Utah
Discover the deliciousness of New York-style pizza at Fini Pizza in Utah City
The beloved Fini Pizza made quite the impact during its debut in Utah City.
Just days after opening, the pizza joint sold out of everything by 5 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. The demand for the delicious New York-style pizza was higher than expected.
Owner Sean Feeney and the rest of his team worked late into the night to prep for the week, building pizza boxes, slicing pepperonis and doing all they could to prevent that from happening again.
Feeney said he has three goals with Fini Pizza:
- “Make something that is excellent and delicious and cravable.”
- “Do it in a way where you’re making others feel like they matter and you want their days to be better.”
- “How do we then go outside of these doors and really show people how proud we are to be a part of this neighborhood?”
For the first time, Fini Pizza also opened up Fini Cafe, a charming little cafe that serves up bagels, sandwiches, coffee and pastries.
“You can start your days with us,” Feeney said. “And we can start our day together on a good foot.”
Choosing Utah
This is the first location of Fini Pizza outside the New York City area. Why did Feeney choose Utah? It goes all the way back to his childhood.
Feeney visited the Beehive State to participate in the AAU National Basketball Championship at 11 years old in Salt Lake City. During that trip, he met Jazz legend Frank Layden and former players, like Luther Wright and John Crotty. He also said he “fell in love with Utah” on his first visit.
His family kept coming back to the state they fell in love with, and Feeney said he always wanted to plant some kind of roots in Utah.
“I just resonated with the family-first values-driven environment,” Feeney said. “When I visit Utah, I feel like there is a strong sense of family. There’s a very values-driven environment that I just love. I think about the mountains. I think about the active lifestyle people live here.”
So when a friend showed him some renderings of plans for Utah City, an up-and-coming neighborhood in Vineyard, he figured this was how he could bring Fini Pizza to the state he loved so much.
“I saw the mountains, and I got very excited about building a community from the ground up. And we start with pizza,” Feeney said.
A history of Fini Pizza
Plans for Fini Pizza started taking shape at the end of 2020.
“I’ve always loved pizzerias,” Feeney said. “I grew up in New Jersey, and most of my greatest memories of meals and birthday parties, and after soccer practices or even after funerals and wakes, we would go to our local neighborhood pizzerias growing up.”
Feeney had already found success with two Italian restaurants and decided it was time to try out his pizza dream. He noticed at the time that his neighborhood in Williamsburg in New York City was getting more and more polarized. He thought, why not open a pizza place to bring people together?
“I thought, that would be an exciting thing to try to do and add a pizzeria that was really focused on bringing people together and delivering good days,” Feeney said.
He opened four more Fini Pizza establishments in Brooklyn over the span of six years.
Now, in the Utah City cafe, illustrations of the four restaurants decorate the walls, reminding customers of the history of the place.
“I thought the concept of Fini would resonate with just kind of what I love about Utah,” Feeney said.
Growing up around food
In New Jersey, Feeney grew up having the dinner table as an important part of his days. His mom is Italian and his dad is Irish, and he recalls having their entire families come down to their house on the Jersey Shore.
“We would have these big Sunday suppers and cookouts,” Feeney said. “And I saw my Italian aunts and grandma and my mom and her sisters cooking all day and everybody else just having the best time. And I would get to see my dad be so proud to host everybody in his backyard.”
His family also made the restaurant experience special for him and his siblings. His dad would make reservations for the family at “incredible restaurants” in New York City, and then he would study up on them and share the history of the restaurant and what to order.
“It was all ingrained in me from an early age,” Feeney said.
In 2003, Feeney moved to New York City from New Jersey to work in finance. He loved trying out new restaurants after work, and he would take clients, friends and co-workers out almost every night of the week.
“Over the course of 16 years doing that five nights a week, sometimes six, I started becoming just really great friends with people in the industry,” Feeney said.
He became friends with a neighbor who was a chef, and they ultimately decided to open a restaurant together — Lilia in Williamsburg. Two and a half years later, he left his day job to pursue the restaurant industry full time.
