and be like, yeah, I said it was bad. Let me tell you why it was bad.
Stuart Melling:Let me go back one more, two times and make sure yeah, so that was a big thing. I'm undoubtedly that help gas moment, because you know it's true, I mean it's huge.
Erik Nilsson:It's one of the two biggest publications in Utah that most people see. Yeah, it's nice to be able to have a, have that validation, like, hey, you can now write the things that you were writing or that you were reading when you first moved here to get any insight, understanding and kind of get that foundation. Now, I mean, I'm sure there's someone who could probably say the same thing about your knee to that point, like Kendall, who she's like oh, I move here and I don't know she's alone, her husband's still on the other side of the world and she's like I just want to find good food, so she finds your blog.
Erik Nilsson:And so, and then now she obviously does, queen of SLC and her own, influencing and helping people do the same thing, cause that's like one thing that she loves about her audience is there's so much of them that are people that are moving here right Curious about here, so they fall and be like, okay, well, it's restaurants, like what's life like, and so it's interesting how that's become so much more of the mainstream way to get information on something rather than I mean, I guess I would say traditional ways, but then I wouldn't know kind of what I would have done.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, I mean I'd be really fascinated to know how it looks in 10 years, 20 years. I mean people said to me like hey, stuart, what about influences? I'm like awesome, yeah, like I don't really do much social media. I do a little bit because you're going to have beyond the platforms and you know you can show your own news. But there are some. Obviously there are people can on TikTok and can on Instagram, these different new kind of ways of communicating and telling people about restaurants. But I wonder what the next five, 10, 15, what? What's the sum total this last 30 years of digital, moving away from print and radio and TV? What does it end up?
Erik Nilsson:I don't know People are going to have their Apple vision pros on. Yeah, and they're going to be sitting across from you as you walk them through what they're about to eat and have them on you I know where we are today is the final version?
Stuart Melling:No, no, and the world of five years will be, and that's really fascinating to me.
Erik Nilsson:Well, that's something I love about. Like food and the food experience is that is one of the few things that has always existed, like we can't exist without food. Food has always been this experience of bringing people together, provide comforts. I mean there's an emotional aspect eating that we all have, and so it's interesting to think of like okay, the future, like, even with like I mean, try not to send to like cliche, like AI and everything going on. There are things that aren't going to exist, but I think it will.
Stuart Melling:So sorry for the time I was going to say is like with food.
Erik Nilsson:We're always going to eat and we're always going to have this experience, want to share it, but it's a different point. What does that sharing or documenting look like?
Stuart Melling:Well, I mean to the AI, I think. I think AI is going to kill so much of it and people have like poo, pooed it. No, no, it'll never be able to do the emotional side, it'll never be able to do the subjective. For and I'm like, well, I don't know, it was that computer size guy Like you guys, you know what I'm saying. You'd like, in quotes, feed it enough data. I mean, you're kind of a data guy, right?
Erik Nilsson:Oh yeah absolutely Well, then you see Google buying rights to Reddit data, so we can download that and see what Elon Musk has been doing with Tesla since the beginning, with his machine learning models, and how that's gone.
Stuart Melling:You feed it enough information from Yelp, from a constant Instagram feed of rich visual data. You like put that with the contextual data from you know, I mean like the Tribune or New York. Times or Reddit or wherever, and slowly but surely, I think enough kind of like data points you could I mean at least like news, a news side of it. Oh for sure you make it redundant. Yeah, maybe, I don't know, maybe in 15 years, 20 years, you also have the review side of it.
Erik Nilsson:I mean? I mean you don't have to do anything besides open a restaurant and there's already going to be reviews on. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating.
Stuart Melling:But I think people will be shocked by how quickly it moves.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I'm with you, there's a lot going on and it just keeps. It's like so the thing the thought I always come back to and stuff like this is you look at the timeline of I mean, let's just zoom in on human experience and let's say that's been happening for a couple hundred thousand years, a couple million years. So zoom in more to like common era, like the 20, we're currently in your 20, 24 of that only. Like the past 200 years yeah, hosts, industrial revolution is how we've gotten here and like there's a lot of good things that have happened, I mean from like the microphones we're talking into electricity, like all of these things so great.
Stuart Melling:What's the delta between the right brothers and Landon Moon Exactly?
Erik Nilsson:It's like six weeks or something it's like so quick and especially look at the grand scheme it's so fast, and so we've already seen this exponential growth and then like to layer on exponential growth, on exponential growth. I mean you're almost like logarithmic, yeah, Kind of. And like one thing I always have, is this probably way more tangential? But like, going into the conversation of like is this a simulation? And there's always someone's like well, we don't have the computing power to have a simulation.
Stuart Melling:It's like yeah based on the assumptions we have now, which would be inside of it, which we would be able to understand if they wanted to keep us in the simulation, but if we run a simulation, all my meals will be fantastic, surely? Oh, maybe that's about the simulation.
Erik Nilsson:The little bloop Gonna have that meal, so I don't know. It always ribbons on top of itself, to the point where, at the end of the day it all comes down to, the best way to go about it is to go along with it. Yeah, so that's it. I mean it's so fun to hear about how, like that's changed so much, but I mean, from the salt lake that you walked into long ago started the blog to now what you say are the biggest changes in salt lakes, food seeing maturing.
