Italy’s most decorated butcher, Dario Cecchini, stood on a table in Union Plaza off Main Street to sound in a Chef’s Table Festival lunch.

“Benvenuti al pizza party!” Cecchini shouted, blowing from a four-bell horn. “E sempre tutto buon appetito tutti! Pizza a gogo.” Always, everybody, enjoy your meal. Pizza aplenty.

With his iconic moustache, cow-print clogs and Italian-flag-colored vest over a red-and-white striped shirt, the visiting chef was unmistakable as he wandered the party, blowing his horn at each of the pizza stations.

The commotion had two women, who’d just arrived in town for a trip, wandering off Main Street to see what was happening. And then, from the edge of the fenced area in the plaza, Franco Pepe himself handed them each a slice of his famous margarita sbagliata, “blundered margarita,” pizza.

Instead of a classic margarita with a tomato sauce base, cheese and basil leaf, Pepe’s margarita sbagliata has a cheese base and is topped with lines of uncooked tomato sauce and dollops of a basil reduction. 

He’s also known for his dough, which he actually brought in suitcases from his home in Caiazzo, Italy, for the Chef’s Table Festival.

“In Italy, we did everything by hand the day before we left,” Pepe said in Italian.

The event is his first visit to Utah, and he hopes it won’t be his last.

“Bellissimo,” he said of Park City. “I want to come back. We leave tomorrow, but I want to come back. Let’s organize something, and I’ll come.”

Attendees at the pizza party lunch, part of the inaugural festival’s schedule in Park City, got to rub shoulders with pizza pioneers and chefs like Pepe from all over the world. It’s the opportunity for which Le Depot Brasserie chef Galen Zamarra was most excited, especially as a fan of the “Chef’s Table” series on Netflix.

“The idea to bring this show from the screen to something you can experience is brilliant,” Galen said. “Not everyone can visit these chefs and restaurants, certainly not all of them. I think it is just a very exciting opportunity.” 

He said he was specifically interested in learning more about each chef’s pizza dough. Many said they had to experiment because the high altitude impacts rising times. 

Galen’s wife and business partner, Katie, said that, as a local, she thought the festival has the potential to bring a lot of energy to Park City.

“It’s beyond exciting Chef’s Table chose Park City for its debut,” she said. “We have such a special hospitality community, and this gives us an opportunity to shine alongside some of the world’s most celebrated chefs.”

In addition to pizza, baker Roy Shvartzapel brought his specialty to Saturday’s party: panettone. His bakery, From Roy, is based in San Francisco and has been “reimagining” the sweet bread “for a new generation.” At the event, he served slices of his chocolate chip version.

It was also Shvartzapel’s first time in Park City, and he said, from a chef’s perspective, the festival had been a great networking opportunity, but also a kick start for creativity.

“I don’t know if the average citizen here understands the gravity of talent that has descended on their city,” Shvartzapel said. “I would say most people wouldn’t, unless you’re really into food. You wouldn’t know the humans who are collected here right now. In their craft, who they are and what they represent.”

Chris Decker, a pizzaiolo at Truly Pizza in Dana Point, California, who has been named among the top 100 pizza chefs in the world, showcased a slice with blistered tomatoes and a huge, fluffy crust. Sara Aqel, a Jordan-based chef, served slices of a Middle Eastern-flavored pizza with short rib, tzatziki and mint. Cody Reding, the cofounder and executive chef of Los Angeles-based private dining company Star67, created a Sichuan-inspired pizza for the event. Sean Feeney, a New York City restaurateur, represented his pizza brand, Fini, which also has a location in Utah.

Feeney said that with his new location in Utah City, he travels to the state every couple of weeks and has grown to love it. So the chance to participate in the festival in Park City was an easy yes.

He had three different pizza options, but his “white slice” was a crowd favorite, made with a blend of mozzarella, Parmigiano and fontina cheeses topped with lemon.

Brent Whitford, owner of Park City-based Red Bicycle Breadworks — the home of the “crack” bread — attended the pizza party just as a bread enthusiast. His first bite of the Decker slice: all crust.

