Everything you need to know about Ogden Eats | The Ogden Wire

Shane Osguthorpe: All right. Welcome out to The Ogden Wire. Episode Three. We're talking this week about Ogden Eats, formerly known as Ogden Restaurant Week. And I'm joined here with Taylor Hartman, marketing communications director for Visit Ogden. We also have three members of the executive committee in charge of Ogden Eats. There are three independent restaurant owners here in the town. We've got Steve Ballard, owner of Sonora Grill and the Ogden Produce Company — he'll tell us all about what's going on there. We've got Lee over here from Warren’s Craft Burger, and we've also got Kim Bowsher with the Roosters Hospitality Group — that encompasses Roosters, Roosters B Street, Union Grill, The Mercantile... a lot of great stuff going on. Let's just jump right in and start talking Ogden Eats. Taylor, why don't you get us going?

Taylor Hartman: Yeah, so Ogden Eats, formerly Ogden Restaurant Week — we are in our third year of being called Ogden Eats. It's a dining campaign that we put on as Visit Ogden to highlight our local restaurants and businesses, hopefully so we can be competitive with some of those big box chains and their marketing initiatives. This year, Ogden Eats is from November 1 through 15th. We have 18 participating restaurants in the program. We created special tiered menu items, so there are some really awesome restaurant deals for the city of Ogden. As part of Ogden Eats, it's one of the coolest events that we do all year because we get a bunch of different restaurants that I dine at, and I bring journalists to dine at when I have people visiting — and we get to celebrate the food that makes Ogden special. And so that’s basically the wrap-up of what it is. So, Steve...

Shane Osguthorpe: Steve was one of the original founding members of this committee and this whole idea of Ogden Restaurant Week. Steve, why don't you tell us a little about why and what — why you guys came together. It's kind of unusual — you’d normally be seen as competitors, but in this town, you're really not. You're more cooperative, and you saw the need for that. Why don't you tell us how that all came to be?

Steve Ballard: Well, I would say the tone for the Ogden restaurant scene was really set by Kim Bowsher and Pete Bowsher from the minute I came into town. Instead of looking at me as a competitor, they opened their arms and have shepherded me and guided me and always been there for me. So, I would say Roosters has really set the tone for what restaurants in Ogden act like and feel like. Exactly what we were just feeling in — you know, filling that need of, “Hey, how do we compete with the chains?” Ogden, Weber County, this area is very chain-heavy, very chain-popular. And we just felt that, you know, hey — how do we compete? And so then we started to say, “Well, what can those chain restaurants do that the independents can’t? can’t do?" And marketing and advertising is a big one. As a restaurant owner and operator, you are every position, right? You are—you do. There’s no HR department, there’s no accounting department, there’s no bookkeepers. There’s—you know, you have all this. You end up doing it all.

And so particularly if you don’t have a specialty in marketing and advertising, you’re kind of at a disadvantage. You learn and kind of do what you can. But, you know, I had somebody ask me the other day in a conversation—they said, “Why are the chains so bad?” And I had this conversation with them. I said, “We’re fighting against the chains.” And someone said, “Well, why are chains so bad? You know, they’re popular for a reason.”

And I said, “Yeah, I get that. I understand. People really do like—they know what they’re going to get. They know how it’s going to come. There’s a generally agreed-upon idea of what I get in return for my money, and that can be translated across states, state lines, and kind of nationally.”

So I get that—I understand why, from a consumer standpoint, they might gravitate toward that. But on the other end, what you’re not seeing is what they’re taking out of the system. And I think a great analogy is—an analogy about fishing, if you don’t mind me bringing up fishing anytime, anytime, right?

But, you know, back in the early, early days of Yellowstone, they decided they were going to introduce lake trout, because lake trout, you know, comes from England and Europe, and it’s a really great fish—they’re big, and they fight, and they kind of sink to the bottom. So, a lot of the European settlers basically wanted that same experience they grew up with, fishing in the lakes.

