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Mary Brown Malouf

Mary Brown Malouf is the late Executive Editor of Salt Lake magazine and Utah's expert on local food and dining. She still does not, however, know how to make a decent cup of coffee.

Mar 26
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Cooking is most fun when you share it

By Lifestyle

I might feel that way because I no longer have a resident family to cook for. Pretty much everyone who cooks admits that it’s harder to cook for one. (Except maybe Judith Jones, who edited Julia Child’s cookbooks as well as a slew of other famous chefs, including James Beard, and who wrote a delightful cookbook called The Pleasure of Cooking for One.)

Anyway, food is best shared, and Lavanya Mahate, owner of all the Saffron Valley restaurants, is taking sharing to the max during the Covid 19 crisis with a program she calls “Keep Calm and Curry On.” Every week she gives free lunch to a different group of service providers—the ones who are showing up every day during to keep us all going.⁠
⁠
This week it’s HEALTHCARE WORKERS including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists: a free Chicken Tikka Wrap plus mint and tamarind chutneys, a cookie, and soft drink is available at all 4 Saffron Valley locations today through Sunday, March 29th while supplies last. ⁠Call ahead for curbside pickup; when you order, mention you’re a healthcare professional.

Lunch Hours: 11 am – 2:15 pm⁠
Dinner Hours: 5 pm – 9:45 pm⁠
⁠
Must call in for curbside pick up; let us know you are a healthcare professional when placing your order.⁠

Meanwhile, if you’re spending more than the usual amount of time at home, try making this: Vegetarian but full-flavored and plenty to share with neighbors and family.

Mixed Vegetable Korma

Serves 6

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of diced mixed vegetables- carrots, green peas, boiled diced potatoes, beans
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 onion blended into a paste
  • 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 serrano pepper- slit lengthwise
  • 1 tomato chopped
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2  tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves for garnishing

 Method

 Rinse and drain the diced vegetables.

 Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and sauté the chopped onion for 5 minutes. Add ginger garlic paste and saute till brown. Add the onion paste and fry another 5 minutes. Add serrano, tomato and fry till it forms a pulp.

Add all the spices: garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and fry for a few seconds. Now combine vegetables and fry on medium heat for about 5 minutes or till they are slightly browned. 

Next, add 2 cups of water, salt and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low level for about 20 minutes or till the vegetables are cooked.

Mix coconut milk and let it heat through. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve hot with rice.

Mar 09
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Flying Deer on Antelope Island

By Adventures, Outdoors

“Incoming! Incoming!” It’s like a scene out of M.A.S.H. As the helicopter nears, people rush out to meet its landing and the medics ready themselves by the tables with swabs and syringes. The ‘copter lays down three bodies in a row in the tall brown grass, then flies off to gather more.

Only these are the bodies of wild mule deer, not humans.

Every five years or so, Utah’s Department of Wildlife Resources assesses the health of the mule deer herds on Antelope Island by capturing 50 animals—about 10 percent of the island’s population, drawing blood, assessing body mass and fat and weighing them. “Mother Nature is real good at taking care of itself,” says Eric Anderson, district wildlife biologist over Utah’s northern region. “But we’re the stewards of wildlife for the people of Utah.” The goal is to ensure the deer are healthy and the herd is at the right size for its environment.

It’s a crazy sight: On another part of the island a helicopter flies low over a group of running deer. A net drops over one of the animals and a technician runs to administer a mild sedative, blindfold the deer and bind its front and hind legs together to prevent panic and injury, then hooks the orange sling to a line. The helicopter rises and the deer swings wide in the air as the aircraft banks in a turn, looking for its next capture. Three is the maximum number of animals taken in each hunt before returning to the biologists’ work station.

There the animal is measured and weighed—the average weight for does is 95-200 pounds, for bucks, it’s 120-300—before transferring it to a table. There, the scene, again, is like an emergency room: Five people hover around the barely conscious deer. They monitor its temperature, normally 104 degrees, but tending to rise under stress. If it starts to approach 106 degrees, a blanket soaked in ice water is tucked around the deer’s torso. The animal is still hobbled and blindfolded, but the sedative doesn’t last long, so the vets work fast, drawing blood, using a sonograph to measure the body fat in its loins to determine its fitness for winter, tagging its ear for identification and fitting it with a radio collar to track herd movements. Where do the deer graze in the winter? How much do they move around the island? These days, water in the Salt Lake being so low, biologists wonder, do the deer ever leave the island?

