The Utah Michelin Bib Gourmands can feed a family without breaking the bank

SALT LAKE CITY — A few weeks ago, the Michelin Guide announced the restaurants in the American Southwest that are now recognized in the guide. Nine of those restaurants are in Utah, which has given me an immense amount of pride that I probably don't deserve as someone who did nothing to help these restaurateurs refine their craft. But it feels legitimizing all the same.

Since the Michelin announcement, I, along with every other food-news-watcher in the state, have learned that the Michelin has different tiers for its recommendations. There are the stars, of course. A restaurant that earns one star is "a very good restaurant in its category" that serves high-quality ingredients that are consistently cooked well. Restaurants that earn two stars serve excellent cuisine worth a detour and showcase masterful technique. Restaurants that earn three stars are considered exceptional and worth planning a trip around.

The South Salt Lake restaurant Monte, located within the Beehive Distillery, earned the state's first Michelin star. The write-up highlights the French, Italian and South American flavors featured on the menu, and recommends the French onion soup, coffee-cured venison and rabbit ravioli. And last I looked, reservations are booked out for quite a while.

However, Monte was not the only restaurant in the state to receive Michelin recognition. Sure, it's the only one to earn a star, but eight more Utah restaurants are featured in the 2026 guide — two of which fall into the Michelin Recommended tier. This tier includes restaurants that inspectors consider worth noting for their good food, even if they haven't yet earned a star. Koyote and Star of India in Salt Lake City are noted in the guide, as well as Handle, Matilda and the Nelson Cottage by High West in Park City.

The three remaining restaurants earned the Bib Gourmand distinction, which is not a star, but an achievement in the quality of the food at a reasonable price point. One More Noodle House in South Salt Lake, Phở 777 in West Valley City and Feldman's Deli in Salt Lake City earned Bib Gourmand distinction. And I took it upon myself to try all three, because I am always searching for wallet-friendly places to take friends and family that aren't fast food.

I started with Phở 777, which has become so popular it now has two locations in West Valley City. This was my first visit to Phở 777, and I don't know if it's always been very busy or if everyone else dining that night came from the Michelin Guide, but the place was packed. So I was surprised when my friends and I were seated nearly immediately, and our waiter popped up at our table just a minute later. We ordered the crispy summer rolls, recommended in the guide, and a bowl of phở to share, and then asked our waiter to pick a couple of other dishes to try.

In no time at all, the summer rolls arrived, and they were as delicious as advertised, followed shortly by the phở, vermicelli noodles with pork, stir-fried flat noodles, and a pork chop served with egg and wrapped tofu. My favorite was the pork chop, which was thin and charred and sweet and perfect, but there wasn't anything we ate that wasn't outstanding. But what was most exceptional of all was the service. Our waiter checked in frequently, and when he saw us struggling to divvy out the noodles, he brought us a pair of kitchen scissors and demonstrated how to use them. He promptly brought us to-go boxes and held the door open for us on our way out. I will be back for the remarkable food and the remarkable treatment.

Next, I took my family to One More Noodle House in Chinatown Plaza, which has a much more casual vibe. We ordered at the counter and requested the wood ear mushrooms and the beef braised noodles recommended in the guide. We skipped the numbing spicy beef noodles because we had our children, who can barely handle the spice in barbecue sauce, and instead ordered the oil-tossed noodles and dan dan noodles. The mushrooms weren't for me, but the noodle dishes were excellent. The cashier described them as "springy," which I didn't understand until I tried them and they were, indeed, springy and chewy and exactly the texture a noodle should be. My least favorite dish was the braised beef noodles. They were very delicious, like a pot roast in a noodle soup. I just liked the flavor profile of dan dan and oil-tossed noodles more. Both had just enough heat to keep it interesting and just enough umami to make it satiating. The whole meal, which fed five of us, cost around $40. So it's going to become a part of our regular restaurant rotation.

Then finally, I went all by myself to Feldman's Deli at lunchtime on a weekday. It's a spot I know well from my five years living one block away in Sugar House. But this time it was far busier than I'd ever seen it, giving the New York-style deli a very frenzied East Coast vibe. Say what you will about the arbitrary nature of restaurant reviews, but there's no arguing the impact they have on the reviewed restaurants.

I was seated after about 15 minutes of waiting, and promptly served the corned beef Reuben, as recommended in the guide. I've had it before, but needed to be reminded of just how good it is. For journalism.

Normally I would order the fries for a side, because Feldman's has the best fries in the state: thick but not potato wedges, perfectly crispy but not burnt, and salted generously. But some sort of health psychosis infected me for a second, and I ordered the "health salad," a hilarious name for what turned out to be a very delicious side dish.

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