And so they brought over these lake trout and decided to introduce them into Jackson Lake and throughout the Tetons—that whole lake system. They introduced lake trout. Well, what they didn’t know was that the native species in those lakes were brook trout. And brook trout lay their eggs right where the river comes into the lake—and that’s where they habitate, they eat, they lay their eggs, and they spawn. That’s where the osprey come down and grab them, and the bears go to find them, and the wolves—and, you know, the whole ecosystem is dependent upon those fish.

They were all built around the brook trout. But the lake trout goes to the bottom of the lake—and they love to eat brook trout eggs. So they ate them. Over the years, they completely decimated the brook trout, which then echoed throughout the entire ecosystem.

But what’s actually happened is that the organic material—the carbon—that exists in that ecosystem actually sunk to the bottom of the lake. It changed the color, changed the makeup of the lake, and it’s had all these ripple effects as it goes on.

And I think that’s what happens when we nationalize our food system. We end up—well, we’re eating in the middle of January. You go to a restaurant, and you want salsa or a tomato. Well, that tomato has come all the way from Mexico, which is where it was grown, where all the inputs were put in—and you have this effect.

What I think happens is you starve off all the other local farmers. And the local ecosystem—and a national food system—is not as secure, and I don’t think it’s as vibrant. I think you end up squeezing it.

And the way you see that, at the very end of this ecosystem, the last person between the customer and the food is the restaurant, right? We—the restaurant—is at the end of the agriculture system. It’s the end of the food production system, the end of the trucking and shipping industry. And everybody has taken their little bite out all the way to the end. So you get to the very independent restaurant, and, you know, it can be a one to two percent profit margin. It’s like the whole idea of, you know, you can be in Iowa, in the breadbasket of America, and go to a local restaurant, and you’re getting no food that’s from that area. It’s from different areas that have been shipped in. And, you know, dining local and supporting local restaurants is a much better way to keep things local and keep a focus on those kinds of distribution chains that go beyond national — that’s huge.

Taylor Hartman: Well, from a visitor standpoint, we are all about making a great visitor experience. And think about your own travels — when you go out of town, most people don’t want to go to Applebee’s or Chili’s. They’ve been there. When I go to a new place, I want to try the food in that place — the kind of food that I’m only going to get to try while I’m there. And so, I believe that visitors account for about 30 to 35 percent of restaurant business.

So, as a visitor initiative, we’re invested in it — but as community members, we’re super excited about it, because it’s what makes our community cool. Like you mentioned, Kim and Pete — they believe that the way you make community is by having really cool community gathering places. That “rising tide raises all ships” kind of mentality.

Shane: And so they’ve always rooted for all the restaurants in town and tried to help out. And I think Kim has a really good analogy — she always says we’re the kind of town where you can go borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbor. Yep — like if you run short on a supply, or a spice, or an ingredient, and your distributor’s not open or not delivering till Tuesday, or whatever, you know? You can walk down the street to your neighbor and say, “Can I get 10 pounds of butter from you guys just to get me through the night?” or whatever it is.

So yeah. Anyway, let’s move on to more about Ogden Restaurant Week. So you mentioned the tiered pricing — what are those tiers? What can people expect from the restaurants that are participating?

Taylor Hartman: Yeah, so the tiered pricing goes from up to $20 — so $20 and below for a special menu item. Think of it like you can get your lunch special in Ogden for a cheaper price. And then we have another tier that’s more of your mid-tier — $20 to $40. And then we have an upper tier — like $40 to $60 — maybe that’s your prix fixe menu or whatever kind of fancy schmancy stuff. Yeah, so that’s why we’re doing it.

I don’t know if anybody wants to talk about why they think kind of tiered pricing or putting those things together is important. We brought that back — the last two years we didn’t have tiered pricing for Ogden Eats.

Steve Ballard: Yeah, if you go back in the history of Restaurant Week, it was very popular because you could go to any of twenty-something restaurants in town, and for $15.95, you could get a two-course meal. Or for $20, you know, or a three-course — whatever.

