Walker Kessler's culinary adventures revealed as Jazz chef opens pop-up restaurant

SALT LAKE CITY — Ever since being hired by the Utah Jazz in 2018, chef Anthony Zamora has received messages from fans asking if they could come try his food.

His Instagram-worthy plates have been viewed through plenty of social media posts through the years, his cooking has been constantly praised by players, and general manager Justin Zanik has even gone so far as to call the Jazz practice facility the best restaurant in Salt Lake City.

But when asked the question, "the answer has always been no," Zamora said.

At least, until now.

On Saturday, the team unveiled The Jazzmen's Kitchen, a limited-time pop-up restaurant at the Delta Center that will feature three dishes — a chilled chicken bowl, beef empanadas, and crispy brussel sprouts — from the Jazz's expert chef. The restaurant will be open on home games through Jan. 3.

"I started dreaming about it over the summer," Zamora said. "I wanted to bring the fans a little bit of what we provide for our athletes."

So what's in store for Jazz fans that visit the new restaurant? To answer that, we turned to Walker Kessler; and in usual Kessler fashion, he had a story.

When Kessler arrived in Utah, he was a 21-year-old Waffle House-loving rookie who had just moved across the country for his first job. He figured it would help to get some cooking skills, so he turned to Zamora for guidance.

"I was expecting, 'all right, this is how you warm up mac and cheese,'" Kessler said.

Instead, it was: Here's how you make pasta from scratch.

"We rolled out the dough, we did the flour, the little bowl, egg in the middle, did the whole deal. It was really fun," Kessler said.

Soon "Walker Wednesday" became a weekly ritual where the Jazz's nutrition staff taught the young big man the ropes in the kitchen. They made crab ravioli together, they taught him how to prepare salmon (deboning and all), and let Kessler believe for a few moments he was a culinary wizard.

A year later, Kessler admitted his contributions to those meals were about "as much as a kindergartener does their own school projects." Zamora, though, gave him a bit more credit.

Zamora said Kessler kept up those habits he formed during those early weeks, and he thinks that helped him avoid a major rookie wall. Zamora and Utah's dietary and culinary staff were so impressed that they nominated Kessler for the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitian Association Athlete of the Year.

But the real question when it comes to the newly opened Jazzmen's Kitchen: Is the food good?

Zamora's dishes come highly recommended by Kessler and just about everyone else in the Jazz organization (this reporter recommends the empanadas).

"My background is as a registered dietician, and then I learned how to cook at a more high level," Zamora said.

That knowledge creates a fun dynamic.

Zamora looks at food first as fuel. He figures out what players need before and after practices, and what would best help them on game day, and then tries to turn that into a "beautiful plate of food that tastes good."

In nearly six years with the Jazz, he's proven to be pretty good at doing just that.

For the pop-up restaurant, there are not as many nutritional needs to consider — after all, fans have cheered on their team with heavily deep-fried snacks and sweet treats for years — so he was able to put in some "fun dishes."

And when he gets asked if someone can come and try his food, he can finally answer yes.

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