Tonight was the night, folks. After months of speculation, MICHELIN pulled back the curtain on their first American Southwest guide. MICHELIN’s arrival was announced last December, with the new focus seeing Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona coming under the famous microscope.
And wow, what a night. Utah scooped its first-ever MICHELIN star, right out of the gate. Mind. Blown. Here’s what Utah chefs walked away with:
Michelin star
Monte in South Salt Lake grabbed one star for their work within the Beehive Distillery space. For a thorough look into the business, you can read our story from last year here. Suffice it to say, this is a huge distinction for Martin and Karen Babio, who run the back and front of house, respectively. With just eighteen months under their belts as a full-service operation, the Babios now stand on equal footing with names such as Guy Savoy and Jose Andres. That’s colossal.
It’s worth noting that in the whole Southwest region, only five restaurants in total were recognized with stars – now one of them can be found in Utah. All the others? Vegas.
Bib Gourmand
Three names won a Bib Gourmand award, a mark that celebrates “restaurants worldwide that serve exceptional food at great value”. Those names in Utah then:
We’ve written about Pho 777 extensively over the years; you can find the first story here. They won Pho King’s exhaustive best pho in Utah award, and made me get the tape measure out for this sandwich. Feldman’s, meanwhile, well, I’ve been in love ever since I reviewed them for the SL Tribune some 14 years ago (ulp). Here’s that story in the Trib from a lifetime of calories ago.
I believe Feldman’s still has my “Ode to a Corned Beef Sandwich” pinned to the wall in the restaurant (go look), which is a completely original work by myself, with no inspiration or similarity to any published historical work. You can’t prove otherwise. Here it is:
Shall’ I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and considerably more meaty.
Rough winds so shake me at the Subway,
And thy half pound lease hath all too short a meal,
Sometime too hot the beef betwixt thine layers shines,
But rarely is your pink hued complexion dimmed by this;
By chance, or nature’s changing course, no tasty fat goes untrimmed;
But thy eternal tastiness shall not fade,
Nor shall death brag thou flavors wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lunch lines time to thou grow’st.
So long as men can eat, or eyes can see thine lustry meat,
So long lives this mighty sammich, and this gives life to me
Recommends
Lastly, five more names that receive a recommendation nod, and while they don’t walk away with an award, will make it into the official guide for the Southwest region:
- Handle
- Koyote – read our story on them here
- Matilda
- Nelson Cottage
- Star Of India – read our story on them here
Star hits particularly hard, personally speaking. It’s the first restaurant I ever dined at in Utah, and where I first fell in love with Utah’s diverse and eclectic food scene. It’s every bit as good now as it was back then.
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Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you!  I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC.  I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City  dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV.  Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune.   I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand.  What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.
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