And with the disparity — and disparity in a good way — the diversity of restaurants we have in our town now, that’s just not possible. You can’t get Hearth on 25th or Table 25 down to a $20 price point. But, you know, Lucky Slice would have to sell you sixty pizzas to get you into a—you know.

So, the set pricing didn’t work. That’s why the tiered pricing came on — so that each restaurant could kind of choose its special and its offer.

Shane Osguthorpe: So let’s jump over to Roosters Hospitality Group. What are some of the things we can expect to see with your participation this year?

Kim Bowsher: Yeah, I think the tiered pricing is a great opportunity for the restaurants to—and from a consumer standpoint too—to know what you’re walking in the door for, what you’re kind of going to end up throwing down at the end of the night, right? You want to know what you’re putting on that bill before you walk in the door for — what you’re kind of going to end up throwing down at the end of the night, right? You want to know what you’re putting on that bill before you walk in the door. So I think this is a good opportunity for all of the different restaurants to kind of fit into their wheelhouse, but still have it be clearly explained to the average consumer and the people who are going to be coming in.

Shane Osguthorpe: Like you mentioned, the Hospitality Group is Roosters — on 25th that aren’t participating in Ogden Eats are going to be Roosters 25th Street and Union Grill, and then also The Mercantile.

Kim Bowsher: I’m a partner over there, so separate from the Hospitality Group, but all things combined, I am really excited about our menus at all of the places. At The Mercantile, we’re going to be offering up a series of egg Benedicts. They start at six bucks. You can do them flight-style, so if you want to try all four, you can — or you can have them individually.

We also have a mimosa flight. Our menu is heavily featuring blood orange in this kind of holiday/fall segue — November 1 through 15th. So there’s a blood orange Americano, there’s a blood orange beet and burrata salad that’s kind of plated up as a shareable. There’s some really great seasonal focus on this menu, and it’s hard for me to talk about it this early because I want to eat it right now.

And then, over on the Roosters side, I’m pretty excited for lunch — we’re kind of in that tier one category, and then we’ve thrown together some really great options in tier two for dinners. Pete is our executive chef over there, and he’s got some really fun things. I think — I don’t want to say too much on here, because I think it’ll be things that people are going to ask for to be on our menu — to come back to our menu, to stay. There’s a really great pizza offering, and there’s some pumpkin curry soup, which is a seasonal favorite all the time, but he’s got it paired with some really great things.

And then Union Grill — my goodness — they are coming up on 35 years, which is remarkable for the independent restaurant scene. They are doing some really great seasonal stuff as well to kind of acknowledge that our chef team over there has been with the company for 16, 24, and pushing 30 years. They’ve been with the team for a long time, and we’re really letting that core group kind of put together their menu to honor their personal heritage and also the background of Union Grill, which is kind of this melting pot.

We used to be located in Union Station, so acknowledging that — kind of like the transient population that would come through town because of the trains — obviously, the restaurant is past that era, but that menu very much reflects that. You know, there’s a little bit of Italian, a little bit of Cajun, a little bit of Spanish, and even German influence in there. And so it’s really kind of acknowledging the history that this town has seen. It’s a super unique menu.

And so I’m really excited about the price points. I think, you know, Steve was mentioning what’s wrong with chains. And I think, you know, when you think about traveling, like Shane was saying — you want to try things that are new and unique. And if we’re not supporting that as locals — as residents that are staying here — if we’re not supporting that on an ongoing basis and participating in the local dining scene when our friends come to visit, or they come to ski or for business meetings, and all these various things that are happening, what are you going to turn around and offer them if we’re not keeping our restaurants going throughout the rest of the year?

So, I think there’s a really great way to kind of explore and see what’s new. Our dining scene has grown and changed a ton. I think being a dining destination — you know, all of us have really… like Craft Burger, right across the street from Roosters...We both have burgers on the menu, but we approach them from very different spaces. And so there is a reason to come to all of these different restaurants in our town. And, you know, it’s kind of funny, because you’ll see us at each other’s places, and sometimes people will comment on that — and they’re like, “Aren’t you guys competitors?” And it’s like, “Well, no.” Like, we all are, actually, there’s a ton of synergy between all of us being open and it working together.

