Leading a restaurant has always been about more than the food for Chef Phelix Gardner.
The new chef de cuisine at Sage, the Italian restaurant inside Promontory’s Hills Clubhouse, believes the best meals are accomplished long before a plate reaches the table. They start with the people preparing it, the relationships built in the kitchen just as vital to the hospitality that earns a diner’s loyalty.
After more than three decades in the restaurant industry, including 14 years helping shape Salt Lake City’s independent dining scene with Pago Restaurant Group, Gardner is bringing that philosophy to Park City as he takes over Sage’s culinary program.
“I still have probably 20 more years plus of work to do, and I really love it, and I still really enjoy it,” Gardner said. “But I needed to find something that would be a little bit more sustainable for me moving forward.”
His journey into professional kitchens began almost accidentally.
At 15 years old, Gardner landed a summer job at a Golden Corral steakhouse, then bopped around chains like Subway and McDonalds as a teen. So it wasn’t until he joined Walt Disney World Resort that he learned the true meaning of hospitality.
“I absolutely loved it,” he said. “A lot of what they focus on is the fundamentals of hospitality, and it’s all the little social cues that you don’t really pick up until you’re in this type of environment. That was the first taste of hospitality that I had.”
His Disney years came with one very memorable assignment.
While working there, Gardner occasionally stepped into the oversized boots of Buzz Lightyear, and perhaps some of that “to infinity and beyond” confidence rubbed off.
It took a minute to truly manifest, though. Gardner studied finance in college before realizing restaurants, not working with spreadsheets, were where he belonged. He later enrolled in culinary school and left the corporate restaurant world behind in favor of scratch kitchens where mentors shaped him into the leader he is today.
“Being in a kitchen environment where there was a lot of training, and there was a lot of teaching, and a lot of working side by side with people, that’s really when it clicked for me,” he said.
Gardner eventually made his way to Utah, first landing in the Wasatch Back at the Grand Summit Hotel at Park City Mountain Canyons Village before spending years in Salt Lake City’s independent restaurant scene.
His longest chapter came with the Pago Restaurant Group, where over 14 years he helped open nearly every concept in the company’s portfolio, which includes staples like Finca, East Liberty Tap House and Emigration Cafe.
The work was rewarding, but demanding, Gardner said. After turning 49 last year, he started to consider making a change. Running multiple restaurants meant juggling executive responsibilities while still working line shifts several nights a week, he said.
“When you’re in independent restaurants, you have to wear all of the hats,” Gardner said. “I was thinking to myself, ‘How many more years can I keep this pace up and this level of engagement up?’ And I didn’t want to do it half ass.”
So when the opportunity at Promontory appeared, it offered something different: one restaurant, a relatively new concept and the chance to help shape its future.
He joined the restaurant in March. Rather than overhauling the menu immediately, Gardner said he started with building a foundation.
“If you think about it, in a concept like this, 90% of the people are going to eat the bread, 40% of the people are going to have pizza, 30% to 40% are going to have pasta,” he said.
For the seasonal menu change at Sage, chef Phelix Gardner adds lighter options like grilled proteins and salads to round out the menu which also includes staples like pastas and pizzas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Promontory 
Lasagna at Sage is served more like a slab than a slice, chef Gardner says, because it ensures each piece has an edge of crispy cheese. Credit: Photo courtesy of Promontory
That’s where he started on the kitchen side of things, but being a chef de cuisine is also about managing a staff, Gardner said. As a leader, he wanted to know how to best support his culinary team, who could in turn best execute his vision. That begins with understanding everyone’s values and priorities, like do they have kids or other jobs, plus their goals and motivations.
“We all work really hard in the hospitality industry, and I think it’s one of those jobs that you really have to love it to be successful,” he said. “When I see people that care about being successful, I really feel it’s my obligation to them to figure out. How do I get them to where they want to be, and how do I kind of build that long-term partnership with them?”
From a mentorship perspective, fostering a learning environment is important to Gardner, whether it’s structured like book exchanges or more organic, like talking about chefs or kitchens they follow on social media.
“You show people respect and that you’re committed to them in that way. And then the other things become much more organic,” Gardner said. “They’re just as committed to the final product being what my vision is as I am, and so they’re willing to give me a little bit more.”
Gardner said he knows it will take time before Sage fully reflects his vision, as it usually takes a year to fully understand the pace and timing of the restaurant.
One of his main goals is to get the menu to 100% house-made pasta, whereas now it’s a mix. Also by that one-year milestone, Gardner said he hopes to link up with local chefs in the Wasatch Back, because good food starts with great sourcing.
“(It’s about) stripping away some of the fluff, just really good clean food. A lot of it, with a concept like this, is sourcing, and how do we get the best imported products that we can?” he said.
For more information on Sage and Promontory’s other culinary outlets, visit promontoryclub.com/amenities/culinary.