Celebrate the honeybee with the Waldorf Astoria, Park City
Somehow, the two experiences don’t jibe: a sophisticated seated lunch at Powder, the restaurant in Waldorf-Astoria, Park City, and a trek up a hill through thigh-high grass and brush to a stack of beehives sheltered by some adolescent aspens.
But the first course of our lunch was honey-basted pork belly
and the last course was fresh fruit drizzled with warm honey 
and the beehives on the hill were the source of that honey.
This is the new luxury.
High thread-count sheets flat-screen TVs in the bathroom are great, but the word “luxury” implies an inimitable experience and that comes from authenticity. Powder’s Executive Chef Ryker Brown tends to the Waldorf hives and harvests the honey and honeycomb to use in the menu and even the cocktails in the restaurant.
(Honey, of course, is the least of what honeybees provide for the American table. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating many of our major food crops. To put it in the terms our culture best understands: Honeybees contribute $14.6 billion towards the American economy. Blueberries, cherries and almonds are almost completely bee-dependent.)
Chef Ryker Brown knows all this, and he understands the new direction of American cooking, too. Keep an eye on this space for more about that, later.
Meanwhile, shake up the Waldorf’s honey cocktail and raise a glass to the honeybees.
Rhubarb Bee’s Knees
- oz. Beehive Jack Rabbit Gin
- oz. Honey water
- oz. Fresh lemon juice
3 dashes Fee Bros. Rhubarb bitters.
Stir and mix over ice.
Honey Water: Heat 1 cup water with 1 Tbsp. Honey in microwave. Stir to dissolve. Let cool before using in the cocktail, but sip it as is for a soothing nighttime drink.
