Accolades, Awards & Reviews

Look for us in the following publications:
1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die by Patricia Schultz

2010

Salt Lake Dining Awards 2010 Winners of Best Restaurant (Moab & Southeastern Utah) & Green Fork Sustainability Award. Congratulations to all of our beautiful staff, past and present...

2009

Salt Lake City Magazine
Voted BEST RESTAURANT in Southern Utah
2009, 2008 & 2007
Salt Lake magazine’s 10th Annual Dining Awards :: April 2009

 

 

New York Times Travel Magazine - September 27th, 2009 "Utopia on the Range"

Zester Daily: It Takes a Village to Raise a Restaurant - September 20, 2009
"Remote and Renowned in Utah - Part 1"
"Plant it and They Will Come - Part 2"
"Cowboys vs. Kitchen Folk - Part 3"

Sunset Magazine - Follow the Red Rock Road (May, 2009, page 32)

"Between Escalante and Boulder, State 12 climbs onto a ridge that gives sweeping views of half of southern Utah; it's one of the most beautiful drives in the country. Amid the wilderness, your destination, Boulder Mountain Lodge, comes as a surprise: sophisticated, with one of the best eateries in the Southwest, Hell's Backbone Grill. It's a great way to end your weekend - or contemplate adding one more day."

Bon Appetit May 2009- The United Plates of America - A guide to the best things to eat, drink, and buy in all 50 states)
Orange County Register April 2009- National Barks: Visiting National Parks With Your Dog
Times Colonist (from the Calgary Herald) - Utah's Canyon Country Is Like Another World
National Geographic Adventure March 2009- Adventure Travel in Utah

Coming soon- New York Times, Elan Woman

2008

New York Times June 2008- 31 Places to Go This Summer
Angeles Times April 2008- Planning Your Trip to Utah's Butch Cassidy Country
London Financial Times Review
The Week
Sojourns
Salt Lake Magazine - Favorite Small Towns
Conde Nast Traveler
National Geographic Explorer

2007

Yoga Journal :: October 2007
Gourmet Magazine - America's Best Farm-to-Table Restaurants: Seasonal :: October 2007
Financial Times July 2007- America, But Not As We Know It
Sunset Magazine "Sundae Social" Written by Lavina Spalding :: June 2007
More Magazine "True West" :: March 2007

2006

The Ledger (from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) - Ascending Utah's Grand Staircase

2005

Organic Gardening :: August/September 2005
Mountain Living Magazine :: August 2005
Organic Gardening :: August  2005
Bon Appetit :: July 2005
High Country News :: May 16, 2005
Salt Lake Magazine :: December 8, 2004
Santa Fe New Mexican :: December 8, 2004
Global Magazine, Vol. 7, Issue 7 :: October/November 2004
The Week :: May 28, 2004
Outside Traveler :: 2004 Annual
Oprah :: September 2003
Travel & Leisure :: April 2003
Sunset Magazine :: April 2003
New York Times :: October 4, 2002
Washington Post :: September 22, 2002
Men's Journal :: August 2002
National Geographic Adventure :: August 2002
Salt Lake Magazine :: December 2001

Utah Underground : Guide to Real Fun
: Bill Kerig – Author

Hell's Backbone Grill is run by two women, Jen Castle and Blake Spalding, who were told that their planned venture would never work. Blake, a devoted student of Tibetan Buddhism (Tibetan flags hang over the sun-dappled deck), has tried to mold the business in keeping with the right livelihood tenets of Buddhism's eightfold path. By all accounts, she not only has lived up to her spiritual ambitions but also has created what may be the best menu in the state. Featuring organically grown vegetables from the on-site garden and locally raised natural meats, the Hell's Backbone menu has multiple inspirations – cowboy, Mormon, and Pueblo Indian, among others. If that sounds both wacky and wonderful, it is.

