Alex Malmborg, the senior director of mountain dining at Park City Mountain, said their team has been readying menus to welcome hungry skiers and snowboarders back to the resort’s dozen restaurants. 

The Massachusetts native found his way to Park City in 2007 and served as executive chef of Grappa on Main Street. A few years later, he became the executive chef at Canyons Resort and “the rest is history.”

After serving as executive chef at both ends of Park City Mountain following the merger, Malmborg stepped into the role as director last year.

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“So much of what I learned over the 10 years I was the executive chef here really plays exactly into what I’m doing right now — to have oversight of all of the food and all of the beverage offerings here at the resort. That’s my skill set,” said Malmborg. “Coming up as a chef in both Boston and Utah, that’s what I do. I love food and beverage. I love guest service. I love making people happy through food.”

Part of what makes people happy, his team decided, is variety.

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“We don’t want to be known for, ‘Oh, every single restaurant has chicken tenders in a cheeseburger.’ Granted, those are some of our top sellers and they are at multiple restaurants, but we want there to be items across the board at every restaurant,” said Malmborg. 

One strategy this year toward offering options for every palate, Malmborg said, is a new list of signature items.

At each dining location this season, there will be a signature item created with the overall theme of the restaurant in mind. Working with Greg Hansen, the resort’s executive chef, and the sous chefs at each restaurant, Malmborg came up with these dishes, some brand new and some returning.

“We haven’t had any of these signature items in the past four or five years, since pre-COVID,” he said.

Some of the signature items for the 2023-24 season:

At Sun Lodge, a taco salad. “It’s a crispy tortilla shell with salad and pulled pork, lettuce and carnitas and Pico de Gallo and avocado and queso fresco, but it’s really that crispy tortilla shell that makes the whole dish,” said Malmborg.

At Red Pine Lodge, a meatball sub. “We’re making meatballs from scratch, marinara from scratch, and so far that’s … received rave reviews across the board,” he said.

At Tombstone BBQ, a loaded smoked sweet potato. “We tried to fit in with the barbecue theme. So it’s a … big potato and then we fill it with anything. We offer chili or vegetarian chili or brisket or pulled pork.” he said.

At Cloud Dine, the Cloud Dine Rachel: “This is another one we’re bringing back based on popular demand,” said Malmborg. “So it’s basically a turkey Reuben: house-roasted turkey breast on marble rye with Russian dressing and coleslaw instead of sauerkraut … and then melted Swiss cheese.”

At Miners Camp, a chicken pot pie. “They’re just a nice, really crispy top pressed on a very savory pot pie. We expect that to be a huge seller … that hearty kind of offering,” he said.

At Summit House, a chicken parm sub. “Crispy, fried chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, marinara, all on a crusty hoagie roll,” said Malmborg.

At Mid Mountain Lodge, a poke bowl: “It was one of our most popular items a few years back,” said Malmborg. “It’s raw ahi tuna that’s cut into small cubes and then seasoned with soy sauce, ginger, sesa.m.e (and) mirin. … Then we serve it with sushi rice and seaweed salad, cucumbers, sesame seeds and a few other veggies.” This, he said, is one of his favorite dishes on the mountain this year.

At Legacy Lodge, a salad bar. “We have the infrastructure there (for) a big salad bar that we haven’t used since COVID. And now we’re bringing back that salad bar with lots of fresh, salad-type offerings on it.”

With the addition of new menu items, Malmborg hopes guests find a new favorite. But he knows there’s always the go-to pleasers. 

“Our top seller is still going to be either chili or chicken tenders. We know that going in,” he said. “Skiers, when they come on the mountain and they come into one of our restaurants for lunch, they’re hungry. They want to get filled up.”

Of course, there are hearty options. But the demand in recent years has shifted toward healthy items, Malmborg said. Grain bowls have been popular, as an example.

At sitdown restaurants, the trend is similar. 

“(Guests) want to see more vegetables, more flavors and more colors rather than just a big steak on a plate,” said Malmborg.

Park City Mountain has two of their own “fine dining restaurants,” Lookout Cabin and Legends Bar & Grill, the latter more of an upscale gastropub, said Malmborg.

“We call (the food at Lookout Cabin) Rocky Mountain cuisine. We try to use a lot of locally featured cheeses or some different meats, like we use bison and we use elk,” Malmborg said.

a.m.ong the most popular items at this dining restaurant, he said, is cioppino, a tomato based stew made with clams, mussels, calamari, shrimp and a white fish; a pasta bolognese, with house-made pappardelle pasta in a tomato-based meat sauce featuring bison, beef and pork; and, of course, the cheese fondue.

“(The fondue) is a blend of about four different cheeses, local cheddar, and then Appenzeller and fontina and gruyère, and it’s served with mini boiled potatoes and different roasted vegetables and different types of bread. We sell just about a fondue to almost every single table that comes in there,” said Malmborg. 

Legends has revamped the menu, offering new items like a pork belly banh mi, a Vietnamese style sandwich, and a Rocky Mountain pie, which is a take on a shepherd’s pie. 

“We’re using local elk and bison in the shepherd’s pie mix with mashed root vegetables on the top,” said Malmborg. 

And, plenty of nachos, a Legends crowd favorite — this year, with a house-made cheese sauce.

Malmborg said he’s excited and grateful to be bringing past favorites and original dishes to the mountain.

“It’s really exciting that we can engage our teams and challenge our teams to come up with some creative ideas, and offer more flavors and more items to please our guests,” he said. 

Here is a list of the Park City Mountain dining options, with up-to-date hours for the season.

• Lookout Cabin 
  • 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Thursday-Monday (opening TBD with terrain and lifts)
• Legacy Café 
  • 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Lunch 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Jupiter Java 
  • 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Legends Bar & Grill 
  • 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Red Pine Lodge 
  • 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Lunch 11a.m.-3 p.m.
• First Tracks 
  • 7 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Red Tail Grill 
  • 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m., bar menu only 9-10 p.m.
• The Farm 
  • 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Après 3 p.m.-5 p.m., Dinner 5 p.m.-9 p.m.
• Umbrella Bar 
  • 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Murdock’s 
  • 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Summit House 
  • 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (opening TBD with terrain and lifts)
• Miners Camp 
  • 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (opening TBD with terrain and lifts)
• Tombstone BBQ 
  • 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Mid Mountain Lodge and Public House 
  • 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (opening TBD with terrain and lifts)
• Cloud Dine 
  • 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (opening TBD with terrain and lifts)
• Sun Lodge 
  • 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (opening TBD with terrain and lifts)