Chefs resembled rock stars in the �E0s. They had groupies (although they preferred to think of themselves as �connoisseurs�E, fame, and unprecedented wealth. In places like New York and San Francisco, the money flowed in the pseudo-boom of Republican rule, and media attention made the once unglamorous job seem sexy, a trick Julia Childs certainly hadn�t been able to pull off. Celebrity chefs of the era put the finishing touches on a culinary revolution that began, like many a boomer revolution, in 1970s Berkeley in Alice Waters�Ekitchen at Chez Panisse. Her food manifesto raged against the butter- and cream-based sauces of the French machine, and elevated instead fresh herbs and a respect for the integrity of basic ingredients.
By the �E0s the Young Turks of chefdom had become paunchy sultans, and many who survived the high-end shake out of �E9-�E3 now often oversee restaurants as coldly efficient as their dishes are predictable. (Can you say polenta about a million times? No? How �bout balsamic vinegar?)
Where can a young chef go to re-ignite culinary passion? West. The Wasatch Front, even. Six years ago, SLC would have been about as likely a place for a chef to create intriguing food as dinner with the Donner Party. Indeed, most of the chefs interviewed for this article spoke of Utah cuisine before the early �E0s in the disgusted tones gourmet types usually reserve for Cheez-Whiz. But in one of the few upsides to SLC�s cancerous growth, the food climate in the city has changed, and we are enjoying a flowering of sorts of young culinary talent. Brewpubs are no longer the only option (though you wouldn�t know it from the cattle-drive lines on a Saturday night), and the change is in no small part due to the work of young chefs like the four profiled here. While the chefs all spoke of the same challenges (educating SLC�s notoriously timid and limited palate, finding knowledgeable staff, struggling with arcane liquor laws), they each responded in ways that speak to their unique styles.--next-->