Park City chefs take New York City stage at James Beard Foundation events

In a couple weeks, seven Park City culinary experts are headed to New York City to showcase their talents in five meals held at the James Beard Foundation’s new venue, Platform.

The events, scheduled for Sept. 26-29, are designed to bring the culinary world of Park City to the New York scene, said Ginger Wicks, the executive director of the Park City Area Restaurants Association.

The group leveraged a longstanding relationship with the James Beard House, a kitchen the James Beard Foundation opened in 1986. The organization is committed to “celebrate, support, and elevate the people behind America’s food culture,” their website says. Similar to the Beard House, Platform, located in the Market 57 food hall, is a “state-of-the-art show kitchen, event space, and educational hub for outstanding culinary arts programming.”

“When we learned about their new venue,” Wicks said, “… we reached out to them and decided this would be an amazing collaboration to bring Park City’s culinary talents and amazing award winning spirits to New York to show the city and to bring awareness to all that Park City has to offer in terms of our amazing culinary scene.”

The association opened applications to their members who would be interested in creating a meal, and winners would be sent to New York to cook at Platform. Funding for this event comes from a Summit County Restaurant Tax grant, the association said.

Of 16 submissions, five chefs and two spirits, and their makers, were chosen:

• Executive Chef Seth Adams of Riverhorse on Main
• Executive Chef Michael Showers of High West Distillery
• Executive Chef Clement Gelas of Courchevel Bistro
• Co-owner and Executive Chef Matthew Harris of Tupelo Park City
• Vice President of Food & Beverage Operations and Corporate Chef Zane Holmquist of Stein Eriksen Lodge
• Co-owner and Master Botanical Distiller Sara Sergent of Alpine Distilling
• Beverage Manager Holly Booth of High West Distillery

“We have so much diversity in our culinary scene, and this is going to bring awareness to all of it, and it’s an amazing platform for Park City to be on,” said Wicks, pun intended, perhaps?

Jennifer Wesselhoff, the president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, also explained the benefits of this opportunity to showcase Park City out east.

“Food is such an incredible part of a community’s character and an essential part of how we define ourselves as a community,” she said. “What message are we trying to share about Park City and Utah’s cuisine?”

There’s Rocky Mountain game, like elk and bison, also Utah’s trout farms, lamb from Morgan Valley and products from local dairies and cheese makers, Wesselhoff said. These are all elements in the menus created for the September events.

“Dinner: Riverhorse on Main,” at 7 p.m. on Sept. 26, features Adams’ menu, which blends Utah and New York elements — Utah lamb, New York duck, a wild game sausage and New York apples. “Cocktail Party: High West Distillery,” at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 27, includes Showers’ take on a bison tartare and a Utah elk schnitzel. At “Lunch: Courchevel Bistro,” noon on Sept. 28, Gelas will create three styles of trout: cured, in a salad and bouillabaisse, in a stew. Harris’ “Dinner: Tupelo Park City,” at 7 p.m. on Sept. 28, highlights some produce grown in Utah, like Green River watermelon, Utah peaches and Gold Creek Farm’s feta from Kamas. And at the final event, “Brunch: Stein Eriksen Lodge,” Holmquist will serve Utah products like honey and Rocky Mountain elk.

Each event will have drink pairings by either Alpine Distilling or High West Distillery, cocktails like Alpine’s “Moon Walker,” “Elevated Gin & Tonic” and “Alpine Negroni,” or High West’s “Old Fashioned,” “Espresso Martini” and “Spritz.”

For Holmquist, who was born and raised in Park City and has spent most of his career as a chef in the area, this event is a culmination of his life’s work.

“I’ve tried very hard my whole life to bring light to Utah and Utah food in Park City,” he said. “We’ve always had this weird stigma around our liquor laws and our food … and we weren’t known for our cuisine and what we do here.”

But now, Park City has developed a rich culinary scene with plenty of talent, he said.

“I think it’s such a special family to shine and show that off in New York and let the public know (Park City’s) amazing — biking, skiing, fly fishing, but the food’s pretty dang good too,” Holmquist said.