Restaurant Roundup: 2024's Best Dishes 

• Alex Springer
• Bone Marrow Tacos

Heading into another year of covering Utah's always-evolving food scene, I would be remiss if I didn't reflect on all the lovely bits of gastronomy I sampled during 2024. This upcoming year will have to get an early start in order to compete with all the grandiosity of last year's offerings; here are a few of my favorite meals from last year.

Risotto Modena at Matteo (77 W. 200 South, 385-549-1992, matteoslc.com): I thoroughly enjoy the experience of trying a familiar dish that makes me feel as if I am trying it for the first time. The most recent iteration of this experience came during my meal at Matteo while I was checking out its new location. It helped that I had some background on Chef Matteo Sogne and his Modena-inspired culinary toolbox–once I saw that the risotto had the words "Modena," "parmigiano reggiano" and "balsamic vinegar," I figured it would be something special. Oh, how right I was. It's a dish that doesn't waste any time on spectacle–it arrives with a disarming simplicity that is only spruced up by the tableside drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Once you take your first bite, however, you soon realize that every risotto you've had before this has almost been disrespectful to the craft. For me, this represents the nucleus of why Italian food is special–take three perfect ingredients, treat them with a bit of love, serve and enjoy. It's hard to make good food look this easy, which is how you know Matteo is the real deal.

The Hoff at Egg Break (193 W. 2100 South, 385-500-2705, eggbreakbreakfast.com): I'm always going to react fondly to a place that finds new and interesting ways to incorporate pork into a breakfast sandwich, and The Hoff at Egg Break is a great example of such porcine innovation. This sandwich swaps traditional breakfast meat with a slab of pork belly that is smoked in-house. Anyone who has tried pork belly knows that it's basically a thicker, more flavorful piece of bacon, so it's right at home on a nice breakfast sando. When its flavors combine with those of the fried egg and the melty American cheese, enclosed by the crunch of the sandwich's toasted ciabatta bun, you know you've got something special on your hands. As if The Hoff's inspired set of ingredients isn't enough to tempt you in the early hours of the morning, every dollar of this sandwich's price gets donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. It's tough to go wrong with tasty food that supports a good cause.

Mapo Tofu at Koyoté (551 W. 400 North, 385-262-5559, koyoteslc.com): At the moment, Fairpark's Koyoté is my favorite place to indulge a ramen craving or two. While I'd recommend its ramen options all day, the dish that continues to live rent-free in my head is Koyoté's mapo tofu. It hit me in the same way Matteo's risotto did—it's a dish that I've enjoyed from several other spots, but it wasn't until I tried it here that I realized what I had been missing. Koyoté prepares this classic Sichuan dish of silken tofu cubes swimming in vibrant crimson sauce Japanese-style, though you can customize your heat levels (which I recommend). If mapo tofu hasn't been on your radar until now, visiting Koyoté is the best way to remedy that issue.

Raspberry Jalapeño Fried Chickenless Sando at Blatch's Backyard BBQ (186 I Street, 385-210-5029, blatchsbackyardbbq.com): Of the many items on the menu at Blatch's Backyard BBQ, the raspberry jalapeño fried chickenless sando is the one that stuck with me this year. It's a sandwich that starts with spectacle—it's almost a knife-and-forker—but its plant-based approach isn't striving to imitate its protein-based cousin. Chef Chris Blatchford works tirelessly to prepare his restaurant's seitan and toppings to the point when they transcend plant-based iterations of classically meat-based entrees. All the food at Blatch's holds its own on the fronts of creativity and deliciousness, but there is something punk rock about Blatchford eyeing all these fried chicken joints and throwing down a gauntlet of a plant-based sandwich that puts most of them to shame.

Bone Marrow Tacos at Blind Rabbit (1085 E. 2100 South, 385-743-8007, blindrabbitkitchen.com): Throughout my culinary adventures, bone marrow has become one of my favorite indulgences. It's one of those things I never thought I'd actually like, let alone crave when I'm feeling particularly voracious. So, when I ordered the bone marrow tacos at Blind Rabbit in Sugar House, I had high expectations. After all, Blind Rabbit is sisters with Sol Agave, and it's sold itself as the kind of place that knows what to do with a protein of any origin. The tacos arrive on a giant wooden platter piled high with lengthwise-sliced bones, each one filled with grilled chopped ribeye that has been prepared with bone marrow. The idea here is to take a street taco approach by scooping a bit of this hypercharged meat mixture onto blue corn tortillas and adding a bit of salsa for some acid. The marrow-enhanced ribeye delivers a truly decadent experience for both steak and taco lovers, and it should always be close to your thoughts when paying Blind Rabbit a visit.