Subscriber-only episode

This is a Vintage Selection from 2005

The Banter

The Guys discuss the joy and ridiculousness of weddings.

The Conversation

The Restaurant guys are joined by Blake Spalding and Jennifer Castle of Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah. They talk about how they got there, how they became part of their community and how they’ve created something truly special in the middle of nowhere.

The Inside Track

The Guys heard about their book and became enchanted with their story. They discuss how vision and passion can create relationships and fulfillment for themselves and their staff.

“To give people work that has meaning, where they feel like they're part of something larger. We have a mission that doesn't have much to do with making money. That's why people come back year after year and give us their hearts and their souls…and work themselves to the bone to make it happen,” Blake Spalding on The Restaurant Guys Podcast 2005

Bio

Blake Spalding and Jennifer Castle both started as river chefs. In the year 2000, the opportunity to own Hell’s Backbone Grill presented itself, and they moved to Boulder, Utah.

Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm was selected as a James Beard Awards semifinalist in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and advanced to nominee in 2020, the year the awards were canceled due to the pandemic. Spalding and Castle were honored most recently by the restaurant’s inclusion as semi-finalists for Outstanding Restaurant for both 2022 and 2023.

Co-owners Jen Castle and Blake Spalding have also created a retail line of food and two acclaimed cookbooks, With a Measure of Grace, the Stories and Recipes of a Small Town Restaurant, and This Immeasurable Place, Food and Farming from the Edge of Wilderness.

They operate a food truck dubbed “Little Bone.”

They, along with investors and donors, very recently acquired the Boulder Mountain Lodge property in Boulder, Utah.

Info

Hell’s Backbone Grill, Boulder, Utah

https://www.hellsbackbonegrill.com/

With a Measure of Grace: The Story and Recipes of a Small Town Restaurant

by Blake Spalding, Jennifer Castle and Livinia Spalding

https://www.hellsbackbonegrill.com/shop/p/with-a-measure-of-grace

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