Stuart Melling:When I started, when you had like a really good restaurant or a really good kind of atmosphere, menu, whatever which I'm not even going to phrase it people would say it's not like you're in Salt Lake, it's like you're in a real city. People don't say that anymore. Yeah, now you don't really hear that phrase as much as you used to, because I think a lot of like the great restaurants we have would do just as well in Austin, in Portland. You know these good food cities. I mean, we're never going to be a San Francisco or New Orleans which is coming out. It's just demographics, just not big enough. But we do have some excellent chefs, excellent products, excellent restaurants and they would do crazy well in big cities. Yeah, I think so.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, Because I think that's been one thing that I've learned too, because, again, like I was, when I moved back, I moved from Seattle, which is a very big restaurant city and that's probably where because again my cousin is living down in just like South Portland he'd come up there, I'd go down there. I mean, he's like, honestly, who showed me like what it's like to have, like what I like to call, like quote, like an adult night out where you go and you get a drink and then you go to the restaurant and if you don't have a reservation, you put a reservation in and then you go get an appetizer somewhere and you come back and then you go get another drink and then you go find a place for dessert and places are open after 9 o'clock Crazy concept. And so that's like when I first, I was like oh, like it's this experience and this social gathering on top of everything, instead of like growing up in Utah and like a lot of the culture is, we are here to get food, we're sitting down, we brought up promptly, we will eat, we will get our check and we are out. Instead of I was like like it's like more social moment and being able to to bond and do that. And it's funny because, like so, I come to here from Seattle where, again, great food, great restaurants finally started to have like an opinion on things instead of just being like it's good, it's bad.
Erik Nilsson:And there were places I went, I mean like White Horse wasn't here when I left and like that was a good, like training in a good direction. I mean that was in, Volters was first starting to come up and I feel like the other places I would see a lot. But it's funny now, comparing to even that, like just five years ago, to now, where we're seeing places like when Tario start to show up.
Erik Nilsson:We see them in all these, but then, like we also stay true to ourselves and we still kind of keep these like chain restaurants going, like not say it's like a bad thing or a good thing, it's just the thing.
Stuart Melling:But I've got no ill will against chain restaurants We've talked about.
Erik Nilsson:McDonald's. Oh yeah, it's going to be a part of it, so I can turn my nose up and be like I'm never going to cheesecake back here. I'm not doing this Like. Even the other day I went to Houston hot chicken for the first time because I like, love chicken fingers. That was it. It was great because.
Stuart Melling:I was talking to Amber about it in the podcast. I was like what's your?
Erik Nilsson:favorite fried chicken place. She's like Houston hot chicken. Because, I was kind of running off as like oh yeah, and he said, well, I'm going to that right after this podcast, so there's a little bit of delay.
Stuart Melling:but I went on Saturday and I was like, oh, I get it.
Erik Nilsson:I get that because, like it's not fried down, this chicken is so much more moist. You know it's relying on the breading and the breading, like the sauce, complements it really well. And they have these crinkle fries that almost have like a sugar on them and something instead of salt.
Erik Nilsson:It was just. It was like a very unique experience with quality ingredients prepared in a great way that you don't lose all of that goodness. And so I was like, do you say, Amber, yes, I'm on course. And so I mean, that's a fun episode where she goes back through all her favorite things and so far she's been very right. But there it's also hard because it's a lot in like I mean, she knows this stuff, she's tried everything and so, but it's hard because like a lot of it's in Utah County and I just don't go to.
Stuart Melling:Utah, you know, and Mithly on the same, when I first moved to Utah I lived in Sugarhouse and I've only moved slightly further south. And when I lived in Sugarhouse it was that kind of I will never go further south. And you know, of course, 27th, and then we moved Okay, I'll never go further south, and 45th, and it creeps. It creeps but like kind of when you get to South Jordan and kind of Draper becomes a little more fuzzy, because one of the weird facts about me is I don't drive. Oh, which is it I, which freaks Americans are, but which means you don't drive? Like you suspended my service or no, I just never learned to drive my entire life.
Stuart Melling:So you start to get like that far right it becomes a little more challenging. Yes, like once took a lift to Riverton and that was like 100 bucks or something. I mean I do this anyway. Yeah, I mean you know my wife or friends will drive those places, but the further, further south we go on off it gets a little fuzzy to me.
Stuart Melling:I know what's going on but don't really go there too much Like like was it like four months ago I mean, a friend went to like oh, we got to check out a couple of these places I think there's like seven places in one like a few hours. Yeah, like all the cool in the back of his car and like every time we went to a restaurant at half of it, put it cool up that people might just actually kill it for like hours. Oh, restaurant, restaurant, it's amazing. So but I can't do that.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah.
Stuart Melling:Hey, let's go to. Park City and eat all day long.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, kind of so. Yeah, it's one of those things that in I think practice I'd be the person who we show up at the first restaurant now, eat like a normal serving and be like you're not going to do well today, and then I'm like crying because I'm so full and they eat too much at the first place. I didn't appreciate the last one, but yeah, because I kind of sit in like because my day job's in Lehigh but I go down there maybe once or twice a month, it's hard for me to find a real reason. I mean, I guess, to be fair, I did go this past Saturday because I went with my friend. He's been on the podcast I'm darling, he's an artist and someone actually is.
Stuart Melling:Episode of this is on Friday Micah.
