“So we’re currently shipping out a lot of packages a day,” she said. These days, the staff has pivoted to farm work and retail shipping. Spalding said these other ventures were doing OK before the pandemic, but have since become a lifesaver for them. Hell’s Backbone also has a retail line that includes two bestselling cookbooks - “With a Measure of Grace” and “The Immeasurable Place” - as well as pancake mix, oatmeal, various spices and cooking supplies, housewares and apparel. Its farm and gardens supply fresh fruit, vegetables and eggs to some other Utah restaurants. Luckily, the restaurant has spent years establishing two other revenue streams. Yes, Hell’s Backbone relies on tourism, but the Boulder community relies on Hell’s Backbone. If the restaurant were to close permanently, the ripple effect would significantly impact Boulder’s economy, possibly its school enrollment numbers, and certainly its infrastructure. People have moved to Boulder specifically to work at Hell’s Backbone, and several of them have launched their own businesses and raised families in the town. It employs a high percentage of Boulder’s population. While Hell’s Backbone is highly regarded outside Utah, the restaurant is also Boulder’s lifeblood in some crucial ways.
Historically, to serve you, we would pretty much get within four inches of our guests.” - Blake Spalding “Fine dining is inherently really intimate. “I will say that in my career, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” “As a human being, the ethics of this … and asking people to work when we don’t have enough information yet, it feels like a really tricky path to walk, and stay in integrity,” Spalding said. Spalding and Castle not only have to manage logistics, but grief. Additionally, some of the Hell’s Backbone employees who moved to Utah from out of state have had friends and extended family members back home die or become seriously ill from the disease. They applied for and received Personal Paycheck Protection loans, but they’re still looking for a good source of bulk gloves, masks and sanitizer for the restaurant’s 40-plus employees. Spalding, Castle and their employees have been trying to find a safe path toward reopening. This nomination is the highest culinary honor Hell’s Backbone has received thus far - “the James Beards are like the Oscars of food,” Spalding explained.Īnd yet, the nomination is bittersweet right now. This year, the James Beard Foundation nominated Hell’s Backbone for Best Chef in the Mountain region, which encompasses Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Spalding defines their menu as “fanciful Four Corners cuisine,” which utilizes organic, locally produced food, much of it grown on their six-acre farm and two gardens. The two have received considerable acclaim during the restaurant’s 20 years, including features in the New Yorker and O, The Oprah Magazine, as well as multiple semifinalist selections by the James Beard Foundation. Spalding co-owns Hell’s Backbone with Jen Castle. And if weren’t for the coronavirus, Spalding’s restaurant, Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm, would be serving those visitors. With Utah beginning to ease its coronavirus pandemic restrictions, the monument just reopened, bringing a flood of otherwise cooped-up visitors. The tiny southwest Utah town, whose population hovers around 300, sits just north of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. These days, she says there are more tourists passing by her restaurant than ever before. BOULDER, Garfield County - Blake Spalding has been in Boulder for 20 years now.
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