Posts Tagged ‘savor the summit’
Foodies far and wide come to the table for Savor the Summit
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009New Haven Register
Stephen Fries
My discovery of Savor the Summit, Park City’s celebration of food and music, began while visiting my family in Florida, where a similar event modeled after Park City’s took place.
After a phone call to the event organizer in Park City, I attended the event, which is sponsored by Park City’s Restaurant Association and Jazz Foundation. The itinerary included participation in Savor the Summit’s Grande Table, interviews with many chefs and restaurateurs, a visit with the events director of the Sundance Film Festival, a visit with the caterer at the Olympic Ski Park, and a morning of horseback riding which allowed me to see spectacular scenery from a mountaintop.
Picture this: More than 1,000 guests dining on historic Main Street, literally on the street, seated at an endless table. Guests chose from 20 participating restaurants to enjoy this experience. Prices ranged from $30-$150, depending on the restaurant chosen. Seven jazz bands performed.
My host was 350 Main Brasserie, www.350main.com, where Chef Michael Le Clerc and General Manager Jeff Ward created a five-course dinner with wine pairings. The menu included:
1st course: Organic Lobster-Potato Chowder with Roasted Corn and Parmesan Croutons
2nd course: Seared Wild Alaskan Salmon with Leek Confit and Red Wine Butter and Pickled Shallots
3rd course: Double-Cut Idaho Lamb Chops With Mushroom-Caramelized Onion Jus, Cheesy Grits and Zucchini Saute
Dessert: Honey Baked Apple with Vanilla Ice Cream, Black Pepper, Caramel and Assorted Cookies.
Chef Le Clerc, a Waterbury native, has sautéed his way through some of the finest restaurants in the world. His most notable work was in the kitchen of Jamin, Joel Robuchon?s Michelin three-star restaurant in Paris. He has been featured in Bon Appetit, Food Arts, Town & Country and Rachel Ray. The 20-year chef would like to share a recipe from this menu with you and his friends and family in Connecticut:
ORGANIC LOBSTER-POTATO CHOWDER
- 2 pound organic butter
- 1 organic red bell pepper, diced
- 1 organic carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 organic yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 2 pounds organic potatoes, peeled and diced and soaked in coldwater
- 1 quart organic lobster stock
- 1 quart organic half-and-half
- 1 cup organic corn kernels, roasted
- ½ pound lobster meat, rough chopped; do not chop too fine
- ½ pound organic cornstarch
- ¼ pound organic Parmesan
- Parmesan croutons, optional
In at least a 1 ¼ gallon heavy duty, thick-bottomed pot, melt butter and sweat peppers, carrots and onions for 10 minutes on medium-high. Add potatoes, stock and half-and-half; simmer for 1 ½ hours. Add roasted corn.
Puree about half of the soup to give it some body. Return pureed soup to the main batch, re-simmer and add lobster meat.
Mix cornstarch with 1 cup water. Pour a steady stream of about half of the cornstarch slurry directly into simmering soup.
Let it come back to a simmer and check consistency; if too thin, add a little cornstarch. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with Parmesan croutons, and a sprinkle of Parmesan. Serves 8.
My itinerary included lunch at the Deer Valley Resort where I traveled on a ski-lift to have lunch. Nothing compares to dining after a scenic trip up a mountain.
Julie Wilson, the food and beverage director, ordered a tasting lunch that included the Park City signature cocktail. Bonnie Ulmer, a bartender at the Deer Valley Resort, concocted this winner of the fourth annual Cocktail Contest and which is served at many area restaurants. To see winning recipes and photos from prior years, go to www.stephenfries.com.
A visit from Letty Halloran Flatt, executive pastry chef at the Deer Valley Resort, was an added treat. Being an avid cookbook collector, I was delighted to meet Letty and receive a copy of her cookbook, “Chocolate Snowball,” which offers 125 of the resort’s tried-and-true recipes for breakfast treats, bread, cookies and ice creams as well as pies and tarts, elegant cakes and one-of-a-kind desserts a mouthwatering blend of Letty’s years of experience and her penchant for fresh, natural flavors.
