Will Shred for Food at Utah's Ski Resorts

With over a dozen mountain resorts in Utah, you’re bound to find great snow at least one of them, if not all of them at some point. The Beehive State prides itself not on honey but on snow, having the “Greatest Snow on Earth®”—a self-proclamation they’re so confident with, they’ve actually registered the trademark for it. However, beyond the world-class powder, they also have pretty great food at their resorts. In my time snowboarding several of them—save for Deer Valley, where I put on skis—I’ve learned which stand-out dishes are the ones worth taking turns for. It’s a good thing snowboarding and skiing builds up an appetite and burns off calories, because there’s plenty to fill your stomachs on, may it be for a mid-mountain lunch or a rewarding après-ski session.

Snowbasin

As one of the venues of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Snowbasin in Utah’s Ogden Valley is certainly grand enough to be on the world stage. In fact, you can still ski and ride the two Olympic downhill runs: the Grizzly, rising 3,000 vertical feet in just under two miles, starting with a 47-degree face; and Wildflower, with a vertical drop of almost 2,700 feet. While I did attempt an Olympic run—albeit at a pace much slower than whoever came in last place—my favorite run was a locals’ route that’s not exactly on the trail map. Affectionately called the “In and Out,” the scenic, panoramic run starts at the Needles Lodge and traverses to go in and then out of the Strawberry side of the mountain—home of the new DeMoisy Express chairlift and the new outdoor Strawberry Patio, where chicken po’boys share the menu pages with four types of cheesesteaks.

However, for me, it was all about the long-standing Cinnabar Lounge at Earl’s Lodge at the main base, where I snacked on a big Bavarian soft pretzel with beer cheese before going in on a juicy cheeseburger and truffle fries draped in sticky cobwebs of melted parmesan cheese.

Powder Mountain

As high profile as Snowbasin is, Powder Mountain, a.k.a. Pow Mow, is perhaps the unsung hero of the Ogden Valley. It still retains its small mountain community vibe despite the superlative factoid that it’s technically America’s largest ski resort in terms of avalanche-mitigated skiable terrain—over 8,400 acres—with expansions in the works. That figure, along with their limit on day ticket sales, translates to each skier/snowboarder allotted about 3–4 acres. As astounding as that is, the resort only has nine ski lifts across its vast property, but fortunately, snowcats give skiers and snowboarders a ride up to the good stuff where chairlifts don’t go. However, even without a snowcat, there’s still lift access to ungroomed “Powder Country,” where you can find untouched snow—even five days after a storm. It’s there that I’ve had some of the best rides of my life, drawing lines on a white canvas with my pow deck.

A bus services the bottom of the Powder Country runs, and drives you back to base, where, at the Timberline Lodge, the lively Powder Keg bar not only has beers and live music for après, but a delicious bowl of ramen in a steamy, savory green curry coconut milk broth that still lingers in my mind. However, it would be remiss not to mention the Shooting Star Saloon—the oldest continuously running bar west of the Mississippi—which is not at the resort, but not far down valley in the town of Huntsville, where their mind-blowing Star Burger has two beef patties, melted cheese, and a butterfly-cut Polish knackwurst in it.

Other mentionables in the Ogden Valley are in the town of Ogden itself: Tona for fresh sushi, Slackwater for artisanal pizzas, and the elevated new American fare at Hearth on 25th Street.

Brighton

Located in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Brighton Resort has eight lifts to bring you up the great, varied terrain, including the new, high-speed Crest 6 lift that gets you up to the top from the base in about five minutes. On the way down the western side, I enjoyed weaving in and out of the aspen and pine trees and shredding the corduroy on a bluebird groomer kind of a day.

On the Mount Millicent side of the resort, I snowboarded down bigger bowls, ultimately ending at the eatery named after the peak’s nickname, the Milly Chalet. Now that it’s under the direction of a new chef, locals joke that Brighton actually serves vegetables now, with salad offerings. However, for me, it’s all about their Brussels sprouts—fried crispy, of course—plus their short rib mac and cheese and their Wild Game Burger, with a patty blend of elk, boar, and wagyu. If it all didn’t collectively put me in a food coma—that and the après beers at the rustic Molly Greens pub at base—I might have taken some turns at night; Brighton’s the only resort in the Cottonwoods with night skiing, operating three lifts to access over 200 acres of lit terrain.