Erik Nilsson:Christensen. He's writing a book currently on this. Aren't a Spanish artist, joaquin Sorolla, and so as part of that he brought over, was able to get like four of his like most prominent works at the BYU Museum of Art, and so I was like I want to go to because he was talking about it.
Erik Nilsson:So well, he's such a good like storytelling, like I got to check this out and so I was someone who knew art and that was fun. But I did my like quarterly or bi-annually trip to the promo, got my fried chicken and got out promptly. But yeah, it's also interesting to see to that point of like amber finding things in Utah County I'm sure there's some sort of equivalent like on the northern side of things because it is starting to spread more and I think that historically Utah and especially Salt Lake citizens have been very frugal about food because it's been up until the past like five years. It's been always the majority of always been LDS. The majority have been family raising families, and so that priority starts to remain true.
Erik Nilsson:And thinking about my meals, I had growing up it was either we went to Charlie Chow's when I was just being Charlie Square, where we went to Spagetti Factory again and Charlie Square and Chukarama Not as much. That was like my grandparents loved Chukarama and we were. The first time we went to Chukarama I actually threw a fit. I think it looked like six or seven. I mean I've been taking there on many extended family gatherings, oh yeah, and so I'm just kidding it was like bad because I'm not going to.
Stuart Melling:Probably wanted to go to McDonald's or something and then I get there like oh, this, this, uh, this uh rolls really good the honey butter.
Erik Nilsson:Like I'm happy you're on tap and kind of this primary was like, okay, like I was like a dream come true for me then.
Erik Nilsson:But I'm trying to think what else there was, and I'm trying to think what else there was, and I'm trying to think what else there was, but it was pretty much it Cooks a lot of home, parents were both working a lot, and so it kind of became, yeah, pretty tough.
Erik Nilsson:Anyway, so long ago I can't even remember how often we would go, but it's and again, because it's like pretty easy place to go to, but it's not going to be expensive. It's not like we're trying to go like find really good food and to now again, like the population has changed so much, where now I mean the LDS population isn't more than 50% of Salt Lake. You know a lot of people moving from outside of the state, a lot of people bringing money with them, a lot of people are buying houses and setting up shop and so now they do have more money to spend on food and it's been fun and I'm curious, like your perspective on it. But I feel like there has been a large shift in that perspective of like kind of food and what people want and why people want it.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, and, I think, absolutely correct on a lot of changing demographics. And when you look at like what you mentioned about Seattle, like when you go out to a restaurant, like an HSNL or Cop Common, like a place where you can just kind of hang out and have a you know a vassal wine in the stack at the bar and head on somewhere else.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah.
Stuart Melling:That kind of you just have not, yeah, eat kind of thing. So much more of those open up all the time, much more rapid pace every five years. Yeah, so, yeah, I think that's yeah, a lot more of those kind of start businesses.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, let's move for like a better example, like the Zoupas and the kind of fast casual which happened at a place like Don't Give Me Rock yeah.
Stuart Melling:I was trying to think of what the counter to that was and was spelling, but you're right, kind of all the fast, casual things.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah. So I think the thing was Don't Give Me Rock, like I'll swing by Zoupas for full age. I mean, there's always a place for it. But I think it's been interesting to see how there's been this like growth of like, oh, no, no, we want good food, we want to go I mean to Minoli's, we want to go to Mateo, we want to go to Takashi and like, truly have like this good experience.
Erik Nilsson:And then you see these places open up even more, like the one that's come up to me recently that actually Amber brought up is like the post district, where they have like Urban Hill and they have like and just so many like things. To your point, like the growth in these places isn't just like oh, there's like, oh, there's a new one, it's like, oh, there's two, and then there's three, and then there's four, and again it's like so much more of this experience, like such great spaces. And then we're also like attracting some of these like, I want to say like more prominent change, like STK, for example I know it's going to mention those- guys.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, again, I don't have any problems with chains, and especially the higher end.
Erik Nilsson:Oh yeah, we'll take those all day.
Stuart Melling:Like it brings so much more. I think like attention, and attention brings people and people bring talent and talent. It's just a virtual circle right and. Stk wouldn't have opened here if they didn't think they could make the money they need to make the post work for it. Exactly, and they're a big operation, right, yeah, and they bring like all that talent with them and eventually, you know every restaurant, people move on and do things. So it's just it keeps this bubbling and simmering and it gets better and better and other.
Erik Nilsson:I know it's going to say it's kind of like a bigger picture where you're talking about where it's like if you can highlight a good restaurant that you like and people read the blog and they go see it and then they get more people to it. It's the same way, whereas if we can get good food here and people go and support that and then those people get inspired to start their own restaurants, or someone else wants to bring in another concept to here and I think it's only up from here and seeing what's to come. Like I think Matteo hit it on the head when I talked to him. It's like you see, any night south is a great example. You're starting to just become this restaurant row all the way from, like I mean the whale, where you have tsunami starting all the way through ninth and ninth all the way through, and.
Erik Nilsson:But does central not feel? Yeah, all the way to central nights where you can go get a breakfast. Like there's so many good things. Like I could maybe I'll do that for like a month just only eat on places that are on night south, because you could do and wouldn't be hard. Like you know, I'm sitting back on the hot challenge. Yeah, you could have.
