Jackets are not Required
Photography: Courtesy of The Viking Yurt
One thing people tend to forget when drawing up plans to build a Mongolian-style yurt in a high-altitude mountain setting, is where to put the baby grand piano. In the case of Joy and Geir Vik, proprietors of The Viking Yurt at The Canyons, it wasn’t so much a matter of where to put the piano. It was a question of how in the world do you transport an antique baby grand to a remote, 8000-foot location in the middle of a ski resort? Well, we’ll let you in on that secret later. For now, rest assured that as the 2004/2005 ski season kicks into full gear, Joy Vik’s cherished heirloom piano is well-tuned and safely ensconced inside The Viking Yurt.
Being treated to luscious melodies by a concert pianist in the dead of winter at 8,000 feet is just one of the enticing and unusual aspects of dining in an already unusual type of restaurant: a yurt. There are other yurts-turned-restaurants around the country and even here in Utah. But we’d venture a guess that none of them feature baby grand pianos. But then, the original yurts weren’t really conceived of as places of entertainment and fine dining, either.
Looking like something from the architectural notes of Buckminster Fuller, yurts actually date back a couple of thousand years. A yurt is a “portable” (and we use the term loosely here…), domed, tent-style structure originally used as havens by nomadic tribes in Mongolia. Yurts were primitive but functional; hardly models of energy conservation. By contrast, modern day yurts are technological wonders, made with bubble wrap insulation designed by NASA, and sealed with electronically welded seams providing remarkable durability, energy efficiency, and strength. At The Viking Yurt, there’s a domed skylight at the apex of the cone-shaped roof, which gives the restaurant an airy and open feel. As the owners put it, “You can hear the wind, see the snow, enjoy the outdoors, but it’s comfortable and warm when you’re inside.”
Getting to The Viking Yurt is half the fun: A custom-designed snowcat-pulled sleigh transports guests wrapped in cozy, warm blankets up mountainside ski runs as the valley lights below begin to fade during the 1,000-foot vertical ascent. Or, take advantage of special evenings during the winter when you can snowshoe or cross-country ski to The Yurt from The Canyons Red Pine Lodge, schussing through a winter wonderland of sparkling snowflakes lit by only headlamps, the moon, and the twinkling stars.
If getting to The Viking Yurt is half the fun, eating there accounts for at least three-quarters of the attraction. More than just a meal, dining at The Viking Yurt is a synergetic encounter, where the evening equals a lot more than the sum of its parts.
Coming in from the cold, a warm fire and mugs of hot Norwegian spiced glogg turn frozen smiles into silly grins as guests mingle and the grand piano tinkles in the background. But don’t lollygag too long with the glogg, because world-class multi-course dinners await guests, prepared by acclaimed California Culinary Academy-trained Executive Chef Adam Findlay. Findlay has traversed the culinary universe and most recently went from the über-urban posh Metropolitan restaurant in Salt Lake City to the ultra-rustic Viking Yurt at The Canyons. You can take the chef out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the chef: Chef Findlay’s Viking Yurt menu is an ode to contemporary American cuisine, fusing classic cooking techniques and methods with wonderfully fresh and new ingredients and food styles.
A typically enterprising Findlay entrée might feature Kobe beef and fingerling potatoes with Cabrales butter, microgreens, and wild, hand-picked mushrooms, all preceded by mizuna salad with citrus-fried chevre and vanilla citrus gastrique. Following a course of domestic and imported cheeses specially selected by the chef, dessert might include the heavenly sweetness of dishes like devil’s food chocolate cake with black cherries and vanilla sauce, or perhaps Chef Findlay’s innovative lingonberry-cheese tart with warm almond milk, all served with freshly made espresso and tea.
With a seating capacity of 32 people, The Viking Yurt is the ideal place for a romantic dinner amongst 30-newfound friends, or a unique choice for private parties and business affairs. Treating clients or your hardworking staff to an evening of yurt dining is one they’ll not soon forget. And what better venue than The Viking Yurt to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, or even to get hitched? A honeymoon suite at The Grand Summit Hotel is just a quick sleigh ride back down the mountainside.
Speaking of that mountainside, here’s how the baby grand piano found its way into The Yurt. According to Joy and Geir, they couldn’t find a single moving company willing to take on the task of moving the piano up The Canyons mountainside to The Yurt — even in good summer weather. So in what might have been a TV car commercial, Geir strapped a mattress to the Vik’s snowmobile trailer, gingerly stacked Joy’s beloved antique piano on top, and pulled the whole shebang up a rutted ski maintenance road behind the Viks’ Chevy Suburban. And the Mongolians thought they had it rough!
Plans for the 2004-2005 winter season include a new 10-person mini-yurt for small parties, located in the forest across Red Pine Road from The Viking Yurt. For The Viking Yurt and mini-yurt reservations, call 435.615.YURT or email yurt@parkcity.net. You can also find more information about The Viking Yurt and make reservations online at www.thevikingyurt.com.
Ted Scheffler is a freelance writer and editor. He lives in Park City with an ever-expanding guitar collection.
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