Snowbird

Each mountain resort has its own feel—Snowbasin’s lodge feels upscale and classy, for example—and Snowbird definitely feels like an urban college campus, with cement buildings housing restaurants, shops, and bars around a main plaza. (Cement construction is stronger against avalanches.) However, the “campus” is much larger than this quad; there are 2,500 acres of skiable terrain at this Little Cottonwood Canyons resort. The recently upgraded Aerial Tram can take you to the highest lift-accessible summit, Hidden Peak at 11,000 feet, and from there, you can choose your own adventure: the trees and groomed runs of Peruvian Gulch and Gad Valley, or my favorite, the wide bowls of Mineral Basin on the backside.

Riding so much terrain did indeed build up my appetite. For lunch at The Forklift at The Snowbird Center, I fueled on a beef banh mi and the soup of the day, curry shrimp bisque. For après, it’s all about the spicy cheese fries at The Tram Club, a bar adjacent to the big spools that crank the Tram’s cables. And there’s no need to immediately head down the road into Salt Lake after après (especially with the traffic) since there are some great restaurants at the mountain—the nicest arguably being The Aerie, where my friends and I dined on fondue, duck confit cassoulet, braised lamb shank, and our secret favorite (because it’s a secret dinner menu item): lobster rolls, served Connecticut style, with hot butter. (I suppose it’s not so secret anymore.)

Deer Valley

While Alta is the skiers-only resort of the Cottonwood Canyons, on the Park City side, there’s famed skier-exclusive Deer Valley, which exudes class as soon as you walk through the main hall of international flags and enter its fancy, wooden decor. It’s no wonder the nearby St. Regis hotel fits right in with their elegant, destination après-ski bar, The Vintage Room, which attracts influencers and scenesters who don’t even ski.

However, Deer Valley is undoubtedly all about skiing—even more so next season when they expand their terrain size. As a long-time snowboarder, I think perhaps I learned how to ski in my later adult life, just so that one day I could go to Deer Valley and see what all the fuss was about. I’ve learned that it’s a surreal experience when there’s no waiting for snowboarders to strap in after a chairlift, and discovered that the “big deal” at Deer Valley is definitely the sweeping views of the Jordanelle Reservoir when coming down the resort’s most iconic run, Stein’s Way—named after Stein Erikson, former Olympic gold medalist-turned-Deer Valley’s Director of Skiing. A local legend, his picture is featured prominently at the resort’s new throwback gastro pub, appropriately named The Sticky Wicket. While many people stick to the Deer Valley Turkey Chili, a cult-favorite staple, I had the duck confit fries and grilled chicken Thai green curry, which were decent, and washed them down with local brews.

Park City

Park City Mountain Resort is massive, having not one, but two sizable base villages ever since Vail Resorts’ merging of Park City and Canyons in 2015. Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the resort has long been a favorite for skiers and snowboarders, and not just the ones accessing its 7,300 skiable acres with the Epic Pass. Boasting the largest lift access in the USA, Park City offers something for everyone: terrain parks, steep chutes, roller-coasting groomers, and bowls and glades to play in. One of my favorite runs was a designated “Adventure Alley” called Powder Monkey—part glades, part gully—which is a fun run, particularly when the powder is coming down.

In terms of food, there’s also something for everyone, especially when you factor in the fact that Park City’s Main Street is trail-accessible from the mountain resort, with the Town Lift that can take you back up the slopes.

My mid-mountain favorites include the Hawaiian-inspired plates served at the historic Mid-Mountain Lodge—relocated and refurbished from its 1896 origins—and the smoked meats and cheese-laden sides at Tombstone BBQ (right by the six-chair Tombstone Express lift). Après-ski nachos are always a crowd-pleaser at Legends in the main base village, but the liveliest après scene is in town at the uber-popular No Name Saloon, where I washed down a No Name Burger (topped with cream cheese and jalapeños) with beers and whiskey—coming from a shot ski, of course. Speaking of whiskey, Utah’s High West Distillery is also nearby and also has a lively après scene with hearty dishes to pair with whiskey and whiskey cocktails.

Fortunately, I had more than a couple of nights in Park City to really find a dish worth making turns for, and I found it at local steakhouse Firewood on Main: the elk striploin, perfectly seasoned and seared, served medium rare with a huckleberry demi-glace. After all, I’d eaten across these six resorts, I still remember it as being one of the more amazing meals I’ve had—almost as amazing as the epic powder runs I had in the backcountry of that state with the Greatest Snow on Earth®.