Erik Nilsson:I mean, there's so many dessert places. Like you know, there's a pie fire out there, there's the spilled milk and then you can go down like there's chubby big they're like yeah, all right, let's take a back over to the I'm just going to join myself Just be indulging, I know. But yeah, I mean, like, what I mean when you're going out, where do some of your go-to places, or what do you look for in restaurants when you want to go on?
Stuart Melling:the clock and join Europe. Weirdly, I'm one of the worst people to ask Because? So, going back to the Tribune era, when I used to have the Tribune, that was always what's new. So we'd always take turns to review a new restaurant. Then We've gone to the next one, the next one, and these days it's kind of the same, but now it's like I'm trying to spread more information on, hey, this cool event's happening, or this chef's change here, or this restaurant's closed. So it's more news-based. But when I do run, a restaurant again.
Erik Nilsson:It's trying to do this new thing.
Stuart Melling:So tomorrow I might go check out Spraggy Restaurant and it might not be the restaurant that I personally want to go to and I might not write about it because it might not be like it. I'm sure you'd hear that a lot. Amber probably said that yeah, like hang up a bit of a great experience, like I'm not going to be, like you're never going to guess how much I hate this place?
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, because it's just not worth putting like no one damaged someone just because, like you, had a bad experience. Exactly.
Stuart Melling:When I was at Tribune. That was the job, that was the role. Tell me what you thought of this. And here's the money to do the job, right? No, I'm just trying to tell people to guess. I'm like here's what's happening on the food scene. It's interesting and notable. So when I do go out.
Stuart Melling:It's always trying to find that story of what's new and notable interesting, and it's only when my wife says, hey, do you want to go on a date tonight? Can we go to one of my favorite spots? Got it? Yeah, so I do have some favorite spots, but most of the time when I'm going out it's like oh my God, they just chose a menu at this place. I better go check it out. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know I always start back on the phone, yeah, which I don't know, I don't know. Again, I'm not on the whole person's app, but I'm asking people to go out. So it sent me six months.
Erik Nilsson:I don't know. I feel like people got more and more and more seventy-six months. That's a fair assumption.
Stuart Melling:I got really good at more than one體ve six months For me it's like yeah, let's do our favorite place then the way, but seventy months will have passed since we did that, because you can only ask. I'm not complaining, it's just, I'm a weird example.
Erik Nilsson:Because it's your point. It's like, okay, let's say you have three meals a day, 21 meals a week, but if you have to have seven of those be something that you're chasing or hearing a story about or wanting to go check out, I mean that's already gone, so you can't do that and then lunch. There's only so many I just see how it could whittle down, because sure not like a and you get burnt out, you don't?
Stuart Melling:I mean you could eat it every night, but yeah, but you quickly. I can tell you for experience. You get really, really bored of that really quickly. Oh Right, you vegetable at home. This group was green and hasn't been deep fried.
Erik Nilsson:Just have something simple instead of like yeah, I think yeah it was lost, your pretty quick.
Erik Nilsson:I feel like people are like oh, like, I mean, it's like the things that people always Good, I called like, sometimes like the Anthony or Dana fact. But if you were to go to people and get a like, if you have your perfect life would be like oh, traveling the world is Selected easy and the best food, like every night, like and he obviously Historic and in the best way, sure. And so people are like hi, if you eat out every meal you get all these places. Isn't that amazing? You love it, it has its point and it has it reaches them. I mean that I do.
Stuart Melling:You're quick, I just want to go have a vegetable at home, that is it, and I'm also the most dying companion as well, because some people put black food into me and I'm like, right, I mean, what have they done here? You're turning things over and expecting it. I watch like can we just?
Erik Nilsson:have like a normal day.
Stuart Melling:No, you eat the food and not like one second. Let me get my camera to picture on to the picture menu and look around the dining rooms Everybody had, like you know. Just takes it.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah but it's kind of it probably just like this need a little month. Yeah, you probably can't even turn it off. If you wanted to know, just running, I'm gonna analyze it yeah. I'm in a restaurant, so I'm gonna think about it, and then I'm sure they're sending me a little right about it.
Stuart Melling:I just got back from a trip to the UK and stayed with some friends and they were terrified cooking dinner home. I'm like guys.
Erik Nilsson:No, it's fine. Yeah, just make it like no, I can't afford you. Yeah, it's gonna be.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, I would see some of the mess that I cook myself.
Erik Nilsson:But yeah, because, like I mean into the tier point, I mean that's part of like the entire will not the entire, but like a lot of the bog is to help highlight new things that are happening and excitement there I know you talked about like coyote and any other ones that you feel like are are on the up and coming or anything. Well, I was to check out.
Stuart Melling:I would definitely put kind of take right now top of list. I mean, you're on social media. You see all the yeah, those guys are just a Killing it right now. There's lines of door lines inside. They can't keep up because the brisket that they cut the it's like the best brisket in Utah. In my opinion, it's any barbecue shop in Utah hands down interesting, and I'm trying to find really a barbecue. It's uh, it is Really really good and they cook it for like 60 hours yeah, it's, and then finish it like beef towel or stuff and Not to plug myself constantly stories on the website, but those are some of the.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, there's the chicken wings, the best in town. The ramen is just Talk to you. Do you know Brandon fur cake? Yeah, it's the ground, I think he's so upset and they like move the needle ten years.
