Blake Spalding is a chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. With Jen Castle, she co-owns Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah. Boulder is one of the most remote towns in the country with a population of 180.

Blake wrote With a Measure of Grace: The Story and Recipes of a Small Town Restaurant. The book features recipes from her restaurant as well as stories about living in Boulder and running a restaurant based on Buddhist principles. She is a practicing Buddhist and she and Jen have a commitment to sustainability, environmental ethics, and social responsibility to the community in which they live.

The food served at Hell’s Backbone Grill has been called “a blend of Western Range, Pueblo Indian and Southwestern flavors.” It is grown in the restaurant’s gardens and on a nearby six-acre farm owned by the business. Blake and Jen rely on local ranchers for naturally raised meats and poultry, and nearby orchards for heirloom fruits.

Blake is originally from New Hampshire and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, when she was 16. She had always been interested in cooking and in her twenties opened a catering business in Flagstaff. She also worked as a river chef on the Colorado River and in the Grand Canyon.

She also spent some time working for Greenpeace on its anti-pesticide campaign. Her tenure at Greenpeace only strengthener her resolve to work with organic and sustainably raised food that have been neither biochemically or genetically altered.

In 2000, Blake and her friend Jen moved to Utah when the opportunity arose to own and run Hell’s Backbone Grill. The grill is the most highly rated restaurant in the state according to Zagat’s and has won any number of awards. It was selected as a Fodor’s Choice recipient in 2006, and was named at the Best Restaurant in Southern Utah in 2007 by Salt Lake Magazine. It also was awarded the Utah Governor’s Mansion Award for Culinary Artistry, presented by Governor Jon Huntsman.

Blake and Jen received an award from the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Center for Sustainable Environments for being “Culture Bearers of Sustainability in the Four Corners Region.” Additionally, Hell’s Backbone Grill was chosen as one of four restaurants representing Utah’s Slow Food movement in an exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

The restaurant has been featured in O, the Oprah Magazine; the New York Times; Sunset Magazine; Bon Appetit; Organic Gardening; Outside Traveler; Travel and Leisure; the Washington Post; Men’s Journal; and National Geographic Traveler.

Blake and Jen support a number of charities including  Local First Utah. Local First is dedicated to strengthening communities and local economies by promoting, preserving, and protecting local, independently owned businesses throughout Utah. They also support The Whale Foundation; Grand Canyon River Guides Association; Slow Food Utah; The Road Home; Grand Canyon Youth; Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; and Utah Museum of Natural History, to name only a few.

Blake lives in Boulder, Utah. Her website is www.hellsbackbonegrill.com. The website for Local First is localfirst.org