CHOCOLATE SNOWBALL CAKE
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped in ½ -inch pieces
- 1 cup strong coffee
- 1 cup sugar
- ¾ pound unsalted butter, softened
- 6 eggs, beaten lightly
Frosting
- 1.5 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 15-20 fresh edible flowers for garnish
Put chocolate in a saucepan. Pour the coffee over, which will melt some of the chocolate. Place over medium heat; add sugar and stir with a wire whisk to dissolve the sugar and any unmelted chocolate. Add butter gradually, a dollop at a time, whisking until the butter is incorporated before adding the next dollop. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
Slowly whisk beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture. Pour through a strainer into the foil-lined bowl. Discard any firm bits of egg that remain in the strainer. Bake 50-55 minutes, until the batter rises and a cracked top crust forms. The mixture will still jiggle, like molded gelatin. Resist the urge to bake it a little more; the butter and chocolate set up when chilled.
Let the cake cool. Fold overlapping foil over the top and refrigerate at least 8 hours, keeping the cake in the bowl. It will keep for up to a week if refrigerated and well wrapped in plastic wrap. (It is best to store the cake in the bowl, but once it is cold, you can invert the dome onto a cardboard circle- but do not remove the foil wrapper. Wrap the foil-enclosed dome in plastic wrap.) The cake can also be frozen for up to a month; thaw in refrigerator before frosting.
To frost and serve, remove plastic wrap from the bowl. (If you have taken the cake out of the bowl for storage, invert it back in the bowl.) Pull the overlapping foil away from the cake. The cake will have fallen in the center; to make the top (or what will be the bottom of the cake) flat and even, press the raised outer edges down, or trim the extra with a knife. Place a flat serving plate or cardboard circle over the bowl and invert. Gently remove the foil.
Whip cream with the sugar and vanilla until the cream comes to soft peaks that hold their shape. Put the cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe stars, covering the dome completely. If you wish, decorate with edible flowers or chocolate shavings or crystallized flowers. Makes 1 cake.
My journey also included a visit with Carin De Milo, manager of festival events for the Sundance Institute, and she asked me to assist her in bringing a visiting chef from Connecticut to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Stay tuned.
For more recipes from my Park City dining experiences including, Wahso, Wasatch Brewery, Shabu and Done To Your Taste caterers at the Olympic Ski Park, go to www.stephenfries.com. Here you will find highlights and a photo diary of the trip as well. I hope this column has piqued your interest in visiting Park City, Utah. By the way, Savor the Summit, Park City’s Wine & Jazz Festival is scheduled for the third weekend in June of 2010.
Contact Stephen Fries, professor and coordinator of the Hospitality Management Programs at Gateway Community College, at gw-stephen.fries@gwcc.commnet.edu or Dept. FC, Gateway Community College, 60 Sargent Drive, New Haven 06511. Include your full name, address and phone number. Due to volume, I might not be able to publish every request. For more, go to www.stephenfries.com.
Savor the Summit
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009The Grande Table
Park City’s longest dinner party on Main Street took place Friday, June 20th. Named The Grande Table, as a part of the Savor the Summit weekend, the event was a total sell-out for all restaurants involved.
Over 600 diners joined together to enjoy the beautiful early summer weather, the 5 stages of live jazz music, and the culinary delights of dining OUT in Park City.
Here’s what some participants are saying:
“Thank you so much for including us in the Savor the Summit event on Friday. We had a great turnout, I started with 20, we finished at 66 guests. We are looking forward to next year’s event.”
Regis
Jean Louis Restaurant
“You have done so much for the community! Last night was a huge success. I believe everyone had a fantastic time. You made some awesome selections on the musicians for the venue. I was just in LA last weekend for the 30th annual Playboy Jazz Festival and I believe YOU TOPPED IT!!! GREAT JOB.”
Congratulations!
Jenece Lemon
Redstone Gallery Director
“We had 2 reservations, until we ran a special on our website to coincide with Savor the Summit, and then we were sold out.”