Erik Nilsson:Yes, overnight yes, and they really did it's just one spoonful, you're like oh, I see, right, this isn't that, this is something else and then, especially, just like I mean the whole experience together, because I mean again, you can go to, I mean, sir, any good ramen, good ramen place in Salt Lake and I'm probably walking today experience. But you're like, oh, I feel like I'm actually in like a roundhouse in Japan, the way everything is served and the way it's rolled out and the efficiency behind it. Ordering, which is any part of a significant portion of like the dining experience is, yeah, I was talking to here up the chef that, you know, I'm not sure.
Stuart Melling:And he told me, like in Japan you met, eat a bowl of rum in five minutes. Hmm, wow, yeah, you're really fast, really fast, because the one of the noodles obviously sitting, that hot broth, they can't go me and mushy. We're not really trying to do it to that extreme level Because this is something like with the right, right, but we also it's not set up if you've been, it's good. See, it's not set up to like linger there for three hours, right? No, they won't come in enjoy your meal, have a beer, and hey, let's the next day. We're gonna, and not rushed. But they want to turn those tables.
Erik Nilsson:Yes, it's not a food that sits exactly so, and it does move, because I remember the first time I went, it was kind of like a last minute decision and I walked up and again to your point, there's like 30 people in line. Like shit, I'm not getting in here. But then I was waiting for the person meeting up with the show up and I was like, well, I'm gonna hear regardless, let's, let's see how I'm like shit. 20 minutes later I'm like second person in line because it's too bad?
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, no, not at all and it's so fun because it's like that is part of that experience I like I always love like. One thing I hate about American culture of eating is like that maybe not American, but definitely Utah, because it's more popular in New York and bigger cities of like Going out to dinner by yourself and just being able to have an experience, eat food Not after worry about talking about anybody and get out like I love that, just being me too. I do it all time. Yeah, they can just go sit, enjoy yourself. There's not like this awkward conversation. I think you're not saying everybody, you go have a meal with us.
Stuart Melling:There's an awkward conversation, but there's just not this, this fun to enjoy your own, your own self, right, exactly, and Like you can go to the restaurant, except the bar, you could order six appetizers. Yeah, you don't have to say to my, your partner, hey, okay, if I? Yes like. It's just yes, yourself, okay, yes, okay.
Erik Nilsson:Sounds great and, yeah, I think. For example, I live right now pretty close like no mad East okay, and so more often than not if I'm Alarm, like just like, just want no mad, but I don't really want to just feel like like a little misanthropic whatever. So if you're not, people like I will go up. I know there's always gonna be a seat at the bar, I know exactly what pizza I want to get, I know why I'm gonna order, I know it's out again yet and it's just kind of this nice experience. Sometimes I'll put my phone up and watch something as I eat. Sometimes I won't, but there's always someone will always give me a weird look of like why are you like? Why are you alone, do you think?
Stuart Melling:that is a yeah.
Erik Nilsson:I don't know. I've traveled around the states a lot.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, real job. Do you feel like that? But I don't really know. Is it a you, something is an American thing, is it that kind of yeah? Oh, I feel so sorry for him.
Erik Nilsson:I think I I mean like the place. I know that it like people do that the most and it's not as weird as like New York, right, but that's just kind of part of the culture of just I mean, you don't really eat that many meals at home and you've not gonna be with everybody all the time.
Erik Nilsson:So I think that's a portion of it. But I'm trying to think of like experiences in, you know, the major cities, like in Seattle, san Francisco, like LA, san Francisco and others, and I really don't feel like I see that as much, it's true, except me. We might see a couple people at the bar sitting alone, which is like one thing, but to the point of like kuyote, where it's like the whole bar seating is Like is here's your number? If you order for yourself, here's your number, you order for yourself, and really kind of like embracing that part of like me to go Japanese.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, it seems so much like next week. I'm going to this, like you know, silent cider. Yeah, they're doing this really cool pop-up with this chef Daniel Lord's call cat to see, sir, the menu looks amazing. It's like a central Mexican menu. My wife's sister and I said you probably not interested in going to this because, all like you know, juniper duck taco or Zipork valley and it's very meaty.
Stuart Melling:So, yeah, I'm quite happy, I'll sit by the food. It seems really natural to me. Yeah, I find it all that people couldn't. Yeah, you're gonna come for me for two hours. No, I'm with you, I guess.
Erik Nilsson:I'm team you first team, not you, because, yes, still enjoy the food, but not to worry about the Stuff. You just you can do more like so much, more immersed in it, because there's nothing else like distracting you. Yeah, it seems to go like in like 10 seconds to me. I'm sure she's had enough of these experiences. Yeah, you can go, please go, let's go. I'm gonna sit here and watch my show. I'm gonna be friends pretty much yeah.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I mean I choose John hyper analyze and assess it another, watch your house, yes, everybody wins, yeah, and I'm sure she still does love good food and I'll tell you what it does, but every time is probably Michael, go back to the question for that and links into that.
Stuart Melling:Like cop come, that's one of our favorite places to hang out. It's nice and intimate it's grown up.
Stuart Melling:I'm the one that opened up that was a place that people used to say, oh, it feels like you know, this was it's a bit of a while. Yeah, did they just celebrate? Oh, 10 years, I think. Yeah, a couple of days ago or a couple of days in the future it's gonna be 10 years, just that. And like Ryan Ryan Lider, who's the you know the owner of that Okay, he used to be a chef in New York and it might take was all it says his little slice of his New York Memory. But you walk around, you look at, kind of you know the art on the wall and design Just the way the menu as it feels. You know that kind of, yeah, little slice of where used to be.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, that's a good description. Especially you go into like yet copper commons like the bar like this doesn't feel like a solid to eat bar.
