Decades ago, a sushi chef named Toshio Sekikawa was working in Park City and helped open Hapa Grill. He started making ramen as an off-menu special, and people kept asking for it. He eventually left to open his own shop on State Street in Salt Lake City. Tosh's Ramen opened there in 2014 as one of the state's first ramen shops, and a second location later followed in Holladay.
This fall, that recipe is coming back up the canyon, to a storefront at Junction Commons that used to be a J. Crew. Elsewhere in Kimball Junction, in the former Hana Ramen Bar space, Koyoté is building its first restaurant outside Salt Lake City.
Both owners give the same reason for coming. Park City diners were already driving down to eat their food. And for anyone who lives off Old Ranch Road, the ramen they used to drive to Salt Lake City for will soon be made at the Junction.
The Customers Who Made the Case
Maxwell and Annie Peck bought the Holladay Tosh's from Sekikawa in 2022, after he took them on as apprentices. They've wanted a Park City location ever since. Annie told the Park Record they kept seeing Park City customers make the drive to Holladay, and the phone kept ringing with people asking for a Park City spot.
Koyoté's chefs, Hiro Tagai and Felipe Oliveira, describe the same pull. Tagai said Park City came onto his radar partly through chef friends, including Briar Handly of Handle and John Courtney of Chop Shop Park City, and partly through diners at the Marmalade restaurant in Salt Lake City. Winter sealed it. "The amount of people that especially come visit us during the colder months really signaled that we should open another one in a colder destination," he told the paper.
So these aren't chains looking for a mountain-town address. Two independent operators followed a loyal crowd that was already there.
Why Kimball Junction and Not Main Street
Wanting to be in Park City was the easy part. What held Tagai back was cost. "We always were looking at Park City, in a way, but were always kind of hesitant because property and all that is ultra expensive in that area," he said. "To make it work we'd have to raise prices and we didn't want to stray away from our DNA too much."
In late spring, the former Hana Ramen Bar became available "at the right price and with fewer renovation demands," and the partners signed. Tagai said they had to find a place where "the overhead wasn't too crazy and the rent wasn't crazy so we didn't have to raise the price." The Park City room will be a little fancier, but "the price from here to there might be acutely different but pretty much the same."
The Pecks' opening came from a change at the mall. Maxwell had real estate alerts running for years, and nothing fit until Junction Commons began allowing food into what he still calls "the lower outlets." Alix Suter, the center's marketing manager, said Singerman Real Estate, which bought the former Outlets Park City in 2018, wanted more food options and more local brands, "so the array of options that we have at Junction Commons, it's not just national brands." Tosh's joins Shake Shack, Chipotle, Jersey Mike's and The Border Foodtruck, which serves Mexican food year-round.
The Cost of Turning a Clothing Store Into a Kitchen
Moving into a retail space carries its own costs. The Pecks had to rebuild the former J. Crew into a working ramen kitchen and dining room. That meant two noodle cookers, which keep water at a constant boil, and a cast-iron gyoza grill imported from Japan.
Maxwell said Park City's permitting was much stricter than what they went through opening a stall in Salt Lake City's Woodbine Food Hall:
"We had to pay (for) a water impact study just going into the space, which was $60,000, just for them to say, 'OK, this is how much water you're going to use? OK, thanks.'"
His landlord covered part of that bill. Both owners are 33 and built the business themselves. Maxwell came to restaurants straight out of the military, and Annie came from serving tables. The study is part of why the opening has slipped. TownLift's March announcement forecast a September opening, and as of October 4 the center's directory lists Tosh's as "Coming Fall 2026!"
Koyoté went for a space with fewer renovation demands, which spared it a lot of that work. The two openings show the two ways a restaurant gets into the Junction right now.