Because us being in this kind of centralized downtown location — it creates a dining space that you want to come to, as opposed to just like, “Well, I know I’m going to go to Riverdale; I know I’m going to pop through the drive-thru,” or DoorDash more and more, right? This is a place to be, and we are all a part of that place to be. So there’s a ton of crossover between us.

Shane Osguthorpe: And it’s a great time of year to go out to eat, because if you think about it — it’s after November 15th. You’re going to be in the kitchen cooking for the next six weeks anyway, between all the holidays and the baking — give yourself a break.

And also, the skiers aren’t here yet — the out-of-towners — and so the restaurants aren’t super crowded. It’s an awesome time to really just get out and get to know your servers, your bartenders, your restaurant owners, and all of that. That’s why it’s my favorite event of the year — because you just get out and get to see all the people around town.

Taylor Hartman: And it’s long enough that you can choose multiple items. Right? At lunch, you can go to Lucky Slice and grab something, and then later for date night, you can go and grab something else from a different restaurant.

And I think that just shows that Ogden, Utah has this incredible communal spirit about almost everything we do. We lift each other up in the community. There’s, I think, a small group of us that really work together, but we just lift each other up as a downtown district.

And I think it’s incredible. That small group — the work that they do — balloons out into the whole community and to other visitors. People in Salt Lake are going to come up and do this, because people just really want to find those really cool date-night ideas and get a reason to go to Historic 25th Street and eat a delicious meal.

Kim Bowsher: Yeah, I think I’d add just a little bit — to kind of piggyback on Steve again — you know, the chain side of it. If you’re getting a special at a chain restaurant, lord knows where that was created, and how many hands it passed through, and what kind of food cost benefits or savings they’ve engineered. You know, all of that is based on money.

And in this instance, with Ogden Eats, you have chefs and chef-owners who have really put in a lot of craft into what they’re doing. You’ve got Chef Allen at your place at Craft Burger, Steve, who’s talking — he’s the chef at Sonora, and Pete is the owner of Roosters. I mean, you have people like Tony at Tona — he always puts on an awesome menu for this event.

And so, I mean, it’s kind of like — you have First Friday Art Stroll. This is our town’s culinary version of that. And it’s just a fun walkabout — get out, go to the places. And I think, you know, make it an exploration for yourself. I know we kind of play bingo — trying to get around to all the different places.

Shane Osguthorpe: But, well, Lee, you’ve been kind of quiet. Let’s hear what Warren’s Craft Burger has on top over there.

Lee: Well, for Craft Burger, we’re always excited for Ogden Restaurant Week — Ogden Eats. It’s always hard to go back to that newest “Ogden Eats,” but we’ve tried to just keep everything, like they said, as local as we can.

And it’s just nice — everywhere, like you’ve said before — everywhere you go, you want to try local. That’s our first question out of our mouth... is, “Where do you eat? You’re from here. You live here.” So we want to make sure that the people that are visiting us — it gives them a reason to come see us. And as Kim said, you know, we’re all local. We’re just right here. So you’re going to see our faces around. You’re going to see the chefs visiting other restaurants.

Because, you know, kids go to school — exactly, yeah, for years. PTA comes up every once in a while, or it did when I was younger. But we just love being a part of it.

Chef Allen’s created — we’re going to turn some of our menu here eventually over to smash burgers. You’ve probably heard that. So we’re smashing a lot of them. We’re going to offer a Philly Smash and a Candied Smash. And of course, our always-popular PB&J Burger.

And if you think it sounds strange — it’s not. You will be addicted. You’ve gotta try it. Yep.

And then doing a date night — Taylor mentioned kind of date night — so we’ve got those offerings. So come in, and the two of you are going to eat for $40. So it’s a great deal.