Stuart Melling:It just is a little bit more elevated and back to my before. I like Be that my own argument from earlier.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, there are many, many more places like that, so it's not like.
Stuart Melling:It's just like this post office place or but I know the whole. There's lots of places kind of that. You know small plates hang out at bus.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, and they're all getting. I think it's funny because they get received so well. Yeah, like the amount of people are read by the problem. I'm not people that rape about post office.
Stuart Melling:Place the amount of people did rave about numb.
Erik Nilsson:Like it's so fun to see people Value first, see things for that they actually are and and again go to them so they don't go out of business.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, I always send when people come from out of state, like, show me the best of what you know you guys have. I'm here for one night. I always tell people to go to, like the central line, yeah, because you naturally people think I'm gonna go down time, right, right, no, I'm laying a little secret. That's central mine. Thank you so much. I own, yeah, water. Second for the selection of side up yeah, in the US. Oh, I didn't know that. That blows people's minds.
Erik Nilsson:I think I'll be honest. I didn't, because I'd seen this sign a couple times and I didn't Realize where it was or what it was. Until I went to central night on Sunday to get a breakfast sandwich. I was like, oh, this is where it is. That's why you're like oh, you know, yes, I do okay.
Stuart Melling:I was like, oh, and they just start opening on Monday nights. Perfect, which you know. Central night they have to smash burger. Yeah, and everybody goes on the corner and wait. Tell me Ram's.
Erik Nilsson:I water which until there's no to say no, you can go to Overflow. It's, I am, yeah, that's what like.
Stuart Melling:Let's walk around in my brain. Your silence, ease, simple life Water. Which Good coffee. Guys in copper? Yeah, then we can't get the pearl. Yeah, cross the road is the pizza place. No bill, there's the golden euros that. Just cross the road. We'll come back up on the cross road for central life. That's gonna be hoppers. They're gonna be reopening like you know. We used to be in midfail. Oh, we're the crazy Kansas night. Yeah, on the corner. They're reopening on that corner just across from central life. Okay, so that place, give that another 18 months. That's gonna be really, really hot thing.
Erik Nilsson:See, that's like what I, because it almost reminds me of the feeling of Irvira being like capital hill in Seattle, where it's like a little Grungier than like downtown Seattle.
Erik Nilsson:It's almost like that because, like we saw, like there's Predominant culture, there's a big counterculture with Seattle. There's Good, good, like the capital grunge, like there's still that grungy part, but it's all a capital. Yeah, we're just the. I know happens in Utah. What does the county culture come from? I would say just like I don't know. That's a good, good question, because I feel like a lot of the Normal culture comes from the economy. I've so many like huge, like large corporate companies that a lot of people come to work for I mean, let's call it corporate America. And then you have these people who I mean working-class servers. They kind of all hang around that area, but I don't know necessarily the reason for it, though it's a good question.
Stuart Melling:There's normally some of the spurs, that kind of yes Flip side to the culture right interesting.
Erik Nilsson:I need to do some. I need to do some thinking and some research. Okay, but like. But then again, like, when you go up to the capital in Seattle, it's like, oh, here's this, like these great restaurants, these new great bars and everything, but you don't really know unless you know and go experience it. To know it's there, like, truly appreciate it, because it's not like the, the places that like show the trouble your face.
Stuart Melling:I have this huge marketing budget, but it's quality, good experience, good many a go back from Austin Last summer and I did a little research in the first place. I went to Good, like why do I start a chance the bartender? Because I can't, I'm. So I was like, okay, you know, you like food, like drink, and he pulls a thing from behind the bar, his little card with all the restaurants and bars we like in turn and that's what we did for the rest of the week. I mean it was amazing. Yes, it's all the copper Collins and all the bar gums. Like you might not find them on the eaters on the Alps. It will tell you what again.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, it's cool, I was appreciate those like people like, oh, here's where I go. I would recommend because, again, like you can, you can go through Encounters, websites, apps, whatever and try to do that. But at the end of the day, like there's always some sort of like persuasion bias in it, yeah, and I'm you know the data analysis side of it.
Stuart Melling:I was trying to pull in so much information to try and weed out. I think these guys are saying this is good and these are, but this is, and this seems more authentic. You try and get this massive dead set but then when a local tells you know, this is really good, yeah, I was so. Yeah, we'll take this out.
Erik Nilsson:Perfect, yeah, we got our list, we're gonna go. Yeah, so I mean, besides, when you web hosting and eating your fair share of food and what else you like to do, or else all I can use on.
Stuart Melling:Oh man, I don't know if this is one embarrassing, if there is anything.
Erik Nilsson:It is what it is and thankfully you're keeping more than busy enough with with food and drink and yeah, it's it's a lot of work.
Stuart Melling:I mean the full-time job, the second job, no, just I mean Like travel when I can, yeah, but then that just turns into more, more food.
Erik Nilsson:We're your third place in town, my favorite place in Utah, so I spent a lot of time at Edison. I will be honest and say I'm getting sick of the menu because you're here enough, no matter how good it is.
