Chef

Porter Koury

Discipline: Chef
Venue: Sitti's Table · Restaurant

Made By record

Awards & recognition

1 total

verified records

James Beard AwardSemifinalistBest Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY)2025

Portrait of Porter Koury

i. Biography

Porter Koury owns and operates Sitti's Table in Cody, Wyoming, United States, and the role places hospitality inside the day-to-day mechanics of the room. The work is visible at the threshold, on the plate, and in the pace of breakfast and lunch service, where the restaurant answers to both the kitchen and the expectations of the community around it. Koury frames that approach in relation to a grandmother’s table: “There was a point where the idea of my grandmother’s table and the explosion of freshness in her light and healthy food made us want to share a vibrant version of that with the community.” The line points to the restaurant’s center of gravity: memory translated into service, and nourishment treated as something to be shared in public.

The Essentials At Sitti's Table, the matbucha tartine with labneh and za'atar is the dish that sets the tone. It is a breakfast plate that has drawn lines for it, and that response says as much about structure as it does about appetite: brightness against depth, freshness against richness, familiarity adjusted by contrast. In the daily life of the restaurant, the tartine is not a side note. It is one of the dishes that defines the room’s morning rhythm and gives the place a clear signature. Because Koury is both owner and operator, the plate is tied directly to service rather than separated from it; it arrives as part of a working restaurant, shaped by repetition, timing, and the expectations of regular guests.

Signature

Porter's signature dish is the matbucha tartine, a breakfast item that has come to represent Sitti's Table in practical terms. Labneh and za'atar sharpen the dish’s profile, adding tang, texture, and aromatics to the matbucha tartine’s more grounded base. In a restaurant where ownership and operation sit with the same person, the signature functions as part of the house rhythm, not as an isolated specialty. It is a plate built to be recognized, ordered again, and understood quickly by diners who come in looking for the restaurant’s particular balance of comfort and freshness.

In Their Words “We loved making whatever we were passionate about and felt like doing, always rooted in French technique but with new and different ingredients and approaches.” “As we got in here and followed the passion from the community for what they have wanted, it has grown and changed and followed its own course.” Those comments describe a method that stays close to technique while leaving room for the room itself to shape the menu. The work is not presented as fixed; it shifts with what the community wants, and that responsiveness becomes part of the restaurant’s discipline. At Sitti's Table, the result is a practice rooted in memory and craft, but governed by the realities of service, where the plate has to earn its place every morning.

FAQ What is Porter Koury known for? Porter Koury is known for the matbucha tartine with labneh and za'atar at Sitti's Table. Where does Porter Koury work? Porter Koury works at Sitti's Table in Cody, Wyoming, United States. Who is Porter Koury? Porter Koury is the owner and operator of Sitti's Table.