HSL Restaurant: Where Park City Excellence Meets Downtown Salt Lake City

There's this moment that happens at HSL—you sink into one of those impossibly plush velvet chairs, the kind you'd never expect in a restaurant, and suddenly you're not thinking about the reservation you made or the miles you drove. You're just...there. Present. Ready.

Order the pork shank at HSL and eat it in a big velvet chair, as one reviewer put it, and you'll understand exactly what I mean.

This is what James Beard-nominated Chef Briar Handly and his partners Melissa Gray and Meagan Nash created when they opened HSL in 2016—a New American restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City that feels like the sophisticated younger sibling of their acclaimed Park City spot, Handle. But HSL isn't just Handle 2.0. It's something entirely its own, a downtown dining destination where seasonal ingredients and wood-fired techniques create the kind of food that makes you pause mid-conversation.

From Vermont Ski Bum to James Beard Semifinalist: Chef Briar Handly's Journey

Briar Handly didn't set out to become one of Utah's most celebrated chefs. He moved to Colorado after high school to ski, picked up restaurant work to pay the bills, and discovered something unexpected: he loved it. "[I] had no idea what I wanted to do or be and just really fell in love with that pursuit of perfection and making people happy with the food that I put out," Handly told KPCW.

That passion sent him back east to the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, then out west again to Utah where he worked under talented Park City chefs, honing his craft in some of the area's best kitchens. By the time he, Gray, and Nash opened Handle in Park City in 2014, they'd spent years dreaming about what their ideal restaurant would look like—casual enough to feel welcoming, serious enough about food to push boundaries.

The James Beard Foundation noticed. Handly has been a semifinalist for Best Chef in the Mountain region in 2020, 2022, and 2023, putting him among the elite of American chefs. But what's remarkable is how Handly talks about the recognition: always crediting his team, always pointing to the collaborative nature of what they've built. This isn't ego-driven cooking. It's craftsmanship with heart.

The HSL Experience: Contemporary American Dining Done Right

Walk into HSL on 200 South in downtown Salt Lake City and you'll immediately understand why the space itself has become part of the draw. Melissa Gray and Cody Derrick of City Home Collective designed an interior that feels like an urban refuge—marble-top tables, a wood-beam ceiling, and a gleaming, tiled open kitchen that puts the cooking on display. The vibe is upscale casual in the best possible way: fancy enough for anniversaries, comfortable enough that you won't feel weird ordering a second cocktail and staying awhile.

But let's be real—you're here for the food.

The menu at HSL changes with what's actually in season, which means you might not find the exact same dish twice. That's intentional. Handly works with local purveyors like Beltex Meats, Ranui Gardens in Park City, Caputo's, and Creminelli Fine Meats to source ingredients that are actually at their peak. The pork shank comes from Christiansen Family Farm in Vernon, and the duck egg from Summit County—these aren't just throwaway details. They're the foundation of how HSL operates.

And then there's that wood-fired oven, center stage in the open kitchen, turning out dishes that have become the stuff of local legend.

Signature Dishes: The Pork Shank and General Tso's Cauliflower Everyone Talks About

If there's one thing that unites HSL reviews across every platform, it's this: "The Pork Shank and the Cauliflower in General Tso sauce were the big hits." 

Let's start with the wood-burnt pork shank ($32), because it's the kind of dish that makes people come back with out-of-town visitors just to watch their faces when it arrives. "We shared the wood burnt pork shank and LOVED it! So much so that it was difficult not to do the same thing again," one diner admitted. It's served buffalo-style with carrot and celery curls and a creamy ranch-like dressing on a dramatic wooden platter. The meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, the seasoning is bold without being aggressive, and it's absolutely big enough to share among three or four people.

Then there's the General Tso-style cauliflower—HSL's sleeper vegetarian hit that's converted more than a few carnivores. When the cauliflower shows up on the table, you might mistake it for a salad—topped with fresh frisée, cilantro, thinly shaved carrots and bright red pickled chiles, it looks like a vibrantly wild, edible Bird-of-paradise flower in a bowl. Underneath all that fresh crunch are piping hot battered and fried cauliflower florets dressed in a General Tso's-style sauce that's been toned down from the sticky-sweet American Chinese version. One reviewer put it perfectly: "cauliflour General Tso's style that words cannot possibly describe adequately. I could easily be completely, deleriously satified making a meal of just that one."

