Park City’s best comfort food
Culinary Comforts
Winter/Spring 24-25
Written By: Ted Scheffler | Images: Ted Scheffler
Our favorite comfort foods provide a sense of well-being, emotional satisfaction and sometimes a hint of nostalgia. My mom’s chicken and dumplings come to mind. Comfort foods are, more often than not, hearty and indulgent, but also simple and familiar, not typically requiring exotic ingredients, tools or techniques. Of course, comfort foods can vary greatly from one culture to another. In the U.S., it might be meatloaf or mashed potatoes, while in Italy, it could be a bowl of risotto. In Japan, comfort fare might be ramen or curry rice and in Mexico the street taco is the king of comfort.
Here are 10 of the most comforting winter dishes from Park City restaurants:
Fried Clams — Cena Ristorante & Lounge
If you’ve spent any time on the East Coast, you know that from Maine to Maryland fried clams are an essential comfort food, especially at the beach. Well, you can find noteworthy fried clams at Cena Ristorante & Lounge in The Chateaux Deer Valley.
They are beautiful clams — bellies and all — plump, tender and fried in a crispy coating with spicy yellow tomato sauce for dipping.
Fried Chicken — Tupelo
Is there a comfort food more ubiquitous than fried chicken? We think not. And for the best in town head over to Tupelo Park City where chef and owner Matt Harris allows his chicken to steep in dill pickle brine for 24 hours before it sees seasoned batter and the deep fryer.
For the ultimate comfort meal, be sure to indulge in an order of homemade buttermilk biscuits with honey butter and some deviled eggs with crème fraîche, fried country ham and chives.
Meatloaf — Purple Sage
Since 2003, the Purple Sage has been serving cuisine with an American West spin to hungry patrons, including comfort dishes like chicken fried chicken, braised buffalo short rib, and Purple Sage Meatloaf, a crowd favorite. The latter is a house specialty of grilled veal meatloaf with pine nuts and poblano peppers, topped with a sweet tomato-chili sauce, and served with wickedly good whipped Yukon Gold potatoes and green beans.
Chicken Noodle Soup — Windy Ridge Café
Restaurateur Bill White’s Windy Ridge Café is brimming with comfort food dishes that range from meatloaf, chicken n’ biscuits, hot roasted turkey, and eggplant parmesan, to a longtime customer comfort favorite: chicken noodle soup.
The latter is made from scratch daily using light chicken broth, fresh veggies and the perfect amount of seasoning.
Spaghetti & Meatballs — Versante Hearth + Bar
Spaghetti and meatballs is always a satisfying dish, and that’s especially true at Versante Hearth + Bar in the Park City Peaks Hotel. The pasta is made in-house and bathed in a rich, classic tomato gravy with homemade Snake River Farms Wagyu meatballs.
The chicken parmesan and linguini with clams are additional comfort food favorites at Versante.
Ramen — Hana Ramen Bar
Ramen is a classic comfort food that’s traveled from Japan to take America by storm. You’ll find the best bowl of ramen in Park City at Hana Ramen Bar, where chef and owner Mike Harrison creates rockin’ ramen from scratch — including the noodles.
Mike trained under the legendary Tokyo ramen chef Takeshi Koitani, and Hana’s tonkotsu ramen — which takes three to five days to create and is pork-bone based — is simply terrific.
The French Dip — Butcher’s Chop House & Bar
If the French dip sandwich is a classic American comfort food, then the Butler Dip at Butcher’s Chop Shop does it one better.
Chef and owner John Courtney’s signature sandwich is an elevated take on the French dip. It’s made with delicious dry-aged beef, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions and house au jus on rustic country sourdough bread from Midway’s Hawk & Sparrow bakery.
Chicken ala Queen — Pine Cone Ridge
At Pine Cone Ridge restaurant, Executive Chef Gudrun Thorne- Thomsen specializes in elevated comfort fare that ranges from broiled oysters and braised lamb shanks to her unique Chicken
ala Queen, which is a generous serving of roasted organic chicken with wild mushrooms and root veggies, buttermilk biscuit dumplings and chicken velouté.
So creamy and dreamy!
Mezze — Nosh
Jason Greenberg, the chef and owner at Nosh restaurant, specializes in treating his customers to Middle Eastern comfort foods such as hummus, baba ganoush, potato latkes, za’atar fries and kofta.
For a little of everything good, order the Nosh Platter, a crowd- friendly, shareable plate of hummus, green salad, falafel, spiced rice, roasted vegetables, pickled slaw, pita, yogurt, tahini, and a choice of protein: chicken, lamb, kofta or vegetarian.
Turkey Chili — Deer Valley Resort
We’d be remiss if we didn’t include the famous turkey chili from Deer Valley Resort in our comfort food roundup. For over four decades, Deer Valley has been pleasing chiliheads with their stupendous turkey chili.
It’s made with chunks of roasted turkey breast, two types of corn (including creamed corn), Anaheim chilies, black beans, fresh chicken stock, butter,
masa harina, veggies, spices and lots o’ love.
