Eight New Dishes from Deer Valley’s Ski Season Menu
Now that snow is falling, Utah’s ski resorts such as Deer Valley are bustling. But it’s not just about the skiing: Deer Valley has always had a reputation for its mountainside meals — wood-paneled rooms, dancing flames in the fireplace, and high-end cuisine. The resort’s signature Turkey Chili sustains many a skier through a long day; but there are a lot of other trendy-and-spendy dining options.
For more than 20 years, I’ve been invited to Deer Valley’s annual “menu preview” for food writers, and it’s always interesting to see what the chefs have come up with for this year’s new dishes. Often they are traditional classics but with an upscale twist.
The Mariposa will be serving an Alaskan king crab and caviar appetizer on its New Year’s Eve menu. A chunk of crab and oestra caviar are perched on sweet corn flan. The popcorn-looking bits are puffed sorghum that add some crunchy texture.
From Fireside Dining, we sampled Grilled Guinea Game Hen Gnocchi, served in a cast-iron pan. It was an eclectic combination of grilled guinea hen, Meyer lemon and fresh thyme gnocchi, crispy pancetta, cured egg yolk, fava beans, slow roasted tomatoes, and smoked gouda cream sauce.
The Brass Tag chefs said they initially tried to make a bison meatball, but ended up with this meaty, juicy Bison Meatloaf instead. Two slices were served at either end of a long rectangular plate (see above), with buttermilk mashed potatoes in the middle.
The “comfort food with an upscale twist” theme continued with Royal Street Cafe’s macaroni and cheese. You can order it three different ways — the creamy “plain” version, or smoky-flavored Niman Ranch Bacon-studded, or with luxurious chunks of Maine lobster (my favorite!). All three are made with Gold Creek Farms Cheddar, a Kamas, Utah-based artisan cheesemaker. Each mac ‘n’ cheese version has a crunchy crumb topping for lots of texture.
Silver Star Farms Short Ribs came from Goldener Hirsch Inn, and was served with squash, Matsutake mushrooms, celeriac, burgundy truffles, and truffle-soy jus.
The desserts were over-the-top. The Mariposa has a new 20-layered butternut schichttorte — using butternut squash dehydrated into flour. The towering dessert was paired with Chai Creme Brulee, and garnished with glass-like spun sugar, vanilla brandy glaze and apple cider caramel.
Flamed desserts are coming back in style, as the classic Baked Alaska got an update with housemade local elderberry ice cream and pistachio shortbread. When Grand Marnier was lit and poured over the top, beautiful blue flames surrounded the dessert. Unfortunately, I don’t have to skills or camera to do this dessert justice; my blurry results could have come from an old-time ghost movie. 
Please excuse my photo, and just know that was darn impressive! if you want to see a much-better picture of this dessert, click on Ted Scheffler’s review at Utah Stories.