Jean Carlan
Washington School Inn
The Grande Picnic
The easiest, most elegant picnic you’ll ever attend. Bring your friends and a blanket and leave the rest to us. Presented at City Park on Saturday of Savor the Summit, this afternoon event includes 3 hours of live jazz music, unlimited beer and wine, and upscale picnic plates prepared by regional artisanal food producers.
Some of the 2008 producers were: Copper Moose Organic Farm, Morgan Valley Lamb, Amano Artisan Chocolate, Beehive Cheese, Apple Beer, Dolcetti Gelato, Shabu Restaurant, Done to your Taste Catering, and more.
Wine presented by Gallo Family of Wines and beer provided by Wasatch Beers.
This weekend: Stop traffic in Park City, UT
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Budget Travel
JD Rinne
Dining al fresco on a warm summer evening is a real treat, especially when you’re dining in the middle of Main Street.
The second annual Savor the Summit event in Park City, Utah, will shut down traffic along Main on Friday night, making way for The Grande Table. More than 20 restaurants will serve special menus. Free live music will play in seven spots. Last year, about 600 people participated.
While in Park City, take advantage of free gallery events and street dancing with bands like New Voodoo Swing scheduled to play, you know there will be impromptu dancing plus, there’s a beer, wine, and cocktail tent open to the public with drinks for purchase.
Reservations are still available at a few of the restaurants. The forecast? Sunny and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Call 435-565-3812 for more information.
Sit at Park City’s Longest Table
Monday, June 8th, 2009Salt Lake Tribune: Bite by Bite
Kathy Stephenson
Unless you have a HUGE family, you probably will never sit at a longer table than the one being set June 19 in Park City.
For The Grand Table event, 21 restaurants will place linen-covered tables down the middle of historic Main Street, then serve guests a special meal al fresco. The event kicks off the Savor The Summit Food, Wine and Jazz Festival.
Only two of the 21 restaurants are sold out: Deer Valley’s Royal Street Cafe and Riverhorse on Main. So plenty of tickets are still available. Prices vary depending on where you want to eat.
Wasatch Brew Pub looks to be the most affordable option at $36. Price includes beer, but not tip.
The recently opened Bridge Cafe and Grill is offering a four-course meal for $38 (or $45 if you want to enjoy Caipirinha, a Brazilian specialty drink.).
And Cisero’s is serving a three-course meal for $45 plus tax and tip. Wine is additional.
The rest of the restaurants range from $60 to about $100 for dinner. Add $25 to $30 more if you want wine pairings. Here’s a list of participating restaurants. Each one lists the menu, prices and number to call for a reservation.
Table Talk
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Deseret News
Compiled by Valerie Phillips
The Park City Restaurant Association has invited Martha Stewart to attend its “Grande Table” during the city’s annual “Savor the Summit” event on June 19. As part of this effort, Park City Mayor Dana Williams and several Park City restaurant officials sent Stewart a video invitation.
The PCRA wants others to visit the organization’s YouTube page and post their own appeal to Stewart here.
Want more information about this event?
Saving a Seat for Martha
Thursday, May 7th, 2009The Salt Lake Tribune
Kathy Stephenson
Saving a Seat for Martha
It’s a long shot.
But The Park City Restaurant Association has invited Martha Stewart to attend its “Savor the Summit” event on June 19. It sent an 80-second video to the domestic maven last week. No word yet if she’ll accept.
In the video, Park City Mayor Dana Williams talks about the historic mining town’s skiing, food and mountain beauty. Then, with the help of a few restaurant employees and chefs, he invites her to attend the Summit’s “Grand Table.” For the event, restaurants create one long table down Main Street and serve dinner to hundreds of guests all at the same time.
It’s a chance for everyone in Park City, as well as all Utahn, to celebrate the food, culture and beauty of our town,” said Paul Brown, an association board member. “We think it would be wonderful to share the event with someone who is known for celebrating those very same things.”
