Celeste Ristorante took the scenic route on its way to opening in an otherwise unremarkable strip mall in Murray, Utah. Tuscan-born chef Paolo Celeste originally moved to Salt Lake City in 1995, from the town of Versilia near the northwestern Italian city of Pisa.

Upon his arrival, he immediately opened a restaurant in Sugar House with a childhood friend. A decade later, the pair sold the restaurant, and Celeste returned to his native Versilia for a time. He later moved to Los Angeles to work for the Ago Grand company and helped the food-service-savvy Vietina family open restaurants in San Pedro, New York and San Diego.