Communal, the farm-to-table restaurant that has anchored downtown Provo since 2009, is expanding north to Salt Lake City. The new location will land inside the Twenty Ones Apartments complex in Sugar House.
According to Axios, Communal plans to expand to Salt Lake City, with the new restaurant set to open at the Twenty Ones Apartments complex. The outlet reports that an opening date will be announced soon, though no timeline has been made public yet. Co-owners Kevin Santiago and Tessa Santiago revealed plans for the new location in a social media post, per the same report.
Twenty Ones Apartments describes itself as a Salt Lake City community, according to its own neighborhood page, which places the complex in the Sugar House area where Communal's new dining room will take shape. Details on the restaurant's size, layout or exact address within the complex have not been released.
A Provo Original Turned Heirloom Restaurant Group Property
Communal opened in downtown Provo in 2009 and was, as the BYU Daily Universe put it, one of the first restaurants to start changing the look and feel of the downtown area. The paper notes that original owners Colton Soelberg and Joseph McRae had both spent years working as chefs in Sundance and in kitchens in other major cities before opening the restaurant together.
McRae and Soelberg sold Communal to Kevin and Tessa Santiago in 2019. That same year, the restaurant marked its 10th anniversary in downtown Provo by inviting back former chefs for a four-course dinner, the Daily Herald reported. Co-founder and original chef Colton Soelberg reflected on the past decade during that celebration, according to the paper's account.
Communal is now part of the Heirloom Restaurant Group, which also owns Pizzeria 712, Station 22, Black Sheep Cafe, CHOM, Five Star BBQ and Heirloom Common & Market, per the Daily Herald.
What Made Communal a Provo Staple
Communal describes itself as a New American restaurant focused on bringing fresh, local and sustainable ingredients to the table, according to its own about page. The Daily Herald has reported that the restaurant builds seasonal menus around whatever produce and food is available locally, and that the concept was built from the start around the idea of shared plates and shared food.
Communal has also used locally sourced products. The Provo menu has featured dishes like gumbo-style chicken, Wagyu picanha frites and funeral potato croquettes, a nod to the comfort-food staple of the region reimagined in Communal's style.
Whether the Salt Lake City location will carry over those same dishes, suppliers or pricing from the Provo restaurant has not been confirmed. For now, Sugar House diners will have to wait for Communal's promised announcement of an opening date before they can pull up a seat at the long table.