Utahns can help the “Bring Martha to Park City” campaign. Just watch the YouTube video here, then post a comment letting Stewart know we’re saving her a seat.
Table Talk
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Deseret News
Valerie Phillips
Savor the Summit takes place Friday and Saturday as part of the Park City Jazz Summit. On Friday night, the Grande Table will be set up along the middle of Park City’s Main Street, and dinner will be served al fresco with live jazz music in the background. Reservations must be made with participating restaurants: 350 Main Brasserie, Riverhorse on Main, Shabu, Purple Sage, Cisero’s Ristorante, Yuki Arashi, Cafe Terigo, Deer Valley’s Royal Street Cafe, Jean Louis, The Eating Establishment, Bandits Grill and Bar, Done to Your Taste Catering, and Java Cow. Prices range from around $25 for Baja Cantina to $85 for 350 Main Brasserie.
On Saturday afternoon, the Grande Picnic takes place in the City Park. Diners can enjoy picnic fare from local purveyors and enjoy live jazz music. Grande Picnic tickets are $50 each (435-940-1362 or parkcityjazzfoundation.vpweb.com).
Submit announcements to Valerie Phillips, food editor, Deseret News, 30 E. 100 South, P.O. Box 1257, Salt Lake City, UT 84110 or http://vphillips@desnews.com.
Main Street prepares to savor the summit
Saturday, June 14th, 2008Greg Marshall
When 300 diners take their seats at 7 p.m. at the Grand Table Friday, they will enjoy gourmet food, wine, live music and plenty of company.
Just don’t ask to pass the salt.
“It’s theoretically one continuous table,” said Christie Dilloway, one of the key organizers for Savor the Summit. “But it’s going to be broken up with different stages.”
Dilloway is Park City Jazz Foundation’s director of special events. She has helped organize the event since it was conceived in September. “I think people are really excited about the table on Main Street,” she said. “We’ve been trying to bring an event to Park City in the off-season for quite a while. . . . We really want all Park City, young and old, to take advantage of the jazz music.”
Savor the Summit is a two-day food, wine and jazz festival that features a table set down the middle of Main Street Friday and an afternoon picnic in City Park the following day.
The Grand Table event starts Friday at 6 p.m. and includes a toast to the town. Tickets can be bought from participating restaurants for a variety of prices. The Grand Picnic Saturday, June 21, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., lets visitors sample regionally produced food prepared as gourmet picnic fare at City Park. Tickets are $50.
The Grand Table will run from about 550 Main Street to The Wasatch Brew Pub at the southern end of the street with a block break for a beer and wine garden, a street dancing party and a main stage.
“It’s everything you need for a Park City weekend,” Dilloway said. There’s been a lot of local interest. It’s really driving interest and revenue to Park City restaurants.”
Tickets have been a hot sell, organizers say, and a few of the 15 restaurants participating in Savor the Summit are already sold out.
“It’s a great opportunity for restaurants to strut their stuff,” said 350 Main Brasserie General Manager Jeff Ward. “What I like about it is that it’s a locally conceived and executed event.”
350 Main is offering a five-course dinner with a grilled farmer’s market salad and an ahi dish among other confections. The restaurant, which has 50 seats for Savor the Summit, was one of the first to sell out. “It was word of mouth,” Ward said. “I think it’s going to be a good event. Busy is good.”
Ward said his restaurant has loaned out its downstairs kitchen to Deer Valley Resort and Done to Your Taste Catering. He hopes to fill its regular dining room Friday evening as well as its outdoor seating. “It’s going to be a different experience,” Ward admitted, “because we’ll be serving people so far from the kitchen. And the tables aren’t going to be on level ground. But what can we do? We can’t build a patio on Main Street.”
Not all restaurants are selling out. Bandits Grill and Bar hasn’t had as many bites for Savor the Summit as other establishments. Although the restaurant plans to have street-seating for 40, customers have reserved just four seats for the event, according to manager Kyle Moore.
“We’re not nervous,” he said. “If we don’t fill up [with reservations] they’ll still be people walking around outside. It’ll just be a seat-yourself sort of thing.”
