Everyone knows of Park City, Utah as an international winter destination for skiing and for the Sundance film festival. But in the summer there is actually an entirely different scene offered in Park City that has little to do with tourism and celebrity gawking.
Park City in the summertime is becoming a foodie’s destination for those who are seeking farm-to-table produce, locally-made preserves, artisan crafted goods and great niche restaurants. And, best of all, the dining options at Park City in the summer are much more affordable than in peak season.
The list of incredible Park City restaurants is growing: Zoom (owned by Robert Redford) always draws the elite and sophisticated diners. But beyond the super high-end fair Park City’s Main Street is hopping in the summer with outdoor cafes and bistros built right into the street—very cool idea and well executed. They have opened up the street to offer streetside dining with views of mountains and ski resort-but also perfect for people watching, and what we found a lot of eye candy not only from people, but in the custom motorcycles parked alongside the road. (as seen in our video accompanying this article). But back to the food scene. There are three ranges of dining options in Park City for any budget.
Park City Affordable Dining
Surprisingly many of these restaurants are quite affordable. Try Main Street Pizza and Noodle, The Red Banjo, Aw Shucks or the No Named Saloon for affordable lunch or dinner. All of them offer very good food, our best recommendations are for the Red Banjo for lunch and the No Named Saloon or Aww Shucks for good affordable local beer.
Mid-range Dining in Park City
For a bit more formal but a nice sit-down dinner or lunch visit Blue Iguana—for their excellent margaritas and carne asada tacos or the Eating Establishment—which is a go-to mainstay of American fair great food and Wasatch Pub— Utah’s original and first brewpub (ask for their Polygamy nitro porter on tap– its great). Chimayo has a unique take on southwestern cuisine and Happy Sumo does it right with sushi. The last two are a bit pricier than the others.
High-end Dining in Park City
And for the very nice dinner visit Grappa, 501 Bistro, Zoom, Stein Eriksen (at Deer Valley) Adolph’s or the now famous High West Distillery. I love High West’s bison burger with a dead man’s boots (cocktail). Which combines their Rendezvous Rye with ginger beer and tequila.
In a few weeks Utah Stories will be profiling (in our upcoming food issue) a few Park City chefs to get their take on this unique place, their farm-fresh ingredients and how the farm to table movement is operating in their alpine resort town. We hope to profile Park City’s Bill White and his farm that provides ingredients to his various restaurants.
We recently spent a Sunday at Park City to stroll down Main Street and visit their Park Silly Market. Watch our video and go and enjoy the ski town on your own.
