Oquirrh Restaurant: Power Couple Cooking

Nestled near the quiet part of South Temple, Oquirrh Restaurant has quickly become one of Salt Lake’s most beloved culinary hot spots. As a regular myself, I have always wanted to chat with the couple behind the restaurant, Angie and Andrew Fuller. Luckily for me, SLUG wanted to hear from them as well. I got to sit with the Fullers in their cozy restaurant and talk about what makes Oquirrh unique.

When I ask Andrew what inspired him to open Oquirrh, he took a long pause. “No one has ever asked me that question and I haven’t thought about it much,” he says. “It just felt natural. It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was young.” Andrew recounts how he got a line cook job at a country club when he was just 16 and has continued to work in kitchens ever since. Incredibly self-driven, Andrew finds inspiration in the wide varieties of American cuisine. “Utah is a unique spot. It doesn’t have a distinct style of cooking, so it lets us do almost whatever we want with the menu,” says Andrew. He makes a strong effort to use locally-sourced ingredients, especially produce, which makes Oquirrh’s menu very seasonal and ever-evolving.

“It just felt natural. It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was young.”

Angie, who runs the front of house, has always worked in food service—specifically, she has managed table service for some of Salt Lake City’s most well-known spots, including The Copper Onion where she first met Andrew. She tells me that the best part of working at Oquirrh is making a family with the servers: “In some ways I feel like their mom, and it breaks my heart when they move on to bigger things,” Angie says. She believes that working at Oquirrh creates a lot of strong bonds and friendships very quickly. “The restaurant is very small,” she says. “There isn’t a space dividing the front of house from the kitchen, so there is nowhere to hide.”

The tight-knit community of Oquirrh extends beyond the staff. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fullers made take-home meal kits that customers could pick up directly from their front door. Not only did it help folks who were trapped indoors experience something special, but it also gave the couple something to do while the restaurant was closed. The Fullers believe this helped them build up such a strong reputation, and when they reopened their doors for indoor dining, many of their first customers were those who regularly ordered those meal kits.

The most notable moment in Oquirrh’s history, though, is Andrew’s James Beard semi-finalist nomination for Best Chef in the Mountain region in 2023. The semi-finalists list for Best Chef is incredibly small in the region—just under a dozen nominees—and in 2023, Andrew was the only nominee from Utah. “I feel incredibly humbled,” he says. “I am sad that we didn’t make it to the finalists list, but I am not dwelling on it. I want to keep cooking.” Andrew told me that neither he nor Angie were trying to be nominated for the James Beard, but that it just came to them. I think it’s this attitude that will continue to bring the Fullers and Oquirrh the national attention they deserve.

“I am sad that we didn’t make it to the finalists list, but I am not dwelling on it. I want to keep cooking.”

Oquirrh is small but feels very special and intimate. Adding to the community-forward approach the Fullers have taken, the couple also chooses local artists to hang their work on the wall. “Customers can, and have, bought the art right off the wall,” says Angie. With the upcoming spring and summer seasons, there are sure to be new dishes hitting Oquirrh’s menu. Along with the menu rotations, they are also looking to add new art to the walls as well. If you want to keep up with the restaurant, follow their Instagram @oquirrhslc.

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