NEW YORK — Rain slicked the streets of Manhattan all morning, but the city was busier than ever, and at Pier 57, hordes of people ran past along the Hudson River’s paved walkway. By contrast, the James Beard Platform dining space was peaceful, brightly lit for lunch by Courchevel Bistro’s Executive Chef Clement Gelas, and guests greeted each other with equal warmth.The meal, unlike others, felt more familial — two light courses followed by dessert, coffee and tea. Gelas brought his touch informed by his childhood home in the French alps and Park City, home now.Born in the same region of Park City’s sister city, Courchevel, Gelas’ representation in the Park City restaurants delegation to New York City is a nod to another element of alpine cuisine. As is common in sister city relationships, Courchevel and Park City have a longstanding commitment to the exchange of culture and ideas. Both are ski towns with similar goals and challenges.The exchange of culture is a value of Gelas, and Courchevel Bistro, evidenced by his participation in the trip and his approach to the day’s lunch. While they brought some ingredients from Utah along with them, they also wanted to play with the city’s local ingredients.“What we wanted to focus on was going to Union Square Market and picking up fresh vegetables and food,” Gelas said.He came with a rough sketch: a chicken consommé with pasta and a trout salad for the two main courses.“I was mindful that we might not need to serve as much food, and that it would be a lot quicker, so all the dishes were meant to be lighter,” he said.The consommé, or a French-style clear soup, was poured individually for each person into a bowl over a nest of angel hair pasta, purple anise flower, and a chicken mousseline-stuffed squash blossom — the end result, a fairy-like scenethat had guests charmed and sighing over its delicate beauty.“The zucchini flower wasn’t part of the plan, but they were at the market yesterday and they were so beautiful,” Gelas told a guest who asked about the blossom.The salad, featuring Utah trout, was a jumble of vegetables as if just harvested from a backyard garden — green beans, cherry tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, hard-boiled egg and fresh greens, all garnished with a simple vinaigrette. One guest was a familiar face from Park City: Park City Creamery’s formager Corinne Zinn, who was coincidentally in New York for a cheesemaker event to expand her cheeses to the East Coast market. Good friends with Gelas back home, she came out to support, bringing along her brother, Germain “Jimmy” Cornet, who drove from his home in Montreal. Corinne Zinn of Park City Creamery sits with her brother, Germain Cornet, at the Courchevel Bistro lunch at Platform by James Beard Foundation, Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park RecordSeated next to them were John and Nancy Mino, part-time Parkites and members of the Talisker Club which owns Courchevel Bistro. They were in New York visiting daughter Anna Mino and niece Margaret Day. John sat at the chef’s counter and reported back to his family the behind-the-scenes scoop — how many people worked on the components of the salad, Gelas’ techniques for plating. Throughout the meal, the Alpine Distilling spirit portfolio was on full display for this meal, masterful even for the relatively early hour. A grass-colored cocktail, made with Alpine Distilling’s AngeVert Liqueur and champagne, and garnished with orange peel, paired with the lunch’s cottage-core aesthetic. Later, a coffee and tea service served with dessert had whiskey-spiked Park City Coffee Roaster’s coffee and an earl-gray-and-chamomile tea made with Master Botanical Distiller Sara Sergent’s Preserve Liqueur.Gelas came out to explain the coffee experience, served in wooden, hand-carved bowls with multiple spouts on each end — a cultural exchange connected to the French region where Courchevel is located. Traditionally, people from his hometown in France would share one pot of coffee and drink from each spout, passing it around as a communal tasting. The ornately carved pots had been purchased from a woman who made them in his hometown.“At the time, she was not willing to ship it to me in Utah directly, so I had my mom go pick it up and then she packed it all the way to Utah,” he said. “It’s a very unique coffee experience.”Executive Chef Clement Gelas of Courchevel Bistro introduces his lunch menu to guests at their event in New York City on Saturday afternoon. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park RecordDessert, a huckleberry crepe-like pancake called clafoutis, was topped with a scoop of pistachio ice cream. And, as a last-minute addition, a bowl with miniature strawberries and a pink lemonade raspberry was given to each guest.“That was another add on,” Gelas said with a chuckle. “We went to the market yesterday, and we grabbed some berries, and they were just very tasty.”He said he was honored to be one of the chef’s chosen to represent Park City at the event, adding his own perspective to the culinary landscape.“People from New York have got to know that there’s a diversity in Park City that is equal around to any big city,” he said. “Because everybody is a transplant in Park City, we all represent something fun and we all love what we do and we’re all very passionate.”Check out The Park Record social media for a video recap of the lunch.The post Courchevel Bistro takes a light, refreshing approach to New York City lunch appeared first on Park Record.