Italy’s most decorated butcher, Dario Cecchini, stood on a table in Union Plaza off Main Street to sound in a Chef’s Table Festival lunch.
“Benvenuti al pizza party!” Cecchini shouted, blowing from a four-belled horn. “E sempre tutto buon appetito tutti! Pizza a gogo.” Always everybody, enjoy your meal. Pizza aplenty.
With his iconic moustache, cow-print clogs, Italian-flag colored vest over a red-and-white striped shirt, the visiting chef was unmistakable as he wandered the party, blowing his horn at each of the pizza stations.
The commotion had two women, who’d just arrived in town for a trip, wandering off Main Street to see what was up. And then, from the edge of the fenced area in the plaza, Franco Pepe himself handed them each a slice of his famous margarita sbagliata, “blundered margarita,” pizza.
Instead of a classic margarita with a tomato sauce base, cheese and basil leaf, Pepe’s margarita sbagliata has a cheese base, and is topped with lines of uncooked tomato sauce and dollops of a basil reduction.
Italian pizzaiolo Franco Pepe serves a slice of his margarita sbagliata pizza to a few lucky observers during the Chef’s Table Festival event. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park Record
He’s also known for his dough, which he actually brought in suitcases from his home in Caiazzo, Italy, for the Chef’s Table Festival.
“In Italy, we did everything by hand the day before we left,” Pepe said in Italian.
The event is his first visit to Utah, and he hopes it won’t be his last.
“Bellissimo,” he said of Park City. “I want to come back. We leave tomorrow but I want to come back. Let’s organize something and I’ll come.”
Attendees at the pizza party lunch, part of the inaugural festival’s schedule in Park City, got to rub shoulders with pizza pioneers and chefs like Pepe from all over the world. It’s an opportunity that Le Depot Brasserie chef Galen Zamarra was most excited for, especially as a fan of the “Chef’s Table” series on Netflix.
“The idea to bring this show from the screen to something you can experience is brilliant,” Galen said. “Not everyone can visit these chefs and restaurants, certainly not all of them. I think it is just a very exciting opportunity.”
He said he was specifically interested to learn more about each chef’s pizza dough, many of whom said they had to experiment with the high altitude that impacts rising times.
Galen’s wife and business partner, Katie, said as a local, the festival has the potential to bring a lot of energy to Park City.
Italian butcher Dario Cecchini serves pizzaiolo Franco Pepe a slice of cured meat in the moments before the Chef’s Table Festival pizza party. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park Record
Italian butcher Dario Cecchini serves American chef and baker Nancy Silverton a slice of cured meat in the moments before the Chef’s Table Festival pizza party. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park Record
“It’s beyond exciting Chef’s Table chose Park City for its debut,” she said. “We have such a special hospitality community, and this gives us an opportunity to shine alongside some of the world’s most celebrated chefs.”
In addition to pizza, baker Roy Shvartzapel brought his specialty to Saturday’s party: panettone. His bakery, From Roy, is based in San Francisco and has been “reimagining” the sweet bread “for a new generation.” At the event, he served slices of his chocolate chip version.
It was also Shvartzapel’s first time in Park City, and he said from a chef perspective, the festival had been a great networking opportunity, but also a kick-start for creativity.
“I don’t know if the average citizen here understands the gravity of talent that has descended on their city,” Shvartzapel said. “I would say most people wouldn’t, unless you’re really into food. You wouldn’t know the humans that are collected here right now. In their craft, who they are and what they represent.”
Roy Shvartzapel is a baker who specializes in panettone with his San Francisco-based brand, From Roy. At the Chef’s Table Festival pizza party, he served slices of his chocolate bread. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park Record
Chris Decker, a pizzaiolo at Truly Pizza in Dana Point, California, who has been named among the top 100 pizza chefs in the world, showcased a slice with blistered tomatoes and a huge, fluffy crust. Sara Aqel, a Jordan-based chef, served slices of a Middle Eastern-flavored pizza with short rib, tzatziki and mint. Cody Reding, the co-founder and executive chef of Los Angeles-based private dining company Star67, created a Sichuan-inspired pizza for the event. Sean Feeney, a New York City restaurateur, represented his pizza brand, Fini, which also has a location in Utah.
Feeney said, with his new location in Utah City, he travels to the state every couple of weeks, and has grown to love it. So the chance to participate in the festival in Park City was an easy yes.
He had three different pizza options, but his “white slice” was a crowd favorite, made with a blend of mozzarella, parmigiano and fontina cheeses topped with lemon.
Brent Whitford, owner of Park City-based Red Bicycle Breadworks — the home of the “crack” bread — attended the pizza party just as a bread enthusiast. His first bite of the Decker slice: All crust.
“There’s so much talent here, and all the different crusts,” he said, showing his “shark bite” of the Decker pizza. “It’s so light and delicate in the middle, and then crispy and chewy, all at the same time.”
Star67, a Los Angeles-based private dining company, served Sichuan-inspired pizzas at the Chef’s Table Festival event in Park City. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park Record
Whitford said Decker uses flour from Central Milling, which is based in Logan, and is the same flour Red Bicycle Bread has been using since its founding.
“It’s the oldest continuously running business in Utah,” said Whitford. “It’s the go-to for organic flour throughout the world.”
While he wasn’t able to get involved to help host the festival, especially since he operates out of a grocery store kitchen, Whitford said he’d gotten the chance to attend a few events.
“We were up at Silver Lake dining with Francis Mallmann, and I think I’ve seen that (“Chef’s Table”) episode maybe 12 times. Whenever I had a bad night at work cooking, I would whip that on, and it would make me feel good about cooking for people again,” he said. “To meet all your heroes, it’s been a dream come true.”
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