Editor’s Note: Day 5 of the Utah Arts Festival coverage brings two posts: about the new Epicuriosity culinary booth and the slate of world premiere musical commissions. Tomorrow the blog will turn its attention to artist Jann Haworth, an icon in pop art, and the forthcoming Art Attack 5K race, along with festival updates.

In uplifting the style of food for those Utah Arts Festival visitors looking for different fare other than what usually is found at summer outdoor events, Robert “Sully” Sullivan decided that a limited, yet affordable, tasting menu of short plates featuring seafood, chicken, beef, and an elegant dessert, along with a few wine pairings might be appropriate for even those a bit curious about sampling gourmet delicacies.

Hence, the creation of Epicuriosity: where food meets art, a booth near the Festival Stage where Sully (his preferred nickname), chef and owner of Utah Food Services, and student chef assistants provided by The Art Institute of Salt Lake City’s culinary arts program have crafted a well-priced menu that may become one of the festival’s big culinary hits — with entree plates at just $7.

As opposed to trying to handle, often awkwardly, a full plate of food and a drink to boot while standing among crowds, visitors will likely appreciate the small octagonal plates graced with such items as diver scallops with applewood bacon with cilantro caper coulis artfully drizzled, black angus tenderloin beef medallion, breast of chicken oscar, grilled portobello with arugula and a champagne vinaigrette, or shrimp scampi with seasoned linguini. The dessert caps off the elegant lineup: baked florentine cup with fresh berries drizzled with a mango cream and garnished with chocolate-dipped gauffrette and a macaroon drizzled with white chocolate.

The portions are just right (e.g. two nice-sized scallops on a single plate or three generous slices of ahi tuna on a bed of freshly dressed arugula) and, for the price, quite a respectable bargain, especially at a festival venue. The menu items will be rotated daily in order to keep everything as fresh as possible.

Sully’s Utah Food Services, with annual revenues of $12 million, is well known as a top-quality full-service catering company that includes the Salt Palace Convention Center and the South Towne Exposition Center as its clients. It is an anomaly for cities of Salt Lake’s size with a large convention center to rely on a local catering business as opposed to one of the large national chains in providing food services.

And, Sully, a transplanted Vermont resident, has ensured that the company, which employs 300 who participate in a profit-sharing program, is a local model for rigorous standards of exceptional food quality, community outreach and workplace flexibility. Utah Food Services received the Employer of the Year Award from the Arc of Utah, an organization working with those with developmental disabilities. The company also won the Alfred P. Sloan Award for business excellence in workplace flexibility in 2006.