Stuart Melling:Sure you get sick of it, but I mean my go-to place, like I love to Kashi and like software always gonna be my favorite, like sushi places I love to Kashi, because I also love post office place just as much Gotcha.
Erik Nilsson:So it's like you know people always complain to go to Tukashi and there's like a 45 minute wait. But I'm like cool name still down. I'm going next door, I'm gonna get some Japanese whiskey and some small plates and I'll see you in it. It's 45 minutes and I'm not gonna be bummed out at all. I mean, one that's been recent kind of invention of copper commons is like hot buns. So if I'm ever Sorry, mcdonald's, but yeah, it's not hard to be with.
Stuart Melling:All right now has a soft spot.
Erik Nilsson:Oh, it's more of a saljah yeah pattern in history, but like hot buns is fun just because it's. If you've gone out you're probably like still a little drunk and you just go there. You order on your phone. There's people walking up to go to like Franklin and they don't really there's that we come up there. There's people walking and talking about the night but they don't realize we're sitting there waiting for food. So did you do that one? Yeah.
Stuart Melling:That's one of my favorite little strips in town. Oh, it's such a fun place because from let's think of the road you have like a beer bar bar X.
Erik Nilsson:Estee pizza. You come down and what?
Stuart Melling:is it now? There's a little seas yeah, because it was easy. Down there, little cocktail bar, the back back door, yep. And then you don't like Franklin and I haven't been in the new place opposite Franklin. Oh, they're near boss. Yeah, okay.
Erik Nilsson:That space is so beautiful too, and I got a lot. I mean, I'm shoot. What was the brunch and coffee place that used?
Stuart Melling:to be at their boss.
Erik Nilsson:Oh, it was campus yeah campers was so fun and I love that. Like it's such a hard space, like a place to really thrive, just because it's pretty big, the kitchens in that big, they do have a big bar and they have like a small. Anyway, it's like a hard space to make it work for you, like are you gonna be a bar in your restaurant? Sure, either way it's a difficult one to navigate, but yeah, then you just keep going, like it's almost like because, like before I fit in Salt Lake, especially with like I mean nightlife and going out. It's like, oh yes, we're gonna go like second on second, or you're gonna go on like main street. Yeah, we're gonna go like on this like tiny little strip strip on State Street. Or now it's like you just think about that talk track you just mentioned like going for beer, our bar X Johnny's on second, I say go down the George Franklin and then Almost a top of top, like couple cobbles on the edge then, yeah, I was in the middle.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, rock taco, and then you go over and then you're gonna have Sigh and are on your left and it's just so much more easy to like bar hop than being like crazy busy by me.
Stuart Melling:No, well, you go on main street, go to the restaurants a little, but yeah, no, wait, 90-minute wait. Yeah, congratulations. They're doing fantastic, for sure, right now, but I'm hungry.
Erik Nilsson:And I think there's a lot more options because of you, like the few hallmark places everybody would go. But now it's Like so many places have a kitchen, so many places have like some sort of like not just food, but like unique food, and like I think kind of the ones we've mentioned before are such a good example of that, like the pearl of having this like Agent, especially like I think it's the look, you know, inspired, because I don't know, oh, the top, yeah, the problem, venus, you know. So I think the end means inspired infusion cuisine on top of that, and I mean side ours again one another like Japanese themed, kind of like I'm supposed to be like a street bar in Japan, and so, you know, in such that we're having so much more nuance to it and just like, oh, here's bar.
Stuart Melling:No, yeah, this year's looking really exciting too. I mean Ryan Lotto you mentioned. He's over a new place in, like the Maven. It's the Maven building next to Dome minor. Is that what they call that, the Granary District, post-issue Granary District District?
Erik Nilsson:Central Nightly. I think they're all trying to fight for, like the title. But yeah, no one's no clear where yet, but he has like a place coming which he's Consulting with this.
Stuart Melling:Like James beard award when he got in New York the Zach Pallett cheer, I think his name was, but he literally wanted James beard in New York for this restaurant, some map Was named one of most influential chefs and you know, like last 20 years he's consulted on this thing in Salt Lake with Ryan. Looks really cool. Yeah, just more that to your point. More interesting concepts that all I've been told it's gonna be spaghetti Western equips. I don't know. That means that's not spaghetti in a bucket. I might be very fancy bucket. No, I told you, but just the name is involved.
Stuart Melling:You know, it's just gonna be from the guys behind cop cop copper onion, this guy in the New York, you just know it's gonna be really good.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah.
Erik Nilsson:Before even open this nice to be a confident in it, because I think I've got restaurants, you hear, a little bit up. You're kind of like See how it goes, and there's been enough stories where it's like like, didn't the restaurants that will post it like, hey, we're opening, and they're like oh, oh. But I think those are happening less and less and again we're getting a lot more Recognizable people, a lot more accolades behind them, yeah, and I think it's going super well and they can even on top of that, we have these, I mean chefs, that have kind of what's your name? My, the founder of Sapa and purgatory, yeah, her, she just like seeing how, like, some of them have a long good concept and then they'll just like use it as this, like launch pad towards other things.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah and so I think it's fun to not only have these external people come in that are validated and have all the equity. I'm gonna deserve it all, but then having seen seeing people also grow their own brands and their own Kind of like names here and saw like themselves, I like that we kind of have these both, both experiences, because like we just want to have people come in and be like, oh, but we're not gonna grow anything from within, but then I mean, I feel like it's like a healthy balance of the two.
