Dining out with your canine companion
Is there anything better during the hottest months of summer in Utah than sitting on a shady, misted patio and enjoying an evening with family, friends and furry besties?
This summer, dog owners can take their pups to dozens of restaurant patios in Salt Lake and Park City to sit down for a beer, a bagel or a burger with their four-legged friend.
Pastry Chef Romina Rasmussen, who owns Les Madeleines in downtown Salt Lake City, is participating in the official Salt Lake County Health Department dog patio program for the second year in a row.
“We love being part of our neighborhood and our community and this allows the furry members to join us with their humans,” she says. “It’s quite a process, but I think it’s worth the effort so our guests who want to come in with their furry friends can (as long as they are properly licensed). And this way, guests who aren’t there with their dogs know that we are following strict guidelines to provide a hygienic experience for them as well.”
To receive dog patio approval, restaurants have to submit a HACCP safety plan, follow a list of patron and animal-related rules, and pay a fee each year. With these health and safety rules in place, dog owners can rest assured that their furry friend will be welcomed at the table too. “Some of our cutest customers have been of the canine variety,” Rasmussen observes.
Campfire Lounge loves their four-legged friends so much that not only do they allow properly registered dogs on the patio, they also team up with local rescues each month to share adoptable pets that are looking for new homes.
Two of the Proper Brewing establishments, Proper Burger and Stratford Proper, offer dog-friendly patios. When asked why they would go to the extra effort of having their patios approved by the Health Department, the folks at Proper explained that all of them are huge dog lovers, and knowing that Salt Lake is a large dog community, they try to make all their patios dog friendly if possible. They cannot wait for their third location, Craft, located in Sugar House, to be approved as well.
After a “ruff” day of shopping in Newpark Town Center or a visit to Swaner Preserve & EcoCenter. Humans and dogs can also relax on the spacious patio at Hearth and Hill. In honor of Hearth and Hill’s love for canines, each of the $7 mocktails are named after staff members’ dogs. The mocktail menu includes: Jack’s Juice, Layla’s Lemonade, Tank’s Twist and Boone’s Beach. Dogs get their own water bowl and a treat and toy to take home.
“My dogs are my family and I take them along whenever I can. Being able to go out to dinner with them is a big deal,” says Salt Lake dog owner Amelia Schmidt. “Dogs are great conversation starters. My Irish setter, especially, attracts lots of comments and questions. It is easy to meet new people and make new friends when dining out with my dogs.”
Katie Johnson, manager at Stratford Proper, says, “Dogs are most popular during dinner and pretty common during brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. My staff is always very careful about food safety and cleanliness regarding our patios and the dogs, but we all love seeing them. There are certain things we do to make sure we’re still abiding by our license to have dogs on the patios, but it does make everybody smile anytime we see one come in.”
So take those leashed and well-behaved pups for a night out on the town. After all, they deserve it!
The following locations have applied for and received a Salt Lake and Summit Counties variance permitting them to allow dogs on their outdoor dining patios for 2022 summer dining:
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