“There’s so much talent here and all the different crusts,” he said, showing his “shark bite” of the Decker pizza. “It’s so light and delicate in the middle and then crispy and chewy, all at the same time.” 

Whitford said Decker uses flour from Central Milling, based in Logan, and it is the same flour Red Bicycle Bread has used since its founding.

“It’s the oldest continuously running business in Utah,” said Whitford. “It’s the go-to for organic flour throughout the world.”

While he wasn’t able to help host the festival, especially since he operates out of a grocery store kitchen, Whitford said he had the chance to attend a few events.

“We were up at Silver Lake dining with Francis Mallmann, and I think I’ve seen that (“Chef’s Table”) episode maybe 12 times. Whenever I had a bad night at work cooking, I would whip that on, and it would make me feel good about cooking for people again,” he said. “To meet all your heroes, it’s been a dream come true.”

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During Friday’s afternoon panel discussion, “Women Shaping the Future of Food,” three chefs gave their insights on navigating an industry historically dominated by men.

The event was part of the lineup for the inaugural Chef’s Table Festival in Park City, held between attendees’ lunches and dinners.

It was moderated by filmmaker David Gelb, the creator, director and executive producer of the “Chef’s Table” series, who joked that as a man, he was the least qualified to guide the discussion.

“I’m going to set an example for what men should often do in these conversations, and I’m just going to listen, I think, and turn it over to you guys,” he said.

At least, that was his plan, but panelists — Har & Mar chef Fariyal Abdullahi, open fire chef Sarah Glover and social media chef Betül Tunç — insisted he ask a few questions.

He caved.

“Sure, I have a question for you. How do you see the food landscape changing in terms of women being part of the fine dining world or the conversation of cooking?” he asked.

Abdullahi said the biggest change has been in numbers.

“When I was coming up, there was never women,” she said. “So I never had a role model that I could look up to.”

It’s in part thanks to allies, like her restaurant partner Marcus Samuelsson, that women have continued to make strides in the industry, she said.

Glover, who is originally from Tasmania, Australia, but now lives in Kamas, said she also has examples of men who made space for her to come up in the food world. Now, her passion is empowering women in the industry, which she described as a return to heritage.

“Women were actually on the forefront of cooking back in the frontier days. Like they stoked the fires, they harvested a lot of the produce and they broke it down,” Glover said. “We’re actually taking back what was originally ours as women.”

As a chef who works with fire — which she’d been told is a man’s role — Glover said she looked to Aboriginal history in Australia for inspiration, where women were the fire tenders.

Abdullahi, an Ethiopian American chef, said she also draws from her cultural history as a woman in the kitchen.

“(Ethiopia), we’re the only country in Africa that successfully resisted colonization,” she said. “One of the reasons we were able to hold on to our independence was, for the first war, the emperor’s wife, she actually led her own battalions, so she went to war.”

“I have that in my blood,” Abdullahi said.

She was also raised Muslim, where, during meals, men are traditionally served first. It’s a dichotomy that she’s embraced as a leader.

“When I’m with my partner, I will always serve him first. It’s not a sign of … being submissive, it’s just, that’s how I was raised, and I’m fine with that. But also, I could go to battle at the same time,” she joked.

In her kitchen, Abdullahi said she’s taken the opportunity to change the culture of “the brigade.”

“I was never motivated by somebody yelling in my ear. That didn’t make me work faster or more efficient. I was already working to the best of my abilities,” she said. “The system that I came up in only motivated me to do the opposite.” 

She gave a shoutout to Korean chef and Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan Sunim, who was in the crowd and whose “Chef’s Table” episode inspired Abdullahi about how to run a team. 

“I think happy people are more productive, so why don’t we try running a kitchen with joy?” she said. “Leading a kitchen with joy does not mean there’s an absence of discipline. There still is a lot of discipline in my kitchen.” 

Tunç, who has amassed 10 million followers on her social media with Turkuaz Kitchen, said it takes courage for women to step into the culinary world. She’s originally from Türkiye and comes from a family tradition of restaurant ownership, and it’s always been her dream to start her own bakery. But after moving to Virginia with her husband, she was told it would be too difficult. So she found her own way.