The fried chicken deserves its own paragraph. Brined for up to 36 hours in a water-salt-sugar-garlic-onion-herb bath, then dunked in buttermilk spiked with Frank's Red Hot, lemon juice, and eggs before getting dredged in flour seasoned with Hungarian sweet paprika, Spanish smoked paprika, cayenne, and more. The result? Chicken that stays impossibly moist inside while maintaining that crucial golden-crisp exterior.

Other menu staples rotate but might include the HSL burger with house-made tomato jam and pickled red cabbage, fresh pasta like tagliatelle or pappardelle, whatever's coming out of the wood oven that day, and Alexa Norlin's innovative desserts that change seasonally but always deliver.

Downtown Salt Lake City's Farm-to-Table Movement and HSL's Role

HSL arrived in downtown Salt Lake City at exactly the right moment. The city's food scene was evolving fast in the mid-2010s, and HSL raised the bar for what "New American" could mean in Utah. "HSL is an example of the 'new' Salt Lake City and I love that I can enjoy this emergence," one early reviewer wrote, capturing the sense that something important was happening on 200 South.

The restaurant's commitment to local sourcing isn't performative—it's baked into their operation. Chef Craig Gerome (who later went on to open Oquirrh, which earned its own James Beard semifinalist recognition) worked closely with Philip Grubisa of Beltex Meats during his time at HSL. The kitchen team sources from Utah farms like Ranui in Park City and incorporates impromptu deliveries from farmers markets and foragers when something exceptional shows up.

This approach to seasonal, locally-sourced cooking helped establish downtown Salt Lake City as a serious culinary destination, not just a stopover between ski resorts. Alongside contemporaries like Copper Onion and Pago, HSL proved that you didn't need to drive up to Park City for world-class dining—you could find it right here in the Central City neighborhood.

Planning Your Visit to HSL Restaurant

Location: 418 E 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84111 (Central City/Downtown)

Hours: Currently open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner. (Closed Sunday and Monday)

What to Know: Reservations are highly recommended, especially for weekends. The restaurant fills up, but scoring a table on weeknights is usually manageable if you plan ahead. Street parking exists on 200 South, though the restaurant can be easy to miss from the street—look for the unassuming entrance on what was once the Vinto space.

What to Order: Start with the General Tso's cauliflower (it's a staple for a reason). Share the wood-burnt pork shank if you're with a group. The fried chicken is spectacular. Don't skip the buttermilk biscuits with honey butter if they're available. And definitely save room for dessert—pastry chef Alexa Norlin's creations are worth the splurge.

Vibe: Upscale casual. You'll see everything from date-night couples in button-downs to groups of friends in nice jeans. The velvet chairs are as comfortable as advertised, and the noise level can get lively but not overwhelming. It's intimate enough for conversation, energetic enough to feel like an event.

Price Point: Starters run around $10-$16, mains from $20-$36. It's a splurge, but most diners feel the quality justifies it. The small plates format means you can share multiple dishes and really explore the menu.

Connect: Find them on Instagram @hslrestaurant for current menu updates and seasonal dish photos.

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There's a reason HSL has become one of the best restaurants in downtown Salt Lake City. It's not just the James Beard recognition or the Instagram-worthy plates or even those absurdly comfortable chairs. It's that moment when you taste something—maybe it's the way the pickled Fresno chiles cut through the richness of that cauliflower, or the tenderness of pork that's been treated with actual respect—and you think, "This is what good cooking tastes like."

"Very rarely does a restaurant manage to hit all the perfect notes, let alone rhythm, but that's happening at HSL right now," food writer Stuart from Gastronomic SLC wrote. He's right. And if you haven't experienced it yet, now's the time. Before your out-of-town friends ask you where to eat in Salt Lake City and you have to admit you still haven't been.