Feeney said the hospitality industry “kind of found me. I just kept feeding the passion for it. And then it turned out that the people I loved most were like, ‘You should do this. You seem really happy, and you love it.’ And I haven’t really looked back since.”
The ‘magic’ of owning a restaurant
The best part of owning a restaurant is the people he gets to work with, according to Feeney.
“They’ve changed my life in a big way,” Feeney said. “The people that I get to work with every day and having this amazingly awesome responsibility of being in their charge, I truly am grateful. I never thought I would be in that position ever. And it’s just changed my life forever.”
He called what his employees do in the hospitality industry “noble” and says when they help make a person’s day better by serving up delicious food that they create “magic.”
“What they produce every single night, what we do together, it’s bigger than the sum of its parts,” Feeney said. “And that’s what I’ve loved. And I’ve loved being able to just witness people doing this for others.”
Fini Pizza giving back
Fini Pizza offers 25% discounts year-round to firefighters, police officers and educators. They also have a program where children under 17 can read three books, share the title and two sentences about the books, and then receive a free pizza for them and their family.
“I just wanted to continue to find creative ways to invest in the community, make the neighborhood more together, more stronger, and more connected,” Feeney said.
Another way Fini Pizza is getting involved with the community is through a program called Fini Hoops.
The Fini Hoops program hosts basketball teams on its own court — he tried it out in New York and loved it, so the Utah City location is also getting its own court, which is currently being built up. It will open up in June.
At the court, Fini Hoops will host basketball tournaments, camps and clinics to get more kids playing ball, and then afterwards, they can enjoy some pizza. Winners of the Fini Hoops tournaments receive free pizza for life.
“I just wanted to create moments for youth in basketball and connect it to pizza as well,” Feeney said.
What I ordered
When I stopped into Fini Pizza on a Wednesday night, I was greeted by smiles and friendly hellos from the staff. The aesthetic of the place is beautiful, with wood accents and a woodsy green color.
Here’s what I ordered:
The Sicilian Pizza: I ordered a slice of the Sicilian pizza, which has a thicker crust, sweet crushed tomato sauce, chili oil, garlic breadcrumbs, freshly shaved parmigiano and pepperoni. There was a little heat that I really liked, maybe from the pepperoni and chili oil? This was a very good slice of pizza.
The White Pizza: I ordered a whole box of this one to share with my sister, and I’m glad I did. The crust is classic New York style crust. The pizza comes with three cheeses — fresh mozzarella, parmigiano and fontina — and on top is drizzled olive oil and lemon zest. I wasn’t sure what I would think of the lemon, but it surprised and delighted me in the best way. It’s refreshing and a beautiful final note to the overall taste.
Storefront information
- Address: 875 N. Main St. Suite A, Vineyard, UT 84059
- Hours: Monday-Sunday, noon-10 p.m.
- Price: $
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah athletics is making a notable change to the Huntsman Center gameday setup, but the move is about more than where the team sits.
The Runnin’ Utes are moving the team bench from the east side of the Jon M. Huntsman Center to the west side, returning the bench to the side it occupied during the Rick Majerus era. The change will also move the MUSS and band from the west side to the east side.
The shift is part of a larger effort by Utah Athletics to improve the student-section experience, create a more consistent setup inside the Huntsman Center and better connect the arena to the university’s growing College Town Magic initiative.
Enhancing The MUSS And Fan Experience
Nowlin said the primary motivation behind the change is improving the MUSS and the overall fan experience.
“The reason we’re doing this is we want to enhance the MUSS,” Utah’s Deputy Athletics Director & Chief Revenue Officer, Patrick Nowlin said. “As an ongoing effort, we’ve been working on for the past two years, how do we enhance the fan experience?”
One issue Utah identified was that the MUSS had been located in different areas for different events. Moving the student section and band to the east side gives the department a more consistent location to build around.
“We wanted to create a better fan experience,” Nowlin said. “We wanted to be able to have one spot that we can build on, which means we can brand. We can enhance everything about it.”
The move also ties directly into College Town Magic. Nowlin said the area around the Huntsman Center will include more than 2,900 total beds, including more than 1,400 new beds, giving students a direct path from nearby housing to the student-section entrance.
