For years, some of the regulars at Tosh's Ramen in Holladay were Park City people who made the drive down to the valley for a bowl of tonkotsu. They kept calling to ask when a Park City location would open. For owners Maxwell and Annie Peck, the return visits and the phone calls together showed the demand.
In Salt Lake City, Koyoté chef Hiro Tagai was seeing the same thing from the other side. Park City diners kept turning up at his Marmalade restaurant in Salt Lake City, and the crowds in winter stood out most. "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 Park Record. Both restaurants are now headed for Kimball Junction this fall. Like most of what is opening around the junction in October, they are built for the people who live here in January.
The demand left town first
Tosh's has a Park City backstory older than its Holladay storefront. Toshio Sekikawa worked as a sushi chef in Park City and helped open Hapa Grill decades ago. His ramen began there as a special. Demand grew enough that he left to open his own shop off State Street in Salt Lake City in 2014, one of the state's first ramen restaurants. The Pecks apprenticed under him and bought the Holladay location in 2022, keeping the name and the recipes. So the Junction Commons opening brings back to Park City a recipe that started here.
Maxwell had real estate alerts running for years, but no space felt right until Junction Commons changed its rules on food.
"Finally, seeing this Junction Commons area open up and seeing that they're allowing food to go into the lower outlets, as we used to call it, I think it's the most amazing place to go."
Koyoté's route was simpler. Tagai and his partner Felipe Oliveira had been wary of Park City rents. Then the former Hana Ramen Bar space in Kimball Junction came up in late spring at the right price, and it needed less renovation. They signed the lease.
Two bowls, two ideas about broth
The two shops are close to each other and both are opening this season, but they are not serving the same thing. Tagai has said he started Koyoté partly because so much of Utah's ramen was built on thick, pork-based tonkotsu. That is the style Tosh's has made its name on.
| Tosh's Ramen | Koyoté | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Junction Commons, 6699 N. Landmark Drive, H145 | Former Hana Ramen Bar space, Kimball Junction |
| Signature broth | Tonkotsu, cloudy and pork-based | Tokyo-style clear broth |
| Beyond the signature | Curry ramen, spicier karai ramen, bento box lunch special planned | Chashu-don, shioyaki saba, gyoza, whipped tofu with scallion pancakes |
| How you order | Conventional dining room | QR codes at the table, no servers |
| Status as of Oct. 4 | Directory lists "Coming Fall 2026" | October target, depending on buildout |
| Planned hours | 10 or 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., demand permitting | Not given in the opening coverage |
Tosh's planned closing time stands out. The Park Record called a 10 p.m. close "late by Kimball Junction standards." Koyoté's server-free setup follows Japanese ramen counters, where diners order on a tablet and hand the ticket to the chef. Tagai has also said the model means his cooks end up as the best-paid staff. Tosh's says 90% of its ingredients come directly from Japan.
Why the lower outlets now have a gyoza grill
Food at Junction Commons is a deliberate change. Singerman Real Estate, which bought the former Outlets Park City in 2018, wanted dining to be part of turning the center into something more well-rounded. Marketing manager Alix Suter put the goal plainly: to become a place "where locals want to spend time," with more local brands next to the national ones.
Right now the food lineup includes Shake Shack, Chipotle and Jersey Mike's. The Border Foodtruck serves Mexican food year-round, and shaved ice and acai trucks come in for the summer. Shake Shack opened its first Park City restaurant at Suite J100 in late January. Tosh's is the first Asian option.
It also explains why Tosh's missed its September target. The space used to be a J. Crew store and had to be rebuilt as a ramen kitchen. That meant two noodle cookers that keep water at a constant boil and a cast-iron gyoza grill imported from Japan. Just to move into the space, the owners had to pay for a $60,000 water impact study, and their landlord covered part of the cost. Maxwell says the permitting process is part of why the opening slipped. In the Sept. 18 article, only final inspections and a few pictures to hang stood between the Pecks and opening day.
The center's other additions follow the same plan of mixing local and national names. Park City-founded Fourth Space Studios is bringing heated-mat fitness to Suite F110 this fall. The directory now shows Pandora as open, months ahead of the November date announced in March, and lists the Columbia Factory Store as relocated to Suite C100. Nordstrom Rack opens its 25,000-square-foot store on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 9 a.m.
The same month, a library across the road
Kimball Junction's new library is getting its finishing touches at the same time. On Oct. 3, residents passed books hand to hand into the PEAK Center in a ceremonial book brigade and got their first look at the new stacks. Library Director Dan Compton said the branch itself is ready. The building is waiting on a certificate of occupancy, and the PEAK Center's 250-seat auditorium, meant for events such as Summit County Council meetings, is still under construction. On Oct. 3 his estimate was another couple of weeks.
Until then, holds are picked up at the bookmobile in the Richins Building parking lot, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. A library, a county meeting hall, a late-closing noodle shop and a fitness studio all landing within weeks of each other give the junction a stronger case as a year-round place to spend an evening, beyond being a stop off I-80.
The October calendar, in order
- Oct. 7 and 8: The Swaner EcoCenter is closed. Normal hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Oct. 10 and 11: Last weekend for autumn scenic chairlift rides on the Game Changer chair at Utah Olympic Park.
- Oct. 15 and 16: Swaner Fall Break Camp for grades 1 through 5, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., $80 per day. Thursday's theme is Equinox Exploration and Friday's is Spooky Science.
- Mid to late October: The Kimball Junction library could open, depending on the certificate of occupancy.
- Oct. 22, 9 a.m.: Nordstrom Rack's grand opening at Junction Commons.
- Any day now: Tosh's Ramen and Koyoté, neither with a confirmed date as of this writing.
The customers next door are still years out
Maxwell Peck's favorite part of the plan is the housing still to come. On Sept. 8, Summit County approved redevelopment of Junction Commons into a mixed-use neighborhood with residential, commercial and recreational space. "That's literally like having your customers next door," he said. Across SR-224, the Altus Park City project received preliminary subdivision approval on Aug. 25. That approval does not yet allow construction. Altus has also shown a future year-round trail along the Chevron pipeline corridor toward Junction Commons, which so far is a plan and not an open path.
Today, the trip to dinner runs through construction. The SR-224 bus rapid transit work this year includes utility work, widening and station installation. UDOT says to expect lane shifts, with two lanes kept open in each direction when possible. Its notice dates from June, so check live updates before a weeknight drive. The larger I-80 and SR-224 interchange package for roads, bikes and pedestrians is still being designed, with construction scheduled to start in 2028. Summit County's survey on three concepts for a pedestrian bridge over SR-224 near Ute Boulevard closes today, Oct. 4.
When Kimball Junction's businesses change, the land around them changes too. If you are weighing what Junction Commons' next chapter could mean for a property you own or are considering nearby, Paula Higman Real Estate can walk you through it confidentially. Request a Private Consultation.
