Ivins • As the sun sets and the temperatures drop at Kayenta Art Village, the activity at this small resort community, 11 miles west of St. George, starts heating up.
Despite the mercury hovering near the century mark, a stream of cars flows to the area’s newest watering hole and culinary hotspot just off Highway 91. Welcome to Xetava Tapas+Bar, southwest Utah’s first tapa bar, which opened earlier this month and has been filled to capacity ever since.
Watching the customers pour through the doors is a heady experience for owners Greg and Rachel Federman, much like the draft beers they serve on tap. It’s especially gratifying, they said, because they started in the restaurant business from the ground up and make virtually everything on the menu — sans the alcohol — from scratch.
As patrons of the bar tell it, the food and drink are top-notch.
“This is damn good,” said Los Angeles resident Cory Michaels, who opted to try the bar while visiting friends in Santa Clara. “The food and staff here are on par with the best tapa bars I’ve been to in Las Vegas or California.”
The ambiance isn’t bad, either. The Red Cliffs, visible through the bar’s windows, are stunning. The teddy bear cholla cactus, Joshua trees and other flora in the nearby arboretum animate visitors. And the fauna, as Bob and Lisa Glines recently noted over tapas and cocktails, isn’t bad either.
“We’re sitting here looking out the window and watching a roadrunner eat a lizard,” Lisa said. “We absolutely love the desert.”
What’s more, the staff are already on a first-name basis with many of the customers, who are also regulars at the Federmans’ adjoining restaurant, the Xetava Cafe. Hell, Greg Federman noted, many patrons even have names for the roadrunners and crows wandering outside the bar and through the village.
(Greg Federman) Greg and Rachel Federman, owners of Xetava Tapas+Bar in Ivins.
Big Apple to culinary desert oasis
While Kayenta isn’t remote enough to feel like the end of the earth, it initially seemed that way to Federman, who at one time was making a living in Manhattan as a professional photographer.
“And then 9/11 happened,” Federman said. “The city was so sad that I just couldn’t function.”
To escape the heartache, Federman moved to California, but couldn’t picture doing commercial photography centered on swimwear. After a short stint as a fireman in New Mexico, Federman moved to St. George in 2004 and started studying to become a paramedic, which quickly lost its appeal.
One prospect, though, was more alluring. Federman began frequenting the Jazzy Java, a small St. George coffee shop on Bluff Street, each Sunday.
“I wasn’t religious, and the concentration of religious people in the area was high,” he recalled, “so I thought my best chance of meeting someone … was going to a coffee shop on Sundays — and that’s where I met Rachel.”
The couple married seven years later and have been an item ever since.
Last beer rites and rattlesnakes
In 2006, Greg and Rachel bought a New Age gift shop that doubled as a coffee shop from Daniel Pettegrew. The couple kept the pueblo-styled store’s kiva design, carved doors and cabinets, and huge stone centerpiece, but sold everything else and gutted and renovated the place.
When they opened what they dubbed Xetava Cafe, they started out with two toaster ovens, a small waffle maker, an outdoor grill and one part-time employee. While Federman had experience managing a restaurant, he had never owned one — and the learning curve was steep. It took five years for the restaurant to turn a profit.
“We were essentially broke,” Federman said. “Rachel and I were living on 20 grand a year … But we were working so much, we didn’t realize how crazy it was to do what we were trying to do.”
As cash-strapped as they were, the pair made a good team. Greg was the big picture guy, while Rachel was more focused on day-to-day concerns and making sure the service and food they offered were consistently high quality.
By plowing what little profit they made back into the restaurant, they were able to expand. Soon, they obtained a beer and wine license, just in time to fulfill an elderly Kayenta resident’s last request.
“He said, ‘Before my dying day, I want to get a beer in this place,’” Federman said. “We were able to make that happen. His last breaths were enjoyed having a beer with his friends in our restaurant. He then stepped outside, fell over and died.”
(Victoria Aspen) Xetava Tapas+Bar in Ivins.
