Over the past year, a miniature European village coined Southill in Midway has come to life under the vision of developer Dan Luster. Part of that vision includes two restaurants — Montblu and Charolais — but that wasn’t always the plan, Luster admitted. Then he met chef Steven Fretz.

Fretz is a career chef in the fine dining world, most recently known for his “baby,” Coast Range, a high-end steakhouse in Solvang, California, which has been in the Michelin Guide for four consecutive years. But he actually got his start in the Wasatch Back.

“When I graduated high school, me and my best friends moved to Park City and worked at Deer Valley,” he said. “We got jobs as prep cooks in the kitchen cooking 500 pounds of live Dungeness crab. We were just these kids, man. Super high energy. The chefs loved us.”

That move to Utah from his home in Oregon wasn’t entirely new, Fretz said. He lived in Salt Lake City from 7 to 11, and his mom’s side has long held roots in the Heber Valley. 

“My grandparents are buried in Heber Cemetery, so we would come up to Heber all the time. Swiss Days, come up all the time. My uncle Dick still has Dick’s Barber Shop on Main Street in Heber. We’d always come up, see Uncle Dick, get a haircut,” Fretz said. “My great-grandmother ran The Hub.”

After that first gig at Deer Valley Resort, Fretz spent another three winters working in kitchens in Park City. But what really catapulted Fretz’s career was a conversation with a guest chef while he was a line cook at the Stein Eriksen Lodge.

The chef from San Francisco saw Fretz’s work ethic and gave him a nudge.

“I didn’t ever want to become a chef. It was just something I was good at,” Fretz admitted. “I went to culinary school because some chef that I thought was really badass said, ‘You need to move to San Francisco and go to culinary school.’ I was like, ‘OK,’ and so I did.”

He didn’t just attend school; he excelled. He graduated from the California College of the Arts with a 4.2 GPA and a literal star with his name on the campus sidewalk: the Daniel Carlisle Walker Award for culinary excellence. He landed an externship at the Fifth Floor with chef George Morrone, who historically didn’t accept interns, because the college’s chef personally called in a favor. 

Fretz said he just went along, kept his head down and worked hard, and maybe that’s what set him apart? 

But after years of working for others and helping open restaurants around the country, the natural progression was to start his own project.

First he had The Church Key, which opened on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills in 2012 — “an epic time,” he said. Then, when the pandemic hit and he moved up to Solvang near Santa Barbara, California, he and a few friends bought and built out a restaurant that would become Coast Range.

Solvang, like Park City, is a very transient population with intense busy seasons October through February, Fretz said. And like Midway, its charm comes from its European, specifically Danish, architecture and culture. 

Now that Coast Range runs itself, Fretz said he was ready for his next thing.

Utah has always been home despite the chef’s 30 years living in California, so when he decided to start another project, to “nest,” Fretz knew he wanted to be back in the state. 

That’s when he met Luster.

“Dan and I started really bonding: him admiring my craziness and my craft, and then me admiring his craziness and his craft,” Fretz said. “It just meshed together.”

Luster, a self-described activist, said his philosophy in preserving Midway’s charm is to control the inevitable development and growth. Take the sheep pasture right outside Montblu along Midway’s Main Street, which used to be an auto shop:

“This is now America’s most expensive sheep pasture. I had to pay full price, like $2.5 million, for the auto shop, buy it like I was going to run it as a business. And then we took it down, and now it’s a sheep pasture,” Luster said.

The sheep are Swiss, Valais Blacknose to be specific, to appease Midway’s chosen character, Luster joked. In reality, the original settlers of Midway were English, hence his Cotswolds-inspired neighborhood.

That desire to keep projects in line with the city’s existing charm is why Luster ultimately decided to keep ownership of the two restaurants, which were built to meet a city requirement for commercial space.

“I had no intention of owning restaurants. The business model was to have pads and sell them off,” he said. “A few (buyers) came along, and it just didn’t fit, and we were unwilling to just list them and sell them because it’s so critical to the whole vibe of not only the village, but Midway generally.”

So Montblu and Charolais were born: the first a more casual breakfast and lunch spot, the latter meant to be a high-end French steakhouse.

“Montblu, it’s whimsical. It’s sheep,” said Luster, gesturing to the pasture abutting the cafe’s patio, “and even some of the recipes are going to be kind of fun. Charolais the steakhouse, I can say, without too much hubris, I think it’ll be the top-rated restaurant in the entire state.”

He and Fretz both say they want Charolais to be to Salt Lake City what The French Laundry is to San Francisco: a top-tier restaurant in a more rural, surrounding area. 

“If we’re going to shape (the growth), what are we going to be? Are we going to be high-elevation Orem, just fill it in, or are we going to be Carmel or Southampton or Yountville?” said Luster. “I see Midway as those places in embryo.”

Fretz said he’s shooting for Michelin recognition again now that inspectors consider Utah for the Southwest guide. 

“People want something unique. They want something that has soul,” said Luster. “Our obsession and level of detail. It’s Fretz, like it’s a perfect fit.”

With Charolais, expected to open in fall 2027, Luster and Fretz are dreaming big, especially since they’re building the restaurant from the ground up. 

“I was like, ‘Dan, can we make a cheese aging cave?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t see why not.’ So it’s right next to the wine cave, and I was like, ‘Can we make the wine cave bigger?’ So he made it twice as big,” Fretz said. 

As construction on Charolais finishes, the chef said he’s focusing on Montblu, which should open this fall.

As Luster said, Montblu is a whimsical space, with a cartoony logo of a Valais Blacknose sheep on the sign, sandwich paper and napkins. 

While it’s more playful, the food is still very serious, Fretz said. Everything will be made in-house, from the breads to the foie gras pâté. And for those who know him, Fretz is bringing his “chefy” brown-butter glazed, triple-fermented brioche doughnut, which goes with him wherever he works.