Finally, just as the deer starts bleating and barely struggling, a team of six quick-walks the “gurney” out to the field of grass so tall they’re lost from sight almost immediately. There they take off the restraints and hobbles, remove the deer’s blindfold and stand back.

The animal struggles to its feet and takes a few hesitant steps before bounding away.
It takes a lot of human attention to keep wild things wild in the 21st Century.

Mar 05
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Shout-out to Harmons

By Eat & Drink

Grocery stores are important. Yes, there are lots of small specialty food stores and we love them, but most of us still buy most of our food at grocery stores. Grocer’s buying practices, values and priorities influence what we eat. Yugely.

So Utah is lucky to have a thriving locally owned chain of grocery stores. Harmons is connected to its community, offers lots of local produce and products, keeps up with dining trends, advises about nutrition and cooking and outstrips any competition in terms of service.

Bob Harmon, the latest in generations of Harmons grocers, deserves the recognition he recently received  as Winsight Grocery Business magazine’s first “Independent Icon.” Independent grocery stores are getting rarer and rarer—it’s a tough business—but Harmons has been here since 1932.

Salt Lake magazine honors Harmons, too, in our latest issue—with special mention of their recent opposition to a proposed food tax.

 

Mar 05
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The Secret Ingredient in Onion Soup: Time

By Eat & Drink

The secret to success and the challenge are the same: Time.

Time, not money, is the fundamental ingredient in onion soup. The ingredients couldn’t be more simple: onions, broth, cognac or brandy, some herbs, a crouton and some cheese. But this isn’t a fast food—you need three cups of thinly sliced yellow onions and you need to cook them slowly in butter until they are soft and clear and then further until they are brown and caramelized. This can take 40 minutes or more and you have to watch them so they don’t burn.

After deglazing with a brandy (you can use wine but brandy or cognac deepens the flavor), you stir in stock and really, this should be homemade, too. So back up the whole production a day. You can use boxed beef stock but reduce by ¼ so it will be more intense and drop a bay leaf in it. Without the long-simmered flavors of onions and stock, your soup will be a pallid failure. As it so often is. Season to taste, put the boiling soup into crocks and top with a slice of sturdy French bread which you will have already toasted and top that with plenty of shredded Gruyere. Run it under the broiler or use your propane torch like a champ to brown the cheese. There. Now eat the soup with the same attention it took to make it.

3 cups sliced thinly yellow onions ¼ cup unsalted butter (Some use olive oil; I like butter)
¼ cup white wine or 2-3 Tbsp. Cognac
6 cups strong beef stock
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper 12 slices country French bread or baguette, depending on the size of your crocks 2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese Follow the instructions, left.

(Yes, there are ways to cheat. One of them is called for by none other than Julia. You know, Child.)

Add 2 Tbsp. sugar to the onions when browning

Add 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar to browned onions

Add 1-2 Tbsp. Kitchen Bouquet or similar product before final simmer.

Mar 05
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Newcomer: Carpe Diem

By Eat & Drink

Like so many new restaurants, Saola started as a food-to-door delivery restaurant—a great way to build a customer base with low overhead. In a reverse move, it’s now a destination for mostly Vietnamese food, owned by Diem Nguyen and co-owner and chef Tuan Vu. Right now, it looks like a dicey location for a business whose number one priority is good real estate. The hills behind are just brushland. But it won’t be long before those hills are filled with the high-dollar condos and apartments that are sprouting all over Salt Lake City and then Saola will have another new identity: neighborhood restaurant.

CURRY CONFUSION

So many kinds of curry—how do you know what to expect? Here are some general ideas, which can be contradicted by any chef.

Thai curry: Paste spice mixtures in red, green, yellow, Massaman and Panang versions are the bases for soupy sauces often but not always flavored with coconut
milk, Thai basil, kaffir lime, chilies and fish sauce.

Vietnamese curry: Generally simpler and more of a stew than the soupier Thai curry.

Indian curry: A complex and varying spice mixture usually including ground turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, and fresh or dried chilies; in the south, this mix may include curry leaves, and others may include
cinnamon, cardamom.

Curry powder: Mostly a
multi purpose Western
invention.

