Our Favorite Things About SLC
What better way to play “getting to know you” than with a list of our favorite things? The collection isn’t one hundred percent comprehensive (how could it be?) but we consider it a great jumping-off point. Here’s Your Heart Out’s best-of-the-bests in Salt Lake, in no particular order.
- Hip & Humble, {1043 E. 900 South}: Step inside and the world slows down. H&H holds alluring delicacies—from candlesticks and serving trays to laundry soap and dishtowels. Ne’er home to your everyday, run-of-the-mill item, this shop is packed with vintage appeal and up-to-date charm, all wrapped in mint-green goodness.
- Big Cottonwood Canyon vs. Little Cottonwood Canyon: One formed by a river, the other by a glacier. Both packed with ski resorts and natural splendor. It didn’t seem fair to choose one.
- Este Pizza, {2021 S. Windsor St.}: Home to the perfect pie: dough that’s thin yet soft and chewy, with the ideal sauce-to-cheese ratio. Just don’t ask for pineapple or ranch.
- Broadway Theater {111 E. 300 South}: As tickets get more and more difficult for locals to get their hands on, we rely on the Broadway to bring us the best of Sundance and all the other fests we can’t get to. We just wish it could offer its fair share celeb sightings, too.
- Salt Lake City Library, {210 E. 400 South}: It’s “A dynamic civic resource that promotes free and open access to information, materials and services to all members of the community to advance knowledge, foster creativity, encourage the exchange of ideas, build community and enhance the quality of life.” And a real beauty, inside and out. Also voted Library of the Year.
- Les Madeleines, {650 S. State St.}: Nothing spells an afternoon with the girls like a Madagascar cupcake with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate sprinkles, a passion fruit truffle or meyer lemon meringue tartlette. We’ll take two. Of each.
- Nordstrom Rack {2236 S. 1300 East} vs. Park City Tanger Outlets {6699 N. Landmark Dr.}: How does one choose between bargain Nordstrom and discount Calvin Klein? We’ve found our favorite Joe’s Jeans and Marc Jacobs shoes at the Rack, but we’re huge fans of Stella McCartney and vintage Adidas gear at Tanger, as well as the Stila-, Mac-, and Bobbie Brown-carrying Cosmetics Company Store.
- Cactus & Tropicals, {2735 S. 2000 East}: Everything blooming, rosy, natural and sweet-smelling; a true gardening phenomenon. A favorite place to gather supplies and collect inspiration, with new digs in Draper {12252 S. Draper Gate Dr}.
- Ninth and Ninth {900 South and 900 East}: Not only does the boutique-haven hold local-only favorites like Floribunda, The Children’s Hour, Koo de Ker, Charlotte’s, Hip & Humble and new sneaker shop, Ten, the cross section just got a healthy dose of makeover, making it the most chic walk-and-shop locale.
- Farmers Market vs. Gallery Stroll: Both are hubs for local artisans-of-sorts, though one employs spices and the other, pastels. The Market kicks off summer with berries and buds, while the Stroll gets us through winter with colorful abstracts and letterpresses.
December 8th, 2006 at 9:16 am
Awesome! next time my friends are asking what is there to do in slc, i’m sending them to you. Any chance you’ll have a holiday guide for visitors?
December 8th, 2006 at 9:57 am
What a great idea! I’m excited to see what else you have planned! Good job ladies, Salt Lake needs a blog like this. I will be your #1 supporter!
December 8th, 2006 at 11:46 am
I’m really excited about this. I’ll check it out everyday. What a fun website. I’ve forgotten about a lot of these favorite places, because I’ve been lazy. But it’s about time I get out there, thanks for the reminder.
December 8th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Since you had the library on your list (which I love) I had to add in my two cents. I am an absolute public library nerd! Obviously the books are a draw, but the library itself is a true work of art. I am a sucker for the details. I will just quickly name off a few that I really love.
The bike rack made out of steel letters R E A D.
The glass elevators that (when aligned) have the words etched across them “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”
The giant hanging head mobile that when you walk up the winding stair case close to it you can see that it is made up of little open books with butterflies inside and if you look really closely you can see them flap their wings.
And I don’t have kids yet, but the kids level is wonderful. Everything is made especially on their level. Even the books shelves are categorized by height lowest being the picture type books, higher shelves being more Harry Potter. And they have different rooms for reading (An attic, snow cave, etc.).
The architecture is amazing.
The roof.
The mere fact that they had the foresight to see where our society is today and realize that we never would have known that we needed plugs everywhere for the computers that did not exist 20 years ago. So they left room for the future. As you go down the stairs you can see a small sub level that exists merely for whatever technology we may develop next.
Ok I will end this blathering on and on, but hopefully it will give you something extra to check out the next time you are at the library!
December 8th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Jen, I love your comment! You certainly have an eye for detail, and you mentioned all the wonderful, nerdy library things that we didn’t. Bravo! I’m going to keep my eye out for that “glass house” etching. I never noticed it.
December 8th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Okay -
This list looks pretty good. I’d choose Big Cottonwood over little, but I’m biased. I have one suggestion for your list. The taco stand on the southeast corner of 8th South and Main (across from Cafe Trang). Make sure you go to the correct corner because there’s a stand on almost ever corner but this one’s the best. Go there. You’ll love it.
December 11th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
I want to try ESTE PIZZA now. The photography on this sight is excellent. Way to go Brad.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Awesome info. I love SLC and can’t wait to explore some of these sites I didn’t know about before.
December 14th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
LOvE iT!!! Why did i not know about all these fun places?!! al’s, thank you for all your hard work each day…I love LOVe getting in the know and learning all these new places and ideas! I am so excited each day to see what’s next:) heart
December 15th, 2006 at 11:29 am
You have to try the kouing aman at Les Madeleine. That’s my favorite thing about SLC.
December 16th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Lindsey: Thanks for the recommendation. I will try the kouing aman next time I pop in to Les Madeleines, which is hopefully very soon. Love your blog!
December 18th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Thanks! I love your blog, too. I’m glad I found it!
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I just wanted to thank you for this post. I hadn’t been top Hip and Humble (or Blue Cocateau) until I read this and a few other posts. My trip to both really provided me wonderful gifts for Christmas! Thank you for your local tidbits!
December 15th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
So do you know if este pizza is open again? and where? I crave it, it’s the only good pizza in SLC!
February 25th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I miss este too. Best vegan pizza I’ve ever had, I need to know when its coming back. I’m from the NY area and it reminds me of home.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Este reopened its doors this past Monday (2/25) and they’re bigger and better than ever. Truly great to see them recover from such a devostating loss.
Pizza is as good as it’s ever been. Get down and let the gang know you’ve missed them!
mike c.