Hearth and Hill Park City’s regional dinner series will return Wednesday, Aug. 20, with the fourth installment, featuring a seven-course Japanese menu along with optional wine and sake pairings.
Hosted in the restaurant’s private dining room for about 40 guests, Executive Chef Brandon Giles said the plan is to deliver a unique divergence from their usual menu, one that further showcases the talents of their culinary team.
Giles, who became executive chef just over three months ago, joined the team shortly before the previous regional dinner, which spotlighted Spanish cuisine. He said the series, like the restaurant itself, has attracted a loyal following.
“A lot of these people have eaten the same one, or they’ve eaten at every regional dinner,” he said. “We have a lot of repeating clientele throughout these, so it was nice to be able to introduce myself and then (for them to) get to see some of my cooking style.”
The concept for each dinner is decided collaboratively, Giles said, with chefs contributing ideas and guests weighing in afterward.
“My chefs underneath me, it’s very important that they have ownership and they have pride in what they do,” he said. “So it’s a discussion of what everybody wants to do and getting some of their thoughts and their opinions in.”
When Japanese cuisine emerged as a possibility, Giles was quick to support it. He spent much of his career in sushi bars, including five years at Shabu on Main Street, and said the cuisine’s deep-rooted tradition and blend of simplicity and complexity have long appealed to him.
“Japanese cuisine has a special part in my heart,” said Giles, who grew up in Utah. “Sushi was introduced to me at a very young age. As soon as Salt Lake got the international airport, sushi bars started popping up, so I think … ’85 was my first experience with sushi.”
Giles said his father was in the food industry, so they even started rolling sushi at home as a family. And when he completed culinary school — which he attended while simultaneously finishing high school — Giles began learning Japanese cuisine professionally.
So when creating the menu for Hearth and Hill’s regional dinner, Giles had a clear idea of what he wanted.
“I wanted to incorporate some classics, some things that I’ve done for a long time that kind of had my stamp, my creativity on them,” Giles said. “Also just creating a well-balanced meal. You need sashimi in there. You need a roll in there. You need a couple of different fish items. And Japanese A5 wagyu is just something to die for.”
The menu will include dishes such as Koji Salmon with sweet onion dashi, soba noodles, oyster mushrooms and pickled daikon; Miso Cod with tekikomi gohan rice cake, roasted kabocha squash and sunomono salad; and, of course, Japanese A5 Wagyu Steak served with wasabi satsumaimo purée, black garlic yakiniku and pickled ginger root.
One sushi course, “The Honey B Roll,” is a personal creation from Giles’ earlier career, inspired by honey from a producer near Strawberry Reservoir.
“I love honey, and it’s always been something I want to incorporate into my rolls,” he said.
The beverage pairings were developed by Hearth and Hill’s front-of-house team and will include a Utah-based sake along with wines from around the world. Dinner will be served as a coursed tasting menu over about two and a half hours, with Giles introducing each dish and discussing its creative process.
These smaller-scale dinners are one way to get to know these chefs who are usually tucked behind the scenes, and while overseeing such a well-loved establishment, Giles said he’s grateful to their many regulars.
Giles traces his love of cooking back to childhood, when he spent time in the kitchen with his grandmother and father, both of whom inspired him to pursue the profession. By age 12, he was even doing prep work in professional kitchens. He moved to Park City shortly after the 2002 Winter Olympics and has worked in local restaurants off and on ever since.
“I love creating new items. I love taking inspiration from everything around me,” he said. “I follow some trends, but I try to do what feels right and what I think the public needs at the time.”
The restaurant plans to continue the regional dinner series into the fall, roughly planned for sometime mid-October. Giles said they’re also planning to launch a series of collab dinners, collaborating with neighboring chefs and restaurants.
“We do have one in the works for the end of September right now with 11haus, the Jamaican restaurant that is just a few doors down from us,” Giles said.
Details for the collab dinners and the next regional dinner will be announced on their social media platforms, on Instagram @hearth_and_hill and on Facebook at tinyurl.com/5efx4945.
Giles said working with Hearth and Hill and its parent company, Hill Top Hospitality, has been both inspiring and creatively rewarding. Dedicated to a mission to “thrill our guests, inspire our associates and enrich our community,” their five head chefs just returned from a bonding/research-and-development trip to a handful of James Beard award-nominated restaurants in Montana, an experience that Giles said got them excited to plan for the winter.
“They do a really good job of striving their chefs to become better and take ownership of what they do and be creative with our menus,” he said.
Tickets for the Aug. 20 dinner, which starts at 6 p.m., are $90 per person, with a $40 optional wine pairing. Reservations are required and can be made at hearth-hill.com/park-city-reservations.