"sundance film festival" news and stories

When we heard that David Rockwell was designing Silver, the restaurant in Park City, Utah, where all the celebs will be partying at the Sundance Festival, we wondered what the group famed for restaurants like Adour Alain Ducasse DC and public spaces such as the Marketplace JFK Airport's Jet Blue terminal, would imagine for a former silver-mining-company headquarters. And while we were at it, we asked David Mexico, of The Rockwell Group, about the secrets of the design-firm's success. (Click here for more about Silver and the Sundance Festival.)

Slashfood: What is it about your design sensibility that makes your restaurants so celebrity-friendly and inviting?

David Mexico: When we design a restaurant, we always think of some of the touchstones of set design (another passion of mine) to draw guests in: entrance, choreography, lighting, storytelling, and procession. We spend a lot of time studying which materials, textures, and motifs that we should bring into the space to engage all the senses, and to create an extraordinary celebratory dining experience.

Chefs and celebrities from across the country are flocking to Park City, Utah, for this year's Sundance Film Festival, kicking off tomorrow, January 20, and running through Sunday, January 30.

So where are the film-world's famous noshing along Park City's Main Street?

Silver restaurant (508 Main St.), we hear, is the place to be for this festival's A-listers. There's a swirl of private, by-invitation-only dinners and parties being thrown at the former silver-mining headquarters (yes, this was silver country, folks), transformed by renowned architect David Rockwell into a chic eatery. (Stay tuned tomorrow for an interview with David Mexico, from The Rockwell Group). Chef Todd Mark Miller joins Silver from the kitchens of Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Prime, Las Vegas; Stephen Starr's Barclay Prime, Philadelphia; and STK, New York and Miami. In Style magazine's annual Sundance portrait studio will be set up at Silver during daytime hours to capture the Hollywood crowd. Meanwhile, upstairs at Silver, the PlayStation Green Room invites stars to demo the newest PS3 titles.

Sundance may be the most important independent film festival in the world.

But between the screenings, negotiating deals and celebrity watching, there's not always a lot of time for leisurely meals. There may be plenty of expensive restaurants in Park City and catered parties where guests eat and drink in style, but for busy executives and harried volunteers, food is almost an afterthought.

There are also several fast-food options for attendees on the go that allows them to digest both their food and the festival's latest documentaries. Domino's delivers in Park City and Pizza Hut is close by for those who favor ubiquitous chains.

Odwalla is launching a new line of juices at the Sundance Film Festival, called the "PomaGrand" varieties ("Uniquely combining the wonders of the red spectrum from nature's harvest, PomaGrand combines the goodness of pomegranate juice with wild berry extract"). Quaker Oats is sponsoring the "Steel Cut Oatmeal Power Breakfast" [pdf link], "where Hollywood's dealmakers will be invited to the Premiere [magazine] lounge to find both the next big deal from the Festival as well as a healthy breakfast."

They both seem a little, well, ridiculous. Quaker Steel Cut Oatmeal has (as far as I know) nothing to do with movie dealmakers. Pomegranate, while good for you, is so over. Hollywood is now doing the Acai thing. The hip health nuts have moved on. Yes, the attendees of this festival are truly hip (after all, some of our favorite people are going!). But are they really a mainstream grocery store food audience? Do you really think Robert Redford shops at Safeway?