Over the past year, a miniature European village coined Southill in Midway has come to life under the vision of developer Dan Luster. Part of that vision includes two restaurants — Montblu and Charolais — but that wasn’t always the plan, Luster admitted. Then he met chef Steven Fretz. Fre tz is a career chef in the fine dining world, most recently known for his “baby,” Coast Range, a high-end steakhouse in Solvang, California, which has been in the Michelin Guide for four consecutive years. But he actually got his start in the Wasatch Back. “When I graduated high school, me and my best friends moved to Park City and worked at Deer Valley,” he said. “We got jobs as prep cooks in the kitchen cooking 500 pounds of live Dungeness crab. We were just these kids, man. Super high energy. The chefs loved us.” That move to Utah from his home in Oregon wasn’t entirely new, Fretz said. He lived in Salt Lake City from 7 to 11, and his mom’s side has long held roots in the Heber Valley.  “My grandparents are buried in Heber Cemetery, so we would come up to Heber all the time. Swiss Days, come up all the time. My uncle Dick still has Dick’s Barber Shop on Main Street in Heber. We’d always come up, see Uncle Dick, get a haircut,” Fretz said. “My great-grandmother ran The Hub.” After that first gig at Deer Valley Resort, Fretz spent another three winters working in kitchens in Park City. But what really catapulted Fretz’s career was a conversation with a guest chef while he was a line cook at the Stein Eriksen Lodge. The chef from San Francisco saw Fretz’s work ethic and gave him a nudge. “I didn’t ever want to become a chef. It was just something I was good at,” Fretz admitted. “I went to culinary school because some chef that I thought was really badass said, ‘You need to move to San Francisco and go to culinary school.’ I was like, ‘OK,’ and so I did.” He didn’t just attend school; he excelled. He graduated from the California College of the Arts with a 4.2 GPA and a literal star with his name on the campus sidewalk: the Daniel Carlisle Walker Award for culinary excellence. He landed an externship at the Fifth Floor with chef George Morrone, who historically didn’t accept interns, because the college’s chef personally called in a favor.  Fretz said he just went along, kept his head down and worked hard, and maybe that’s what set him apart?  Steven Fretz will lead the culinary program at both Montblu and Charolais restaurants at Southill in Midway. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record But after years of working for others and helping open restaurants around the country, the natural progression was to start his own project. First he had The Church Key, which opened on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills in 2012 — “an epic time,” he said. Then, when the pandemic hit and he moved up to Solvang near Santa Barbara, California, he and a few friends bought and built out a restaurant that would become Coast Range. Solvang, like Park City, is a very transient population with intense busy seasons October through February, Fretz said. And like Midway, its charm comes from its European, specifically Danish, architecture and culture.  Now that Coast Range runs itself, Fretz said he was ready for his next thing. Utah has always been home despite the chef’s 30 years living in California, so when he decided to start another project, to “nest,” Fretz knew he wanted to be back in the state.  That’s when he met Luster. “Dan and I started really bonding: him admiring my craziness and my craft, and then me admiring his craziness and his craft,” Fretz said. “It just meshed together.” Luster, a self-described activist, said his philosophy in preserving Midway’s charm is to control the inevitable development and growth. Take the sheep pasture right outside Montblu along Midway’s Main Street, which used to be an auto shop: “This is now America’s most expensive sheep pasture. I had to pay full price, like $2.5 million, for the auto shop, buy it like I was going to run it as a business. And then we took it down, and now it’s a sheep pasture,” Luster said. The sheep are Swiss, Valais Blacknose to be specific, to appease Midway’s chosen character, Luster joked. In reality, the original settlers of Midway were English, hence his Cotswolds-inspired neighborhood. That desire to keep projects in line with the city’s existing charm is why Luster ultimately decided to keep ownership of the two restaurants, which were built to meet a city requirement for commercial space. The Montblu restaurant at Southill is branded around its neighbors: Valais Blacknose sheep. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record “I had no intention of owning restaurants. The business model was to have pads and sell them off,” he said. “A few (buyers) came along, and it just didn’t fit, and we were unwilling to just list them and sell them because it’s so critical to the whole vibe of not only the village, but Midway generally.” So Montblu and Charolais were born: the first a more casual breakfast and lunch spot, the latter meant to be a high-end French steakhouse. “Montblu, it’s whimsical. It’s sheep,” said Luster, gesturing to the pasture abutting the cafe’s patio, “and even some of the recipes are going to be kind of fun. Charolais the steakhouse, I can say, without too much hubris, I think it’ll be the top-rated restaurant in the entire state.” He and Fretz both say they want Charolais to be to Salt Lake City what The French Laundry is to San Francisco: a top-tier restaurant in a more rural, surrounding area.  “If we’re going to shape (the growth), what are we going to be? Are we going to be high-elevation Orem, just fill it in, or are we going to be Carmel or Southampton or Yountville?” said Luster. “I see Midway as those places in embryo.” Fretz said he’s shooting for Michelin recognition again now that inspectors consider Utah for the Southwest guide.  “People want something unique. They want something that has soul,” said Luster. “Our obsession and level of detail. It’s Fretz, like it’s a perfect fit.” With Charolais, expected to open in fall 2027, Luster and Fretz are dreaming big, especially since they’re building the restaurant from the ground up.  “I was like, ‘Dan, can we make a cheese aging cave?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t see why not.’ So it’s right next to the wine cave, and I was like, ‘Can we make the wine cave bigger?’ So he made it twice as big,” Fretz said.  As construction on Charolais finishes, the chef said he’s focusing on Montblu, which should open this fall. As Luster said, Montblu is a whimsical space, with a cartoony logo of a Valais Blacknose sheep on the sign, sandwich paper and napkins.  While it’s more playful, the food is still very serious, Fretz said. Everything will be made in-house, from the breads to the foie gras pâté. And for those who know him, Fretz is bringing his “chefy” brown-butter glazed, triple-fermented brioche doughnut, which goes with him wherever he works. “My favorite things to cook are things that are technique-driven, technique-based,” said Fretz. “The gratin fries take two days. The bread takes three days. So it’s all very thoughtful.” Chef Steven Fretz of Montblu says his favorite things to cook are technique-driven dishes, like a triple fermented doughnut, a turkey terrine sandwich and a foie gras pâté. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordChef Steven Fretz of Montblu says his favorite things to cook are technique-driven dishes, like a triple fermented doughnut, a turkey terrine sandwich and a foie gras pâté. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordChef Steven Fretz of Montblu says his favorite things to cook are technique-driven dishes, like a triple fermented doughnut, a turkey terrine sandwich and a foie gras pâté. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordChef Steven Fretz of Montblu says his favorite things to cook are technique-driven dishes, like a triple fermented doughnut, a turkey terrine sandwich and a foie gras pâté. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record For example, instead of a turkey sandwich with sliced deli meat, Fretz makes a turkey terrine: paper-thin layers of turkey and white truffle cheese pressed overnight. Each sandwich is made from its own miniature loaf of brioche bread and dressed with a pecan gremolata and an aioli. Instead of simple French fries on the side, it’s served with gratin fries made of stacks of sliced potatoes, cut into thick blocks, then fried and topped with flaky French salt. Fretz said, in honor of their sheep neighbors, Montblu will never have lamb on the menu. The chef has permanently relocated to Midway, a kind of return to his heritage, which he calls “serendipitous.” He remembers visiting the hot springs or coming up for Swiss Days as a kid. Now he’s returned, but not empty-handed. “I got to bring the fine-dining aspect of how I’ve been trained to Midway,” Fretz said. “It is a bit of coming home to, like, this is it. I’m not going anywhere else. I’m not opening restaurants anywhere else. … For a chef, this is a dream come true.” The post Southill partners with Michelin-rated chef for Montblu, Charolais restaurants  appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less