Like you said, you know, Hearth can’t offer that. I mean, they’ve got wonderful food, but it’s going to be a little bit more. So like Kim mentioned, you’re going to be able to know where you can go and for how much — whether it’s for lunch, “I want to spend $10,” or for lunch, “I’ve got a couple people visiting; I want to spend a little bit more.”

So we’re going to offer all of those — all of the tiers — all day long, which is another benefit. It’s not just “come, this is offered at lunchtime” or “this is offered at dinner.” It’s these tiers all day long. So there’s no excuse — you can get whatever you want, however hungry you are.

So yeah, we love Ogden Eats.

Shane Osguthorpe: And the way the creativity of our owners and chefs comes through is just amazing. Last year, Steve, I know that Sonora Grill did their take on Taco Bell favorites — like, “This is how Sonora Grill would do a gordita or a taco.” What — a Baja Blast? Yeah, you had great tacos, cocktails, and minions. What can we expect from Sonora Grill this year?

Steve Ballard: So this year, we — and we still get asked about the Crunchwrap Supreme. Oh yeah, popular item! Which — which is, I believe, even left the control of Taco Bell and is now in the general domain.

So yeah, this year we decided Sonora Grill would do a Baja Mexico menu. As you know, the Baja de California — that big piece of land that goes all the way down — it’s divided into two states: you have the South, Baja Sur, and Baja Norte.

So we’re going to focus on Baja Norte, which runs from Tijuana all the way to Ensenada — cool, beautiful area, does not get nearly the praise and respect it should. And the food scene is incredible. Most of your famous Los Angeles chefs all have a Tijuana location that you can go to.

And we’re going to take this as a chance to just kind of highlight the area. So when I think of that area, and I think of Tijuana, the first thing that comes to my mind is Caesar Salad. Sometimes people think Caesar salads are Italian, but Caesar salad was actually invented in Tijuana, Mexico, by a man named Caesar.

A lot of the famous Hollywood celebrities would go down to Tijuana and stay at this hotel, this beautiful restaurant, and they would make it tableside — come out and make a little Caesar salad right on the table, put it on your plate, and it’s delicious.

Taylor Hartman: Wow.

Steve Ballard: It should be on your culinary bucket list at some point. You can fly into San Diego, rent a car, and drive across the border — eat and explore the day. But you can also just go to Sonora Grill and try our version of the Caesar salad.

Then we’re going to do a Coconut Shrimp, and those will kind of be in the appetizer areas. Then we are going to highlight Birria. So if you’re not familiar, it’s a…a slow-roasted beef, but it’s the preparation that everybody goes crazy for. So, if you take a corn tortilla, throw it on a flat top with a little chili oil — it kind of soaks it up, and it turns red and kind of soft. And then you put cheese on there, and it melts. And then you put this slow-roasted beef in there, and it comes with a little cup of consommé, and you dip your tacos in the beef stock.

So, it’s like a Philly steak, right? But it has the consommé in there. So we’re going to start out — we’re going to have one of those as an entrée. And then Baja, you know — fish tacos, very popular everywhere in the U.S. But the original — there is actually a Baja fish taco that is very, very specific to that region.

It’s small pieces of a white flaky fish that’s deep-fried, and then topped with a spicy mayo-based dressing, fresh cabbage, and lime.

Shane Osguthorpe: You’re making me hungry.

Taylor Hartman: You know, I’m starving.

Steve Ballard: A plate of three of those tacos on there — that’ll be there. And then we’re working on another thing — there’s a kind of popular drink down there that’s called the Batanga. So Batanga is a lot like a Cuba Libre. It’s basically rum, Coke, and lime juice — just a little bit different variation than a Cuba Libre. So we’ll have that on there, and then a Michelada too.

Shane Osguthorpe: We’re gonna have our work cut out for us going and dining at these 18 different restaurants.

Steve Ballard: Well, the strategy is to get fattened up before Thanksgiving.

Shane Osguthorpe: So you roll into Thanksgiving dinner already fat?

