A coffee truck, known on Salt Lake City’s west side and at farmers markets, opens a brick-and-mortar cafe

Hello, Eaters! Dominic Oliver, owner of the new Buzzed Coffeehouse and the Buzzed Coffee Truck, said winter can do a number on an aging vehicle.

The Buzzed truck, Oliver said, is 27 years old. “It’s actually older than all of my employees, and it’s taking a lot of work to keep the poor thing on the road,” he said.

Last month, he had to have a new clutch installed. Then two of the sink pipes blew, and he has to get those replaced. And it’s difficult to find indoor commissary storage, “so, basically, you have to park it outside and plug it in, and hope that no breakers trip, or no one sneaks by and bumps your hookup. We’re a plug away from being out of business for a day.”

As 2026 begins, though, Oliver has another outlet for serving customers coffee: Buzzed’s first brick-and-mortar location, in The Aster apartment complex in downtown Salt Lake City, at 265 S. State St. The grand opening was held on Jan. 3.

Oliver said the managers of The Aster approached him about becoming an anchor tenant in the apartment development’s retail area, after seeing the Buzzed truck in its regular spot at the Downtown Farmers Market. (The truck’s main home location is in Rose Park, on Victoria Way near 1000 South.)

Eventually, Oliver said, he envisions the Aster location to be a moneymaker for Buzzed, which now makes more profit by taking the truck out to events. The cafe should make enough money to allow Oliver to get a new truck, preferably as an addition to the current truck. The long-term goal is to find a brick-and-mortar location in Rose Park, where the community has embraced the business, he said.

Buzzed is limited, because of the truck’s age, in where it can go for events, Oliver said. It can’t overcome heights, so trips up Parley’s Canyon to Park City are out. And it can’t travel long distances, like to Moab.

Oliver is of Italian American descent, he said, “so I have a long history with coffee.” He said it was a chance meeting at an Italian-American Civic League event that allowed him to connect with Trina Perez, who founded Buzzed in 2016 by converting a former FedEx truck and in 2018 was looking to sell the business.

The cafe serves the same menu as the truck, with such crowd favorites as the Purple Haze (espresso with white chocolate and lavender syrup), the Mt. Olympus (“basically just a sweeter version of a caramel macchiato,” Oliver said) and the Red Rock Mocha (espresso, chocolate and raspberry). Read what I ordered in the “Drink of the Week” section further down.

Serving coffee and interacting with customers is more fun, Oliver said, than his old job. “I used to sell insurance,” he said. “Everybody hates the insurance guy. And everybody loves the coffee guy. It’s a much nicer social interaction all the way around.”

Live deliciously,

Sean

P.S. I’m delighted to report that The Salt Lake Tribune food and drink reporter Kolbie Peterson is back this week. It’s been fun filling in for Kolbie the last three months and taking you all along on my culinary journeys, but I’m so happy she will be taking the reins again.

Food News

• The folks who operate Veneto, the venerated Italian restaurant at 370 E. 900 South in Salt Lake City, are preparing to open a “quick service” offshoot, Via Veneto — and have a location staked out a couple of blocks east, at 511 E. 900 South, in what used to be the Beltex Meats butcher shop. A sign out front promises the new restaurant will serve pizza al taglio, a traditional rectangular-cut pizza, that will be sold in square pieces by weight to the customer’s preference. Look for Via Veneto to open in the spring.

Openings:

• In early December, I mentioned here that Jequitibá, a “Brazilian soul food” restaurant, was set to open soon at 1050 S. 750 East, Orem (where Delicatto Pizza used to be). Jequitibá announced last weekend on its Instagram account that it had launched its soft opening on Jan. 3. The restaurant’s operators say they are serving a “limited menu to ensure we get the final details perfect for our grand opening.” No date for that grand opening has been announced.

• The Stein Eriksen Lodge has a new way to feed Deer Valley skiers: Stein Burger, a food truck near the top of the Viking Lift on the way into the lodge’s Troll Hallen. Topping the menu is the lodge’s signature Stein Burger ($28), a half-pound Angus burger with aged white cheddar and crispy fried onion rings on a sheepherder bun. The truck also serves salads, the lodge’s wild game chili, and chicken fingers and hot dogs for younger skiers. For those 21 and older, the truck also has a small selection of beers, wine and cocktails. The truck is open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Closings:

• It’s been evident for a few weeks that Italian Olive, the pizza and pasta place at 270 Main St. in downtown Salt Lake City, is no longer open. The restaurant opened last summer, and I profiled the placein this spacein early October. The eatery has been dark when I’ve walked by during lunch hours recently, and a call to the restaurant went unanswered.

Booze (and Drink!) News

• New Year’s Eve seems like a fun time to open a new bar, which is what the owners of The Yeti did last week. The bar, at 7333 Copper Canyon Parkway in Cottonwood Heights, is next door to Eight Settlers Distillery, near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The Yeti’s website boasts that it’s “a Himalayan-inspired mountain lounge,” with food fromThe 14 Peaks (an Indian restaurant at 1446 S. State St., Salt Lake City), craft cocktails, local beers and imported beers from across the Himalayas. The bar’s hours are 4 to 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and 4 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays; closed Mondays.

Drink of the Week

I’m not a coffee person, so I went the decaf route when I ordered one of Buzzed Coffee’s signature recipes — one that predates Oliver’s purchase of the coffee truck — the Mexican Mocha.

The main flavors are chocolate, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. And, yes, the cayenne popped out on the tongue when I drank it, and lingered in my mouth for a while after. The mix of the sweet and spicy was a powerful combination, one that reminded me of mole negro dishes I’ve eaten at Red Iguana.

Oliver said that with Buzzed’s customers, the Mexican Mocha “is their favorite drink, or they just don’t go for it.” I’m definitely in the first group.