She’s since become famous for her aesthetic baking and comforting dough-focused videos, all entirely self-taught or using family recipes. 

“Being brave is, I think, the most important part for this industry,” Tunç said, and explained that the concept doesn’t need to be fancy. “(Turkuaz Kitchen) is me. I’m this woman, and I’m showing my food, what I’m making for my family.”

Glover said that simplicity is how she got her start — baking cookies fresh to order. She said growing up in Tasmania, she loved seeing women own small baking businesses, with “honesty boxes” and goods out on road stands.

Part of the discussion of being a woman naturally covered navigating the challenges of motherhood while working in the culinary industry.

Glover had her daughter four months ago and said that for a long time she worried becoming a mother would mean sacrificing a career, a thought Abdullahi admitted to having.

“Sometimes, as women, if you’re a perfectionist, you can try to control everything, and you really should just let go,” Glover said. “You just adapt. You’re like, OK, I need help. I have to succumb to letting go a little bit of control over things and just relax and have fun, and enjoy the process and the ride.”

Still, motherhood is super hard, Tunç said, who said she struggled with postpartum depression after having her second child. But she had the help of her husband and agreed with Glover that women are resilient in the face of those challenges.

“When I was pregnant, I was like, do I need to give up my career? And honestly, no, you don’t,” Glover said. “Women do gather around one another, and I want to see that more and more.”

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Seafood was the star of the show at “The Worlds Within” lunch on Friday, a collaborative meal at Matilda as part of the inaugural Chef’s Table Festival.

The light, four-course meal was designed by visiting chefs Fariyal Abdullahi and Gilberto Cetina, and while one is Ethiopian and the other Mexican, their cohesive meal showcased the global parallels between the two cuisines, Cetina said.

“You’d be surprised,” he said. “We found a lot of similarities in the way that we cook, from the types of chiles, the heat level, the way we use spice, to the use of like chile oils and how we use acid. She’s also a seafood chef, so there was a very organic synergy in putting the menu together.”

His opening course, a Baja California chocolate clam, was topped with hoja santa oil and guajillo oil, bringing a slight heat. For the second course, Abdullahi used housemade ash oil and berbere oil, a spice native to Ethiopia.

“I like to finish everything that I cook with some berbere, because I was born and raised in Ethiopia, and that’s basically my salt. I could not cook without berbere,” she said. 

The ash oil is a product of keeping a zero-waste kitchen at her restaurant Har & Mar in New York City, she said.

“All the skins of alliums like onions, scallions, garlic, instead of throwing them away, we give them a quick char and I blitz it and then change it into an oil,” she said.

For Matilda chef-owner Ian Pope, the chance to work alongside chefs from around the world, who have their own techniques and practices, is why he first jumped on the Chef’s Table Festival bandwagon.

“The collaboration between Fariyal Abdullahi and Gilberto Cetina is a perfect example of what makes Chef’s Table so special,” he said. “Both chefs bring deeply personal approaches shaped by their heritage and experiences.”

Pope grew up in Sydney, Australia, where the food scene was built on diverse influences, he said. So it was a natural fit to welcome the two chefs to his kitchen.

He said his team took a supporting role in their five events, helping execute the visiting chefs’ visions. That’s one of the best ways to learn, he said.

“It also gives our team a rare opportunity to work alongside world-class chefs, observe different techniques and approaches firsthand,” Pope said. 

As a longtime fan of the Chef’s Table documentary series, Pope said he appreciates their approach to storytelling and experiences. 

“One of the things we love about Chef’s Table is that it goes beyond a great meal. It’s about celebrating the chefs, their journeys, and the inspiration behind the food,” he said.

It came through in the casual feel of the lunch, where Abdullahi and Cetina mingled with the crowd. They even invited some of the diners up to watch the plating process for Cetina’s third course — a saffron, lobster, Dungeness crab and mussels rice — in the open kitchen. 