Fortunately, no one eating at Xetava has paid the ultimate price, although a snake came out of a dining room vent on one occasion and, another time, a rattlesnake dropped from an umbrella onto a table, sending diners scrambling.
In 2011, thanks in part to a fundraiser that netted $30,000 from area artists and clients, the Federmans were able to build a kitchen and add a dining room with a wooden floor. In the ensuing years, the trickle of customers grew into a torrent and the menu choices and staff grew to accommodate them.
COVID and the ‘Great Resignation’
In 2019, the Federmans made arrangements to purchase the building next to their restaurant from developer Terry Martin for about $1.5 million. Alas, the COVID-19 pandemic hit before they could get started on getting the tapa bar up and running. It was difficult enough to keep their existing restaurant open.
During the spring of 2020, Xetava Cafe was forced to shut down for seven weeks. To help struggling restaurant workers, Greg and Rachel launched a fundraiser that took in more than $28,000. When the cafe finally reopened, a man Federman talked to that day called later to say he tested positive for COVID. Federman quarantined in the family garage until he received the all-clear from health officials.
Further exacerbating matters, during the ensuing labor crisis sometimes called “The Great Resignation,” many employees were afraid to come back to work. The restaurant went down to three kitchen staff in 2021, causing the couple to consider closing the restaurant.
“We got to the point where Rachel told me, ‘If you want to close, don’t do it. Let’s build this back up, and if you still feel that way when [the restaurant] is going well again, then you can close it.’ “
Eventually, with everyone — including the owners — taking turns cooking and doing the other chores, the crisis eased. Today, according to chef Ben Dinsmore, there are about 30 staffers who divide their time between the Xetava Cafe and Xetava Tapas+ Bar, and business is brisk and getting busier.
Keeping it fresh
To draw customers to the tapas bar, Greg and Rachel have incorporated a modern, eclectic interior design they call “Industrial Zen,” which incorporates steel, rock and other elements with aged lighting, softer fabrics and an assortment of paraphernalia — including antique cameras on shelves and stools with bicycle pedals that act as perches for the patrons’ feet.
It’s the food and sense of camaraderie, though, that the Federmans hope will keep customers coming back. The bar has its own separate menu and entrance. Like the older adjoining cafe, everything on the menu is made fresh and locally sourced when possible. Seafood is flown in within 48 hours of being pulled from the water. And Rachel, an avid gardener, incorporates sage and local homegrown ingredients in making tinctures and syrups for the cocktails.
(Victoria Aspen) A collection of food at Xetava Tapas+Bar in Ivins.
As for the menu, it is made up of recipes dreamed up by everyone at the restaurant, including customers. Currently, some of the more popular offerings include angry mussels, Thai nachos and street corn quesadillas. There’s also a charcuterie board, consisting of cured meats and craft cheeses, with candied walnuts, homemade berry jam, fresh berries, honeycomb and crostini.
Besides cocktails and draft beers, the bar carries Utah craft beers and an assortment of fine wines. Another — this one nonalcoholic — is Royden Lemonade. Named after artist Royden Card, the lemonade is a refreshing mix of ice, vanilla, coconut and mint and has attracted legions of fans and rave reviews on Tripadvisor.
Xetava Tapas+Bar doesn’t skimp on desserts, either. Many of the homemade cakes, pies and other confections come courtesy of Denise Terensinki, whose husband, Jorma, co-manages the restaurant.
Still, Dinsmore said, one of the most integral ingredients for the bar’s recipe for success is the Federmans.
“Greg and Rachel are very good owners,” he said. “They are the right amount of hands-on and hands-off — there when you need them and not when you don’t. And it’s fun to be able to sit down with them for roundtable discussions to create our menu, instead of all the food items being on me.”
For Ivins retirees Rod and Susan Hardin, the great food, attentive service and laid-back atmosphere keep them coming back and bringing their friends with them.
“At this point in our lives, life is about relationships and experiences,” Susan said. “We love not having to drive to St. George for an average meal. We’d rather come here, have an experience and a great meal.”