An artful taste

HEBER VALLEY — A drive up the canyon, with the trees decked out in fiery fall shades, is a beautiful sight. But the Heber Valley folks are embellishing on Mother Nature with the Third Annual Artful Taste of Heber Valley.

Ten local artists will have their paintings, sculpture and photography on display in local restaurants Friday through Oct. 15. In addition, the restaurants will offer special three-course meals for $15 or $25, in a similar fashion to Salt Lake City's recent Downtown Dine O'Round.

For instance, at Snake Creek Grill, you can get a salad, pork scallopini or risotto shrimp, and a dessert from the menu for $25. The restaurants vary from fine dining to casual to suit a variety of tastes. In the case of the Dairy Keen, $25 will buy you a family dinner for four.

"For a county of only 20,000 people, many visitors are pleasantly surprised by the number of top restaurants and artists in our community," said Jennifer Kohler, Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce director. "It's a great thing for the artists because there's not a lot of opportunity for them to show their work in town. This year we're adding the menu specials to get more people to go into the restaurants and try the food."

And for chefs, it's a chance to lure more first-time customers to sample their cuisine. Heber Valley has grown a crop of fine-dining restaurants to rival those of its more glamorous neighbor, Park City.

Both Simon's and the Blue Boar Inn received an AAA Four Diamond rating for 2005, joining only a handful of other Utah restaurants (Goldener Hirsch and The Glitretind in Deer Valley; Sundance Resort; and La Caille, Log Haven and Metropolitan in Salt Lake City). To merit the rating, inspectors conduct unannounced evaluations of the restaurant's cleanliness, safety, ambiance, amenities and service.

Snake Creek Grill regularly takes top honors from Salt Lake Magazine's dining awards and Citysearch.com.

The inns in Midway — Blue Boar, Inn on the Creek and Simon's at the Homestead — get their share of couples on romantic getaways, golfers from the area's four golf courses, and businesspeople attending corporate retreats. But the chefs say they want to feed more locals and to be considered a dining destination for people from the Wasatch Front or Park City.

The Blue Boar Inn oozes Old World charm. The "pub" room, called Truffle Hollow, sports 150-year-old tables decked with fresh flowers in steins. The wooden bar was made from a 16th century steamer trunk, said innkeeper Sandy Niederhauser. Carved wooden boars flank the fireplace.

"We're obviously a special occasion place for anniversaries and birthdays," said Chris Sheehan, chef of the Blue Boar Inn. "People come up here for the experience."