Jeremy Pugh

It’s the Eternal Question. “Where Should We Eat?” It’s a query that we ask ourselves as hunger sets in. It’s a question that couples and families text message around wildly as the dinner hour approaches. It’s a question that your out-of-town guests prod you with before arrival (but too late to make a reservation). The answer is often dull, “the usual spot” or “dunno, pizza?” Let’s remedy that. Eating out is about more than sustenance. It’s about company, friends and someone else doing the dishes. Each year, Salt Lake magazine gazes upon the dining landscape and presents its choices for our Dining Awards issue. These are experiences that will enliven your answers to the Eternal Question. They will challenge your palate with thoughtful and local solutions to the riddle. So without further fuss, we present our 15 Best Restaurants of 2024, including our Outstanding Restaurant of the Year, a collection of locales that are such standards that we name them Utah Classics, four restaurants to watch and five superlative standouts in the industry.  

So. Where should we eat? The answers are within.

Click on the images below to learn more about our 2024 winners

Meet the Salt Lake magazine Dining Awards Panel

Side Dishes

Ones to Watch

Often a new restaurant comes on the scene with a splash that catches our attention but, hey, it’s a hard biz at any time, much less at this time. But these five newcomers raised our eyebrows and we’re excited to see what happens next.

• Matteo Ristorante Italiano
• Mint – Tapas and Sushi
• Chef Jon Dubois of Pago
• Chef Patrick LeBeau of Bambara
• Kita at the Pendry

Meet the five hot new spots on our radar.

Above and Beyond

Each year we pass out a collection of special awards for individuals and organizations who, well, have done something special, superlative even. (And, also, just because we can.)

• The #RandomPink Award: Margo Provost and the Team at Log Haven
• The Golden Spoon For Hospitality: Drew and Angie Fuller of Oquirrh
• The Blue Plate Award for Community Service: Lavanya Mahate of Saffron Valley
• The Good Bread Award: Nick Fahs of Table X
• The Spirit Award: Francis Fecteau of Libation, LLC

Utah Classics

Remind yourself of restaurants that are so good, they never went away.

Read more about these Utah Classics.

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Salt Lake magazine Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

It’s the Eternal Question. “Where Should We Eat?” It’s a query that we ask ourselves as hunger sets in. It’s a question that couples and families text message around wildly as the dinner hour approaches. It’s a question that your out-of-town guests prod you with before arrival (but too late to make a reservation). The answer is often dull, “the usual spot” or “dunno, pizza?” Let’s remedy that. Eating out is about more than sustenance. It’s about company, friends and someone else doing the dishes. Each year, Salt Lake magazine gazes upon the dining landscape and presents its choices for the Best Restaurants in Utah. These are experiences that will enliven your answers to the Eternal Question. They will challenge your palate with thoughtful and local solutions to the riddle.

Here, we offer sidedishes of Utah Classics and new restaurants we’re keeping our eye on.

Ones to Watch

Five hot new spots on our radar

Often a new restaurant comes on the scene with a splash that catches our attention but, hey, it’s a hard biz at any time, much less at this time. But these five newcomers raised our eyebrows and we’re excited to see what happens next

Matteo Ristorante Italiano

439 E. 900 South, SLC
matteoslc.com

Mint – Tapas and Sushi

2121 S. McClelland St., SLC
mintsushiut.com

Chef Jon Dubois of Pago

pagoslc.com

Chef Patrick LeBeau of Bambara

202 S. Main St., SLC
bambara-slc.com

Kita at the Pendry

2417 W. High Mountain Rd., Park City
pendry.com/park-city

Utah Classics

Remind yourself of restaurants that are so good, they never went away

Valter’s Osteria

Valter’s Osteria, the namesake of the dearly departed Valter Nassi, remains a testament to Valter’s hospitality.

Cucina Wine Bar

This is the spot where the coffee service is busy every morning and the wine pairing dinners are at night. It’s also a reliable deli and a true neighborhood spot beloved by its Avenues neighbors. 

The Copper Onion

It’s hard to imagine but The Copper Onion has been around since 2010. Chef Ryan Lowder’s first outpost on his way to building a food empire has never not been good. And yes, the Stroganoff will always be on the menu. 

Market Street Grill & Oyster Bar

Market Street Grill & Oyster Bar was perhaps singlehandedly the dining spot that taught Utahn’s that there was more to life than burgers and fries. We’ll bet you haven’t been there for a while, it’s lost none of its charm and the chowder is still delicious. 

Silver Star Cafe 

Lisa and Jeff Ward are the epitome of hosts. And their restaurant at Park City’s Silver Star Base Area isn’t exactly on the well-beaten paths of Utah’s ski town. Fine by us, it is often the most compelling answer to the question: Where should
we eat in Park City? 

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

St. George is overrun with chain restaurants that weaseled in alongside its explosive growth. But amid mediocrity, we’ve discovered an island of excellence. Wood • Ash • Rye, located in Advenire Hotel. In St. George, Executive Chef Shon Foster has his work cut out for him. We often talk about the “Utah Palate” characterized as a picky eater who would gladly eat nuggets shaped like dinosaurs for every meal. But as St. George has grown it has grown up as evidenced by Foster’s challenging menu and success in what we hope will be a more adult St. George restaurant scene. Example: The Silver Queen Goat Cheese appetizer that features cheese sourced from Park City Creamery. A big bold step in the right direction if we’ve ever seen one. 

