The Utah Restaurant Association dished up a surprise to The Silver Star Café owners Jeff and Lisa Ward this week.
Executive Director Melva Sine presented them with the Golden Spoon Award, the association’s highest honor that recognizes “high standards, outstanding achievements and many years of dedication to the food service industry,” during the 2024 Restaurateurs of the Year for the State of Utah Gala on Wednesday at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City.
“To be singled out is exciting and very humbling,” Lisa said. “It’s also an award we wish we could share, because there are so many others who work as hard as we do. And they deserve recognition as well.”
The Utah Restaurant Association is a non-profit, member-based organization that represents the voice of the food service industry throughout Utah, said Melva Sine, the association’s chief executive officers and president.
“The Utah Restaurant Association has been the voice of the restaurant and food service industry for more than 80 years for the purpose of honoring a restaurant owner/operator nominated by their peers to be recognized for their dedication and passion operating a successful restaurant,” she said.
The Golden Spoon Award was created in 1960, according to Sine.
“Honorees are chosen from nomination forms returned to the association office email address,” she said. “A committee then reviews all of the applications and selects an award winner based on the years of operation, menu and location.”
All factors involved in the restaurant operation are reviewed and the selection is a ballot process after the final review of the nominees, Sine said.
“I know the committee was impressed with the challenges faced and overcome by the Silver Star surviving the (coronavirus) pandemic and now thriving,” she said.
Although COVID-19 shut down in-restaurant dining at The Silver Star Café, the Wards continued serving takeaway dinners and social-distanced outdoor dining.
The eatery was also one of the first restaurants to offer live music by safely bringing back its Park City Limits dinner concerts with the requirement that the musicians play six feet apart from patrons and each other.
Through it all, the Wards continued to pay their staff, thanks to federal CARES Act financing, Lisa said.
“We have 40 employees that we are responsible for,” she said. “We have an obligation to everybody who works with us to ensure they have a livelihood and that their families are protected.”
Because pushing through all of those challenges was a regular part of the Wards’ everyday business philosophy, they didn’t expect to be recognized for doing that during Wednesday’s gala.
“This was the first big award that was given out during the evening,” Lisa said. “Melva got up to say some things, and I realized that she was talking about us. I teared up, because she said a lot of nice things about us. It’s very nice to be recognized at this point in our career, and we’re still pinching ourselves.”
“It was very surreal, and it was slow to dawn on me the significance of the acknowledgement,” Jeff said.
Looking back, the Wards said they should have known the Restaurant Association was brewing something.
“They asked for a resume and invited us to come out, but we didn’t know why,” Lisa said. “So we put together a little bit of a bio and sent it on their way.”
The award comes in time for the Silver Star Café’s 14th anniversary.
The Wards started the restaurant, located at 1825 Three Kings Drive, with the idea of creating a warm and welcoming gathering place that celebrates diverse regional American foods, paired with live, acoustic-roots music.
Throughout the years, it has won many culinary awards and has been featured three times on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” hosted by Guy Fieri.
One of the comments during Wednesday night’s gala made Jeff reflect on his career as a restaurateur.
“It talked about how the restaurant industry isn’t a job, but a lifestyle, and that’s really accurate,” he said. “So it does feel nice to receive that acknowledgement, because this has been our lifestyle for all of our adult lives.”
Lisa agreed.
“(The Silver Star Café) has also been the lifestyle of our families, and we as restaurant owners know about the missed birthday parties and the missed sports events and band recitals as well as the holidays,” she said. “And our families have had to understand that.”
Although the award was given to the Wards, they said it really belongs to their whole staff, including Chef Derek Gherkins, General Manager John Butler, Service Lead Carla Good and a slew of sous chefs and servers, many of whom have been with the café since the beginning.
“Lisa and I are fully aware that this acknowledgement singles us out, but the success of the restaurant and the consistency of the restaurant couldn’t happen without the team we have and its commitment and professionalism as well,” Jeff said.
“Utah has incredible restaurants and incredible owners and operators and it’s made up of people who support each other in every way,” Lisa said. “They all root for each other and really want each other to be successful.”
Jeff said many of these restaurateurs, vendors and supporters work just as hard as he and Lisa do.
“We wish we could share this award with them,” he said.
For information about the Silver Star Café and its acoustic music dinner shows, visit thesilverstarcafe.com.