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Creekside Restaurant's fare matches Solitude's mountain splendor | |
| By Nancy Hobbs Special to The Tribune |
8/8/2003 | |
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SOLITUDE -- Solitude Mountain Resort, like The Little Engine That Could, is working hard to rebuild and distinguish itself among the Wasatch Front's numerous ski resorts.
In fact, the Big Cottonwood Canyon resort is almost unrecognizable from the place it was only 10 years ago, flaunting the look of an entire town in the European Alps, complete with a quaint thatch-roofed shop in the courtyard's center and mammoth lodging facilities around the periphery. Our recent destination was Creekside Restaurant, where talented chef Lane Pellinger, best known for his long-term stint as executive chef at Salt Lake's excellent Fresco Italian Café, has taken the helm. The eatery is found easily enough by following signs up a "cobblestone" road that is a bit of a stroll, although it isn't steep and the stairs can be avoided. If necessary, diners could probably be dropped closer to the door up a side drive. Once seated at the restaurant, you can begin savoring the advantage resort restaurants have over their urban counterparts: incredible mountain vistas, colorful wildflower fields beside a gurgling creek, and bright blue skies or twinkling stars, depending on the time of day. (We enjoyed a less likely and most memorable scene as we dined at Creekside on Pioneer Day: an incredible light show put on by nature, with successive lightning flashes accompanied by ground-shaking cracks of thunder, seen safely from behind a large window.) Patio diners get all of that in spades, plus crisp, cool air that is a welcome respite from the valley's heat. While the landscape is an incentive to visit Solitude, Pellinger's Italian-influenced menu is what drew us. We began one meal with a creamy polenta topped with sautéed mushrooms and Fontina cheese and served with a delicious red pepper coulis ($9). Our attentive waiter who was clearly familiar with the menu also suggested the day's soup, cremini mushrooms and sautéed leeks in a luscious broth ($5). Entrées include pizzas and calzonettes baked in an Italian wood-fired oven; several pasta dishes, from pasta topped with a traditional bolognese sauce to a potato lasagna with layers of roasted peppers, zucchini, lots of cheese and potatoes; and such hearty fare as flat-iron steak, pork and lamb tenderloin, chicken and grilled salmon. In the middle of summer, it is hard for me to pass up anything with fresh basil, and the more the better, which made the chicken pesto pasta an easy choice. The pesto was definitely fresh, and the gemelli pasta -- shaped like short, tight braids -- was a nice choice to soak it up. Lots of toasted pine nuts gave a nice crunch, and the roasted peppers were a delicious addition although too skimpy, with only two or three pieces in the dish ($15). The Creekside calzonette is a grilled pizza crust folded over various ingredients and then baked, more like an Italian quesadilla than the familiar stuffed and baked pizza-dough pillow. For dinner the night we visited, the filling was a delicious combination of four cheeses, Italian sausage and baby spinach. Unfortunately, the crust, although nice and chewy on the inside, was overgrilled, giving it a slightly burned flavor. To see if that was the intended preparation, we again ordered the calzonette at Sunday brunch, this time folded over pork tenderloin, and found that the crust was much better with a less toasty grilling ($12 at dinner, $10 at brunch). We tried fish at dinner and brunch and found both to be favorite choices. Buttermilk-crusted catfish was the special for our dinner visit, and it was tender, flavorful and plentiful ($19), served with an especially tasty sauce with a bit of pepper bite. Cherrywood-smoked trout, a house specialty, is on the dinner menu served with capers and onions ($11), but also is the centerpiece of "The Powderhorn" ($12) on the brunch menu, served with a nice basil-mayonnaise sauce and fried potatoes. The delectable fish also is part of the continental breakfast buffet, served with cornichons (tiny sweet pickles) and grilled focaccia. Also good at breakfast was the French toast made with cranberry-walnut bread and topped with squares of cinnamon butter -- a unique and tasty touch that would have been better if the toast had been hot enough to melt it more. In fact, all of our table's breakfast entrées, although otherwise good, arrived lukewarm, particularly the Yukon fried potatoes. My guess is that the plates sat too long before being delivered as our breakfast server seemed to be scrambling to keep up with tables inside as well as out on the patio. Creekside offers a continental buffet with beautiful fresh-baked pastries, bagels, a fresh fruit and cheese board, granola with yogurt, and the signature smoked trout, but the $11 price tag seems awfully steep. For $7, you can add the buffet to any of the breakfast entrées, but that is still pricey. Our table didn't order the buffet with breakfast (who would want cereal or trout when a full meal is on its way?). But it would have been nice to have a small basket of bread or pastry at the table to enjoy while we waited for breakfast; even a little fresh fruit on the entrée plates would have been welcome for the palate and the eyes. If you are lucky, you will visit Creekside on a day it is offering homemade spearmint ice cream with chocolate chips as a dessert special ($4). Though all of the restaurant's desserts are delicious, this confection is a refreshing lift, with a flavor as strong and cool as fresh-picked mint, complemented by flaky shortbread cookies that melt in the mouth. Tasty benefit
This Sunday, from noon to 4 p.m., you can enjoy Solitude's spectacular views, plus music, wine and beer, and food specialties from more than 30 of Utah's finest chefs, all while helping a charitable cause. "Taste of the Nation" is an annual benefit to help feed the hungry through the national Share Our Strength organization. The cost is $60 in advance; $65 at the gate. Advance tickets are available through Saturday at Liberty Heights Fresh, Park City Seafood, Snider's Brothers Meats and Sur La Table, or by calling Utahns Against Hunger at 328-2561 or (800) 453-3663. Children under 10 are admitted free. ----- Nancy Hobbs is The Tribune's restaurant reviewer. The newspaper covers the cost of meals at restaurants reviewed and there is no connection between reviews and restaurant advertising. Hobbs welcomes food and wine news, comments and suggestions at nhobbs@xmission.com
Creekside Restaurant
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