Utah Chefs Win National Honors

A couple of years ago, I met two young chefs named Viet Pham and Bowman Brown, who told me they were starting a small restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City that would serve local, organic ingredients. In fact, they were in the process of building a greenhouse so they could grow some of the vegetables. They planned to serve one fixed-price meal each night, with the menu changing every day. The prices would run from about $35 to $70. 

At the time, the economy had just tanked. I wondered at the time if these guys would survive their first year in business at Forage, 370 E. 900 South.  They did — and they’ve made a national name for themselves as well.  Pham and Brown are among the 10 regional winners of Food & Wine magazine’s “Best New Chefs” award. The magazine works with restaurant critics, food writers and other experts around the country to identify outstanding chefs in each region of the country who have been in charge of a kitchen for five years or fewer.