It was more than a decade ago when I sat down with Johnny Kwon, owner of the now much-missed Naked Fish Japanese Bistro in downtown SLC. At the time, the ambitious restaurateur was pulling out all the stops to provide the state with the hands-down best omakase experience money could buy. The $75 price tag seems as incredulous now as it was back then. A multicourse extravaganza littered with uni, otoro, shark skin grated fresh wasabi, and more. Kwon, a giddy foodie at heart, wanted to transplant a big-city sushi experience to the heart of SLC. But alas, wide-eyed ambition alone couldn’t change the fact the city probably wasn’t ready.
Skip forward to 2024 and I find myself face to face with chef Ben Steigers. Or should that be, face to firefly squid? That picture up top is Steigers showcasing some of the evening’s bounty for an extra special popup event at Bar Nohm. Held under the name of Wisteria, the talented chef delivered a unique Edomae-style omakase experience to those lucky enough to snag seats.
The meal is a stunning tour de force that leaves those gathered dazzled in its wake. Impeccable ingredients are treated with minimal fuss and exacting precision. An entire round of nigiri is dedicated to an exploration of mackerel alone. I gabble nonsense to my tablemates, such is my thrill at the prospect. The meal ends with a decadent tuna handroll, Steigers rendering fat in real-time from a tuna carcass. This laces the roll with a slick umami richness, and of course, there’s caviar on top – because that’s what we do these days. It’s sublime. It’s the vision that Kwon so desperately wanted to deliver to Salt Lake City all those years ago. We’re not in Draper anymore Dorothy.
As I leave with a few humble thankyous, I spy our place settings being turned for a successive seating. The penny drops and I realize the evening isn’t a traditional popup, but more the skunkworks for a secret project. That leads me to sit down with Steigers several weeks later, to get to the bottom of his intoxicating plans to manifest Wisteria as a permanent fixture. Here in little old Utah.
It should come as no surprise then that Ben Steigers counts time behind the toro and tamago at Naked Fish on his resume. Ultimately leaving Utah for broader shores, Steigers went on to work under the multi-Michelin starred Michael Mina, leading the charge at Boston’s Pabu. It was here that the chef would develop his little black book. Local fishermen, traders, and contacts at markets halfway around the world.
“Do you know some of the world’s best tuna comes off of the coast of Boston?”, Steigers presses me on. “Most assume the very best product hails from Japan, but the reality is more nuanced. I remember flicking through our vendor product list at Pabu. North Atlantic tuna? Huh, I’d never heard of it.”
Getting the prized fish before his blade was a somewhat more difficult endeavor than picking up the phone, however. International buyers would line the Boston docks – ready to instantly pay in full the second it was landed dockside. The fish would depart to international markets mere minutes after landing on the East Coast.
Steigers would be undeterred. “I struck up friendships with the fishermen”, he explains. “They’d call me right from the boat as they made their way to port. If I could agree to take the whole fish sight unseen there and then over the phone – it was mine.” Let me remind you, this for a product that happily changes hands for more than $10,000. Hollywood has lied to you, by the way, The next time you see duffle bags of dollar bills handed over in the small hours at dark docks – the reality might not be quite as illicit as you imagine.
It was Steigers’ critical obsession with sourcing that led to Pabu’s excellent reputation. As the plaudits piled up, so would local chefs at Steigers’s door, tapping the chef for his sources. This would ultimately see him become part toque, part trader. A career in private catering to the stars would see him ultimately move on from this foundational posting.
For many a chef that’s left the Beehive though, the pull home is a strong one. Lucky us then, that Steigers chose his home state as the one to launch his very own Edomae-style omakase experience. Omakase style then, means chef choice. You take your seat, and plate after plate of curated cuisine arrives before you. In higher-end concepts, dishes such as nigiri are handmade and presented to each guest in turn – rice that sits, gets old fast. It’s finger food that’s meant to be consumed instantly – a fact that was ably demonstrated to me by Kwon years ago (read about that here).
The concept of a reservation-only omakase experience is something that other, bigger foodie cities, have enjoyed for years. Austin’s Tsuke Edomae for example releases tickets much like a Taylor Swift experience. A single release of golden tickets is offered every few months. These in turn are snapped up literally within the hour. Frenzied forum talk follows, who were the lucky Charlie Buckets and Verucca Salts this time?
Debuting such a high-brow concept in Utah is undoubtedly a bold move, especially in a state where the myth that surrounds our arid location still raises eyebrows. On that point, please read this old story, anywhere in the continental US can serve world-class sushi – if the sourcing model is in place. An understated fearlessness is something that strikes me about Steigers though, indeed, the nascent chef kickstarted his nascent career in an adventurous fashion.
A younger Steigers would take a one-way trip to Europe, culminating in a staging position at Denmark’s famous Noma, arguably the world’s best restaurant at the time. For those not familiar with the French brigade system, staging (pronounced ‘stahh-jing’) is essentially working unpaid as an intern for the experience alone. “I was kinda naive”, explains Steigers with a grin. “I simply walked up to the hostess stand during lunch service with my resume in hand. I didn’t realize this wasn’t the done thing.” Steigers goes on, “The very next day though, the restaurant called me back. They were kinda impressed by the sheer audacity and pluckiness of this young kid I guess. Could I come in and stage?”. Of course, he could.
For the time being, I’m sworn to death on the more precise details and location of Wisteria. But mark my words, when Steigers’s wild ambition (not least those secret sourcing connects around the world) finally hits our streets next year, it will remake the discussion of sushi in Salt Lake City. Get ready for the elevation of Utah’s dining scene yet again.
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Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV. Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.
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