Deer Valley Resort announced it will host Michelin-starred chef Diego Briones as the next guest in its Taste of Luxury Series. Briones, owner and head chef the 22-seat Z’SOM in Vienna, Austria, will appear at Deer Valley for two ticketed events on Jan. 23 and 25: an intimate VIP reception and multi-course dinner at Silver Lake Lodge and a hands-on, lunchtime cooking class at The Brass Tag. Tickets for both experiences are now on sale through Deer Valley’s website. Briones has spent the last 15 years cooking across Chile, Peru, Canada, Spain, China, the Philippines and France. His restaurant draws on Latin American flavors while applying European technique, resulting in dishes that reflect both his Chilean roots and his international training. Z’SOM earned a Michelin star in 2025, just 20 months after opening, with inspectors praising its modern approach and precise execution. All accomplishments that 17 year old Briones, just starting a culinary program in Chile, could hardly have imagined. The Chilean chef’s introduction to cooking was informal and based in family tradition rather than professional ambition. “I will tell the same thing that all chefs say — I started to cook with my mom,” he said with a laugh. “All my family has been around restaurants. My father was a waiter for 30 years. My uncle worked in a restaurant. But we never had our own place.” His family enjoyed cooking for others, mostly at home, he said, and restaurant life — at least as it existed then — was far from glamorous. “My father was the first person who told me, ‘You shouldn’t do that,’” Briones said. “Years ago, the gastronomy was not like now. To be a chef or be a cook was like, you don’t have time, the salary was low, the stress was too much, you work New Year, Christmas, birthdays.” Despite the warnings, Briones enrolled in culinary school at 17, working simultaneously to determine whether cooking was something he wanted to pursue long term. “I wanted to know if this was what I wanted to do for my life,” he said. “When we are young, we want many different things: a journalist, and another day maybe a futbol player, or whatever.” After a few years, Briones got the itch to leave his country, hoping to learn more skills through travel. At 22, he left Chile to work abroad, moving on to kitchens in North America, Europe and Asia. Over the years, chef Briones has returned to his Latin American roots with his restaurant, creating contemporary dishes that play with ingredients and techniques from many different countries. Credit: Photo courtesy of Christian Piwowar “The first thing I learned was respect — respect for another culture,” he said. “Your mind changes. If you are open, they will show you ingredients, sauces, vegetables. You start to see food in a different way.” Those years abroad helped shape a cooking style rooted in cultural exchange. He later joined the team at David Toutain’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris, where the idea of opening his own restaurant began to take form. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Briones and his wife, Judith, who is from Tyrol, Austria, were living and working in Paris. The slowdown gave them time to plan, study markets and imagine a project of their own. They ultimately chose Vienna as their base. The opened Z’SOM — meaning “together” in the Tyrolean dialect — in April 2022 with a small dining room, an open kitchen and a seasonal tasting menu. Initially, the concept leaned toward bistronomy, a casual format paired with technical cooking, without overt reference to Latin America. “We opened with this concept, but we never touched Latin America,” Briones said. “It was more global because I had worked in many places.” Judith consistently encouraged him to bring his Chilean background into the food, but Briones hesitated. “She told me, ‘Hey, you need to show your roots,’” he said. “But I was scared because I didn’t want people to think, where are the empanadas? Where are the tacos? Where are the burritos?” So the shift happened gradually. Briones began incorporating Latin American ingredients and ideas, often blending multiple cultures within a single dish. Guest chefs also played a key role in that evolution, starting with an invitation to a chef from Guatemala. “He was the second person who told me, ‘You have to do this because everybody does the same things, very similar flavors.’” Briones said. “It’s like, if I use truffle, people here already know truffle, it’s nothing new. But maybe,  I use jalapenos, but in different way.” So slowly, over time, they brought more and more Latin American flavors, what Briones describes as light, fresh and “happy.”  “Latin America is fresh food. We say sazón,” he said. “We don’t use butter in our kitchen. It’s pure flavor.” Credit: Photo courtesy of Christian Piwowar Credit: Photo courtesy of Christian Piwowar Credit: Photo courtesy of Christian Piwowar Briones said when it comes to creating dishes, he uses Latin American flavors and ingredients prepared with European techniques. At Z’SOM, dishes might combine Spanish pork, Brazilian farofa, Mexican mole and an Amazonian-style jus, or feature fermentation techniques inspired by Eastern Europe alongside South American produce. That approach resonated with diners and, ultimately, Michelin inspectors. “The star was a surprise,” Briones said. “We took another way — almost the opposite way. But they understood our idea.” At the Jan. 23 dinner, Briones plans to present dishes that reflect that philosophy, including ceviche, cod and tenderloin, while incorporating ingredients such as Colombian chontaduro, maitake mushrooms and papaya escabeche traditionally found in Filipino cooking. On Jan. 25, Briones will lead his first-ever hands-on cooking class, teaching participants how to prepare ceviche from start to finish, including slicing fish and making leche de tigre, the citrus-based marinade central to Peruvian cuisine. Despite his international recognition, Briones said public events still make him nervous. “I’m a little nervous, I’ll be honest, because I’m a very shy person,” he said. “All my life I just wanted to cook, but when you’re the owner, it’s another way. It’s not only cook, it’s your business. … Of course, it’s very happy because somebody sees you. You think, I’m just here in this corner cooking, but no, all the time, somebody’s looking at you and what you do.” His wife will travel with him and take advantage of the Deer Valley skiing, but Briones said he’s not much of a skier. Instead: “I will drink beer,” he said with a laugh. For tickets: deervalley.com/things-to-do/activities/taste-of-luxury-series/chef-diego-briones  The post Chilean chef brings Latin American flavors with European techniques to Taste of Luxury events appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less