The Best Tasting Menu in Salt Lake City: How a Uruguayan Chef Built Utah's Most Extraordinary Underground Restaurant at Monte

Walk through the doors at Beehive Distilling in South Salt Lake, past the burnished copper stills and aging gin barrels, and you'll find something most people don't expect in this industrial neighborhood. Tucked inside the distillery at 2245 S West Temple is Monte—a progressive fine dining restaurant that's rewriting Utah's culinary story one plate at a time. The dining space has been gently reimagined within the distillery, with the barrels of gin and burnished stills remaining as atmospheric backdrop, while Chef Martin Babio's extensive cookbook collection—Redzepi, Ottolenghi, Myhrvold—lines the walls like a manifesto of his intentions.

This isn't your typical Salt Lake City tasting menu experience. And that's exactly the point.

From Montevideo to the Mountains: The Journey of Chef Martin Babio

Martin Babio started cooking 20 years ago, learning from his grandmother and great-grandmother in Uruguay. Those early lessons became the backbone of his philosophy: respect the ingredient, respect the craft. The Uruguayan-born chef's journey began at Montevideo's Instituto de Alta Cocina before embarking on a culinary journey that spans South and North America.

But here's what makes his story different. While most chefs chase Michelin stars in New York or San Francisco, Babio chose Utah's mountains and deserts as his canvas. Why? The biodiversity. The wild ingredients. The untapped potential of a food scene just beginning to understand what progressive cuisine could mean.

"I remember my childhood when my grandma, great-grandma, taught me. Trying different flavors, different kinds of food, they teach me everything I know," Babio told KSL. That reverence for tradition merged with cutting-edge technique is what you taste in every course at Monte.

At the helm of Monte is the gracious couple Martin and Karen Babio—he runs the kitchen while she serves as front of house manager and hostess. And when Martin talks about his wife's role, his gratitude is immediate: "My wife, yeah, for sure, she is 50% of this. Without her, Monte doesn't exist. We want to introduce the people to different concepts, different techniques, we want to share with the people our passion."

This is a partnership in the truest sense—not just in marriage, but in creating something that transcends the usual restaurant experience.

Monte operates exclusively on tasting menus, which tells you everything about their commitment to the craft. You're not ordering off a menu here. You're trusting a 20-year veteran to take you on a journey. Wednesdays offer a five-course menu for $95, while Thursdays through Saturdays present seven courses for $115 or an ambitious twelve-course experience for $175.

Chef Babio takes local product seriously, sourcing around 80% of what Monte uses from Utah—from produce and wild herbs to proteins, dairy, and honey. But this isn't just about slapping "local" on the menu and calling it a day. The approach goes beyond flinging a pile of local microgreens at the plate—this fidelity shapes a menu that sees multiple refreshes over the month, with no two weeks looking the same.

Let me give you an example of what this means in practice. Take the ravioli course—modestly titled "ravioli, lemongrass sauce" on the menu. Simple, right? Wrong. This dish begins three days before the bowl hits the table, with chicken aged with koji to enhance natural umami, then delicately confited in clarified butter made in-house with orange zest and fresh herbs. The ravioli arrives in lemongrass sauce—velvety, citrus-kissed, layered with koji-aged chicken and confit butter, with each bite building in waves: savory, aromatic, bright.

One food writer described it as "a rare Italo-Filipino fusion rarely seen in the American West"—which perfectly captures Monte's ability to blur geographical boundaries while staying rooted in Utah's seasons.

Then there's what Babio calls "Cold Waters." This dish brings together scallop, pork, celeriac, potato, and trout in what one critic called "possibly the most amazing—and certainly the most creative—ceviche I've ever come across, a dish of the quality that I'd expect to find in a Michelin-starred restaurant".

And that Michelin reference? It's not hyperbole. According to Utah food critic Ted Scheffler, "Martin Babio and his cuisine checks all of the Michelin boxes," considering the quality of ingredients, harmony of flavors, mastery of techniques, and the chef's personality expressed through the food.

The Craft Behind the Plate: Techniques That Define Progressive Fine Dining

What sets Monte apart in Utah's fine dining landscape isn't just what's on the plate—it's the obsessive process behind it. "Each dish is designed around a specific technique and built with intention," Babio explains. "We spend days—sometimes weeks—developing flavors, fermenting, curing, aging, extracting. It's a slow and deliberate process, because we believe every detail matters."

Take sweetbreads, for instance. A recent preparation saw them brined, poached, pressed, and seared, before a citrus gastrique glaze wrapped things up. Four techniques for one element of one course. That's the Monte standard.

Chef Babio is committed to starting his days at the Farmers Market: "It's about connecting with the land, with the people who grow our food, and with the honest flavors of each season. Every visit sparks an idea, a technique, an inspiration. At Monte, every dish begins here—with local, fresh, wild, and seasonal products. Going to the market isn't a task... it's a ritual that feeds our kitchen and gives purpose to everything we do."

