Toshio Sekikawa was a sushi chef in Park City who had helped open Hapa Grill. On the side, he started making ramen as a special. People asked for it often enough that it got a name, "Tosh's Ramen." He eventually left to open his own restaurant off State Street in Salt Lake City, and the Park Record describes it as one of the state's first ramen shops.
This fall the recipe is back where it started. Tosh's Ramen is soft open at Junction Commons. A little way down Landmark Drive, Koyoté, the Michelin Recommended Salt Lake City shop, is moving into the space Hana Ramen Bar used to occupy. Once Koyoté opens, the same stretch of Landmark Drive will serve a cloudy pork tonkotsu and a clear Tokyo-style stock.
A Park City Special Finds Its Way Back
Tosh's has changed hands since the State Street days. Annie and Maxwell Peck took over the Holladay location in 2022, after Sekikawa took them on as apprentices and taught them his recipes. They kept the name and the formula. They also added lunch and Sunday hours, which the Park Record credits with helping the business grow.
Coming to Park City was always the plan. Annie had worked at the now-closed Thai So Good and loved the town. The couple also kept noticing Holladay regulars who had driven down from Park City, and they kept getting phone calls asking when a Park City location would open.
The menu follows Holladay's. Maxwell told the Park Record that the tonkotsu, with its cloudy pork broth, is the clear favorite and what most first-timers order. Annie, who runs the kitchen, is proudest of the curry ramen and the karai ramen, which is the spicier bowl. Lunch bento boxes are planned as well.
What It Takes to Put a Noodle Cooker in a Former J. Crew
Junction Commons wasn't designed with ramen in mind. Tosh's took over the old J. Crew store, and the Pecks rebuilt it completely as a working kitchen and dining room. A ramen shop needs more than a fryer and a range. The kitchen now has two noodle cookers that keep water at a constant boil and recirculate it, plus a cast-iron gyoza grill imported from Japan.
Permitting added its own costs. Maxwell told the Park Record that before they could move in, they had to pay for a $60,000 water impact study, with some help from the landlord. He also said Park City's process was much stricter than what they went through opening their stall at Woodbine Food Hall in Salt Lake City, which is part of why the opening slid. In mid-September the paper reported the space was nearly done, with just a few pictures left to hang and final inspections still ahead. Junction Commons now lists the shop as soft open.
Koyoté Arrives With the Other Broth
Chef Hiro Tagai, who co-owns Koyoté with Felipe Oliveira, studied ramen in Japan and fell for Tokyo-style ramen and its clear broth. He told the Park Record that the concept had been "brewing since like 2016, 2017." He also said that when he started, Utah's Japanese food leaned mostly on sushi and American-style ramen built on thick tonkotsu, and that he wanted to show more of what the cuisine can be.
Tosh's flagship bowl is the tonkotsu. Koyoté's menu is built around the clear stock Tagai wanted to bring to Utah.
The Park City menu will match Salt Lake's. The Park Record lists chashu-don, shioyaki saba and gyoza, along with Tagai's whipped tofu appetizer served with scallion pancakes, which the paper calls one of the most popular dishes. In Salt Lake, Koyoté has no servers. You order and pay through QR codes on the tables, a nod to Japanese ramen shops where diners order at a tablet and hand a ticket to the chef. The restaurant's own site says it's first-come, first-served with no reservations, though the hours and address listed there are for Salt Lake City.
According to TownLift, the Kimball Junction restaurant will be smaller than the Salt Lake one, and the owners plan to expand into an upstairs unit eventually. Once it opens, Koyoté joins Handle, Matilda and The Nelson Cottage by High West as Park City's Michelin Recommended restaurants from the first Michelin Guide Southwest.
Tagai told the Park Record he had watched Park City for a while but held off because real estate costs would have pushed up his prices, and he didn't want to stray too far from Koyoté's DNA. The former Hana Ramen Bar space opened up in late spring at a price that worked and didn't need much renovation, so he signed. The chefs were aiming for October. Check koyoteslc.com for an opening update before you head over.
Two Bowls, One Street
| Tosh's Ramen | Koyoté | |
|---|---|---|
| Broth style | Cloudy, pork-based tonkotsu | Tokyo-style clear broth |
| Order first | Tonkotsu; also the curry and spicy karai | Ramen, plus whipped tofu with scallion pancakes |
| Address | Junction Commons, Unit H145, 6699 N. Landmark Dr. | Former Hana Ramen Bar space, 6546 N. Landmark Dr. |
| Hours | 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily | Not yet posted for Park City |
| How it works | Lunch bento boxes planned | QR ordering and no reservations at the Salt Lake location |
| Status | Soft open | Opening was targeted for October |
Why the Lower Outlets Are Getting Kitchens
Tosh's location says a lot about where Kimball Junction is heading. Maxwell told the Park Record that he kept real estate alerts running for years and nothing fit until Junction Commons began allowing food in what he still calls "the lower outlets." Singerman Real Estate, which bought the former Outlets Park City in 2018, wanted more food as part of the shift, according to Alix Suter, the center's marketing manager.
"We want to bring in more local brands. So the array of options that we have at Junction Commons, it's not just national brands." Alix Suter, Junction Commons, speaking to the Park Record
Tosh's is the first Asian option in a food lineup that already has Shake Shack, Chipotle and Jersey Mike's, plus The Border Foodtruck serving Mexican year-round. Suter said the goal is to become a place "where locals want to spend time." Summit County Council also recently approved the center's redevelopment as a mixed-use neighborhood, so these restaurants are early tenants in a larger change.
A Clearer Drive to Dinner Before the Lifts Spin
Timing helps this fall. High Valley Transit says the first construction season on the Bobsled Express, the new bus rapid transit route along SR-224, is wrapping up. Traffic control is coming down and trails are reopening for winter, though crews will keep working on local bus stops when the weather allows. After a summer of cones, TownLift reports that major work won't resume until spring 2027.
Park City Mountain is aiming to open on Friday, Nov. 20, depending on weather and conditions, per Vail Resorts' season guide. Junction Commons is also busy beyond its kitchens. Nordstrom Rack's grand opening celebration was set for Thursday, Oct. 22, and Fourth Space, the locally founded heated-mat studio, still shows as coming soon on the center's directory.
If you start with Tosh's, order the tonkotsu, since it's the bowl that began as a special in a Park City kitchen. Once Koyoté opens, go back for the clear broth and the whipped tofu.
Those of us at Golden Eagle on the Jordanelle are glad to have two new reasons to stop in Kimball Junction on cold evenings. When you're out this way, schedule a personal tour, and our team will gladly share the rest of our list of favorite tables between the lake and town.
