Park City and Sun Dance

As the Sun Dance Film festival begins Park City, Utah,  will have plenty of celebrities not wearing fur-  but enjoying great film, and ski runs.  The thing they won't be enjoying is good food.

It is surprising for a town rebuilt for the Olympics that no one considered that this is an ideal place for a great new restaurant- think French Laundry, Bobo, Michael Mina, or Tarbell's.

When "the" steak restaurant consistently leaves steaks under hot lights and believes that al dente means raw you have to wonder (perhaps the  raw types would like it-- nope they wouldn't).

How hard is it to make good sushi? Ok- they did a great job with lamb lollipops (probably the best food here- but is it really Asian?)

A Seafood buffet - yes,really a buffet.  Park City must stopped at Vegas in 1965 to learn cuisine - but have not gone back since (oh, and seafood without lobster?).

So I wonder why don't the resorts get that? Why do these resorts consistently have mediocre restaurants serving dishes that are uninspiring renditions from the 1970's - and allow their guests to go downtown where there is worse parking, cold and old shops (quaint), and no hope of cuisine worth the trip?  If one of these resorts would import a great chef for a restaurant they would discover what Vegas did-- that food is more than a buffet, that food can be a destination.  Great food can be income!

On the plus side- the people here are probably the most helpful, kind you could encounter. They will go out of their way to do anything for you and make you feel great (just don't ask them to cook).    The scenery here is spectacular (and I don't mean watching for yet another celebrity - I mean the mountains). The skiing here is world-class - the wife was going down the black diamonds while yours truly was trying to overcome the blue fear.

My advice when you come to Park City - get a room with a kitchen - and plan on cooking meals at the hotel.

Until then - Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Marc Forgione, Mark Tarbell, Cat Cora, Michael Mina -- please come ski here- and open a restaurant.  Unlike New York- here you can make money.

While I love to photograph food- it is nice to have good food to photograph- this week, you have to put up with my son who enjoys the scenery and is probably thankful he has Similac and dad's home made peas for food