Taylor Hartman: Yeah!

Shane Osguthorpe: I’m gonna quickly name off the restaurants that are participating. So we have Warren’s Kraft Burger, Slackwater Pub and Pizzeria, Roosters Brewing Co., The Sonora Grill, Table 25, Tona Sushi Bar and Grill, Rovali’s Ristorante Italiano, Utah Brewing, Hearth on 25th, Ramen Haus, Union Grill, Garden Grill and Lounge, Ogden Beer Company, Rose’s Café, Lucky Slice, Jeremiah’s, The Mercantile, Weller’s Bistro, and La Ferrovia.

Taylor Hartman: Well, the event’s only 15 days, so you’re not gonna be able to hit them all — but I think everyone should do their best. Do their best to try to hit as many as they possibly can during those two weeks.

We’re gonna get very close. We at Visit Ogden have three on the calendar that we’re gonna go to. I’m gonna try and go to more throughout the evenings.

I was gonna call out our sponsors. I was gonna say — this event doesn’t just happen. I mean, all the restaurants invest — it’s kind of a cooperative fund where they invest a bit, and then we add sponsor dollars and Visit Ogden efforts to kind of make this marketing campaign happen.

So yeah, tell us some of those sponsors that kind of make this happen. They’re the ones you don’t normally see, but they’re the ones that kind of take care of our restaurants.

Kim Bowsher: Yeah, it’s actually Ogden Eats is basically crowdfunded and supported by local restaurant vendors and distributors. So it’s really special. We actually — the people who help keep these restaurants running are the ones who also help these restaurants market as a whole.

So we have US Foods as our flagship sponsor this year. Model Linen, Nicholas, Swire Coca-Cola, Admiral Beverage, Beehive Cheese, Wasatch Distributing, and we have the Utah Restaurant Association / Taste Utah and Zions Bank.

Shane Osguthorpe: Did you say Zions Bank as well?

Kim Bowsher: Yep!

Shane Osguthorpe: Shout out to our team here for grabbing the sponsors. You guys really made it very, very, very smooth for us at Visit Ogden.

Kim Bowsher: Yep, I think one thing — if I could add to that — is sometimes when you see these big names: US Foods, Wasatch Distributing, Swire Coca-Cola, Pepsi — you think that these are kind of those monolithic mega corporations.

But in our instance here, those are also local companies. You know, Wasatch Distributing is our beer distributor for Roosters. They celebrated 75 years last summer — super cool stories that deserve their own podcast.

And you know, all of these places have roots in our community and just a ton of longtime support. Ogden’s Pepsi, Admiral Beverage has been here forever, Swire Coca-Cola has been here forever — you know, there’s history up and down the street.

Steve Ballard: They’re hardly the oldest operating business in Utah or something!

Shane Osguthorpe: They hit their 100-year mark!

Kim Bowsher: Yeah!

Taylor Hartman: Linen napkins — the MVPs of diners — have sat at a Model Linen table.

Steve Ballard: Everyone listening — or hotels, or hospitals, yeah.

Shane Osguthorpe: Well, thank you all so much for coming and for doing this and for being on the executive team of Ogden Eats and making it what it is. We really couldn’t do it without community partners like you.

So for everybody listening, make sure you go and join and indulge in Ogden Eats. Our website is OgdenEats.com — it runs from November 1 through 15 this year. Tiered menu items, community partners — everything listed on our website.

Taylor Hartman: On that website, you should find the different menu offerings by the time they come up — and get out there and eat!

Shane Osguthorpe: Woo! Are there giveaways on your social media?

Taylor Hartman: We will! We do a ton. I have so many restaurant gift cards in a manila file folder — it’s like six inches thick at this point. We’re going to be doing a lot of giveaways on our Ogden Eats Local social media accounts leading up to and during the event.

It’s one of those things where, if you comment, your likelihood of getting one is probably like one in twenty — so you should definitely comment and participate.

Shane Osguthorpe: Thanks, everybody!