Crumbs in my 'Stache: Park City is decadent and depraved: partly an eating tale
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
By Ben Cannon
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Okay, so maybe Park City isn’t really all that decadent or depraved. I mean, it very well could be and probably is, in part, those things. But for me, it was pretty mellow and relaxing during a recent visit there and to some other Utah ski area nearby. Obviously Park City, fed by Salt Lake City and the growing population center in northern Utah, is by all accounts much more urbanized than is Jackson Hole. But it’s also no coincidence that there is a growing fervor in this valley among some community decision makers to build urban roundabouts at future road junctions in the valley.
Yes, you’ve just read in this dining column, a wholly non-credible source for non-food news, that soon Teton County may not only boast cosmopolitan indicators like stoplights, numerous Thai and sushi restaurants and a new late-night pizzeria, but also roundabouts. Actually, the owner of that pizzeria came to this valley from Park City.
So why the heck am I inanely going on about roundabouts and a vague connection between Park City and Jackson Hole without having mentioned anything about food yet? Good question. Food writer’s block maybe? I digress.
/>We did eat well in Park City, and found good food again in Little Cottonwood Canyon, where two honest and modestly operated ski resorts – Snowbird and Alta – continue to inspire skiers.
For its part, Park City experienced a dining and nightlife boom with the 2002 winter Olympics. We ate at Zoom and 350 Main, both of them popular restaurants known for satisfying hundreds nightly with hearty, upscale cuisine at a fair price. At Robert Redford’s Zoom, which has a contemporary dining room and vaulted ceilings, we enjoyed hearty dishes like succulent roasted chicken and warm jalapeno crab dip.
Meanwhile the seafood at 450 Main, including lobster coconut bisque and Hapu`upu`u, a Hawaiian preparation of sea bass, done over blue wasabi mashers, were flavorful and filling.
We began both meals with a martini, which in Utah requires only a small glass, due to the state’s convoluted and draconian liquor laws. Facing a frightening and deepening economic recession, however, there is a revitalized push in Utah to reform the state’s liquor laws, which include a 3.2-percent alcohol-by-volume cap on most beers (for instance all draught beer, but not some locally made bottled brews) and a one that requires bartenders to carefully measure all hard alcohol poured. Booze sales (history proves) remain strong even in financially hard times, and tax revenue from that could benefit the state.
The resort and food and beverage industries, meanwhile, have long argued that Utah has a hard time going up against resorts in, say, Colorado, where visitors can enjoy themselves – or at least their libations – more freely. And Utah’s alcohol law reform lobby is right: two bottles of reduced alcohol beer, after the $4 purchase of a temporary membership at an après ski bar in Park City, cost us nearly $20. That’s more than we would have paid for a round of beer even at the luxurious Amangani here in Jackson Hole.
At the Goldminer’s Daughter, one of the few lodges at the base of the unpretentious Alta ski resort, rooms evoked an inexpensive pension hotel in skiing Europe, and dinner is included in the price.
I won’t bore you by recalling many details about the surprising quality of the food at the Goldminer’s Daughter, like roasted beef tenderloin in a peppercorn sauce, but will say visiting that hotel, like Alta, Wyo.’s own Teepee Lodge near Grand Targhee, must be among the most memorable lodging experiences in all of American skiing. PJH
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Crumbs in my 'Stache: Park City is decadent and depraved: partly an eating tale | Planet JH News Article: Restaurants And Dining
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