Cetina, whose restaurant, Holbox, is based in Los Angeles, said he was excited to see Park City chosen as the home of the inaugural festival. He’d visited a few times for the Sundance Film Festival.

“I mean, Park City is iconic,” he said. “I think it’s perfect for Chef’s Table to be doing the festival here because it is a place where you come to disconnect and live a larger-than-life experience. It’s a huge honor to be here.”

He said, from what he’s seen, all the chefs have been relaxed and enjoying the opportunity to serve guests. 

“We’re really about sharing the moment with people,” he said about the hospitality industry. “It’s very important to continue to create community, not just within your family. … So continue to go out and support restaurants, and support organizations and people and creatives who are trying to put experiences like this together.”

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Friday morning, the Park City skies were miraculously cooperative on the Main and Sky patio overlooking Old Town for Chef’s Table Festival’s first panel of the weekend, “Creativity Is the New Ingredient.”

Moderated by Bon Appétit Editor-in-Chief Jamila Robinson, the hour-long discussion covered the definition of creativity and the creative process for the four participating chefs, who traveled to the Wasatch Back from Bolivia, Italy, Indonesia and Canada for the inaugural festival. 

Bolivian chef Marsia Taha Mohamed Salas shared how, at her restaurant, Arami, creativity starts with cultural representation.

For example, she said many people think of the Andes Mountains when they think of Bolivia, when 90% of the country’s communities are in what is called the lowlands or Amazonia. So creativity for Salas is a chance to change preconceived ideas of Bolivian cuisine.

“When we travel into these communities … I feel responsible to communicate all the things that they show me,” she said. “For me, creativity is an amazing way to speak of and communicate what is going on there.”

For example, Salas has piranha on her menu. Most people think of “danger” when they imagine the fish.

“Where we live, that’s a completely different thing. It’s like deliciousness, it’s creativity, it’s tradition, it’s sustainability to eat the piranha,” Salas said. “I’m very grateful, as a chef, I can transform the way that people see some of the ingredients.”

American pastry chef Will Goldfarb, who’s behind Room 4 Dessert in Bali, Indonesia, said he has a similar respect for existing ingredients and traditions when it comes to creating in his kitchen.

“I’m a guest. I’m an economic migrant in Bali. I’m not a local. I’m there to help and get out of the way,” he said.

The restaurant changes its menu twice a year, and a lot of the dishes are inspired by local ingredients or have cultural significance for team members.

Now that he’s in more of a coaching role, Goldfarb said he often finds himself teaching creativity.

“Creativity is a job; it’s like a mise en place job. It’s a task,” he said. “99.8% is showing up, and then there’s like two little bits where I try to be helpful. There’s like the 0.1 at the beginning and the 0.1 at the end, the magic moment when you have an idea, and then the magic moment when it’s done.”

A lot of those “magic” moments involve observation, Goldfarb said.

“If you walk down the street, it’s like ‘OK, there’s a cloud. I want to go make a cloud.’ That’s the idea. So being open to go to the market and get a strawberry, and looking up and being like, ‘That’s what I want,’ and then go make that,” he said.

Daniel Hadida, the chef behind Pearl Morissette near Niagara Falls, Canada, said creativity is about curiosity for him.

His region has been “completely divorced from” native agriculture and Indigenous culture over the last 300 years. Food has become a capitalist endeavor, so his job is to get creative about why.

“Why is the multithousand-year history of Indigenous culture completely outside of the pale and not something that people have a relationship with?” he said. “What are we missing as a result of that? How can we think about things differently? Who can we engage in to help understand that better? What is our role within that?”

Hadida admitted that his creativity is generally inspired by the realistic pressures of running a business and deadlines. It’s that crunch time that forces action.

Chef Jessica Rosval, of Al Gatto Verde in Italy, agreed.

“Creativity is not free. We can’t do whatever we want. We actually have a ton of parameters that come into play, and we need to respect those,” she said. “It needs to be edible. It needs to be seasoned. Ideally, it needs to fit within our food costs.”

Respecting those parameters, like staff scheduling, involves taking ego out of the equation, she said. In the end, sometimes the most creative thing can be the simplest.

