The Best Restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah

Background Illustration for Restaurants

The 2002 Winter Olympics cast Salt Lake City in a new, contemporary, more diverse light. Visitors discovered a panoply of cultural influences, brewpubs, ethnic flavors, and progressive chefs. Salt Lake City may not have the depth of restaurants seen in other big cities, but there are a couple of outstanding choices for nearly every budget and cuisine. Restaurants like Lamb’s Grill Café, Hire’s Big H, and Ruth’s Diner trace their roots back five-plus decades, and their colorful proprietors are more than willing to share the history they’ve witnessed from their kitchens. Returning LDS missionaries have brought back their favorite flavors from Asia, Europe, and Latin America, with impressive results. Seafood, Japanese, Tibetan, Indian, Spanish, and Italian are all suitably showcased in Salt Lake eateries, and when all else fails, there are great burgers and Rocky Mountain cuisine, a fusion inspired by frontier big game, seafood fresh from the great Pacific ports, and organic produce grown in Utah’s fertile valleys. You'll also find creative wine lists and knowledgeable service. Bakers and pastry chefs defy the 4,400-foot altitude with rustic sourdoughs and luscious berry-filled treats. Multiple weekly summer farmers' markets are thriving, and chefs are building more and more of a food community.

Laziz Kitchen

$$ Fodor's Choice

Run by a friendly husband-and-husband team who began with a hummus stand at the farmers' market, Laziz has grown into an outstanding full-service Lebanese restaurant in the burgeoning Granary District, with a cheerfully hip plant-filled dining room and street-side terrace. The most delicious strategy here is to make a feast of a selection of small plates: spiced labneh, eggplant baba ghanoush, grilled Halloumi cheese, kibbeh, fried cauliflower with garlic-cilantro pesto, red-wine-braised lamb shank, and maybe a kafta burger or two. The short but excellent wine list features several Lebanese bottles. There's a second location in Midvale.

912 Jefferson St. W, UT, 84101, USA
801-441–1228
Known For
  • Shared dips and mezze appetizer platters
  • Blueberry, lavender, and other kefir sodas
  • Interesting list of Lebanese wines

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