The wooden sign hanging over the light blue-trimmed doors of the Gateway Center is now weathered to gray, but the letters “HANDLE” haven’t changed since it was hung 10 years ago. It’s an anniversary that feels surreal for the restaurant’s owners, Megan Nash and husband-and-wife Briar Handly and Melissa Gray.“Ten years kind of flew by,” said Handly. Walking out to the sign for a picture, he jokes about using photoshop to make it look less haggard. “We ordered a new one.”The milestone breeds nostalgia, 10 years full of highs and lows, the owners said, from opening a second restaurant down in Salt Lake City to closing doors during the COVID pandemic. It’s also been full of lessons learned, many the hard way. Megan Nash and husband and wife Briar Handly and Melissa Gray stand in front of their restaurant sign in 2014 when it opened. Credit: Courtesy of HANDLEOne of their most important lessons has been to find balance.The three opened the restaurant just off Park City’s Main Street in August 2014 with the vision of offering seasonal and inventive dishes. And they were all in.“I was here six, seven days a week. My wife was here six, seven days a week. Megan was here six, seven days a week,” Handly remembers. In those days, they had full control over every detail, every dish, so “every negative review or tough night felt devastating,” said Nash.Now, they’ve learned to let go a bit more.“We’ve grown to understand that while we strive for integrity and excellence, we’re not perfect,” she said.For Handly as the executive chef, he had to practice letting go in the kitchen, where he learned to hire and train staff he could trust to further the restaurant’s vision. This was especially true when they opened HSL in Salt Lake City in 2016.“As we opened the second restaurant, I had to switch gears a little bit and hire a chef de cuisine,” he said. “I was still kind of coming with that mentality, like, ‘you’re not doing it exactly my way,’ or maybe stepping on their toes a little bit. … (I learned to) allow some of my chefs to be chefs, without coming in and just changing things, because they put a lot of heart and soul into their dishes.”Having learned those lessons already, he’s now able to be more hands off to raise his daughter.“The only way I’ve been able to step away recently after having a kid is to have trust in those folks that are working so hard for me, and that have the same passion,” he said. “People that have the same passion and want to succeed and want to see themselves grow creatively.”They’ve built a capable and trustworthy staff over the years, now upward of 80 staff between the two restaurants, Handly said. “In order to run this restaurant and to run any restaurant, you need staff that is loyal to you and shows up every day,” he said. “Getting down to the nitty gritty, the people that have stuck with me — I mean that’s part of it, the key to our success.”Executive Chef Briar Handly said he’s excited about a new round of chefs like Caleb, pictured, who will be working at HANDLE. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordTheir staff retention is one thing Handly said he’s most proud of, but he’s also proud to see past chefs go on to start their own successful projects, like Max Nelson at Central 9th Market, Alexa Norlin of Normal Ice Cream, Drew Fuller at Oquirrh and Philip Grubisa of Beltex Meats.“Seeing those guys be successful is awesome because I can’t hold on to it forever,” Handly said. “I would chain them to the kitchen prep table if I could.” Another high point for Handly was finishing as a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Mountain Region, in 2023, an honor that acknowledged the work and consistency he’s put into Handle.“Just to be nominated and grouped into that caliber of chef, even though I didn’t take home the win, it was a pretty proud moment,” he said.When it comes to the dishes at Handle, the bottom line for everything, though, is freshness and seasonality. “Growing up in Vermont, and just the way I like to eat and cook, it’s just always just been ingrained in me to cook with the seasons and highlight those ingredients that are so good at the peak of their season. And really, that’s how you should do it,” he said.They print their menus every day, a practice they’ve had since the beginning that allows them to tweak dishes as needed. But there are some dishes, like the Cauliflower and the Fried Chicken, that are guaranteed staples. Otherwise, they get to play with a wide range of flavors and ingredients, from a coconut curry shellfish dish to a bok choy and pork belly dish, or a pile of Korean-inspired neck bones, a beet salad or a take on arepas. As the menu changes for the seasons, so does the restaurant, and Handly said with his decision to spend more time with his young daughter, they’re in a season of new growth. “I’ve got a new chef in here that’s super capable and talented, and I think we’re growing into what we want to be,” Handly said. “It’s almost like we’re blossoming into a new age, but like in a different way, without me behind the stove as much.”Since HANDLE is built strongly on its regulars, Handly said they had a 10th anniversary customer appreciation party for those longtime clients, with food and drink provided as a thank you. It was also a commitment to continue serving their community, to bring more original flavors to the town.“After 10 years, our biggest goal and thing that we wanted to accomplish was to have a fun, really lively neighborhood joint that … our neighbors, our friends, our community, have a place to come and feel comfortable and break bread and tell stories with their friends,” he said. “I just want to thank all those folks that have eaten here and done that with us, thanks to them, because without them, we wouldn’t be able to do it.”The new wooden sign will be hung soon, bright and fresh and eager. It’s a fitting parallel to the restaurant’s own new chapter, hopefully another decade or more, said Nash.“HANDLE began with very little, and it’s thanks to the people who showed up, we’ve grown to where we are today,” Nash said. “There’s so much talent in this town, and we’re honored to be part of it. Melissa always said, ‘There’s power in numbers,’ and that couldn’t be more true.”Learn more about HANDLE at handleparkcity.com and their second restaurant, HSL, at hslrestaurant.com. HANDLE is open nightly starting at 5 p.m., and reservations can be made online.The post HANDLE reaches 10 years of ‘breaking bread’ with the Park City community appeared first on Park Record.