This article is excerpted from the Utah Eats newsletter, written by Kolbie Peterson, The Salt Lake Tribune’s food and drink reporter. To get the full newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday, become a subscriber by going to sltrib.com/newsletters.
Hello, Eaters!
The holidays can fly right by if you aren’t mindful about taking time to slow down and savor the flavors of the season. So last weekend, my dining companion and I decided to take a break from all the hustle and bustle and enjoy two personal tea party boxes from Honey Teahive.
Founded by Mika Lee, Honey Teahive is a Utah business that does traveling custom tea parties, tea classes and catering. Lee also makes personal tea party boxes, for someone wanting a solo afternoon tea experience, two people wanting to have tea together, or a small group of people wanting to get together for a warm cuppa.
The tea boxes are released once a month, with a prix fixe menu that’s sometimes themed, or sometimes it’s a tasting of Lee’s catering menu at the time. This month’s tea party box was a “Sweet December Afternoon Tea” — past boxes have been themed around Easter, Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year, among others.
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sticky toffee pudding, a snickerdoodle, a Japanese fruit cream sando, a red pepper jelly cheese sando, a Mexican vanilla English scone and a cup of Taiwanese milk tea, from Honey Teahive's December tea box, shown on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.
The box included everything we needed to have a delightful afternoon tea party: tea sandwiches, desserts and, of course, tea. The menu featured a Japanese fruit cream sando, a red pepper jelly cheese sando, a Mexican vanilla English scone, a snickerdoodle, sticky toffee pudding and hot Taiwanese milk tea.
Lee said December’s box is “a little more adventurous” in terms of flavors. The fruit sando and the milk tea are Asian influenced, which is Lee’s background; the snickerdoodle and the red pepper jelly cheese sando are American influenced; and the scone and sticky toffee pudding are “very British,” she said.
The nice thing about having all the components in a to-go box (and the tea in a to-go cup), Lee said, is “it’s really customizable for whatever your imagination can bring to the table, literally and figuratively.” You can enjoy everything on the drive to Las Vegas, she said, or you can have some mother-daughter time at home on your grandmother’s china.
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A scone with jam and whipped cream in front of a cup of Taiwanese milk tea, from Honey Teahive's December tea box, shown on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.
We had such a nice time sipping tea and nibbling on all the different sandos and desserts, even if we had a curious cat or two walk through the tea party.
If you’d like to order your own tea boxes, which are released on the second Saturday of the month, here’s what you do: First, go to HoneyTeahive.com and scroll to the bottom to subscribe to Lee’s newsletter, so you’ll receive the early announcement via email to reserve your box. You’ll have limited time to reserve your box before the ordering window closes. Then, you will receive an email to pick up your order at Spice on 9th Cafe at 422 W. 900 South in Salt Lake City on the announced date.
Live deliciously and happy holidays,
Kolbie
Food News
Openings:
• Chipotle is opening two new locations in Utah, according to a news release — in Holladay at 1920 E. Rodeo Walk Drive that opened last week, and in Tooele at 957 N. Main St., Suite C, that’s opening later this month. Both locations will feature a Chipotlane, a drive-thru pickup lane that allows customers to pick up digital orders without getting out of their cars, the release said.
• On Friday, Black Desert Resort in Ivins will unveil its new restaurant, Basalt, an American steakhouse that will be serving steak, sustainably caught fresh seafood, and craft cocktails, according to a news release. Basalt is taking reservations for a Christmas Day buffet and New Year’s Eve festivities.
Closings:
• Two restaurants in the Salt Lake Valley are closing this month, according to posts on social media: Yoko Taco, in SLC’s Granary District, and Wasatch Broiler and Grill, in Midvale. If you’d like to visit Yoko Taco one more time, they will keep making tacos until Saturday. Wasatch Broiler and Grill will be closing its doors on Monday.
Booze (and Drink!) News
• The new Dendric Estate — located on 20 acres in the Kamas Valley — has completed its first “crush and press” season to produce the cidery’s first batch of ciders, according to a news release. The cider will be available to purchase in mid-2025. If you’d like to follow the cider’s progress, follow the cidery on Instagram at @dendricestate.
Dessert of the Week
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A bite of sticky toffee pudding in front of a cup of Taiwanese milk tea, from Honey Teahive's December tea box, shown on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.
All of the foods inside Honey Teahive’s “Sweet December Afternoon Tea” box were excellent, but the sticky toffee pudding was really something else. This wasn’t pudding in the American sense; this was a small, moist cake, on top of which we got to pour gloriously gooey toffee sauce. Since we were at home, I warmed up my cake a little bit in the microwave, just to make it extra decadent. This sticky toffee pudding brought me back to the trip I took to the U.K. in the fall, and the time I tasted this dessert for the first time in a pub on England’s southeast coast.
Editor’s note • Utah Eats will be taking a break for Christmas, so there won’t be a newsletter sent out on Wednesday, Dec. 25. Utah Eats will return to inboxes on Wednesday, Jan. 1.