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Hello, Eaters! The Kolache Place, formerly known as Hruska’s Kolaches, has a new location at 751 S. 1100 East in Salt Lake City, in the former Brownies! Brownies! Brownies! building in Sugar House. I visited last week and had a great chat with co-founder Cory Hruska.

The origin story: In 2014, siblings Cory, Ross and Devin Hruska, whose family is Czech by way of Texas, founded Hruska’s Kolaches and opened their first location in Provo. Using their grandma’s dough recipe, they focused on kolaches, a pastry mainly from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Over the years, Hruska’s Kolaches grew to five locations. In February, the Sugar House location moved from 2100 South to 1100 East, after the building got a major facelift.

Recently, the founders rebranded as The Kolache Place amid a trademark dispute, Cory Hruska said. But, he said, the only thing that changed was the name.

The vibe: The new Sugar House location of The Kolache Place is takeout-only, like the old Sugar House location, but there is a patio outside, with tables. Since the Hruska family is from Texas, there are little nods to Texas in the decor. And since Hruska means “pear” in Czech, there are pears everywhere, including in the logo.

The menu: Kolaches reign here, both in the traditional sweet form with the filling on top, and in the nontraditional Tex-Mex form with savory fillings inside, for breakfast and lunch. Both the savory and sweet use the same type of bread, Cory Hruska said.

The Kolache Place’s raspberry-and-cream cheese kolache and the sausage-and-gravy kolache were featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.”

Most of the menu is made up of savory breakfast kolaches and sweet kolaches for dessert, but there are two lunchtime kolaches as well. To read about my order, scroll down to “Dish of the Week.”

The hours: Monday through Saturday, 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Live deliciously,

Kolbie

Food News

• Summer is coming quickly, and now is the time to start saving the dates for the season’s many food and drink festivals. Whether you want to drink a frosty beer in the mountains, eat a footlong corn dog, enjoy a fancy meal al fresco, or sip a glass of wine, there is a festival in this list for you.

• Pastry chef Romina Rasmussen of Les Madeleines fame is now making soft-serve ice cream and selling it at her chocolate shop, Chez Nibs (212 E. 500 South), and the downtown location of her bao store, Xiao Bao Bao, two doors down. Flavors will be rotating monthly, Rasmussen said. For May, there’s matcha, strawberry and a twist option, served in a cup, on a cone, on a housemade waffle cone (vanilla or chocolate) or in an affogato.

• Crumbl’s founders — Jason McGowan, Sawyer Hemsley and Bryce Redd — are stepping down from their leadership roles but will still be involved with the company, according to a letter posted to X by now-former CEO McGowan. “This is not a goodbye to Crumbl,” the letter said. “We will all remain closely involved as members of the board of directors and founders.”

Openings:

• Gossip Kitchen, which opened in downtown Salt Lake City at 152 E. 200 South in February, is already about to open its second location, at 2477 Fort Union Blvd. in Cottonwood Heights. It had its soft opening in April, and the date for its grand opening hasn’t been announced yet, so stay tuned. Gossip Kitchen serves Italian pastas and Japanese tapas.

• Has a restaurant opened or closed in your neighborhood? Let us know at food@sltrib.com.

Booze (and Drink!) News

• Veneto, the high-end Italian restaurant at 370 E. 900 South in Salt Lake City, is having a wine dinner on Wednesday, May 20, that will take attendees through all 20 regions of Italy in one evening. The Veneto team will be serving 20 dishes and 20 wines, each highlighting the flavors of each region, in a menu that won’t be repeated, the restaurant’s newsletter said. Tickets are $275 per person; call 801-359-0708 or emailinfo@venetosl.comto reserve.

Dish of the Week

When I visited The Kolache Place, I tried the two lunchtime kolaches — beef birria and La Bomba Carnitas ($5.99 each) — and two sweet kolaches, cinnamon and mixed berry ($2.75 each).

The two lunchtime kolaches were both very good, but my favorite was the birria. Oh MAN, this is lunch perfection in a bread pocket, a warm pouch of juicy stewed beef, onion, cilantro and melted cheese. On the top, they melt a slice of cheddar cheese in the oven until it gets crispy, as a callback to the crispy edge of birria tacos, Cory Hruska said. This kolache was so flavorful, just beefy and savory, and the housemade habañero hot sauce really sent it over the top.

The carnitas kolache tasted great; I think its outstanding garlic-lime cream sauce really makes it. This kolache was previously only available on Saturdays at the Provo location, but now it’s available at all Kolache Place locations.

Out of the two sweet kolaches, I liked the cinnamon the best. This kolache has a generous dollop of a sweet cream cheese mixture and a sprinkling of cinnamon and brown sugar, and it was delicious and a little messy straight out of the oven.

I liked the mixed berry, but after Hruska told me they make all of their jam in-house, I immediately wished there was more of it.