Utah’s Unexpected Culinary Oasis

by MICHAEL SHAPIRO

Generous farm-to-table cuisine perfect after days spent in national parks

Located in the red-rock splendor of south-central Utah, Hell’s Backbone Grill and Farm is the most remote fine-dining restaurant in the continental United States. Founded by two women who honed their cooking skills on whitewater rafting trips through the Grand Canyon, Hell’s Backbone is a culinary oasis in the high desert.

I’d heard about Hell’s Backbone from a savvy travel advisor who said that when we visit Utah, we should stop there. When I wondered if it was on our way, she said authoritatively: “Make it on the way; you’ll be glad you did.”

From Green River, where we stayed while embarking on day trips to Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Google Maps said it’d take 2 hours and 37 minutes to drive to Hell’s Backbone, but that didn’t account for stopping to let free-roaming cattle pass.

We drove through Capitol Reef National Park, then climbed a steep hill with views for miles and miles before descending toward our destination. There’s not much in Boulder: no bank or traffic light or supermarket, just a couple of lodges and one of the most unlikely restaurants in the western U.S. Arriving just before dusk, we found Hell’s Backbone illuminated by strings of outdoor lights and garnished with colorful prayer flags. We were seated on the patio right away.

Credit Ace Kvale

We were happy to dine outdoors, though at 6,700 feet above sea level, it can get chilly after sunset. After a week of river rafting and long hikes through the stunning canyonlands of the Southwest, my wife and I were ready for some satisfying food.

Blake Spalding and Jennifer Castle had never attended culinary school, were liberals in a deeply conservative ranching community, and followed the teachings of Buddhism in a heavily Mormon region.

“We wanted to do clean food, beautifully served, with love and care,” co-founder and chef Blake Spalding told me. The restaurant opened in 2000, in the heart of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, which had been designated by President Clinton just four years earlier.

“We remain one of the only women-owned, women-cheffed restaurants that has its own farm,” Spalding said. Both women wanted to create a restaurant that they would want to work and eat in. Their goal has been to host a nightly dinner party where you can get wholesome, flavorful, local food that’s gorgeously prepared and doesn’t cost a fortune.

In the foreword to Castle and Spalding’s 2004 cookbook, With a Measure of Grace, author Terry Tempest Williams said the two chefs came to Boulder with “baskets of instinct and secrets about the power of food and its potential for glory.”

Credit Ace Kvale

After dining at Hell’s Backbone she wrote: “What lingers after a slow, thoughtful dinner is love. We are reminded through the creative hands of these believing women that daily renewal is possible through the loving gesture of a meal dreamed and shared.”

Hell’s Backbone Grill, named for a nearby bridge that spans a 1,500-foot-deep canyon, was a semi-finalist in the 2022 James Beard Foundation Awards for Outstanding Restaurant and has received rave reviews from Zagat.

The restaurant, which seats about 75 people, is casual and unpretentious. The food is divine: salad ingredients picked from Hell’s Backbone’s nearby farm, Boulder Beef Braise with meat from local ranchers, smoked trout pappardelle.

Hell’s Backbone is all about place, a destination restaurant in the truest sense. The salad dressing was so bright that the flavors sparkled. The beef was hearty and energizing, the trout in the pasta was so fresh it tasted like it was caught mere hours before the fish hit the pan.

Credit Ace Kvale

The exceptional food was enhanced by the breathtaking Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument — the yellow, orange and ochre hues of the surrounding hills glowing deeply in the setting sun.

“It’s a landscape so beautiful, it will forever change your perception of what the American West really looks like,” Spalding said.

After 23 seasons — Hell’s Backbone is open from April through November — Spalding says she and Castle now feel a sense of “rootedness” in their adopted home.

“Jen and I just understood the power of an extraordinary landscape and a lovingly prepared meal,” Spalding said. “You’re in this amazing place, it really affects people and opens their hearts.”

Still, creating a restaurant that met their lofty standards has been “incredibly challenging and complicated.”

They’d thought: “How hard could it be? There’s running water, electricity and a roof.” Later, Spalding said, they realized their “hilarious naiveté.”

Part of the challenge is their commitment to the place they call home. They feature local food of the Southwest; in creating the menu, they ask: “Does this food make sense here? Is it food that has a relationship to this place?”

When you go to a restaurant in Italy, Spalding said, they’ll serve “Italian jam, Italian ham, Italian lamb.’ They’re proud of what they produce in that region. And there wasn’t a thing like that in Utah.”

Credit Ace Kvale

Castle grew up in New Mexico and created one of Hell’s Backbone’s most popular items, the Jenchilada, an enchilada filled with green-chili beef or calabacitas (small squashes, the veggie option) in a habanero cream sauce, served with cilantro rice.

Other regional favorites include Three Sisters Posole with black beans and butternut squash and Green Chile Beef Stew with pinto beans and farm carrots.

The menu depends on what’s growing at that time and varies greatly from spring to fall. Some produce, such as grapes used in the Champagne Grape Chicken, are “here and gone,” Spalding said, so you’ll only get them when they’re harvested.

What makes it worthwhile? Spalding said they have a “secret mission.” Every season they ask: “How can we make the world a little bit better with what we have to offer?”

After concluding our meal with the vanilla-glazed Sour Cherry and Rhubarb Slab Pie, my wife and I wholeheartedly agree. Our next Southwest trip might look like a visit to national parks, but our ultimate pursuit will be to revisit Hell’s Backbone.

Book a delicious tour of the U.S. West today.

Ace Kvale from “This Immeasurable Place”.

Minted Lamb Meatballs

This appetizer is so bliss-inducing, sometimes guests order a second round for their main course. In the restaurant the meatballs are glazed with jalapeno jelly, chopped fresh mint, and a smear of the Lemony Mashed Potatoes.

Serves 6-8 as an appetizer

1 pound ground lamb 2 tablespoons onion, chopped 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 egg 1 ½ teaspoons Chimayo chile powder ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon ground garlic 8-10 mint leaves

Pinch black pepper 3-4 tablespoons Jalapeno Jelly

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a food processor, process the onions, lemon juice, egg, chile powder, salt, onion powder, garlic, mint, and pepper until finely chopped and well mixed.

Add the ground lamb and mix by hand until all ingredients are combined well. You want a uniform mixture with no lumps of spice.

Shape lamb mixture into balls about the size of walnuts. Place them in an ovenproof dish or on a lined sheet pan and cook for 12 minutes. They will not be cooked all the way through at this point. Drain off accumulated fat.

Spoon approximately half a teaspoon of jalapeno jelly over each lamb ball. Bake for 4-8 minutes more, until jelly is caramelized and the lamb is cooked to medium doneness. Serve warm.