“There’s over 2,900 new beds that are right there, which will be right at the branded entrance, right where the student section is,” Nowlin said. “They don’t have to go far at all. So it’s just a walk straight down from the dorm, right in the door.”
And according to Utah’s Patrick Nowlin, the move is not limited to men’s basketball.
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all Huntsman Center events,” Nowlin said.
A Nod To Utah Basketball History
While the move is primarily about fan experience, there is also a clear basketball-history component.
The west-side bench location is where Utah sat during the Majerus era, when the Runnin’ Utes were one of the top programs in the country and the Huntsman Center had a different level of edge. Alex Jensen was part of that era as a player, and now, as Utah’s head coach, the move reconnects the current program with one of its most successful periods.
Nowlin said the historical connection was part of the conversation, even if it was not solely Jensen’s decision.
“Yeah, it’s a nod to history,” Nowlin said. “I think Alex, him being here, he’s a steward of the program. There’s a lot of history to having it on that side.”
Still, Nowlin made clear the change was not simply pushed through by Jensen.
“It wasn’t a push from him,” Nowlin said. “It was a concerted effort from everybody to where, how do we create an area that the MUSS can have, but also how do we lean into our history, but still move forward in a way that we can honor that, but create an unbelievable environment.”
That is the heart of the move. Utah is trying to bring back a piece of its basketball identity while also reworking the building for the future.
How Fans Will Be Impacted
The change will affect some season-ticket holders, donors and fans seated near the current bench, MUSS and band areas, but Utah tried to limit the disruption.
Nowlin said the department spent months working through the seating impact and expects fewer than 200 accounts to be directly affected. Those accounts are in sections T, U and V.
“This wasn’t something that just came about,” Nowlin said. “We’ve been working on this for a few months now, and we wanted to find a way that we could minimize the accounts that were directly impacted, but still create the fan experience change we were after.”
Utah’s plan is to work individually with affected fans and mirror their seat location as closely as possible on the other end of the court.
“If you’re on one end and now you’re going on the other end, we will work with you to get you in the seat that is similar to where you were and allow you to have the same experience you’ve had, just on the other end of the court,” Nowlin said.
Utah will also hold a virtual seat-selection process from July 7-17, allowing fans who want to move to choose from available options.
“We’re going to take care of everybody, but we’re also going to allow people the choice and the freedom to be able to make the changes they want to make,” Nowlin said. “We want to create every opportunity we can to give our fans opportunities to choose their own experience.”
Not Part Of The Huntsman Renovation
The bench and MUSS move is not directly tied to the larger Huntsman Center renovation discussions. Nowlin said the change is instead connected to College Town Magic and Utah’s effort to improve the student and fan experience inside the building.
“It does not have to do with the renovation, but it does have to do with College Town Magic,” Nowlin said.
The move could create some new seating and premium opportunities, particularly around courtside and floor seating. Nowlin said Utah is still evaluating those possibilities.
“By doing this, this will create additional opportunities for us on courtside and floor,” Nowlin said. “We’re also looking to how do we enhance our premium experience across the board. So this is a step in a process that will continue.”
The Bottom Line
Utah’s bench move is not just a nostalgic callback to the Rick Majerus era, and it is not just a seating chart adjustment. It is part of a broader effort to reshape the Huntsman Center experience.
The team bench is moving back to the west side, where Utah sat during some of the program’s most successful years. The MUSS and band are moving to the east side, where Utah believes it can build a stronger, more consistent student-section identity tied to College Town Magic.
For Utah Athletics, it is another step toward rethinking how the Huntsman Center looks, sounds and feels on game day. For Jensen, the move reconnects the program to its winning past.
The symbolism will matter to longtime Utah basketball fans. The logistics will matter to students, band members and season-ticket holders. But the larger goal is simple: make the building feel more intentional, more connected and more like home again.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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SALT LAKE CITY – The San Juan County assessor has resigned partway through his second term, following a recommendation that he be removed from office.