She said thinking of creativity reminds her of a story about a professor who assigned his students the task of writing 200 words on a particular theme. 

“The first 120 words across the entire class were all the same. Everybody was coming up with the same words, but they would only start getting into the really interesting stuff after 130, 140, 150,” Rosval said. “The creative process … can sometimes be very frustrating as we’re creating and we’re not really unblocking what we’re looking for.”

The chefs said that’s why they also see the creative process as collaborative, where teammates contribute ideas.

Salas said much of her inspiration comes from traveling around Bolivia and learning from the locals about their pre-Spanish traditions. But she’s careful to avoid cultural appropriation, ensuring that all of the menus attribute techniques, styles and ingredients to the contributors. 

She also admitted that creativity impacts the logistical side of her job, where she must source and transport ingredients from different parts of the country. 

Creativity is more like innovation in that case, coming up with new ways of doing something. Rosval brought up the social impacts of the culinary industry, where people have struggled to hire and maintain staffing.

She said that’s why she started a program in 2022 to train women as chefs. Goldfarb said he’s also thought creatively about how to provide people with a pathway in the industry.

“We’ll never lower the standards because that does a disservice to the people who work for us. But we could extend the runway if not everyone had the same background or expertise or training,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of talent out there if it’s given an opportunity to develop.”

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More than 70 internationally acclaimed chefs are expected to descend on Park City this August as the inaugural Chef’s Table Festival transforms the mountain town into a global culinary destination.

The four-day festival, scheduled Aug. 13-16, marks the first large-scale culinary event of its kind in Park City, bringing together those featured on Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” series to the Wasatch Back. Organizers say the event is designed to be much more than a traditional food festival, with a format centered on chef-driven dining experiences rather than tasting booths and crowded exhibition tents.

The festival will feature more than 100 events spread across local restaurants and venues, pairing visiting chefs with Park City’s own for collaborative lunches and dinners.

That collaborative element, plugging chefs into the already-existing culinary scene of Park City, is what made participating in the event a no-brainer for Firewood on Main’s chef-owner John Murcko.

“When I was very young in my career, I realized the importance of you never stop learning,” he said. “So I’m really looking forward to working with some really unique and incredible individuals, and meeting them and hearing their story.”

It’s what he loves about the episodes he’s seen of “Chef’s Table.” 

“It’s a lot more than just watching somebody put together a dinner. It’s usually why they do what they do, and why they are where they are, and how they play that into their food, which I think is really cool to see,” Murcko said.

The show also resonates with Pierce Everett, food and beverage director at the Goldener Hirsch, Auberge Collection, another venue signed up for the festival.

“In 2016, I remember watching and being blown away by the creativity and different ways of thinking from chefs on the second season,” Everett said. “So when this opportunity was presented to us, I was absolutely thrilled at the idea and knew we had to participate.”

Briar Handly of HANDLE echoed those reactions: How could he pass up the chance to work alongside Michelin-starred chefs from around the world in his own kitchen?

These reactions aren’t surprising, said Jennifer Wesselhoff, president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau.

“When the Chef’s Table Festival team approached us, what got our attention was the opportunity for our local chefs to cook alongside some of the best in the world,” she said, “exchanging ideas, picking up new techniques and pushing their own craft forward. That kind of exposure elevates the whole culinary community, and the effects don’t disappear when the festival ends.”

But first Park City had to prove itself a worthy host. Which it did, with flying colors, said the festival’s programming director, Hillary Miko.

Miko said they wanted to avoid oversaturated markets and narrowed down their options to Jackson Hole, Wyoming; The Hamptons, New York; and Park City. Their choice became clear when they scouted the Wasatch Back.

“Park City has an amazing hospitality infrastructure in it already from years of hosting Sundance and from being a very hospitality-focused city,” Miko said. “Your hotels are amazing, your restaurants are amazing, everyone has a very welcoming spirit and vibe.”

