This Live-Fire Dining Experience Is a Love Letter to the Mountains of Utah

You might know Utah’s mountains for their steep slopes and the fluffy snow that makes ideal terrain for skiing. I know the landscape as the best place to enjoy an unforgettably delicious, chef-made dinner outdoors.

My meal in the mountains of Utah starts on a deck in September, looking out over 3,500 acres of beautiful hills on all sides as golden hour drifts over them. I am on the expansive property of The Lodge at Blue Sky, a hotel from the Auberge Resorts Collection that merges luxury accommodations with the natural beauty of the Wasatch mountain range.

I’ve traveled to Blue Sky in late summer to eat at WildKitchen, an elaborate outdoor kitchen that relies exclusively on live fire to cook everything. Meals cooked over fire always seem to taste better, and the food at this pop-up near Park City is so unbelievably special, I recommend it as a must-try experience for anyone who loves delicious fine dining, communal dinners, and natural beauty.

Described as the “ultimate luxury outdoor kitchen,” WildKitchen is a customizable kitchen and heated table concept from director Guy Ritchie. There’s not just one of them — the setup can be built anywhere, and people can even purchase a WildKitchen for their own home at a premium price — but this installation at Blue Sky was home to a rotating series of renowned chefs throughout the summer of 2024, where guests could try elaborate meals cooked on the state-of-the-art equipment. The venture was such a success, WildKitchen will be back at the property in the summer and fall of 2025 with a new roster of chefs.

Chefs cooking at the Blue Sky WildKitchen use its charcoal-and-wood-fired oven, grill, cast iron cooking plate, and more to prepare meals for a family-style dinner at a heated table, perched atop a small mountain on the property, so guests can watch the sun set around them as they eat. When I arrive for dinner, I am immediately greeted with a cocktail and appetizers being passed around a viewing deck so we can appreciate the landscape before sitting down. (My first bite is a bison tartare crostini with a generous amount of rich and salty Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.)

Most of the ingredients served at the WildKitchen dinners are locally sourced — hence the choice of bison for a tartare — and from the property when possible. Blue Sky is home to an on-site garden dubbed Gracie’s Farm, which provides seasonal vegetables for guest chefs to use in their set menus.

While I dine at this unique live-fire experience, I am lucky enough to enjoy food cooked by chef Hillary Sterling of Ci Siamo in New York City. (Other chefs on the roster this year included Sebastian Benitez of Francis Mallman’s Los Fuegos in Miami, Kim Canteenwalla of Honey Salt in Las Vegas, and 2011 F&W Best New Chef Viet Pham, a three-time James Beard Award semifinalist.) 

Sterling is known both for cooking with fire and an emphasis on seasonal ingredients at her own restaurant, and this shines through in the smoky, savory, and delectable Italian dishes she places on the table. 

Dinner starts with the chef’s signature pizza bianca, topped with a bright and punchy salsa verde and anchovies. We taste grilled scallops paired with marinated, melt-in-your-mouth miniature zucchini from Gracie’s Farm. Out of the nine dishes we eat — spread out across four courses of antipasti, pasta, secondi, and dolci — a cheese- and potato-stuffed cannelloni with cured cherry tomatoes vies for the position of the most memorable bite with a smoked lamb shoulder and mustard greens topped with currants and pine nuts.

When I arrived at the WildKitchen outpost, Sterling was busy giving the lamb shoulder a final sear over the grill, although she explained that it had been slowly cooking all day. One of the most beautiful parts of the open kitchen is that you can talk to the chef as they work.The other guests and I watched her leverage the fire-fueled oven, grill, and heated slabs to carefully balance preparing each course while ensuring others stayed warm. 

Sterling’s cuisine relies on simple ingredients that are perfectly cooked, and she’s conquered the temperamental nature of live fire. Charred onions are blackened on the outside but meltingly tender and sweet on the inside. A briny tonnato sauce is packed with umami without being overly fishy and pairs well with earthy roasted vegetables for dipping.

As each plate arrives — we eat family style, taking turns serving ourselves from large platters of food — servers pour wine pairings chosen by sommelier Rand Elsbree. My glass is never empty. 

One of the most beautiful parts of our meal is getting to know the strangers at the table. I chat with a lawyer couple from Chicago who’s away from their children for the weekend, and two newlyweds sit across from me; after the second course I learn we have a mutual friend.

The table we’re gathered around is crafted from copper and lightly heated (with wood, of course), and the WildKitchen’s proprietary design prevents any smoke from billowing in our faces. A ring of beautiful cooking implements dangle above us, a visual reminder that you can actually cook on the table if you get it hot enough, but this evening it is simply keeping us warm.

A dessert of roasted stone fruits and whipped crème fraîche, plus rainbow cookies from chef Sterling’s Ci Siamo team, concludes the meal. 

If you ask me what comprises a perfect dinner, communal dining, food from a renowned chef, and the taste of dishes prepared over live fire all make the list. When you factor in a mountaintop view and the chance to watch every item be cooked over flames in an outdoor kitchen, that dinner becomes unforgettable.

WildKitchen at Blue Sky is closed for the winter months, but it will return next year with a new roster of chefs and their unique menus. You don’t have to be a guest at the property to purchase a ticket for one of the meals, so you can even stay in nearby Park City if you’d prefer. Check back here in the spring to book a spot as soon as you can — they're sure to sell out.