Organizers planned Savor the Summit for June 20 and 21 to coincide with the International Mountain Bicycling Association’s World Summit 2008 being held in Park City from June 18 to the 21. The event is expected to attract about 4,000 visitors to the Snyderville Basin. “June isn’t the busiest month for us,” Ward said. “We wanted to do a signature event at the front side of the whole summer season and leverage the two together.”
The Music School of Park City is holding its annual Jam Camp over the same weekend. The rock school brings talented musicians-in-residence and about 150 students from across the country to Park City. They will play jazz, funk and blues on stages up and down Main Street for Savor the Summit. Some of the performers are students, and some are Grammy winning musicians such as saxophonist Jeff Coffin and Ron Blake of the Saturday Night Live Band. “It’s going to be a blast,” Caleb Chapman of the Jam Camp said. “From a musician’s standpoint, we’re really excited about the idea of bringing some of the greatest jazz players on the planet together. It’ll be great to be in the audience and see what happens.”
Dilloway said the jam camp gave organizers a compelling roster of performers for the event. “We’re trying to piggy back off the jam camp,” Dilloway said. “It’s jazz at its essence. Having individuals come together and play off each other.”
Some of the stages will feature never-before-heard combinations of guitarists, trumpet players, saxophonists and trombone players from the school’s “faculty of funk.”
The Grand Picnic Saturday features some of those same jazz performers. The picnic in City Park will give people a chance to get to know local farmers and ranchers, Dilloway said. “It’s an upscale picnic,” she said. “We’re trying to stay as local as possible.”
Morgan Valley Lamb, Utah Trout and Copper Creek Farms are providing some of the local fare. Dilloway said organizers were making an effort to include not just local farmers, but local picnickers, too.
“You can’t do an event that excludes locals,” Dilloway said.
The Grande Table
Friday, June 20
Park City’s longest dinner party, at a table set right down the middle of Main Street.
6 to10 p.m.
Reservations accepted by each participating restaurant. Dinner prices vary per restaurant depending on the menu offered.
Riverhorse On Main:435-649-3536
Five-course dinner $75. Seating is limited.
Shabu:
435-640-6512
Chef Robert Valeka’s four-course tasting menu of Asian fusion cuisine $50
Yuki Arashi:
435-649-6293
Sushi and Japanese specialties
Purple Sage:
435-655-9505
Baja Cantina:
435-649-BAJA
A favorite with the Locals offering fabulous Mexican food. Offering “Roll your Own Gringo” Burrito(beef, chicken, or pork), plus dessert for only $24.99 including tax & gratuity.
Bistro 412:
435-649-8211
American Bistro setting with a French flair four-course meal with various selections: $50 per person inclusive tax and gratuity.
Cisero’s Ristorante & Nightclub:
435-649-5044
Three-course Italian Dinner with many selections $29 including tax and gratuity.
Cafe Terigo:
435-645-9555
Jean-Louis:
435-200-0260
The Eating Establishment:
435-649-8284
Bandits Grill and Bar:
435-649-7337
Done To Your Taste Catering:
435-649-7803
Cows:
435-647-7711
Serving something for the kids. Buffet kid-friendly food, and a place at The Grande Table. Reservations not required.
350 Main Brasserie, Wasatch Brew Pub and Royal Street Cafe are sold out.
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
The Grande Picnic, 3 to 6 p.m. at City Park
Tickets are $50.
The Grande Table
Friday, Main Street
All music is free and open to the public
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Top of Main Jazz Combo 1
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Main Street Mall Jazz Duo
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Main Stage The Blue Wailers
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Claim Jumper Stage Jazz Combo 3
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Top of Main Jam Combo 4
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Main Street Mall Jam Combo 5
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Main Stage New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Jazz Quintet*
7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Claim Jumper Stage Jam Combo 6 p.m.