25 W. St. George Blvd., St. George  |  theadvenirehotel.com/wood-ash-rye-restaurant

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

One of our 2023 restaurants to watch, Franklin Avenue is technically a bar, NOT a restaurant, as Utah law dictates. Franklin Avenue is, yes, a great bar, but we assert that it is also a great restaurant. The menu from the mind of Chef Matt Crandall ignores the “bar” in bar food and offers intelligent well-executed plates. Sure there’s a burger (a Wagyu burger, actually) but Dungeness crab? What? Panelist Stuart Melling gave a nod to their long hours, meaning they’re open whenever Stuart is feeling peckish, which is often and randomly. 

231 S. Edison St., SLC  |  franklinaveslc.com

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Here’s the thing about Pho. It’s kind of like that old saw about pizza even when “it’s bad, it’s not that bad.” Except here’s where that breaks down. Bad pizza is so ubiquitous that people think bad pizza is just, well, pizza. So it goes with pho, there are easily more than 100 joints around the city serving pho. But only a few make more than a bowl of broth with “stuff” in it. The quality of the “stuff” (and the broth) is what matters. And Pho 777 has the good stuff. This award will be hotly debated because pho, like pizza, is a preferential creature. Here’s why Pho 777 stands out. The broth is made from bones. It is made from scratch every day. The ingredients are fresh and it all comes together to allow the soup sipper to improvise, as is required. 

3585 S. Redwood Rd., West Valley City  |  pho777utah.com

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

La Cevicheria opened in 2023, on the continuingly beleaguered downtown block of 200 South, in the space formerly occupied by the small chain Cancun Cafe. Its owner and chef, Manuel Ortega,  made major renovations and now the building is impossible to miss, with giant blue octopus tentacles splayed on its exterior. The inside is a Mexican playa vacation meets an Insta-worthy Malibu Barbie home (with fish scales). Vibe aside, what comes out of the kitchen has our attention. “No one in the city is doing ceviche like this Chef,” says panelist Lydia Martinez. Ortega offers an innovative approach to the dish he brings from the coastal traditions of Mexico, including a vegetarian option (somehow). The menu offers a rotating and challenging menu from basic to advanced (think: from shrimp to octopus). You’ll also find traditional agua chile, another version of marinated seafood, along with a self-proclaimed “hangover cure” with shrimp, lime juice, and Maggi seasoning mixed with a chiltepin sauce.

123 E. 200 South, Salt Lake City | lacevicheriautah.com

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Every year, Hell’s Backbone has earned a nod from Salt Lake magazine. Our late editor Mary Brown Malouf long championed this experiment in sustainability, kindness and destination dining in Southern Utah. That’s a story you know. Here’s one few do. Mary lobbied tirelessly for the James Beard Foundation to create a new region for its annual national restaurant awards to bust out Utah (also Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) restaurants from under the shadow of California. Beard Judges in the newly created Mountain Region, gave Hell’s Backbone the nod in 2022. The tale, however, takes a frustrating turn. The Foundation, facing criticism about the lack of diversity and inclusion among its honorees (boxes Hell’s Backbone easily ticks) scuttled its awards that year. Hell’s Backbone’s richly deserved honor became collateral damage. But Blake and Jen aren’t ones to mope on the sidelines. The considerable slight became a rallying cry for the little restaurant in Boulder. With the addition of Chef Tamara Stanger. Blake, Jen and Tamara are still at it, this year again earning a nod from Beard. And us.

20 Utah Highway 12, Boulder | hellsbackbonegrill.com

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Chef Michael Richey is all growed up. Once the enfant terrible of Salt Lake chefs, Richey made his first splash at Pago, which we then considered one of the vanguards of a new dining scene when it opened in long-ago 2009. Richey has bounced around the always turbulent dining scene but never lost his edge. Now finally, he has a place to call home—Wildwood Restaurant in Salt Lake’s Avenues Neighborhood is his place. And he’s there, doing his thing. Wildwood is a sure thing on any given night and those of you who can remember Richey’s early days at Pago will see some of that heritage on the menu, including those beautiful little pillows of golden potatoes topped with a decadent clutch of sturgeon roe.

564 E. 3rd Ave., SLC  |  wildwoodslc.com

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

We are in an era of nostalgia for the cowboy, specifically the western cowboy. OK, we’re talking John Dutton and Kevin Costner here. The sagebrush and the rooting tooting rodeo are enough, hence the Carhartt and Pendleton jackets and sweaters on the red carpet. The Back 40 in Heber, espouses that don’t fence me in ethos. You will find a lot of meat on the menu, beef in particular, but there is an art to fixin’s and these guys are serving them up right, with little concession to the vegan in your family. There is a place for this culinary aesthetic. And that place is Heber City. According to our panelist Darby Doyle, who is a self-described “little bit country, little bit rock ’n’ roll,” this place is “real good.”  

1223 U.S. Highway 40, Heber City| back40utah.com 

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

These are two different restaurants in two very different spaces. Handle, located just off of Park City’s Historic Main Street, stands out in a town that caters to visitors where some operators, frankly, phone it in. HSL, on the edge of downtown SLC, is Handle’s cousin in the city. The common denominator is, of course, Chef Briar Handly. Of course, we said all of this last year, but, because it remains the same, it bears repeating. Quality and consistency pair with Handly’s creativity and poor attention span. This double-barrelled approach creates a menu that just won’t sit still. It bobs and weaves through the seasons and isn’t afraid to buck its own traditions. Keep up the good work, chef.

Handle: 36 Heber Ave., Park City  |  handleparkcity.com
HSL:  418 E. 200 South, SLC  |  hslrestaurant.com

---

Hungry for more? Find all our current and previous Dining Awards winners here! And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah.