After working in some of the best restaurants in town (Copper Onion, HSL, Pago) Chef Andrew Fuller and front-of-house standout Angie Fuller opened their dream restaurant, Oquirrh, in downtown Salt Lake City in February of 2019. Like the Tinman and the Scarecrow heading “off to see the wizard,” there’s a head and a heart here. Angie is the heart and Drew is the engineer. Oquirrh is an artisanal community experience: an expression of love. “Oquirrh is what I hope the future of dining in Utah is like,” says Dining Award Panelist Darby Doyle. “It is intimate, exceptional and changes with the season. It is serious food that doesn’t take itself too seriously.” Everything on the menu is familiar with an eye toward comfort but imbued with Andrew’s flair for originality and served with grace, gusto and humor—the asparagus spears stand at attention on the plate, little soldiers with their feet stuck in a sheep’s milk fondue. Local art can be purchased right off the wall. This is the kind of restaurant Salt Lake needs—chef-dreamed, chef-run, definitively local. It deserves being called the Outstanding Restaurant of the Year. As panelist Lydia Martinez says, “They keep getting better and better but it still feels like you are sitting down at someone’s kitchen table.” —Jeremy Pugh
368 E. 100 South, SLC, 801-359-0426, oquirrhslc.com
Read our other best restaurants of the year here.
