SKI FOOD

Once upon a time, ski food, even at major resorts, meant greasy $3 hamburgers and chili. Well, the hamburgers and chili are still there, but these days they're made of Kobe beef and cost upwards of $15.

And it's not only gourmet-$20-a-plate restaurants that are dishing out decent food. Just about every eatery has it's own hook...and some pretty yummy fare.

I was recently at The Mill Cafe, one of the on-slope restaurants at California's Mammoth Mountain when a guy, maybe 22, well over six feet and hardly 180 pounds pointed excitedly to a dish in the cafeteria line.

"That," he said, his eyes gleaming. "And that, and that, and that." You could practically hear the drool drip.

Though he had added grilled chicken breasts and salad and potatoes to the mix, the star on his plate was the smoked tri tip beef.

Yeah, I ordered it too and it turned out to be the best single meal I've ever had on a ski hill without having to pay big bucks at a waiter-served place. The juicy, tender slices of beef had just enough smoke to give them flavor; they melted in my mouth and came with a killer dipping sauce.

Be still my growling stomach.

But there was more. On busy days and weekends, Mammoth hauls out its burrito cat.

It's a food truck on snow treads, painted bright orange, and serves up four flavors of burrito for a quick on-slope snack. The thing has been so popular, Mammoth is planning to add a second cat, this one devoted to calzones.

For the more gourmet-minded, there's the snowcat dinner. Picture a somewhat elegant bus on snow treads and you've got a passenger snowcat. It takes folks up to Mammoth's ultra gourmet Parallax restaurant, which is usually reserved for Black Pass owners. Black Pass? A paltry $10,000 for membership gets you favored parking, permission to cut lift lines, concierge service and lunch at Parallax. But for the rest of us, aka—the paying public—a typical $89 snowcat dinner will serve up wild arugula salad with goat cheese, maple and peppercorn crested duck breast or rack of lamb followed by chocolate soup ... yes soup. Why is all this good food available?

Perhaps you can credit Deer Valley in Utah.

This is the place that invented ski luxe. There were telephones on lift poles here in the early 1980s so skiers could stay connected, well before folks could pull a cell phone out of their pockets. There were ski packages that included butlers. And of course, there were gourmet buffets with half a dozen kinds of mushrooms.

People shook their heads when the lodge opened with its brass bathroom fixtures, original oil paintings and gourmet ski food. But it didn't take long for other resorts to copy the idea.

And now we get to the much sought-after, three-times-weekly Fireside Dining meals at Deer Valley's Empire Lodge.

This takes ski dining to unheard of levels.

Begin with the architecture...a 35,000 square foot lodge filled with what has become the prerequisite ski luxe decor of cedar planking, heavy beams, peeled logs and, of course, massive fieldstone fireplaces. These fireplaces are the focus of the dining experience.

First, the cheese. Huge rounds of raclette sit on the hearth, slowly melting and dribbling onto plates. The fragrance is so sharp, you catch your breath while dropping boiled potatoes, pickles, tiny onions, bread and Swiss meats onto your plate. Take a plate of cheese, some homemade mustard and dig in. But not too much. Because this is just the appetizer.

Then it's on to the next fireplace...steaming bowls of stews, thick with tender chunks of lamb, chicken or veal that swim alongside mushrooms, leeks and roasted tomatoes.

And finally, sheesh, can there be room for more? Dessert. This is at the third fireplace, where pots of bubbling chocolate and caramel sit alongside strawberries nearly the size of a plum, slices of apple, banana and assorted dried fruit.

Whew.

Daytime food at Deer Valley isn't bare-bones either. At mid-mountain, Royal Street Cafe's signature dungeness crab tower is something to behold. Six inches of crab layered with avocado, tomato, sprouts, wontons, ginger, soy. And there's a maple bacon barbeque bison burger.

More?

Park City's Snow Hut at the base of Silverlode Lift serves Thanksgiving dinner for lunch daily...turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and, as one ski host put it, "The best smashed 'taters you've ever had."

And there's High West Distillery...certainly the world's only ski in/ski out saloon that makes vodka and whiskey on the side. Yes, you can ski or ride to the place. Both Quit 'N Time and Creole trails at Park City Mountain Resort funnel you into town where you come over a bridge (still on skis or board), then click out and cross a narrow street which dumps you at the distillery's front door.

