Ogden Eats Offers a Mix of Dining Specials Nov. 1-15
Ogden Eats, Ogden’s version of Restaurant Week, takes place Nov. 1-15.
The annual event, organized by Visit Ogden, has evolved over the years since it was first started in 2013 to highlight local restaurants. Once considered a chance for a “bargain”
fixed-price meal deal, now it’s more of a delectable mixed bag of offerings at three different price tiers.
You can find a list of participants and their Ogden Eats specials at https://www.visitogden.com/ogden-eats/where-to-dine/ restaurants.
Hosting a Restaurant Week makes a culinary statement about a city’s quality and quantity of local, independently owned restaurants. For many years, major foodie cities such as New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans have hosted a Restaurant Week with dining deals. In 2003, Salt Lake City’s downtown restaurants organized their first annual Downtown Dine O’Round. Park City, South Salt Lake and Heber Valley have also hosted restaurant weeks.
Part of the idea is to lure in new customers with a discount deal. Once they enjoy the restaurant’s food, ambiance and service, chances are they will become repeat customers. For the public, it’s a chance to break out of your usual-restaurant rut and trying something new, without breaking your budget.
In the early years, Ogden’s event followed the format of most other cities, with each restaurant offering a prix fixe two-course lunch and/or a three-course dinner at a bit of a discount. (Back in 2017 (when I wrote about Ogden Restaurant Week on this website, you could get a two-course lunch for $10 and a three-course dinner for $17. Which tells us how much food, labor, and other costs of running a restaurant have gone up.) While it was often a “steal of a deal,” the higher-end restaurants had a harder time coming up with a three-course meal that would meet the lower price points.
After the Covid pandemic, Ogden Eats began giving eateries more latitude in what to offer. This year, participants are offering options priced by “tiers,” — $20 and under; $20-40, and over $40. While some of the specials are a prix fixe multi-course meal, others are a stand-alone appetizer or sandwich or salad. Others are dinners-for-two.
”Yes, it used to be prix fixe, and it was hard for all the restaurant varieties to do that,” said Kim Bowsher, CEO the Roosters Hospitality Group, whose Union Grill, Rooster’s Brewing Company and partner Mercantile on 25th are participating in Ogden Eats. “Now it’s much more a ‘dine local’ marketing endeavor and the restaurants are asked to do menu offerings in the three tiers, so consumers know a general price point.”
Also, in the past, restaurants tended to showcase a few of their signature dishes, to acquaint people with their regular menu. But many of the Ogden Eats specials differ from the restaurants’ regular menus. It seems that some chefs use it a chance to flex their culinary muscles with new dishes. For instance, Lucky Slice Pizza posted that it’s offering a new item — Sicilian Pies, described as “a thicker, pan-proofed and baked evolution of our typical New York-style pie.”
Most of the dishes offered by Roosters, Union Grill and the Mercantile aren’t on their regular menus either.
“For Mercantile and the Roosters Hospitality Group, we wanted it to be about trying new things and offering a good deal,” Bowsher said. “I wanted to really provide some fun reasons to get out and try things.”
She noted that some of the Ogden Eats specials in past years have ended up on the permanent menu, or regular rotating specials, due to positive customer feedback.
In looking over some of the Ogden Eats menus (a few haven’t posted their specials yet) they sound interesting, delicious, and a good value; but probably not so many “screamin’ deals.” And because the of the variety of offerings and price points, I’d take a minute or three to check out what each restaurant is doing to see what fits your appetite and budget.
Here are a few examples of what’s on the menus so far (some participating restaurants haven’t posted their specials on the Ogden Eats website as of Nov. 3.)
In the $20-and-under Tier 1:
You can get a grilled cheese sandwich with a cup of tomato-basil soup for $10 at Warren’s Craft Burger.. You’ve got to admit, it’s rare these days to find a a soup/sandwich combo for $10 or less. Warren’s $20 meal deal is a choice of a Philly Smash, Candied Smash or PBB& J Burger with a Cowboy Bites appetizer and a non-alcoholic beverage.
