This article is excerpted from the Utah Eats newsletter. To get the full newsletter every Wednesday, subscribe at sltrib.com/utah-eats.

Hello, Eaters!

Bodega and The Rest, at 331 S. Main St. in downtown Salt Lake City, have changed a lot since they opened more than a decade ago.

Bought by new owners Mindy and Forest Seaman a couple of months before the Main Street fire in August 2025, Bodega on the main floor is now a full-on nightclub instead of a store and taco shop where you could buy votive candles with saints on them.

And the speakeasy below it, called The Rest, isn’t so secret anymore, even if it still feels that way.

I recently met the Seamans and stopped in at The Rest, where I sampled the bar’s new food menu and felt like I was hidden away from the world.

The origin story: Bodega and The Rest first opened in 2013, and The Rest was so secret back then that people only found out about it through word of mouth. The Seamans bought both bars in 2025, envisioning Bodega to be a hangout for college kids with inexpensive good food, cheap drinks and DJs. “It’s a party,” Mindy Seaman said. In contrast, at The Rest, “I want a very lovely experience,” she said. (Now, you don’t need a secret password to enter The Rest, but reservations are suggested for Thursday through Saturday).

The vibe: The couple has been renovating both upstairs and downstairs, “trying to create a space that we would want to be in,” Mindy Seaman said. Bodega (pictured above) got an expansion, along with cool collage tables that Forest Seaman made, but the changes in The Rest seem to be the most apparent.

The Rest is still moody, just by way of being in a basement, but the taxidermy has been replaced with illuminated tree branches hanging from the ceiling, and there’s a lot of play on color in the mismatched furniture with different fabrics. It’s a sophisticated space, and very vibey and mysterious, with music playing on vinyl (it was Miles Davis when I was there), knickknacks set up on a shelf along a wall of exposed brick, and landscape wallpaper. (Make sure to peek in the spooky back room, called the library.)

The menu: Under The Rest’s original ownership, the menu was more geared toward foodies, Mindy Seaman said. But for the couple’s new menu, “I wanted great, elevated, familiar food that would be more appealing to more people,” she said.

While the appetizers have more international influence, the entrees are straight comfort food, with dishes like a smash burger, pepper-crusted rib-eye and beer can chicken, which was a specialty at the original Rest. “We feel like people would actually hate crime us if we took that off [the menu],” she said.

To drink, there’s beer, wine, craft cocktails, tons of whiskey and even an absinthe fountain.

To read about my order, scroll down to “Meal of the Week.”

The hours: Monday-Wednesday, 5 to 11 p.m.; Thursday-Friday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Live deliciously,

Kolbie

Food News

• On Oct. 8 at 6 p.m., Brownstone 22, pictured above at 22 E. 100 South in Salt Lake City, is hosting a five-course dinner featuring a menu curated by two female chefs, and wines produced by female winemakers, according to a news release. Each course by Brownstone 22’s chef de cuisine Kayley Yearley and Felt Bar & Eatery’s sous chef Ria Williams is paired with a fitting wine. Tickets are $125 per person, and proceeds will benefit the Salt Lake City nonprofit People Helping People, which teaches low-income women how to be successfully employed. Reservations are required; call 801-692-0886 or email info@brownstone22.com.

Openings:

• After a bumpy road of floods, repairs and rebuilds, Green Chile House, at 386 N. Redwood Road in North Salt Lake, has reopened as Green Chile Cafe, according to an Instagram post. The new restaurant serves the same Southwestern food that diners could get at Green Chile House, but is now also serving breakfast and coffee, the post said.

• Mo’Bettahs has opened its 36th restaurant in Utah, and is now serving its Hawaiian-style food in Highland at 10969 N. Town Center, according to a news release. Mo’ Bettahs was founded in Bountiful in 2008 by Kimo and Kalani Mack, the release said.

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

Booze (and Drink!) News

• The Park City Wine Festival is happening Thursday through Saturday at Canyons Village, where Grand Tasting events will showcase 200-plus wines, spirits and specialty pours, a news release said. Wine dinners and lunches will also be happening at top Park City restaurants. All festival events are ticketed separately; to purchase tickets, go to ParkCityWineFest.com.

• Epic Brewing Company, at 825 S. State St. in Salt Lake City, is throwing a party on Saturday, Oct. 10, for the release of six new variants of its Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout, according to a news release. The celebration will include brewery tours, live music, house-roasted coffee tastings, food trucks and plenty of beer — including stout floats. Admission is free, but if you want extras you can purchase upgraded tickets for $13.57-$48.28. For more information about the variants, and to buy tickets, visit Eventbrite.

• The annual Witches Tea is underway at The Grand America Hotel, at 555 S. Main St. in Salt Lake City, according to a news release. Featuring a themed menu and spooky decor, the Witches Tea is a “wicked” twist on the hotel’s popular high tea experience, where attendees can dress in their witchy best and enjoy Halloween-inspired treats, tea sandwiches and tea. The Witches Tea will run daily through Nov. 1, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $55 per adult and $39 for children 12 and under.

• Also at The Grand America Hotel, The Gibson Lounge is transforming into the Ghost of Gibson experience for the third year in a row, according to a news release. The 21-and-older cocktail lounge — decorated for spooky season — will offer fall- and Halloween-themed drinks and bar bites, along with the mystery of the Ghost of Gibson. “Which Gibson Girl portrait on the wall is this year’s ghost?” the release said. The Ghost of Gibson will run nightly through Halloween, from 4 p.m. to midnight. No reservations are needed.

Meal of the Week

For dinner at The Rest, I ordered the bacon-wrapped bison meatloaf ($28), which is smoked and served with garlic mashed potatoes and broccolini.

I loved the meatloaf. It was rich and smoky, and the glaze did a great job cutting through the fattiness of the bacon. I wanted that perfect bite of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and I got it. The broccolini, served while it still had crunch, was welcome. Hats off to chef Adam Klemensen for the meal.

My only quibbles were small: The delicious heirloom tomato bruschetta ($12) was served with untoasted bread, and my zippy mocktail made with zero-proof tequila ($10) had a thick layer of egg white foam on top that was a lot to get through, compared to the amount of liquid in the glass.

— Newsletter written by Kolbie Peterson, The Salt Lake Tribune’s food and drink reporter. The Tribune pays for all of the food written about in this newsletter.