Although the vegetarian entrées were outstanding, and the red trout was delicious, I had what I believe was the best filet mignon I've ever eaten, Rubbed with Hell's Backbone’s blend of spices, the meat was seared on the outside and perfectly rare on the inside (hard to get in a restaurant these days). After dinner we shook everything loose with the fur-covered hula-hoops that Jen and Blake use to keep everyone smiling. They worked as well as the food. Hell's Backbone Grill now features a well-rounded and lively wine list that includes wines from organic vineyards.

Salt Lake Magazine

Alongside Boulder Mountain Lodge in Grand Staircase Escalante Monument, this Hogan-shaped restaurant is at once a Western and Himalayan oasis. Tibetan prayer flags fly in gusty, whistling winds. The restaurant uses regional growers, and the food is a blend of Western, Pueblo Indian, and Southwestern. In a clean and well-lighted communal room, patrons sup and stare at Utah's primal wonders. Posole with organic beef and honey cornbread fit the climate. The Backbone house tarragon salad with super-sweet dehydrated corn and other goodies is a winner. Pesto linguine, Boulder burgers with sweet potato skillet cakes, and Hopi-style lamb-stuffed red peppers transport diners into a frontier world gone by. Breakfast for lodge guests can be organic cranberry granola, steamy oats, or strawberry cream-stuffed French toast.

Press

Interview with Blake Spalding on Utah Public Radio - Thanksgiving 2008 (mp3)

Thanksgiving Featured on the Restaurant Guys radio – August 9, 2005
Part 1 (mp3) : Part 2 (mp3)
or listen by Podcast in your iTunes.

Hell's Backbone Grill exemplifies canyon country fresh:
A menu that tastes of the land upon which it is served. Read more...
Canyon Country Fresh News: 5/05 (pdf)

Food as Meditation
In many ways this restaurant is an unusual, and unexpected, surprise in this sparsely settled region.
Renewing the Countryside

Featured in:
A New Plateau: Sustaining the Lands and Peoples of Canyon Country
Adding to their accolades, Castle and Spalding were featured panelists and honored for their work and contribution to sustainability at the recent MNA and Center for Sustainable Environment event, "Celebrating the Lands and People of Canyon Country."
Museum of Northern Arizona Event: 11/04

Restaurant becomes part of a community -- one bite at a time. Read more...
The Salt Lake Tribune: 6/02

Boulder Eatery Sells Its First Beer. Read more...
The Salt Lake Tribune: 3/02

First liquor permit for Boulder. Many say tourism is reason for the change. Read more...
Deseret News

... Hell’s Background Grill at Boulder Mountain Lodge to obtain a liquor license from the state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. Read more....
Salt Lake Weekly.com

 

Reviews

The meal defined the best of melt-in-your-mouth excellence.
Looking forward to more…
: Diane, Peter & Emily – New York

And the restaurant is like some strange kind of cowboy cosmic crazy Buddha vortex -- with great desserts... hhmmmmmm!
: Raymond Shurtz - Phoenix, AZ

What a wonderful surprise to find you at the end of the beautiful Burr Trail. The food was as spectacular as the scenery.
: The Waterson Family – Hilmar, CA

The best breakfast we have had in 10 days of travel in the USA.
: Jacques – Paris, France

Life is too short to eat boring food! We thoroughly enjoyed everything.
: Mark & Juanita – Chesapeake, VA

By far our best meal in Utah – what a wonderful delightful surprise!
: Cathleen & Shirley – CA

An oasis in the west. The food will always bring me back.
: Jason – Aspen, CO

A jewel along our path!
: Sherri & Drew – Norwalk, CT

So glad to find you in Utah!
The freshness and creativity in your menu is a special treat.
: Joe & Judy – Newport Beach, CA

High cuisine in the high country!
: Flo & Warren – Flagstaff, AZ

Best food in the southwest!
: Cain Family – Florida

 

2002 Zagat Guide...

F	D	S	C
26	28	26	$26

The "chef-owner's passion elevates" this "special" new Utah-American destination "beyond the spectacular surroundings” of Boulder Mountain, swoon surveyors who claim there's "love in the food"; an ever-changing menu, organic produce straight from the restaurant’s garden and local farms, plus homemade jams and divine desserts all conspire to bring a slice of heaven to Hell’s Backbone.