One of our favorite local chefs recently made a shift to a brand new restaurant in town, Stanza. We’ve followed Phelix Gardner as he’s helped open new restaurants and changed up menus over the years, always enjoying what he comes up with, so, in a way, we knew we would love Stanza.

Not too long before Stanza opened our favorite ‘special occasion’ restaurant closed, Fresco.  This cosy spot had been our place to enjoy a comforting bowl of house-made pasta for years, celebrating anniversaries, pregnancies, and birthdays.  All that to say, not only were we excited about Stanza because of Phelix but we also we’re suddenly in the need for a new special spot for pasta.

We instantly enjoyed our Italian meal at Stanza, quickly throwing back big bites of cheese filled arancini, followed by a healthful bowl of arugula salad then onto our main squeeze… pasta.  I tried the agnolotti, small pillow-like pastas filled sometimes with cheese but in this case with pureed peas and served with fresh shrimp, early summer green veggies and topped with a shellfish sauce. It was elegant and tasteful and perfectly comforting, filling my pasta void. 

My masculine date ordered the special of the day, Bolognese, also served on housemade pasta.  He ate it up as if he were in Italy for the first time (he loves Italy and eats all of the Bolognese style pastas he can possibly find while we’re there!).

Finally, we ordered dessert, whether or not we saved room for it because… cherry buckle with buttermilk gelato, who can resist that?! We also tasted a few other gelato flavors, spicy honey and thai basil, both nearly stole the show at the end of our very tasty evening.

So, did we like Stanza?  Not only like but NEED!  There was a sudden void for good pasta and gelato in our lives and Stanza came through with flying colors!

Stanza
454 East 300 South

Ever since we drove up the hill to Park City to dine at The Nelson Cottage, I haven’t stopped talking about the meal with encountered.  Did you know High West Distillery just opened up a new pre-fix menu restaurant??  It’s easy to miss but its stealth is part of its charm.  The cute blue bungalow is just one door down from the popular, and often times hard to get into, High West Distillery restaurant and saloon.

While most locals and visitors choose their slopes based on ski conditions, when the ski conditions are as good as they are now in Utah, you might start to weigh in some other variables… like what food can you indulge with at lunch.  I primarily ski at Solitude and Deer Valley so I’m going to give you my favorites at those two resorts.  I would love to hear what food you hunt down after a few runs at other local resorts. Please comment with Utah Ski Resort food recommendations!

Deer Valley

Bald Mountain at Deer Valley is now serving Pho!  Yes that’s right, traditional Vietnamese Pho with aromatic beef broth that’s been slowly and meticulously cooked, thinly sliced Wagyu beef, rice noodles and all of the toppings you can imagine including house-made sriracha sauce. Also, at the Silver Lake Lodge you’ll find a taco bar with a grand assortment of choices from red chile, lime, and cilantro shrimp to Niman Ranch Pork carnitas.

If you’re dining at Deer Valley at night you won’t want to miss the Seared Scallop served on a pink Himalayan salt block (served at Seafood Buffet), The Harissa Rubbed Cornish Game Hen paired with a cornmeal sweet potato waffle (served at The Brass Tag), or the Bourbon Praline Ice Cream (served at the Mariposa).

Solitude

Solitude has really revamped their food selection this year!  At the Roundhouse Lodge you can find Indian curries and flatbread, at the Inn – a full breakfast buffet including homemade individual portioned quiche , and at Honeycomb Grill – a variety of fresh made soups and salads including seafood chowder.

If you want a special night out at Solitude, you absolutely must have dinner at the Yurt. The menu changes all the time there but I promise an adventurous evening of delicious food.  The yurt is located less than a mile from the village of Solitude and snowshoes and headlamps are provided for your jaunt up to the fun locale. Make reservations and bring all of your best friends for a truly magical night.

If you have been following me over on theVintageMixer.com, you’ve seen me journey through a quick 8 week Culinary School Program at Park City Culinary Institute.  As my program comes to a close we are preparing for a big graduation dinner.  This dinner is open to the public and I would like to extent a personal invitation to you!  Next Thursday, in the most beautiful aspen filled area of Deer Valley, you can experience a 5+ course meal plus wine pairings.  Our small class will be lead through the dinner service action by three of our instructors, who happen to be some of the best chefs in the area. I can promise you that nothing in this meal will disappoint. Come join us on this culinary adventure!

Here are the courses we will be serving:

Canapé Style Appetizers

Cured Scottish Salmon
English cucumbers, horseradish cream

Leek and Chorizo Risotto Cake
with smoked tomato jam

Miniature Cauliflower Panni Cotta
Pickled sweet onion and basil

Dinner

Chilled Poached Lobster
Carrot cardamom purée, pea shoots, carrot chip

Beet gnocchi
Lemon chèvre cream, shaved fennel, candied walnuts

Watercress and Butter Lettuce Salad
Dill-buttermilk dressing, dried apricot, pepitas, watermelon radish

Slow-Roasted Utah Elk Loin
Herb dust, quinoa, shaved asparagus, honey-rhubarb sauce

Seats must be reserved by this Friday (May 29), with full payment to reserve in advance. Dinner is $90 per person or $135 for dinner plus wine pairings. Call Park City Culinary Institute at 435-659-5075 to reserve your seat.

Park City Culinary School takes a well rounded approach to culinary school, teaching the skills while also creating beautiful meals. I’m only a week in but I can already tell that I’m going to be challenged far beyond my imagination during the next 7 weeks. Stay tuned on theVintageMixer.com and VintageMixer on Instagram for more updates. Contact Laurie@parkcityculinaryinstitute.com for more information regarding the school.

