Two Utah restaurants and four Salt Lake City chefs have been named as semifinalists for 2024 in the esteemed James Beard awards, which “recognize exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts,” according to the The James Beard Foundation’s website.
Table X Bread, a bakery attached to the Table X restaurant at 1457 E. 3300 South in Millcreek, was included as one of 20 national contenders in the Outstanding Bakery category. And Valter’s Osteria, at 173 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City, made the semifinal list for Outstanding Hospitality — a feat it accomplished in 2022.
Four Utah chefs were included among the 20 regional semifinalists in the Best Chef: Mountain category, which covers Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming:
• David Chon, Bar Nohm, 167 W. 900 South, Salt Lake City.
• Dave Jones, Log Haven, 6451 Mill Creek Canyon Road, Salt Lake City.
• Ali Sabbah, Mazza Cafe, 1515 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City. (Sabbah was a finalist last year, the first from Utah to get such an honor.)
• Nick Zocco, Urban Hill, 510 S. 300 West, Salt Lake City.
The finalists — five in each category — will be announced April 3. The winners will be named in a ceremony in Chicago on June 10.
David Chon at Bar Nohm is mostly influenced by food he grew up eating in South Korea. But the dishes at the Japanese izakaya also have influences of Chinese food, Spanish tapas, and food that might be found in an American gastropub, said the bar’s co-owner Sean Neves.
He said the James Beard nomination was “great.”
After Bar Nohm’s opening in 2019 there was a “little bit of a slow season, but it’s picking up,” Chon said. “We’re working with a good crew and things are heading in the right direction.”
A two-time past semifinalist in the national category for Outstanding Restaurant, Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm in Boulder, did not make the list this year.