The stand-alone building in Cottonwood Heights should also be popular for apres-ski—a steaming bowl of pho and a banh mi would be a welcome change from the usual burger and pizza carbo-feast that follows a day in the snow. And the light, bright interior, designed by Rachel Hodson, with artisanal-looking fabrics, shimmering gold screens, a sleek sushi bar and a light pink glow from the neon sign saying “Carpe diem” is refreshingly light-hearted compared to the usual log-and-stone mountain eatery.

Dine in the spacious dining room or more intimately in one of the alcoves. Wherever you dine, start with the gorgeous poke and a bowl of the citrus slaw, tangy and bright, shredded cabbage with onion, Thai mint and soy-garlic dressing. The menu is mostly Vietnamese, with some forays into Japanese (sushi) and Chinese (Peking duck) and even some straight-up Western dishes (beef). There are so many selections it would take a number of visits to explore them all, but one stand-out dish was the Imperial sizzling crepe: A giant yellow moon of turmeric-colored rice flour and coconut milk was folded over shrimp, greens and mung beans in a bath of lime-chili sauce with pickles on the side. Enormous and complicated to eat, it was somehow light at the same time.

IF YOU GO:
ADDRESS: 7307 Canyon Centre Pkwy., Cottonwood Heights WEB: saola-slc.com PHONE: 801-944-2949 ENTREES: $$-$$$

Mar 05
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Dine on the Range

By Eat & Drink

Utah is a spread-out place. So some restaurants, like Yuta, aren’t a simple matter of going out to dinner. It’s going way out to dinner. It’s a dinner excursion. It’s a dinner trip. The drive from Salt Lake City to Wanship is 40 miles and Blue Sky Lodge is just past that.

But it’s a gorgeous drive through Utah’s northern countryside—remember when a drive to Park City included a little taste of that? The undulating grassy hills before the rocky outcrops begin, the sky that goes on forever—remember if you make a reservation to eat at Yuta, to take the time to savor the drive. Regard it as an amuse-bouche—a bonbon pour les yeux. You can’t drop in Yuta without a reservation—you’re stopped at the gates and asked what your purpose is in coming.

A charming restaurant manager and knowledgeable server created a friendly and professional feel to our dinner, making it easy to gloss over little weirdnesses like Yuta’s self-described “authentic cuisine inspired by indigenous flavors” which actually included octopus and tuna. Then again, “inspired by” can cover a multitude of errancies. And wherever the ingredients at Yuta come from, Chef Galen Zamarra, who at age 24 won the the James Beard Foundation’s 2001 “Rising Star Chef of the Year” for his work at New York City’s Bouley transforms them into delicious dishes in the moment.

A tuna appetizer contrasted the crudo and bright taste of the greens with brown butter and shallots fried to a fast-food crispness—terrific—although I have to admit I’d pretty much eat anything that has brown butter on it. Sweet corn soup gained heft from a perfectly cooked scallop and depth from huitlacoche, an umami-rich ingredient too seldom used outside Mexican cuisine. The main course halibut presentation was a delight—great lumps of beautiful fish were wrapped in thin slices of zucchini and lent tartness with an eggplant salad and tomato tapenade. Dishes will change with the seasons. But warm weather dining on Yuta’s patio with its limitless view of the hills and mountains could be an essential Utah dining experience.

Mar 04
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“Metamorphosis” dinner: A kinder and more glamorous event

By Eat & Drink

Glamor. Not a word we hear much these days—as a wardrobe and lifestyle concept, all but dead among most of us.

But glamor is part of what sustained Americans through the dark days of the Great Depression—home lives were dreary but for a dime you could have all the satin and marabou feathers, white tie and tails in Hollywood.

There’s always an illusory quality to glamor—even in the ’30s, women didn’t wear charmeuse negligees all the time.

My point is, that in the middle of these dark and troubled times, the 2020s, a shot of glamor might be just what we need. It certainly did the trick at ‘Metamorphosis,’ an over-the-top fundraiser organized by Be One Small Miracle last Friday night.

The invitation requested formal dress and as you watched the cars pulled up to the McCune mansion, you could see that the request was observed. Colored lights played over the ornate facade of the hilltop house and as valets opened the doors, long, sweeps of chiffon and glittered dresses emerged to climb the steps and be greeted with a glass of champagne.

A harpist played during the cocktail hour, a string quartet played during dinner andand there was a postprandial dance performance inspired by the concept of metamorphosis which led through several of the upstairs ballrooms.