There's food. There's booze. There are tours at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm daily. You go back stage, so to speak, and get to see the copper pot still and learn just how whiskey and vodka are made If you're hungry, there are, among other tasties, bourbon and black coffee glazed cod or whiskey cider braised short ribs. And for $20, there's a whiskey tasting which gets you a sampling of High West's unique blends. Some spicy. Some smooth. All intriguing.

Okay, we know this is a story about food you can ski to. But we have to include one in-town restaurant because the experience was so special.

Talisker on Main in Park City is beyond gourmet. Food here is an art.

"You really have to try the fried egg and bacon appetizer," our server said.

For dinner?

Well, this was no truckstop dish. First a single egg is pressure cooked, then encrusted with a bread crumb/cheese mix and flash fried for a second. It is served with a square of local pork belly bacon that has been braised for 24 hours and topped with pepper and gremolata spices, served over a chick pea and arugula puree. It is a ballet of tastes...some sharp, some spicy, some mild, all managing to play on your tongue just right.

And this was just the start. The brussels sprout salad was actually brussels sprout leaves pan-seared in sherry vinaigrette. There was a bone dripping with fragrant marrow and then the lamb rack served with a spicy house-made sausage.

What made all this even more special was the setting. Out front is a large room for groups. But you leave that and enter an alcove with two overstuffed chairs on one side, two more on the other. It practically begs you to meet the couple on the other side. A private, intimate nook shared with new friends.

There was, of course, so much more to be tasted on our ski trip...the Kobe beef burger at Park City, the lamb stew at The Canyons, the full page of flowering teas at, of all places, Ghiddoti's, an Italian restaurant.

And best, it was all guilt free. We had skied all day.

We deserved to eat all night.

INFO:

Parallax Snowcat Dinners - Mammoth Mountain Resort, www.mammothmountain.com

Look under the dining & nightlife/fine dining tab. The dinners run Friday, Saturday and holidays at $89 pp ($49 for children) plus tax. Deer Valley Fireside Dining - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. $54 pp ($28 pp for children) plus tax. Another $30 (total, not pp) gets you a 15 minute sleigh ride for up to six people. www.deervalley.com

High West Distillery - www.highwest.com

Talisker On Main - www.taliskeronmain.com

Park City - www.parkcityinfo.com

THE SKI RESORTS

What Utah does best in the skiing world is variety. Less than an hour's drive from Salt Lake City, there are seven resorts, three of them in Park City alone. And each of the Park City areas has its own personality.

Deer Valley is, of course, still tops at ski deluxe. The cruising runs are groomed to perfection. And while it has the most beginner terrain, the days when it had only hero snow for CEOs who ski a week a year are long gone. There are now six mountains, 21 lifts, 100 runs and a couple of expert bowls that will curl the hair on your chest. Deer Valley still doesn't allow snowboarders, however. www.deervalley.com

Park City Mountain Resort is the original, with the most wide open intermediate terrain but also a bit of everything for everybody in seven "mountain zones," each with its own feel. Sixteen lifts and 114 trails serve 3,300 acres.

But what makes this place stand out is the history. Old mining equipment, huge ore bins and mine shaft entries still dot the runs and you can take a history tour that explains it all. Then, at the end of the day, you can ski right into the heart of Park City's old town. www.parkcitymountain.com/winter

Canyons has grown the most, from barely more than a local hill to Utah's largest ski resort with 4,000 acres, 19 lifts, 182 trails and some of the widest variety of expert terrain in the area. When the rest of Park City teems with bodies, the new Iron Mountain area is practically deserted and has a variety from intermediate to bouncing bump runs through the trees. www.thecanyons.com

DEER VALLEY ROYAL STREET CAFE BLUEBERRY MOJITO

Handful mint leaves
1 tsp granulated sugar
Quarter wedge lime
1/2 to 3/4 C lemonade
1 oz premium light rum
2 Tbs fresh or frozen blueberries (one tbs smashed to create some juice)
Splash of soda
1/2 oz premium dark rum
Spring mint (for garnish) Slice lime (for garnish)
Ice
In tall 16 oz glass, add mint leaves and sugar. Squeeze juice from lime wedge into glass. Mash the ingredients with the back of spoon or wooden muddler until mix is fragrant. Fill glass with ice. Add lemonade until glass is 2/3 full. Add splash of soda then add light rum & blueberries and stir. Sowly pour dark rum into drink so it floats on top. Garnish with mint and lime.