That’s the perspective Wesselhoff’s team wants to spread: Park City isn’t just for skiing, and the culinary scene is ripe with talented chefs and growers. The Chamber/Bureau’s recent support of the Southwest Michelin Guide, which will include Park City and Utah, is another way they’ve pushed for more of this visibility, Wesselhoff said.

Handly, who received a James Beard Award nomination in 2022, said an event like this shows what this town’s culinary leaders can do.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of Park City’s dining scene for a long time, so it’s really gratifying to see our small town recognized as a destination for food and hospitality, not just recreation,” he said. 

While any food festival provides good exposure, the intimate design of this event mirrors the larger narrative around Park City’s hospitality brand, Wesselhoff said, as “personal, place-based, quality over quantity.”

The festival’s structure was inspired in part by a European vibe, Miko said, emphasizing slower-paced experiences. She likened it to the Italian concept of “il dolce far niente:” the sweetness of doing nothing.

Instead of watching celebrity chefs from a distance or standing in long lines for bites of food, ticket packages include opportunities for guests to sit down at meals prepared by these chefs.

Four tiers guarantee a certain number of meals, and a certain number of “first choice” chefs, with a personalized itinerary created in the weeks before the event. All packages will also include access to events, talks and demos planned around town. The highest tier, “Be a Chef,” will give attendees the chance to live like a chef of their choice, whether that’s fly fishing or foraging with them, or learning a few recipes one-on-one.

The festival’s current roster includes chefs featured on “Chef’s Table” such as Massimo Bottura, Francis Mallmann, Virgilio Martínez, Nancy Silverton, Sean Brock, Dario Cecchini, Franco Pepe, Pía León and Norbert Niederkofler. It won’t be every chef from the series per the usual scheduling conflicts, Miko said, which is why they’ve bolstered the lineup with other up-and-coming chefs who have the brand’s stamp of approval. 

“You’re not just watching Francis Mallmann talk on a panel. You’re going to a dinner where he’s cooking for you, and there’s only 200 people there with you. It’s a much more intimate experience,” Miko said. “In a lot of cases, they’re what we call a four-hands dinner or a six-hands dinner, meaning there’s two or three chefs involved.”

That’s where the collaboration with local chefs comes in, an opportunity for an exchange of knowledge behind the scenes.

Murcko said Firewood, with its all-wood and open-concept kitchen, works well for meals like these. It’s also fun for visiting chefs, who get to play with less-common cooking tools and strategies.

“Imagine if you’re in that position of a chef: You’re put into a mountain town, not knowing any of the vendors or your team you’re put with. How exciting for them to see, ‘Who am I getting paired with? What’s their personalities and passions? How can I get them to do something special?’” Murcko said. “So I think it’s a great challenge for them, too, to get to know our town and what we offer.”

Organizers also plan to incorporate local retail businesses throughout the event, Miko said, like selling chefs’ products, cookbooks and specialty goods at existing shops to drive traffic. 

It’s also involving the agriculture community, like a partnership with Copper Moose Farm where chefs can walk straight into the gardens to harvest ingredients for their meals.

“August is an amazing culinary time in Park City. Because of the seasons, you’ve got all the vegetables and all of the things going,” Miko said. “They were asking us, when we were there a couple weeks ago, ‘Is there anything you want us to plant?’” 

That willingness by the local industry to support the festival has reinforced the decision to make Park City the home of this first event, Miko said, and the hope is that visitors and residents who attend will walk away with a taste of the town. Wesselhoff, Murcko and Everett hope those guests will want to return.

“I think what makes a great community is great programming, and I just love the idea that Park City’s taking this on. It just makes our town that much more fun,” Murcko said. “A lot of restaurants are getting involved. I think it’s just what Park City needs.”

The current list of participating guest chefs, and information about tickets, can be found at festival.chefstable.com. Participating Park City restaurants as of Friday afternoon include:

• Firewood on Main
• The Hirsch 
• Dos Olas 
• HANDLE 
• Matilda 
• Riverhorse on Main
• Washington School House 
• Copper Moose Farm
• RIME
• La Stellina
• Courchevel Bistro
• Le Depot Brasserie
• Apex
• Cena Ristorante
• Yuki Yama

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