8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Miners Plaza The Crescent Super Band ** see description below
8:30 p.m.-9:30 Main Stage The Faculty of Funk* see description below
9:30 p.m. to end Lance Levar’s Community Drum Circle
All members of the community are welcome to join in and greet summer for the Solstice
Main Street: tasty, tasty
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008Park Record
Jay Hamburger
Restaurants might serve dinner one night on a huge table on the popular street
Park City restaurants, in what would remind longtime Parkites of the olden-day Taste of Park City events, want to set up a line of tables on Main Street one day this summer and serve people al fresco.
The restaurateurs plan to partner with the foundation that organizes the annual Park City Jazz Festival for what is being billed as Savor the Summit. It is planned June 20-21, a Friday and Saturday, with the Main Street event on Friday. The Park City Council must decide whether to allow Savor the Summit, and a decision will likely be made in late May.
The event would be held a few weeks before the traditional start of Park City’s summertime tourism season, and many businesses on Main Street will probably back the event as a way to draw crowds on a weekend that otherwise might be slow.
Kris Severson, the executive director of the Park City Jazz Foundation, says Savor the Summit would coincide with a convention for jazz musicians planned in mid-June. Musicians would perform during the Main Street event, perhaps on one main stage and four smaller ones, he says.
“This isn’t like a dentist convention. These are performing artists,” Severson says.
The Friday night plans are the most ambitious, with the jazz foundation and the Park City Restaurant Association wanting to close down Main Street to traffic and then put up a row of picnic tables on the street. Restaurants would then serve people sitting at the tables. The organizers want it to become the “worldest longest dinner/banquet table,” paperwork submitted to City Hall says.
Severson says about 15 restaurants have told him they will participate, and he expects more will sign up later. He says the organizers especially want Main Street restaurants participating, but a few others might come from other parts of Park City.
The restaurants would each have about 40 seats at the picnic tables, he says, estimating about 500 diners would be seated during the event. Other people would also visit Main Street that night, Severson expects, bringing more business to the area’s best-known shopping, dining and entertainment strip.
There will not be a charge to be on Main Street that night, but the food will be for sale. Severson plans to put up a wine garden as well. In a release about Savor the Summit, the organizers say a drum circle and street dance are also planned.
The Savor the Summit organizers want to start the Main Street event at 7 p.m., but details have not been decided. Talks continue between the organizers and City Hall, and it is unclear whether the entire length of Main Street will be closed to traffic.
Bill White, a restaurateur with Grappa, Chimayo and Wahso on Main Street, says he may participate, but he says it will be a “difficult task” because he prefers diners enjoy the settings of his places along with the meals.
“When we charge for a restaurant, it’s not just for the food in front of you . . . It’s a complete experience,” White says.
He says Grappa, which is at the southern end of the street, will not be part of the event because it sits too far away.
The event is reminiscent of a long-defunct food festival called Taste of Park City. That started on Main Street in the 1980s and moved to Park City Mountain Resort in the early 1990s before ending in 1994, according to the Park City Historical Society.
Businesses on the street have long been wary of Main Street closures, and the entire length of the street typically is not shut down to traffic except during the annual Park City Arts Festival, which is held in early August. Sales at Main Street businesses are mixed during the arts festival.
Merchants in those cases worry it will be difficult for their regular customers to reach Main Street during closures, and the people at special events like Savor the Summit are not shopping, some say. But the event might win backing from Main Street, says Ken Davis, who leads the Main Street merchants.
Davis says the June timing of the event fits well because there is often a lull in business then. Tourism usually picks up around Independence Day and stays solid through Labor Day.
“It’s a real good time for us because there’s not much going on,” Davis says, adding, “It could be great.”
He says Main Street, with its mountainous backdrop, provides the restaurants with a showcase. Davis says the event could be a “social gathering” for Parkites and “could be a lot of fun” regardless of the street’s closure.
“There’ll be music. There’ll be a lot of people, hopefully, on the street. There’ll be something different,” Davis says.
Meanwhile, the Savor the Summit organizers also want City Hall to allow a food, wine and jazz event in City Park. It would run from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. on June 21.
