This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Downtown Salt Lake City's newest restaurant — Pallet — recently launched in the shadow of The Gateway. Not in Gateway, that is, but across 400 West, the street that seems to form a moat around the faux-Main Street shopping mall that some call "Pleasantville."

Pallet is well worth the effort of escaping Pleasantville. The owners, two prodigal sons of Utah, have returned to offer a woody but urban bistro-bar. The interior of what was an early 20th century creamery has been art directed within in an inch of its life to as a restaurant offering casual but adventurous dining and cocktails. (Expect a more complete review of Pallet soon from one of the Tribune's restaurant critics.)

The cafe's name Pallet is a pun, by the way, on your palate, as well as the building's history as a creamery, where wooden platforms loaded with freight were once lowered onto trucks.

Pallet co-owner Rocky Derrick's wife Courtney has provided oil paintings for the cozy interior, including a portrait of her husband's personal hero, Mormon "Destroying Angel" Porter Rockwell, who gazes down upon diners. (A guy named Rocky who idolizes Porter Rockwell? You might want to think twice about walking on your check.)

Downtown's newest restaurant

Find Pallet at 237 S. 400 West, in Salt Lake City, at what used to be the location of Big City Pizza; call 801-935-4431 or visit eatpallet.com.