“My favorite things to cook are things that are technique-driven, technique-based,” said Fretz. “The gratin fries take two days. The bread takes three days. So it’s all very thoughtful.”

For example, instead of a turkey sandwich with sliced deli meat, Fretz makes a turkey terrine: paper-thin layers of turkey and white truffle cheese pressed overnight. Each sandwich is made from its own miniature loaf of brioche bread and dressed with a pecan gremolata and an aioli. Instead of simple French fries on the side, it’s served with gratin fries made of stacks of sliced potatoes, cut into thick blocks, then fried and topped with flaky French salt.

Fretz said, in honor of their sheep neighbors, Montblu will never have lamb on the menu.

The chef has permanently relocated to Midway, a kind of return to his heritage, which he calls “serendipitous.” He remembers visiting the hot springs or coming up for Swiss Days as a kid. Now he’s returned, but not empty-handed.

“I got to bring the fine-dining aspect of how I’ve been trained to Midway,” Fretz said. “It is a bit of coming home to, like, this is it. I’m not going anywhere else. I’m not opening restaurants anywhere else. … For a chef, this is a dream come true.”

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As three major projects progress in Midway, developers of one — Southill — and city representatives say they are excited for what’s to come.

Southill aims to bring a “walking village” vibe to town with new amenities, eating establishments and townhomes for new residents. Dan Luster, developer and agent for Midway Heritage Development LLC, said a big part of the project’s story is preserving the city’s agricultural vision.

That also involves dealing with one of Midway’s most contentious topics: parking. 

But Luster said they have solved the problem. Instead of creating massive above-ground lots for residents and visitors, there will be underground parking available. Luster said it will actually be a requirement for residents of Southill homes to park underground instead of on the street. 

“The whole reason we are parking underground is to create a walking village,” Luster said. “Anytime you have density … it becomes a car apocalypse where there’s just cars on the streets.”

Because most residents will have at least two cars, Luster said Southill has gone to great lengths to park underground to hide the cars and the garages. By providing underground parking, each home — which Luster calls “attached cottages” — will have as many as four parking spaces. 

Midway City Councilor Andrew Osborne recently toured the Southill development to check on progress. 

“Instead of taking other space, (the land) can be utilized for open space, open view corridors and just an integrity to the visual feeling,” Osborne said. “Just overall beautification of the area that you’re not looking at a parking lot of cars.”

Osborne said the Southill project overall sets a “high bar.” He said the ideas that Southill has brought forward to preserve open space and view corridors can be applied to other developments in the city in the future. 

One of those plots of open space will be situated along Main Street and next to the upcoming tea house — Montblu, which will feature breakfast and lunch options. That’s where a grazing area for a small herd of sheep will be. Visitors will be treated to visits from the sheep, which will graze on the other side of the patio dining area.

Southill entered phase three of the five-phased project in December 2024. In March of this year, a conditional use permit was issued for the Montblu Bistro. Southill also features an underground spa that Luster calls “truly exceptional.” 

And Southill isn’t just focused on underground parking, but also on maintaining Midway’s architectural feel. The “old European” architecture of Midway’s Swiss heritage will be echoed in the Southill development in everything from the cottages to the restaurants and spa amenities. 

Each of the townhomes (or cottages) will be unique. Though the general European theme remains the same, Southill features a mix of architectural styles for doors, awnings, stonework and more.

The entire development is 27 acres and has seven buildings, plus 142 townhomes. Midway’s emphasis on developers, including preservation, means the development will also feature over 8 acres of open space. 

Luster said that townhome construction for phases one and two are completely sold out. The additional 41 homes under construction are sold as well. Luster said he believes the cottages are so popular because of the variety and unique aspects offered.

The homes additionally feature outdoor space. In a smaller 2,200-square-foot home, there will be a 1,400-square-foot outdoor footprint. That includes a rooftop balcony, which is hidden from view due to the angle of each home, and a patio on the backside of each townhome.

“Now, everybody gets amazing views,” Luster said, adding that the balcony offers both privacy and space for outdoor time.

In April, city planner Michael Henke said Southill is “looking even better than the pictures.”

Luster attributes that to the work developers have done to maintain Midway’s European feel. He said the development is modeled after towns in the English Cotswolds. Though he is a developer, Luster said he places great emphasis on low density wherever possible, plus open space and intentional amenities. 

Luster has been a part of projects like the Farm Springs subdivision in Midway, a neighborhood Luster himself said he wanted to live in, and Whitaker Farm. He also had a hand in writing Midway’s rural preservation code, which he said encourages “less dense growth.”

“That was kind of the beginning of saying, OK, maybe I can make a difference,” Luster said. “I was like, ‘wait a minute, maybe instead of stopping growth, I can be the growth and try to shape the growth,’ because it’s not going to stop when you’re this close to Sale Lake and Provo and ski areas.”

Inspiration for Southill comes from Luster’s time in England and the Hamptons. 

“(I did) a lot of international travel to Europe for my previous career, and I was always asking the question, ‘why can they build such charming villages and we can’t?’” Luster said, adding that implementations like underground parking will help that effort. “We want to enhance what Midway is.”

Luster said he wants Southill to feel authentic. That includes finding stone for the cottages and buildings that’s a perfect match — light colored and natural — to houses in the Cotswolds. Plus, slate roofs that feel old-fashioned. Southill photos show old-fashioned signage and plenty of landscaping, too. 

The property, visible from Main Street and at the base of Memorial Hill in Midway, is coming together slowly but surely. Though Luster is eager to finish construction, Southill is about two to three years from completion of all the residential homes.

Work on additional commercial buildings are next up for Southill. Those structures must technically be built before phases four and five can begin.

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