Stuart Melling:Yeah, I like I mean good. Back to many things earlier. I like how the city can support so many more interesting different things. I mean you mentioned Urban Hill. Have you been into now? No, I need to. It's, it's so good. I mean they've spent an absolute Stupid about money. I mean they were not buying. You know that it's yeah, yeah, there's a good, and they like hide this like design company in Colorado I sent person the other than in, but I think initially they're like.
Erik Nilsson:now look it's all like so you know about me is they're like.
Stuart Melling:No, you really coming here, somebody, yeah, and the place is beautiful, the staff is so well-drilled. I'm one of those like Sweat, I'm not those assholes, yeah, of course throws my server like a running question just to see yeah, Do you know, like this dish, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to get level and I have not once like kind of Fox anybody Like. Is this a preserved one? Why, yes, it is.
Erik Nilsson:I picked it yesterday it came from well, you know, yeah, yeah, where was this?
Stuart Melling:It's like I have some of Paul and yeah, yeah, what's chicken from when they go fun chicken? I know his name, but the staff is so good and greens are great and the rooms good. They spent so much money. I don't know if that would have happened ten years ago, fifteen years ago. Because are you gonna spend millions of dollars in hope, because you are thinking about the solid demographic? Don't embrace this. It's like a two hundred twenty seat restaurant. That means I think that means I'm not in the restaurant business, but I'm in the business business that you go fill one of those seats every night.
Stuart Melling:Yeah and it's not cheap place and they do I'm not doing great and it's a fabulous restaurant and I don't think we were about that ten years ago, fifteen years ago. So I had my Thanksgiving day dinner the first time ever living in America Interesting and it was. It was amazing. I never go out on big holidays because it's normally a bit of a crap, shit, right, right, totally All people kind of both they set up and it was really, really good.
Erik Nilsson:See, that's and that's like what excites me, because, again, I want good food, I want good experiences, don't want places where I can take friends and family, be able to sit down and have a great experience, because that's what food does brings people together. Yeah, doesn't just like satiate, the hunger, but honestly the soul, and like that's someone, like Like I'll die on the hill of, like one of my favorite things in the world is, but like my therapist calls like tabling. Just having Four to six people sitting on a table, probably a bottle of wine in the middle, good food makes it even better, but just I mean talking and enjoying your time together and that's, I think, one thing that Utah especially solid, starting to learn that there's so much more beauty in that experience of coming together Rather than, okay, we need to rush here and eat this and do this. And like the pragmatic approach, not saying it's wrong, like I get it. Life, life is fast and you beat something's. All things with different conditions, right, but also for that reason it's good to slow down and see for the flavor.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, so see, we're want to wrap with two questions. First, if you can have someone on the small a city podcast and hear their story. Who do you want to hear from?
Stuart Melling:Yeah, I thought about this one listening to the podcast. Like I said, and I'm if you can get him, I recommend Craig Jerome Craig around. He currently runs Like a kind of a pop-up business called Jerome's market. He makes sausages. Okay, I first met Craig. He was like a chef at he's an art artist and then he went on to HSL and he came up with like Philip Grubica, who's the guy that owns about x. They both started out at the the Waldorf and Park.
Stuart Melling:City yeah and they both two different patterns. Kind of footage can interest me that, like Craig has come back to butchery, like Philip has, and Like his family come from the East Coast. They've had like a sausage shop back there since the 50s and he's gone back to that direction making all these sausages and he sells them online and delivers to your door and has the firms market and he's always been one of my favorite chefs ever since I've tasted his food and I just think his story could be kind of really interesting. Like East Coast guy comes and chefs and makes sausage and it could be a story, though he's a really super nice guy.
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, especially the story that touches on so many. I don't know the iconic eatout plays, but like HSL and Bel-Tex alone and all of them, you knew it was going to be a food thing for me, right?
Erik Nilsson:Yeah, I hope so. Yeah, I need more food people. I have a lot of food people, but it's fun now because I'll fall with Amber and with Kendall and people, the post about like, oh, should I go? Yes, this is over. I can just be able to interact because, like friends and I sat down and like had a conversation about it and, yeah, I'm excited. Yet I'd love to sit down with him and hear more about it Cool. But then if people want to follow you the blog and hear more about the upcoming fun places for them to go eat, what's the best place to find you?
Stuart Melling:GastronomicSLCcom. I wish I picked an easier name when I started. I don't really. I want the name. I want the name. That would be more than go get food. Yeah, eatfoodcom. I wanted to have a little bit of a fancier cache. Yes, just to get the points across the head. We're here for good food, right? Yeah, but yeah, gastronomic. If you search for just SLC food news on Google, I'll come up with those.
Erik Nilsson:It's almost like it's.
Stuart Melling:SLC or Optimize to do so Almost like it is. Yeah, interesting, but yeah, from the community address, I won't sell it to anybody. You can stay until it's subscribed, but I'm going to hit that like button as well. It is actually no.
Erik Nilsson:It's great to sit down with you, see you in here, a little bit more about your experience and a little bit more about food in Salt Lake and how much optimism there is in the air. But, yeah, thanks for coming on and excited to see and read more about all the good things coming up. Cool. Thanks for having me, eric, it's cool.