A city can never have enough breakfast and brunch spots. At least in my opinion they can’t!  Hub & Spoke Diner just opened in a cosy Salt Lake City neighborhood, and their menu is just as cosy as their food. Chef Phelix Gardner brings a modern spin on Southern Diner foods like Shrimp and Grits, Kentucky Brown and Sweet Potato Pancakes (or flapjacks if your from the South).

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to stray from their breakfast menu (and lucky for me it’s served all day) but if you’re not the breakfast type, there are lots of other great options.  Try their Fried Chicken Salad made with house-made buttermilk ranch, or the Patty Melt with Russian Dressing.  Also, you don’t have to eat like a Southerner here, they also offer plenty of lighter options like their Kale Tabbouleh Salad or the Tuna Melt.

While I’ve already given many reasons to make a visit to Hub & Spoke I’ll leave you with just a few more… pie, boozy milk shakes, and great coffee!  Pastry Chef Courtney McDowell has mastered the Southern classic pies like Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, French Silk, and Banana Cream Pie. Also, who does’t want to try a boozy milk shake, especially when they have flavors like Grasshopper and Irish Coffee.  Speaking of coffee, they serve our very biased favorite La Barba. No need to say more

Hub & Spoke Diner
MONDAY — SUNDAY:  7AM — 9PM
1291 South 1100 East

Though we’ve still been eating well and enjoying our great city to the fullest, our little blog here hasn’t had much attention.  We’ve been spending more time photographing some of the lovely establishments than writing about them.  Our latest project was photographing Pago for their website.  Visit PagoSLC.com to see more of our work, or better yet, go have a meal there!

A little background.

In January 2014 we got a call from Globe Pequot about writing a book about the Salt Lake dining scene.  After a few emails and phone calls, we were given a deadline of May 1, 2014 to deliver all content – 224 pages, 200 photos, 55,000 words, 80 recipes, 65 restaurant profiles, all while also caring for one infant (who went to every single restaurant except Forage).   Ninety days.  Not to mention Josh was opening Charming Beard’s cafe at the University of Utah during March of that year while also working half time at Missio Dei Community Church.  It was a busy time for sure, but it was certainly a labor of love.

There are a lot of writers and photographers in SLC, why did they choose us?  Great question.  We can’t completely explain that outside of rich blessing.  We take ownership of this city and believe its a privilege to be one of the talented voices and eyes telling and showing what’s happening around here.  Chef’s Table is basically a combination of both of Becky’s blogs – theSLCfoodie.com (profiles, personal interest stories, local food highlights, photography) and thevintagemixer.com (recipes, food photography).

On many levels, I think we made the publishers life a little easier by handling the writing and the photography (hopefully with a measure of competence).

Regardless of how we got here and the day to day task of getting it done, it’s done.  And it’s beautiful.  What makes us most proud is the hope that you would be proud – of this book, of the chef’s, of the restauranteurs, of the producers, of this city.  We may be small and unsuspecting compared to other urban settings, but our food and people behind the food are special.

The day is coming (and is perhaps already here) where Salt Lake City will be the place other cities look to for inspiration.  May this city and its people not lose its one-ness no matter its size or influence.

Cheers to SLC.

The book includes over 65 restaurants and 80 recipes!

Pick up a copy for yourself or for a holiday gift at these local stores and events:

Wellers Books – Book Signing on Dec 9th

Kings English – Book Signing on Jan 15th

Dolly’s Bookstore – Book Signing on Dec 21st

There’s a party coming.  A party celebrating a book we’re really excited to release to the public. Make sure you save a little holiday shopping money for the event. Books will be available for sale.

December 19 • evening
at CityHome COLLECTIVE
Save the Date
Details coming soon

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a class at the new Park City Culinary Institute and could hardly wait to tell you a bit about it!  For starters, if you missed my first post about the new Culinary school in Park City, here are the basics about the program.  Just a few weeks ago the fall program began with mastering delicate cake creations and cracking open the mysteries of shellfish. The students, from all stages of life, are wide-eyed, soaking in every new food fact and demonstration from the best local chefs and teachers.  While this course is currently in full swing the Spring program is now open for applicants so if you are at all interested, check out the Park City Culinary Institute website for more info!

I stood in for the Shellfish, Mollusks and Crustaceans Demonstration and enjoyed every golden nugget of info that I could get my briny, seafood soaked hands on! We cracked open oysters, steamed mussels with perfect timing and broke down lobster using every piece of the delicious edible creature. Adam, from Chia Cucina, taught not only the culinary facts about these sea creatures but also the down and dirty tips and tricks that he has learned from serving years in the industry himself. Students who came into class fearful of turning a live lobster into a full meal, left confident in quick and humane methods of lobster cooking. I got my hands dirty too, prying open gnarly oysters the first time in my life in the correct way.

And after it was over, we ate. Rather, we feasted!! The students get to share a meal like this after every class. Now this is the type of culinary school just about anyone would enjoy!

Here’s a little blurb on the institute:

Park City Culinary Institute offers a quality education that is shorter and more affordable than other schools.  The teaching chefs have over 20 years of experience, and the students are getting fought over for jobs.  St.Regis, Deer Valley, Stein’s, Montage, and other high-end restaurants have been recruiting students already… They are not only getting raises, they are getting offers for full-year employment. Chefs like James Dumas from High West Distillery are not only teaching classes, but he even invited the class to his house so students can see the food he prepares at home.  It’s an amazing opportunity. The facility is outfitted with flat screen TV’s, Go Pros, All-Clad pots and pans, and the students are being issued Wusthof Ikon knives.  This is unlike any other culinary school in the area.      

The next program starts April 13, and tuition is $6,495 for eight weeks. They also offer a Spring Break Boot Camp for High School students April 6-10.  Tuition if $495 if registered by March 1.