Not eating at Sundance, Part Third and Final

Smiles, everyone, smiles!

This was the first year that Bon Appetit decided to do something at Sundance. My first thought was, Bon Appetit? Your mom's cooking magazine? The slightly fusty journal of haute cuisine wants Sundance?

My second thought: Well, of course they do.

There's a concept that explains a lot of things in Hollywood: Fairy dust. It's generated by success and settles on the shoulders of anyone who's in its vicinity. It makes you look good by proxy. And Sundance kicks up a lot of fairy dust.

So, Bon Appetit wanted some fairy dust and rented the Claimjumper, a historic Main Street building that used to be a restaurant. (Ten years ago, a much-smaller Sundance used the space as a press lounge.) It's a handsome old saloon, with wood floors, exposed brick walls, high ceilings. The kind of charm that a New York restaurant would pay $20,000 a month to rent.

And, unlike so many other sponsored sites on Main Street, the Bon Appetit Supper Club was kind of nice.

Bon Appetit publisher Paul Jowdy and
"The Ten" star Paul Rudd, together at last.

The dinner I attended was for "The Ten," which meant that Winona Ryder and Paul Rudd were in the house. The chef was Giada De Laurentiis, who proved to be a creation straight from the Food Network laboratories: She's beautiful, photogenic, charming, bright, a good cook and infinitely patient with the photographers and the fans that would drive a lesser creature bonkers. (Said Bon Appetit publisher Paul Jowdy, "She's one of the good ones.") There was Champagne and passed appetizers, served by a staff that was proud, polite and calm; dinner service was swift and efficient; the food was tasty. (Extraordinary winter vegetable soup; the recipe is here, sort of; they didn't use canned beans, tomatoes or broth.) 

So: Well planned, well appointed. And still a little disappointing.

For a moment, I saw the BASC as a throwback to the days of Sundance when parties had fewer people and more fun -- only now, with better food! GDL said that when her grandfather Dino De Laurentiis came to the festival, he brought his own chef because he couldn't stand Park City's "crap" restaurants. "This is what he wanted," she said. "A nice meal and to be left alone."

Only now, being left alone feels a little like being left in an annex. There's no way to achieve all the things Bon Appetit wanted (nice space/not too crowded/good food/sponsor servitude) without a really fierce door policy; backing it up were bouncers who had day jobs on the parole board. (I asked.) Thanks to "The Ten," there was a film contingent but, as at Chefdance, the tables seated a lot of sponsors. (In this case, Electrolux was a big one, supplying the show kitchen from which GDL prepared crostini for the cameras.) And ultimately, that's who was paying for the event and that's who it served.

At the same time, I wouldn't mind seeing Bon Appetit on Main Street next year. At Sundance, you can't overestimate the value of a dinner that doesn't mean fighting your way to a steam table.

Comments

[margaret]

Wondering if Splenda was a sponsor this year- is there a place to see the sponsor list?