The experience itself is orchestrated by a talented crew that knows what they're doing. Ignacio Cittadini doubles as sommelier and show-runner, overseeing much of the tableside sparkle, including theatrical moments like preparing liquid nitrogen-infused marshmallows for the intermezzo or torching chunks of binchō-tan charcoal until molten hot to sear local beeswax ice cream with miso caramel tableside for dessert.

South Salt Lake's Culinary Revolution: Monte's Role in the Neighborhood

Here's something most people don't realize: South Salt Lake is quietly becoming one of Utah's most exciting food and drink destinations. The Beehive Distilling facility at 2245 S W Temple is within walking distance of Saltfire Brewing Company, Shades Brewing, Level Crossing brewery, and Sugar House Distillery, with the TRAX S-line stopping at South Salt Lake station just five minutes away.

Monte isn't just riding this wave—they're helping create it. The dining space inside Beehive Distilling is inviting and airy, with plenty of space between tables, allowing you to actually hold a conversation and hear the person sitting across from you—a refreshing change from the acoustically challenging restaurants that have become the norm.

The partnership with Beehive Distilling makes sense when you understand both businesses' commitment to craft. While Beehive has been producing award-winning gin since 2013—Utah's first gin distillery in over 100 years—Monte brings a complementary dedication to technique and local sourcing. It's a space where the art of distilling and the art of cooking coexist, each elevating the other.

The amuse that kicks off the Monte experience backs up this local philosophy: local goat cheese and honey adorned with edible flowers, followed by a trio of "snacks" including melt-in-your-mouth lamb croquettes with creamy aioli nestled in smoking straw, and an amazing tartalette of fresh corn and peas confit.

For the protein course, rare venison with yam, carrot, and Monte's BBQ sauce can be upgraded with A5 Wagyu beef for an additional $85. One diner's advice? "If your budget can withstand the A5 Wagyu upcharge, go for it. You'll vividly remember every scrumptious bite."

Planning Your Visit to Monte Salt Lake City

Monte operates Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 2245 S West Temple inside Beehive Distilling. Reservations are essential and can be made through Tock. Here's what you need to know:

Menu Options:

Wednesday: 5-course menu ($95 per person)
Thursday-Saturday: 7-course menu ($115) or 12-14 course menu ($175)
Optional wine pairings and crafted cocktails available
$50 deposit required per guest

What to Order: According to recent diners and food critics, don't miss the koji-aged chicken ravioli with lemongrass sauce, the "Cold Waters" ceviche, and absolutely save room for the theatrical beeswax ice cream dessert with tableside charcoal searing.

Best Time to Visit: Summer menus hit their stride when local farmer's markets are at their peak bounty, though the seasonal menu changes mean fall, winter, and spring each bring their own wild Utah ingredients to the table.

Important Note: Due to the nature of Monte's menu, they are unable to accommodate specific dietary restrictions, as their focus is to provide an authentic and uncompromising experience where every dish reflects their philosophy of respecting and celebrating the ingredients of the day.

Getting There: The restaurant is easily accessible via the TRAX S-line, with South Salt Lake station just a five-minute walk away. Street parking is available on West Temple.

Connect: Find Monte on Instagram at @monte_slc or visit monteunderground.com for the latest menu updates and reservation information.

Why Monte Matters to Utah's Food Scene

Utah food critic Ted Scheffler didn't mince words: "Monte SLC is as exciting as any culinary experience I've had in Utah. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it should qualify as Utah's first Michelin-starred eatery."

That's a bold claim, but it reflects something important happening in Salt Lake City's culinary landscape. For years, Utah's food scene has been defined by solid, dependable restaurants that excel at comfort and consistency. Monte represents something different—a willingness to push boundaries, to make diners slightly uncomfortable in the best possible way, to demand that we expand our understanding of what Utah ingredients can become.

One critic noted that despite initial reservations about tasting menus, "the pacing during dinner is excellent and the cuisine is some of the most exciting that I've found in Utah since the early days of The Metropolitan and Forage"—high praise considering those restaurants helped define modern Utah dining.

What makes Monte special isn't just the technique or the local sourcing or even the Uruguayan perspective on Utah's ingredients. It's the complete commitment to a vision. When Chef Babio says, "We want to introduce the people to different concepts, different techniques, we want to share with the people our passion," you taste that mission in every course.

This is what progressive fine dining looks like in 2025—rooted in place, informed by global technique, executed with precision, and served with genuine hospitality. Monte isn't trying to be Copenhagen or New York. It's showing us what South Salt Lake can be when a chef with 20 years of experience decides to celebrate everything wild and wonderful about Utah's biodiversity.

If you've been waiting for Salt Lake City to develop a truly world-class tasting menu restaurant that rivals anything on the coasts, your wait is over. It's been hiding inside a distillery in South Salt Lake all along, waiting for you to discover it.

Ready to experience Monte for yourself? Book your reservation on Tock and prepare for one of Utah's most extraordinary culinary journeys. Trust Chef Babio. Trust the process. And whatever you do, don't skip the ravioli.

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