The evening ended with soul music and dancing.

Altogether, this was one of the most gracious and sophisticated evenings I’ve spent in Salt Lake, maybe ever.

And this was no banquet chicken-dinner menu either: Chefs Briar Handly and Justin Soelberg were in the kitchen but other chefs (Viet Pham, Alexa Norlin) contributed creativity.

A first course of salsify with wild onion, nettle puree, puffed amaranth and miners lettuce was followed by five more, each one small and complicated (sweet pea toast with trout roe, like tiny balloons of flavor popping off the palate), curried rabbit with carrots, lemon sorbet, lamb crepinette (fancy word for sausage patty) and a lemon chiffon dessert with lemon curd, honeycomb and buttermilk ice cream (can you say Alexa Norlin?).

James Santangelo oversaw the beverage service with inimitable aplomb and in their grandmothers’ furs, neckties instead of ball caps, champagne flutes instead of coozies, this group of (mostly) young people could have stepped right out of a Thin Man movie.

The whole extravaganza was to benefit Be One Small Miracle, the organization dreamed up by Matt Pfohl to create a fund for uninsured or underinsured people in the service industry: a great cause and an event that reminded you how wonderful the hospitality business can be.

I know that dining trends are going towards fast-casual.

Yawn.

Metamorphosis was a reminder that dining can be an event, an occasion for grace, a time that can elicit a feeling of warmth towards your fellow beings.

Can we bring that back?

Mar 03
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Your Money, Your Self

By Lifestyle

Money. It’s the bane and blessing of us all. And, like your health, the other primary concern of all humans, your money, otherwise known as your personal finances, are highly individualized. No two of us have the same assets, debits, career paths, earning capacity and longevity. No two of us have the same hopes and dreams. There is no one-fits-all budget plan. Each generation has its own set of specific challenges to face. Salt Lake magazine talked to financial advisers of all kinds around the city to gather general trends and tips—about banking, budgeting, loans and credit, renting or buying, retirement, insurance, taxes—for Utahns, from Boomers to Generation Z.

OK Boomers (Age: 55-75):

Born between 1946 and 1964, their parents were the so-called “Greatest Generation”—the now-elder statesmen and women who tended to stay with one profession, sometimes one employer. This generation lived through the Great Depression and made the world safe for democracy in WWII—when they got home, America’s future was shining. They bought houses with help from UncleSam and had lots of babies. Hence the Boomers. This generation is defined by the Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations, the Civil Rights movement, the Women’s Rights movement (including Roe v. Wade) and the Vietnam War. Many were in or protested the War and were basically optimistic, believing they could effect change. They inherited good educational and economic opportunities. The Watergate scandal and economic difficulties beginning with the oil embargo in 1979 resulted in an increasing focus on self-help as belief in government and institutional solutions decreased. The AIDS epidemic reinforced this lack of trust. Boomers, because of their sheer numbers, set trends and influenced marketing and attitudes.

Financial Considerations: 

  • On the verge of retirement or retired: How much will that social security check amount to? How much do you really need to live comfortably? This is a time to do some serious arithmetic: add up your expenses and which ones are expendable, gather the numbers from your 401K or other retirement accounts, figure out how much you’ll need to supplement your income and when (or if) you’ll be able to retire.
  • And remember how much longer we live (78 years, right now.)
  • Figuring out social security: This is way more complicated than it ought to be. Make an appointment (you’d be in line for days) with a Social Security agent and get the hard news about what you’re owed, what your spouse is owed and when is the best time to start drawing it.
  • Facing medical expenses associated with aging: “Allow some slush money for the costs of aging,” says Devin Pope, CFP, MBA, partner and senior wealth advisor at Albion.
  • Even with Medicaid and your auxiliary insurance, there will be some out-of-pocket expenses. Our bodies wear out as we age—that’s just a natural fact, and maintenance and repair are up to you.
  • Often divorced or separated: How your ex figures into your finances can be as complicated as a relationship, so talk to a lawyer or a financial consultant to see what your personal situation is.
  • Still helping out adult children: “Failure to launch” is a real thing and lots of Boomers still have grown children living in their basements playing World of Warcraft most of the day. To plan your own financial future, you need to get them to plan theirs. In other words, start charging rent and expenses.
  • Planning your legacy: What will happen after you’re gone is part of your financial planning. “Part of the planning is done you want to leave a legacy or not?” points out Kathleen Barlow with Raymond James. “It’s okay not to. You can say, I’m going to spend all my money. If that’s what you want, have the discussion so it can be productive. Also consider a charitable giving piece: if you want to build that as a legacy that’s important to plan.”

