Bar Nohm
David Chon grills the skewers over binchotan, which burns hot enough to set the outside while the inside stays juicy.
Why go
Chon went back to Korea and to Japan to work in kitchens there, learning each cuisine on its own terms. He had been studying architecture at the University of Utah. That training is the whole idea of this card, and he states it flatly: We do either this or that. We serve Korean dishes and Japanese dishes but we don't try to combine them
(Salt Lake Magazine). A bowl of Japanese oden can land on your table beside Korean skewers and neither is pretending to be the other.
Chon reopened the same door as Bar Nohm in July 2023, with the owners of Water Witch next door and a permanent connection cut through to the bar (Gastronomic SLC). It had traded as Nohm until covid paused it. The James Beard Foundation made him a Best Chef Mountain semifinalist in 2024, under the new name.
Ryan Lowder owns The Copper Onion, and he names Chon: He could easily take his concept and American-ize it, but he's hell-bent on what he's doing. I lived in the East Village in New York when David Chang opened Momofuku and it took a while to get traction. Nohm reads like that to me
(Salt Lake Magazine).
Binchotan burns hotter and cleaner than briquette charcoal and cooks largely by radiant heat, which is why the skewers come off with the outside set and the inside still juicy. Salt Lake Magazine's advice is to take every skewer on the card (Salt Lake Magazine).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the skewers, several of them. Chicken hearts and the pork belly wrapped around enoki were four and six dollars when SLUG reviewed the room; the Australian Wagyu was twelve.3
- Order: the oden, a brothy stew carrying fish cakes, stuffed shiitake, a marinated egg and braised daikon.1
- Order: the kimchi fried rice, which arrives in a volcanic stone bowl with shrimp and a Chinese sausage the kitchen makes itself.2
- Avoid: expecting a fusion menu. Two traditions run side by side on this card and Chon keeps them apart on purpose.1
What locals & experts say
- Ryan Lowder of The Copper Onion:
David is doing something that's needed in this town. He has a hand in everything in the kitchen and you can tell. It's one of the best restaurants in the state. Hands down.
1 - Lowder, on the risk:
Because his food is really good, and he's not adjusting for Utah's midwestern tastes. That's rare and risky. He's willing to wait it out and get traction.
1 - Stuart Melling, Gastronomic SLC:
This is food to share with drinks. Simple as.
2
Good to know
- What it costs: small. In April 2024 most skewers ran four to six dollars, the Wagyu twelve and the wings thirteen, with a duck wrap at thirty-two the top of the card.
- Booking: worth doing through the restaurant's own site. Dinner only, and the room is dark on Monday.
- Where: 165 West 900 South, in Central Ninth, with Water Witch through a door in the same building.
- Who eats here: a 21-plus room, so no children. Call if that matters, because the restaurant's own site does not say so.
- What it used to be called: Nohm. Same chef, same address; the name changed when he reopened with the bar next door in 2023.
Verdict
should-visit — David Chon grills over binchotan, made the Beard Mountain semifinalist list in 2024, and went back to Korea and Japan to learn each cuisine separately so he would never have to blend them. Ryan Lowder of The Copper Onion calls it one of the best restaurants in the state and says the risk Chon is taking is refusing to soften the food for this market. It came back from a covid closure with the Water Witch bar attached through a door. One chef and one Beard placing are the whole published case for this room, which is thin for a city that prints no reviews.