As guests arrived at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley for The Crafted Experience dinner Friday night, a nearly full Harvest Moon rose over the Jordanelle Reservoir, visible from the Hailstone Terrace, the clouds stained pink in the sunset.
It couldn’t be a more perfect night, said Hidden Ace General Manager Normandie Baylis, who organized the dinner series. Friday’s event focused on High West Distillery’s products — six different whiskeys plus its Mountain Gin — paired with a six-course dinner.
But the series is designed to bring more than just food and drink.
For the Hidden Ace x High West dinner, an elaborate dinner table was designed to have a miniature pond complete with moss and fog. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
Every attendee was given a personalized letter written by Hidden Ace’s general manager. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
Baylis, inspired by elaborate dinner parties thrown by her grandmother, said the goal was for a more immersive, memorable experience. To match the drinks, Friday’s dinner had touches of the American West.
Under a giant canopy of lights, the table centerpiece resembled a pond: Tubs of water decorated with moss and flowers lined the long communal table, even set with pond foggers that released a soft mist.
Each chair was draped with a “Hidden Ace x High West” embroidered blanket, and each place setting was labeled by a custom keychain, a High West horseshoe trinket and a wax-sealed envelope.
Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
A Rosemary Sour made with High West Double Rye, right, is served with a trio of citrus crudo as part of the first course during the Hidden Ace x High West dinner.
In the envelope was the real surprise.
“I wrote you all personalized letters,” Baylis said. “Sometimes we lose the essence of just writing letters to people, and I thought it was cool. I don’t know everyone personally, but I know everyone a little bit here and there.”
That extra touch was a philosophy for the menu, too.
Following the first course, “trio of citrus crudo” with shrimp, hamachi and octopus, a microgreens salad was prepared tableside by the hotel’s executive chef, Viktor Merenyi.
Grand Hyatt Deer Valley’s executive chef, Viktor Merenyi, harvests microgreens for the salad course, one of the zero-waste techniques used by the hotel.
Cutting from an assortment of microgreens grown by a farmer in Heber City, Merenyi said using “living” trays allows him to make dynamic, balanced salads with zero waste.
There were greens like cantaloupe melon, basil, cilantro, moonshine bean and wasabi, grown in coconut fiber trays.
“I can play with flavors. There’s a cilantro adding the aroma. This adding the meaty crunch. This is the sweetness, the melon. Basil as a fragrance. So you can build and play with the flavor profile,” said Merenyi. “I’m cutting what I need, so if you don’t eat this today, it’s still on the tray. … So everything is extremely fresh and zero waste. That’s the best part.”
An assortment of microgreens grown by a farmer in Heber City is used to create a salad with a variety of flavors and textures. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
The microgreens salad is plated on a bed of thinly sliced beets, dressed with an apple cider vinegar and served with citrus, chevre, candied pecans and pumpkin seeds. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
Chefs plate the salad course outside so guests can see the culinary process live. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
Also finished table side was a salt-baked snapper course, a traditional technique for cooking fish, said the hotel’s executive sous chef, Alessandro Silvestro. Five whole snappers still buried in a thick coat of salt were shown to guests around the table before the chef teams removed the salt crust, then filleted and served the fish using only a spoon and fork.
The lack of a knife is to demonstrate how tender the meat is from the salt method, said Chef de Cuisine Michael Bauer. Then, served with just a light drizzle of olive oil, the simple method showcases the fish’s inherent flavor.
Each course was served with a cocktail or a taster of a High West whiskey, and brand ambassador Jared Anderson talked through the ingredients in each. A rosemary sour was made with the Double Rye, a Utah Bramble incorporated the Campfire and the “Folly and Glory” Old Fashioned used both the Rendezvous Rye and Bourbon.
Even the drinks had interactive moments. For the palate cleanser course of lemon and basil sorbetto, each diner was given a shaker filled with ingredients for a basil gin martini, using the Mountain Gin, which they could shake and pour themselves.
Interactive elements included a basil gin martini that diners shook and poured themselves. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
For dessert, a hot whiskey caramel is used to melt a chocolate “balloon” to unveil a dark cherry panna cotta. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record
To end the night, there was another hands-on moment.
Chef Silvestro demonstrated how to finish the dessert course by pouring a warm whiskey caramel over a chocolate “balloon” set atop a dark cherry panna cotta. As the pairing, the group tried a sneak taste of Act 14 of the Midwinter Night’s Dram, which officially releases Saturday.
Next for the series will be a dinner sometime in December, said Baylis, also featuring High West. The Crafted Experience series with the hotel’s Hidden Ace speakeasy runs approximately every two months, she said. To hear about the latest dinners, visit hiddenacedv.com/craftedexperience.
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