Generation X (Age: 40-54):

This first generation of “latchkey” kids, born between 1965-1979. experienced the consequences of social changes pushed for by their parents. Both parents worked so these kids went to daycare. This generation has the lowest voting participation rate of any generation and, according to Newsweek, “dropped out without ever turning on the news or tuning in to the social issues around them.” They’re entertainment-educated, thanks to MTV, cable and video. Their parents’ high divorce rate may have engendered Gen X’s skepticism about marriage and other social institutions characterized by a “what’s in it for me” attitude. Still, Gen Xers get married, or cohabit, anyway. They tend to be well-educated—29 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. They are committed to a work-life balance, they’re informal, direct, cynical and self-reliant. Most should be at their economic peak now—in their ‘40s.

Financial Considerations: 

  • Raising a family: Though they started later than generations behind them, Gen-Xers are having children and raising families. But that simple-sounding life is a lot more expensive than it used to be. Tuition costs start early, with preschool, and don’t stop until after college graduation. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it costs around $233,600 to raise a child. And that’s excluding college. Before even having a baby, financial experts recommend setting aside six months of salary. Then budgeting and planning.
  • Paying down student debt: Although this generation is more established in the workplace than their parents were when they started families, chances are good they still have student debt to pay down. You’ll find lots of possibly conflicting advice on the best way to do this and to figure out the best path for you. Consult an expert to help you make a plan and stick with it. “The decision here is based on the “sleep at night” factor,” says Sarah Bird, CFP, a senior wealth advisor for Albion Financial. “Will you worry more if you pay down debt while you put money in savings or vice versa? Because you need to do both.”
    “Taking a high-paying job you’re not passionate about because you’ll pay down your debt faster can leave you stuck in a very unhappy place,” says Barlow.
  • Caring for aging parents: This generation’s parents tend to be a little older than previous generations who started families at a younger age. So often, they’re squeezed between raising a family and figuring out care for increasingly infirm parents.
  • Buying a house: Buying a house was once considered the gold standard, “the most important investment you’ll ever make.” The wisdom now is that real estate should fit your life goals. “Does it make sense in your overall picture to buy a house? Don’t buy because you think you should. A house can shape the decisions you make about your future. If you decide you want to leave your job and go to Bali for six months, what do you do about the house?” According to Barlow, life trajectories are more varied than in the past. “Look at your life and your whole past life before making a decision about a house.” You might be better off renting and saving.

Millennials: (Age: 25-39):

Born between 1980-1994, this is the largest generation since the Baby Boomers. Millennials are known as incredibly sophisticated, technology-wise, and impervious to most traditional marketing and sales pitches. They have been there, done that since childhood. Millennials expect racial and ethnic diversity, but they are more segmented as an audience because of the expansion of Cable TV, satellite radio, the Internet, e-zines, etc. They still watch TV, but prefer streaming or on-demand; they want it their way. Because the Internet presents so many choices, Millennials are less brand-loyal—they tend to think globally. Accustomed to praise, used to multitasking, less traditionally materialistic, Millennials are flexible, changing their fashion, style consciousness and where and how they are communicated with. Millennials are often raised in dual-income or single-parent families so they are more likely than previous generations to be involved in family purchases, everything from groceries to new cars. One in nine has a credit card co-signed by a parent.

Financial Consideration:

  • A different definition of success and different life goals: The old model was to scrimp and save until retirement, then travel and enjoy life. “This generation wants to experience and travel now—their goal is towards mobility, not stability. They want to spend along the way. And that’s not necessarily a bad idea,” says Bird.
  • How to save: “We all need to budget, but I prefer to call it a spending plan. And I advise people to divide it up into more than one savings slot. What do I do if lose my job? What do I do if I need new tires? What do I do if I want new skis? Have a savings account for travel, for unexpected “oops” needs, for retirement,” says Barlow.
  • Aligning values with investments: This generations’ concern is not only with making money but with earning it in a way that reflects what’s truly important to them. Putting their money in green companies, companies with a conscience may be more appealing than investing in a company that makes a slightly greater percentage.
  • How to get advice: Most millennials seldom set foot in a branch bank or any bricks-and-mortar bank. They conduct their financial life online. “There are lots of resources for this generation,” says Pope. “You can take a class online, or at a community college.”
  • Building credit: It’s easier to budget when you live on a cash basis, but at some point, you have to build a credit history. Getting a credit card with a low limit and paying it off completely every month is an easy way to build a good credit history. You’ll need it eventually.
Feb 28
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It’s Fry-Day. Have some.

