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Blogs / On the Table / January 2010 / Dining up at Jean-Georges' new place

Dining up at Jean-Georges' new place

Not once were we approached by camera-clicking paparazzi during our evening at J&G Grill last night. Our dinner was not interrupted by even a single flashbulb.

So something’s working up there.

Because we were assured by a St. Regis employee that one great thing about the up-to-the-top (and in many senses over-the-top) funicular approach to the resort is that it prevents paparazzi from getting to the restaurant.

So, check, on that—no paparazzi anywhere, unless you count us.

Until you reach the restaurant in the Fortress of Solitude, the St. Regis experience is distinctly odd—imagine an impeccable luxury ghost town with lots of travertine and gilt-framed living spaces, but no onealive around except the random guys who show you the secret entrance to the funicular. This swankiest-so-far of Deer Valley resorts is definitely set up for guests, not visitors.

But the J&G itself (the initials, referring you know, to the starriest star chef on the planet, Jean-Georges Vongerichten) is a rambling, low-key room, its total beigeness clearly chosen so the decor wouldn't compete with the magnificent views.

Too bad that there aren't any views at night.

That just leaves the beigeness, which comes off a little reminiscent of ranch-style to one who grew up in a western suburb.

However, the food is excellent.

Never mind that chef de cuisine Matthew Harris is doing the cooking, not the great man himself; somehow Vongerichten's restaurants (and there are nearly 50 of them) manage to keep the quality high. Our server Leon recommended the rice cracker-crusted raw tuna, the beet-Shepherds-chevre-olive salad, the butternut squash and mushroom soup and a fantastic risotto made with sushi instead of arborio rice. He was spot on, and we followed his advice for the mains, too: tai snapper in aromatic broth with pearl onions and tomatoes; braised short rib with a jalapeno sauce and a trio of lovely lamb chops with a chile glaze. It was all wonderful, unstuffy, unpretentious food, fun to eat with lots of wine options, good all the way through dessert (pepper vanilla ice cream over exotic fruit salad, creme fraiche cheesecake) and well served by the super-competent Leon.

So don't be afraid to breach this mountain fastness. And keep it in mind, too, for the post-apocalyptic days ahead, when cannibalistic vandals roam the earth and you need a place to retreat to. You'll be safe at the St. Regis.