Rick Meyer’s resignation became effective on Monday, according to San Juan County Commissioner Lori Maughan. A copy of Meyer’s resignation letter was not immediately available.
This comes after the Utah State Tax Commission determined that Meyer had failed to follow the law and was “unfit to perform his duties.” In a letter last week to San Juan County commissioners, the tax commission recommended “the immediate removal of the San Juan County assessor from office to protect the public interest and restore the integrity of the property tax system in San Juan County.”
Among other things, Meyer was accused of failing to tax agricultural buildings, misclassifying property, and giving property tax exemptions to certain parcels, including vacant land, when he shouldn’t have.
The recommendation to remove Meyer from office was the first under a recent state law giving the Utah State Tax Commission more power to take corrective action against county assessors who aren’t doing their jobs properly. Assessors play a major role in the property tax process by determining the value of property throughout their counties.
Yet, it was unclear whether the San Juan County Commission could have actually removed Meyer from office had he not stepped down.
With Meyer’s resignation, the San Juan County Assessor’s Office has just one employee left. Deputy assessor Nathan Pitts will run the office until the San Juan County Republican Party recommends a replacement and the County Commission appoints one.
“It’s me holding down the fort here,” Pitts told KSL on Thursday, noting that he has spoken with the Utah Association of Counties and the state tax commission about plans for this interim period. “Everybody’s on board to assist and try to make it the best as we can, (but) I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me.”
Pitts said he does not plan to run for county assessor to replace his old boss.
“That is not my intention at all,” he said. “I’m quite content as a deputy assessor.”
Meyer was first elected as San Juan County assessor in 2020 and won reelection in 2024. His current term was set to conclude in 2029.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — The Rock Canyon Fire, burning in northern Arizona near the border with Utah, doubled in size overnight to 4,512 acres and was 5% contained.
The fire has caused firefighters to evacuate hikers and campers in the area, and some roads in the Kaibab National Forest are closed.
People in Jacob Lake — less than 20 miles from the Rock Canyon Fire — say the new fire is stirring up anxiety after last year’s devastating fire season. They say they’re confident in firefighters, but after the trauma, they’re still holding their breath.
Memories of last year’s fires
For over 100 years, Jacob Lake Inn has been serving cookies to guests who want to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon or explore the Kaibab National Forest. Melinda Rich Marshall’s family has owned the inn since 1923.
Last year, they were evacuated during the White Sage Fire that burned close to 60,000 acres, and then the Dragon Bravo Fire, which destroyed nearly 150,000 acres, shut down the North Rim.
Now the Rock Canyon Fire has already burned thousands of acres north of the inn.
“I mean, honestly, our reaction was not again,” Rich Marshall said. “I mean, that’s really what it was.”
Rich Marshall said last year was hard enough, so once they heard about this new fire, it brought back bad memories.
“I’d say we have a little PTSD from it, seeing smoke and smelling smoke and all those things,” she said.
Fire burning in old burn scar
The Rock Canyon Fire was sparked over the weekend by a lightning strike.
Parts of it are burning in the White Sage burn scar. Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Dolores Garcia said old burn scars will usually slow down a new fire, but this time it’s actually fueling the flames.
“In some of those areas, we’re seeing quite a bit of fuels,” Garcia said. “We’re not seeing that the burn scar is helping much, especially with the winds as strong as they’ve been in some days and as dry as it’s been, those fuels are just tender and cured and really flammable.”
She said firefighters are attacking it from the ground and the air, but the high winds are limiting their ability to make water drops.
Hikers and campers were evacuated from the area. Garcia said she knows how stressful this must be to the surrounding communities after last year’s fires.
“We still understand that, it’s still a very fresh wound to many of the people who live up there, who’ve recreated up there for years,” she said. “That’s definitely at the forefront of our minds.”
Rich Marshall said while it’s scary, they have full trust in the firefighters.
“We’re really just grateful to see them and know the work that they are doing,” she said.
Rich Marshall said this is usually their peak season, but they’ve seen a bit of a slowdown even after the North rim reopened. She said people can support them by staying there or even just stopping in and getting some of their famous cookies.
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