At The St. Regis Deer Valley, where skiers funnel off Deer Hollow Run, The Vintage Room après tent has reopened for its fifth season. The clear, heated structure set directly on the slopes provides another après venue for lunch, music and late-afternoon drinks, conveniently located, per the h otel’s motto, at “the best address.” Each year, the venue has been reworked — physically and conceptually — to respond to crowd size, guest behavior and shifting expectations around après. “I would say it has grown far past anything that I have ever offered,” said Parker Teske, director of food and beverage for The St. Regis Deer Valley. “Every year we’re building a deck and a tent and sound systems, and we’re adding more and more to that.” This season’s design focuses on improving circulation and sight lines. Lounge seating wraps the interior with dark-leather couches and light-wood tables available by reservation, while the dance floor has been relocated to the center of the space, between the DJ booth and bar. Teske said the goal was to remove bottlenecks and make movement between areas more intuitive. “We switched the space this year to put the dance floor directly in the center,” he said. “It creates a free flow between the bar and the DJ booth, so you can grab another drink, go dance a little and keep that moving.” Teske said he hand-sketches the layout at the start of each season, adjusting the footprint based on what worked and what didn’t the year before.  “I take a lot of feedback from both the guests and the team on how we can make the flow of it feel better, the sound system better, the bar itself,” he said. Parker Teske is the director of food and beverage at The St. Regis Deer Valley. Every year, he and his team sit down and design The Vintage Room layout and programming. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record One notable change this year is how VIP seating integrates with the rest of the venue. Previous seasons relied on more clearly separated sections, which Teske said created a visible divide between table guests and general admission. “This year, we tried to make the interior feel more inclusive,” he said. “In years past, the VIP sections felt very gated off. If you didn’t spend the money, you weren’t allowed in the ‘cool section.’ This year, we wanted to change that.” While those areas are still marked off with railings, they open out to the dance floor now; the approach improves both service efficiency and the overall atmosphere. “We noticed early on that we had a lack in service,” he said. “So we redesigned it to create sections that feel a little more closed off, but still in the mix, so servers can actually get to you, greet you by name, and the rest of the venue can still function around that.” Music has also become more central to the experience. In the early seasons, DJs were largely background elements. That changed as guest behavior shifted. “We focus a lot more on the DJ act being the focal point,” Teske said. “By year three, we noticed that people wanted to be right in front of the booth. Music became the draw.” The Vintage Room’s growth has mirrored broader changes in après culture at Deer Valley. What was once a place to stop briefly after skiing has become a planned destination, ski boots and bibs now mixing with Moon Boots and furs. “It used to be ski boots were still on,” Teske said. “Now people are quitting skiing by noon, going home to change and coming back at 3. There’s no dress code; the skier is more than welcome, but it’s taken on a life of its own.” The venue is open Tuesday through Sunday, serving lunch from noon to 2:30 p.m. without reservations. Après service runs from 3 to 7 p.m., and reservations are required most days except Tuesday. Guests can ski directly to the venue, walk from the main resort building or arrive via the St. Regis funicular. Food offerings have expanded significantly in recent seasons, driven in part by what Teske identified as a missing element in the resort’s après scene. “We looked around and said, ‘What culinary experience are we missing?”’ he said. “And it was sushi.” Executive Chef Matthew Fradera worked with local sushi chefs, many of whom have previously collaborated with him at other properties, to develop a menu suited to an outdoor, standing-room environment. The focus is on small portions that can be eaten easily while mingling. “There are only a handful of sushi restaurants in town,” Fradera said. “Being able to come off the mountain from skiing and have sushi available on this side of the mountain is a big deal.” Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Hot spring rolls, top right, were recently added to The Vintage Room menu as a hot food item. Other options include chef sushi rolls like the John Jacob Astor roll made with crab, avocado, tuna, jalapeno, ponzu tobiko and togarashi. Nigiri options of tuna, salmon, hamachi and avocado. The menu includes caviar service — Servuga, Imperial Osetra and Hybrid Kaluga — along with chef rolls and nigiri. Seafood is flown in daily, Fradera said, including tuna, hamachi and salmon, a benefit from the St. Regis brand within Marriott’s network. “I think quality starts with the purveyors. Our tuna is coming in fresh every day from Hawaii. We’re sourcing the best hamachi and looking for sustainable salmon,” he said. “Being able to source a lot of these products and use a lot of these vendors that someone like Yuki Yama (on Main Street) doesn’t have access to, I think, really sets ourselves apart.” Warm items were added this year in response to guest feedback. While the kitchen doesn’t have a full hotline, they brought in a fryer to expand those options. Crispy rice topped with fish, along with pork and leek gyozas and vegetarian spring rolls, can now be served hot and ready. Fradera said adapting to the demands of the guest is one of the ways he pushes his team toward a higher level. “We want to be the leaders of the change and not copy other hotels. We want to be the innovators of the new trends,” he said. “During our culinary meetings, we break it down, and we make sure that we have a section in there for creativity and innovation, and we all discuss what we want to see moving forward with our outlets.” Behind the bar, St. Regis mixologists serve cocktails, beer, wine, champagne and non-alcoholic options. Signature drinks include the Papa’s Paloma and the 7452 Bloody Mary, named for the resort’s elevation. Champagne is available by the bottle and half-bottle, alongside St. Regis-branded beers. The Vintage Room has tiered reserved seating options, like a Moet section, which comes with two bottles of Moet champagne. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record For guests reserving tables, Teske said there are tiered options that come with different perks.  “When you buy a table, you’re getting caviar service brought over to you,” Teske said. “Every table booking comes with a sushi platter. You don’t have to order — it’s there when you arrive.” Teske said consistently sold-out reservations prompted the introduction of a new “Luminary” ticket this season. The $40 ticket functions as a general admission option that guarantees entry before 5 p.m., addressing long lines during peak days. “We kept hearing from locals that they didn’t want to wait in line with no guarantee of entry,” Teske said. “So this was our solution.” For more, and to make reservations, visit srdvdining.com/st-regis-bar-deer-valley-utah-vintage-room. The post The Vintage Room prioritizes guest feedback with après program appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less