Four-time James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Zimmern is heading to Park City later this month for three intimate dinners pairing mountain cuisine with live music, a free public talk on his 35-year sobriety journey and a bake sale benefiting emerging musicians.
Zimmern's appearances anchor the culinary side of Song Summit, the eighth-year Park City festival running Aug. 27–29 that blends music, food, film and mindfulness programming.
Supper Club dinners pair chefs with musicians
The first Supper Club dinner, titled "Nashville in the Mountains," takes place Thursday, Aug. 27, at Le Depot Brasserie on Main Street. Zimmern will cook a menu of modern takes on Nashville classics alongside multi-Grammy Award-nominated bluegrass mandolinist Sierra Hull, who lives in Nashville.
"Sierra's from Tennessee and lives in Nashville, so, I'm doing a tribute to her in a Nashville-comes-to-Park City night, which is going to be a blast," Zimmern told the Park Record.
After dinner, guests move to The Marquis for a Sierra Hull concert.
Two more Supper Club dinners follow Saturday, Aug. 29: "A Celebration of Kentucky Summers" with Chef Damaris Phillips and My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan, and "A Taste of New Orleans" with Chef Stephanie Izard and musician Ivan Neville.
Zimmern helped launch the Supper Club concept at last year's Song Summit alongside singer-songwriter Marcus King.
"Year two is always better than year one," he said. "With year one, you don't know what's going on, but with year two, I'm ready."
Free sobriety talk at the library
On Friday, Aug. 28, Zimmern will lead a free lab session called "Be the Dog: Emotional Sobriety and the Art of Being" at the Park City Library's Jim Santy Auditorium. The talk draws on his own recovery: addiction left him homeless for about a year before an intervention by close friends brought him to the Hazelden-Betty Ford Foundation in Minnesota.
Zimmern said he has spent the past 20 years focused on emotional sobriety, crediting researcher Brené Brown's work on empathy as a turning point.
"The only thing we truly own in our lives is our own experience, and when that experience can benefit others, I believe in talking about it to make a difference in other people's lives," he said.
Bake sale and broader festival
Zimmern will also donate baked goods to a Song Summit bake sale Friday, Aug. 28, and Saturday, Aug. 29, at Library Field. Proceeds support the Song Summit Foundation, which funds the Summit Rising mentorship program pairing 10 emerging musicians with established artists.
Song Summit Foundation co-founder and interim executive director Paige Anderson told KPCW in July that the festival's wellness mission drives real results: "We hear constantly, 'This has really helped me in my wellness journey,' or 'I got sober because of what you're doing.' You see that true impact."
Chefs Gregory Gordet and Sean Brock will also participate in Song Summit labs and events.
Tickets and schedule details are available at songsummit.com.