By Eat & Drink

I’m calling it Fry Day—with all credit due to Nancy Nichols my beautiful former colleague and food writer at D magazine in Dallas. She’s retired now, more or less, so I don’t think she’ll mind.

French fries are everyone’s guilty pleasure.

Think of the server’s question: “Do you want fries with that or salad?”

Right. Does anyone ever REALLY want the side salad? No, we just order it because we know we ought to—it’s healthier, no starch, no fat…

“Mmm…I’ll have the fries, please.”

Right.

So, here, without any qualms or questions, (and in no particular order) are the fries you should order in Salt Lake City/Park City if you have the choice.

Mazza Cafe

Now with three locations, Ali Sabbeh’s Lebanese cafe serves all the stuff you expect: hummus, kebabs, baba ganoush, falafel, tabouleh. And fries. If they seem out of place, think again. Lebanon was controlled by the French Mandate for decades and it left an influence. Thin-cut, fried twice, golden and crisp. Go ahead and swipe them through some garlicky baba ganoush, also the best in town. mazzacafe.com

Bruges Waffles & Frites

The teeny original shop by Pioneer Park has spread out over the city, now there are multiple Bruges. All serve terrific fries, to be expected because french fries aren’t really french in origin, they’re Belgian and called frites, which is in the name of the restaurant. For a full meal, pair them with Belgian stew, made with beer (properly called carbonnade flamande.) brugeswaffles.com

Tonyburger

Just a burger joint, but a burger joint where everything is done right—beef patties are a mix of cuts to ensure the right amount of lean, flavor and fat and the fries which are hand cut, fried first at a lower temperature, then again at a higher temperature. Try the onion rings, too. tonyburgers.com/

Rye

Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and unique in its perfection as a pre-concert snack spot (it’s right next to Urban Lounge), Rye tops its crisp fries with garlic or truffle-flavored oil. These and a serving of kimchi queso should sustain you through any show. Ryeslc.com

Proper Burger

There are lots of Propers now; our fave fries are at the Proper Burger location next to the brewery on Main Street. You can get them plain, but the rarebit fries are topped with house beer-cheese rarebit sauce, bacon, red onion and tomato. Too much, you say. We say, not.  properburgerslc.com

Spin Cafe

Some eschew curly fries. We don’t. The “spinny fries” at Spin Cafe in TK are cut onsite with a special curly cutter, then served with ketchup or Alabama sauce, which honestly is a relative of fry sauce.

Note: The sweet potato fries here are also good, also cut on site, not shipped in frozen. Spincafe.net

East Liberty Tap House

Medium-cut, golden-fried and served with peppercorn aioli, these are a great snack to soak up the beer you’ll probably be drinking on the patio. eastlibertytaphouse.com

Feb 26
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James Beard Semifinalists from Utah. More than ever. *

By Eat & Drink

*Thanks to Stuart Melling for pointing out that I neglected to put Peggi Ince Whiting of Kyoto on this list. After being assured women couldn’t be sushi chefs because “their hands are too warm” Whiting has gone on to make sushi in Salt Lake or Park City for more than 30 years. I apologize for the omission and I applaud Peggi!

Blake Spalding and Jen Castle: Hell’s Backbone Grill, Boulder

Nick Fahs, David Barboza and Mike Blocher, Table X, Salt Lake City

Briar Handly, Handle, Park City, UT (and HSL, Salt Lake City, UT)

Moudi Sbeity and Derek Kitchen, Laziz Kitchen, Salt Lake City

Peggi Ince Whiting, Kyoto, Salt Lake City

All semifinalists for the Best Chef in the Mountain Region (a new category) in the James Beard Awards, the most prestigious honor an American restaurant can attain.

Congratulations to all these chefs (who have all won awards from Salt Lake magazine.)

Now do them and the whole food community a big favor: GO EAT AT THESE RESTAURANTS. Excellence deserves support. And it doesn’t come easy.

Here’s the complete list of semifinalists in the U.S.