Forty Three Bakery
Address: 733 Genesee Avenue
Telephone: 435-962-1628
Website: fortythreebakery.com
District: Poplar Grove
“I grew up in a trailer without electricity or water, under a tarp roof. We did not have much, but I had loving parents who worked so hard, and we always sat down for dinner together. That meant everything to me.” Those humble beginnings shaped Andrew Corrao, chef and owner of Forty Three Bakery, a space he has built with equal parts grit and heart.
Raised in Monticello, a small rural town in southeastern Utah, Andrew admits that school never held his attention - sitting at a desk for forty minutes “was torture” - but he thrived in activities like drama and debate. At fourteen, he found his first job at his great aunt’s pizza restaurant and discovered a lifelong passion. “I loved hospitality. I loved taking care of people. I loved food.”
Andrew’s passions led to culinary school at Utah Valley University in 2007. “For the first time, education made sense. I could be on my feet, grow, and learn in ways that mattered.” After graduating in 2009, Andrew committed to starting at the bottom, cooking in corporate kitchens and steakhouses to master the fundamentals.
By 2011, Andrew took off for a year abroad, backpacking through New Zealand, Bali, and Australia. “It was my gap year, and everything I did was still hospitality.” Returning home, he ran catering and a café at UVU, began competing in culinary competitions throughout the U.S., earned certifications from the American Culinary Federation, and taught as an adjunct instructor.
In 2015, Andrew became the pastry and banquet chef at Hotel Monaco in downtown Salt Lake, a role he describes as demanding but rewarding. “No job is perfect, but you find the good, and you work through the hard days.” He managed the hotel’s catering and banquet program for several years, gaining experience that deepened his skills in both pastry and hospitality.
At the same time, competition became a driving force in Andrew's career. He earned recognition as best pastry chef in the Western United States, competed nationally, and tried out for the U.S. Culinary Olympic Team - the group that would represent the United States at the 2020 Culinary Olympics in Germany. Training with the team meant traveling monthly to cities across the country to practice with fellow chefs, while honing his skills independently in between.
To perfect his skills even more, for a brief time in 2018, Andrew chose to work under Oscar Ortega, a world-renowned chocolate master, at his pastry and chocolate shop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Later that year, Andrew competed with the U.S. team at the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg where they earned a bronze medal. “I always thought it made me better,” he said. “I would hyper-focus on one skill until I mastered it. Forty hours a week in a job wasn’t enough for me - I’d practice another forty on top of that. I loved the work.”
That same year, Andrew returned to Salt Lake and launched his own business out of a commissary kitchen. He first called it Struesel SLC, a name he thought was simple and catchy, but quickly learned most people confused “streusel” with a pastry rather than a crumb topping. The misunderstanding convinced him to change the name when he eventually opened his own bakery. In those early years, he sold wholesale pastries to country clubs, coffee shops, and restaurants, and became a fixture at farmers markets. When the pandemic shut down wholesale, he pivoted to a small grab-and-go counter, which carried him through until 2023 when he was finally able to open his own brick and mortar.
The name Forty Three Bakery is a nod to Salt Lake City itself - at an elevation of 4,300 feet - and to the heights Andrew aims for in every loaf of bread, pastry, plate of pasta, and cup of coffee served. The logo carries the same sense of place, with the letters F and 3 cleverly intertwined to form the shape of Utah. Both choices anchor the bakery not just in Andrew’s story, but in the community it calls home.
The 5,300-square-foot industrial warehouse was not the easiest choice. Andrew’s contractors abandoned the project, leaving him to finish construction himself. But Andrew was not deterred. A longtime customer who served on the Salt Lake City Council had first tipped him off to the space, knowing the neighborhood needed something like it. “I was emotionally connected from the first moment I walked in. I wasn’t afraid of hard work.” He built tables, walls, and even salvaged beams from his childhood trailer to use as counters. Today he calls it an “urban oasis,” a place where guests step in from the gritty streets outside and immediately feel they can exhale. And then there is the light. As evening falls, Andrew says, “When the sun sets, it feels golden.”
Today, Forty Three Bakery is both a bakery and full restaurant. In the morning, guests can stop by the lounge for coffee and pastries; at brunch, the menu expands to toasts, pastas, and pizzas; and by evening, the dining room transforms into a full-service restaurant. Inspired by his Italian heritage and local farms, Andrew changes the menu four times a year to reflect the seasons, with a plethora of breads and pastas.
Andrew’s plated desserts, honed through competition, are refined yet balanced. One, Strawberry Fields, combines lemon cheesecake, black pepper cake, strawberries, and peas - an unexpected pairing that feels natural. "They grow together in the field, why shouldn't they exist together in a recipe?"
Andrew is proud of what he has built, but he wants people to understand the deeper motivation. “I live a humble, simple life and I work hard because I love what I do. What I wish people understood is that every small business is built on a why. For me, it is hospitality - making sure people feel valued when they walk through our doors. Too often, customers focus only on the what or the how, without pausing to consider the person behind it. I believe diners should seek to understand, not be understood. If more people did that, small business owners would feel the same passion to keep going that inspired them to begin in the first place.”
