What started as a popular Provo pop-up three years ago has officially evolved into a permanent home; owner and Utah Valley University student Ethan Gartz opened his Sick Yeh storefront south of the Brigham Young University campus in November 2025.
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and features a weekly rotating menu of Asian dishes created by Ethan Gartz. He explained that “Sick Yeh” is Cantonese for “eat late,” and many of the recipes are inspired by Ethan Gartz’s mother, who is from Hong Kong, and their family’s travels through Asia.
“It’s not just Cantonese food,” Ethan Gartz said. “I do everything. I can do Vietnamese food, Thai food and Chinese food. I served my mission in Korea, so I can do Korean food.”
Ethan Gartz runs the restaurant with the help of family and friends, and he loves the creativity owning Sick Yeh provides him. He changes the menu every week so he can make new things, and customers can get excited about trying something new.
“I don’t want to have the same five things, like, all the time,” Ethan Gartz said. “I love cooking stuff that people have never had before.”
Ethan Gartz’s father, Andy Gartz, is a fellow restaurant owner. He has enjoyed watching his son work hard and make his own choices, even if they are different from how he would do it.
“His mom and I think that he’s crazy, because he keeps insisting on changing his menu every week and doing new stuff,” Andy Gartz said. “Watching Ethan go from just wanting to learn the recipes that he grew up eating to now, running a place and creating his own stuff, it’s super fun to watch.”
Andy Gartz said the Thai steak salad Ethan Gartz serves at Sick Yeh is his favorite menu item.
“(It’s) the best thing I’ve eaten this year,” he said. “It’s so good.”
Gracie Harness, a food influencer in Utah under the Instagram handle @grubs.with.gracie, has similar feelings toward the Thai steak salad.
“This Thai steak salad was one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Like, it altered my brain chemistry,” she said.
She praised the salad for its freshness and flavor and rated it a 10 out of 10, which she said is very rare for her to do.
Teal Kalt, another Sick Yeh customer, said she has been eating there two to three times a week since it opened in November.
“You truly can’t get food like this in many restaurants in Utah,” Kalt said. “Everything Ethan makes is delicious.”
Since the menu changes each week, Ethan Gartz encourages customers to come and see what’s being offered.
“The key to learning about a culture is through the food,” he said. “If you want to come, try something new and step out of your comfort zone … there’s always something new.”
Sick Yeh is located at 671 E 800 N in Provo, and the weekly menu is posted on its Instagram.