Also in Tier 1, you can also get a lunch at Taboo Pizza Riverwalk of a personal-size pizza, 2 breadsticks, margherita dipping sauce, and a chocolate chip cookie, for $13-15, depending on which pizza. While it sounds like a good value, it’s the same lunch deal that the restaurant already offers on its regular menu.
Table 25’s Tier 1 is a fried goat cheese salad for $16. (But you could also save up your dining dollars for the Tier 3 level Wagyu Beef Wellington dinner for $50.)
Ogden Beer Company is offering a Kansas City-Style Brisket Sandwich, with seasoned fries, for $17. This sandwich isn’t listed on its regular menu, which lists most of its sandwiches at $15-17.
Union Grill’s Tier 1 specials include two $8 appetizers: Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Ragu served with toasted baguette; and a Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Stack with focaccia bread. For $15, you can lunch on a Chipotle Chicken Salad for $15, or a Tuscan Grilled Chicken Sandwich for $16.
The Mercantile on 25th Street is doing $6 Breakfast Eggs Benedict Your Way (with variations such as avocado, smoked salmon, Beehive Seahive cheese). Three sandwiches — a French Onion Grilled Cheese, Zucchini Grilled Cheese, and Fig Turkey Arugula, are $10-13.
The Mercantile offers two shareables: a $15 Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Burrata, or an $18 Veggie Verde Flatbread on a gluten-free sweet potato crust, with melty mozzarella, roasted bell pepper medley, mushrooms and a drizzle of avocado cilantro creme fraiche.
UTOG Brewing has an appetizer of Mango Chutney bruschetta, $12; a Harvest Romesco entree with a choice of protein ((Grilled Chicken $16, Flat Iron Steak $20, Seared or Blackened Salmon, $19), in romesco sauce with crispy brussel sprouts. You could also get grilled artichoke flatbread for $15, and polish it off with a pumpkin swirl cheesecake for $10.
Some of the Tier 2 Offerings ($20-40)
For dinner, Union Grill is offering Chicken Marsala chicken breasts with mashed potatoes and roasted veggies for $22; Steak Fettucini for $25; or Pacific Barramundi baked in a Caribbean beurre blanc with lemon rice and grilled asparagus for $22. You can finish it off with a “Harvest Sundae” of waffle-cut sweet potato fries tossed in cinnamon-sugar and topped with cinnamon ice cream for $5; gluten-free chocolate cake, $5, or a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, $2.
At Rooster’s, you can get $27 lamb loin chops with roasted veggies, or chicken piccata for $20; Pacific Coast Bisque of shrimp, scallops, mussels in a creamy, served broth with mashed potatoes, for $25.
Slackwater Pizzeria has a three-course meal for $25 that includes French onion soup, a Thanksgiving dinner pizza (turkey gravy, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and three cheese blend), and dessert of Apple-Oated Beignets.
Taboo’s $27 “light meal for two includes a shared specialty pizza and garlic cheese bread.
Tier 3 offerings ($40-60):
Table 25’s Tier 3 entree is Wagyu Beef Wellington ($50).
Some restaurants are offering dinners-for-two, such as Warren’s $40 Date Night Deal that includes two appetizers, two burgers, and chocolate lava cake to share. Taboo Pizza also has a $60 dinner-for-two with a calzone style “Hot Boi” appetizer, two specialty pizzas, fudge cake dessert.
Sonora Grill has a three-course $59 dinner-for-two that includes chips and guacamole, an appetizer, two entrees and two desserts, including pumpkin flan. Appetizers include baja ceviche or Rosarito shrimp; entree choices are Tijuana Caesar salad, quesabirria, or Ensenada fish tacos. T
Ogden Eats participants are: Rooster’s, Taboo Pizza, Mercantile on 25th, LaFerrovia, Union Grill, Warren’s Craft Burger, Ogden Beer Company, UTOG Brewing, Lucky Slice Pizza, Table 25, Slackwater Pub & Pizzeria, Sonora Grill, Ramen Haus, Tona Sushi, Weller’s Bistro, Rosa’s Cafe, Garden Grill, and Hearth on 25th.
I’d love to hear opinions from Ogden Eats diners – where did you go and what was your experience?