Two Different Bowls
Coming from the same city at the same time, the two shops could easily blur together. Their food is close to opposite.
| Tosh's Ramen | Koyoté | |
|---|---|---|
| Signature broth | Tonkotsu, a cloudy pork-based broth | Tokyo-style clear broth |
| Who's cooking | Annie Peck runs the kitchen, using recipes learned from Toshio Sekikawa | Hiro Tagai, who studied ramen in Japan, with partner Felipe Oliveira |
| Beyond the signature bowl | Curry ramen, spicier karai ramen, gyoza; bento box lunch specials planned for Park City | Chashu-don, shioyaki saba, gyoza, whipped tofu with scallion pancakes |
| How you order | Not described | QR codes at the table, no servers |
| Location | Junction Commons, 6699 N. Landmark Dr., unit H145 | Former Hana Ramen Bar space, Kimball Junction |
Tonkotsu is what most people order first at Tosh's, Maxwell said. Annie is proudest of the curry and the karai. She's originally from Thailand and added a summer-only special with Thai spices, served in June, July and August, so Park City won't see it until next year. She said about 90% of their ingredients come straight from Japan.
Koyoté is built the other way around. Tagai was born in Japan and grew up in Utah. He said most of the state's Japanese food was sushi and thick, American-style tonkotsu. He went to ramen school in Japan and fell for Tokyo-style clear broth there. "It just made sense to bring that clear stock to America," he said. His Salt Lake City restaurant was named Michelin Recommended in the first Michelin Guide Southwest, the first year Utah was included. That listing is for the Salt Lake City location. Ordering by QR code is a nod to Japanese ramen shops. Tagai said it also means the cooks end up as the best-paid staff.
Apart from the bento lunches, the Tosh's menu in Park City will match the one in Holladay. Koyoté's will start out matching Salt Lake City's, and Tagai expects it to change as he learns what Park City diners order.
The Latest on Opening Dates
- Tosh's Ramen. On September 18 the owners were still waiting on final inspections and hadn't set an opening day. As of October 4, the Junction Commons directory still lists the shop as "Coming Soon." The owners plan to open by 10 or 10:30 a.m. and stay open until 10 p.m. if there's demand, which would be late by Kimball Junction standards. They'll announce the opening day on Instagram at @toshsramen.pc.
- Koyoté. The most recent reporting, from September, put the opening in October, though Tagai said the date depended on how the buildout went. The hours posted on koyoteslc.com go with its Salt Lake City address.
There's more happening nearby this month. Junction Commons will hold a Nordstrom Rack grand opening on Thursday, October 22. Across the Junction, the Summit County Library has moved its Kimball Junction branch into the first floor of the PEAK Center, the former Skullcandy headquarters. As of October 3, the branch was expected to open in about two weeks, once the county gets a certificate of occupancy. Until then, holds can be picked up at the bookmobile in the Richins Building parking lot, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Getting There From Old Ranch Road This Month
High Valley Transit's SR-224 bus rapid transit construction is still underway between Silver Springs Road and Canyons Resort Drive. The 2026 work there includes a new multi-use trail, retaining walls being torn out and rebuilt, and a new detention pond at Old Ranch Road. The project runs in phases through summer 2028, and the agency says it will keep two lanes open in each direction whenever possible.
If you'd rather walk or bike to dinner, parts of the McLeod Creek Trail on the east side of SR-224 are restricted through the construction season, which runs into November. Between Silver Springs Drive and Cutter Lane, the posted detour crosses to the Millennium Trail on the west side, either at Cutter Lane or through the underpass near Newark Boulevard.
The Next Chapter for Junction Commons
The Pecks are betting on Junction Commons for the long run. The Summit County Council has approved rezoning the center into a mixed-use neighborhood with 370 homes, 220 of them affordable. A binding development agreement still has to be negotiated before construction can start. Maxwell called the plan "literally like having your customers next door," and said he and Annie want to be in Park City for the next 20 years. "Forever," Annie added.
A storefront at Junction Commons now holds a kitchen built around an imported gyoza grill, and the former Hana Ramen Bar is getting a menu that earned its owners a Michelin mention in Salt Lake City. Both owners came because Park City diners kept driving down the canyon to find them.
At Selling the Slopes, we follow what opens around Kimball Junction as closely as the homes along Old Ranch Road. A new restaurant a short drive from your door is part of what a home here is worth. When you're ready to think about what your Old Ranch Road property is worth, we'd be glad to show you how we'd tell its story. List With Us.
