What if Mountain Accord Was a New Restaurant

This morning City Council member Liza Simpson was on KPCW again saying that we need to continue to sit at the table so we can see what Mountain Accord really is. All I could think of was, “what if Mountain Accord was a restaurant in Park City?”. Would this fly? Would they get a second… third… fourth chance? You be the judge.

Let’s say someone opened up a new Mexican Restaurant in town. They publicize the hell out of it. They built it at a prominent and beloved place to locals. They make promises that this is going to change the way Parkites look at food. They’ve held focus groups and brought in celebrity chefs to make the perfect menu. They’ve gotten the Park Record to write 5 stories about how the restaurant is truly remarkable.

You decide to go. When you arrive in the parking lot you look up and see the 60 foot tall building. A look of confusion runs across your face as the mountains you love are no longer visible. You ask why it’s so tall and the manager says, “we have to have cliff divers.”

The restaurant opens its doors and the locals flood in to try the hot spot. Well they try to. Once they get inside they find it’s a 2 hour wait. The restaurant had also ran advertisements in Salt Lake and offered free busing to anyone in Utah who wanted to come try the food. They had to maximize the crowd.

Once you are seated you look at the menu. Tacos cost $30 and burritos are $60. When you ask why it cost so much, the server says that you need to look at the ingredients. Parkites are saving the indigenous American Wagyu cattle by only using real Japanese Wagyu cattle. The server tells you, “you are paying a little more to save those American Wagyu” but they must be saved. “Do you want the American Wagyu to die?”

After ordering, you wait. 20 minutes. 30 minutes. 40 minutes. You ask your server, “what’s taking so long?”. The server explains that like Chile en Nogada, that every dish is a slow process. Meanwhile, the cliff divers have started and water is everywhere. You’re soaked.

You finally get your meal and it is OK. It’s worse than Billy Blancos but some parts are better than Del Taco.

You and your partner decide it’s time to leave and ask for the check. They forgot to tell you that margaritas are $25 too. $300 later, you head for the door. Or should I say the gift shop that you have to exit through. You notice a t-shirt that exclaims “try our 15 locations throughout the Salt Lake Valley.” So much for being unique and about Park City.

You finally get to your car and head home vowing that you will never come back and that it was one of the worst restaurant experiences you have ever had. You wonder how something so promising could have turned out so bad. You drift off to sleep and one word comes to mind. GREED.

The next week, you see an ad and accompanying story in the Park Record about 2 for 1’s at the restaurant and how you should come back. The ad says that you have to come back and see what the restaurant is becoming … its great. The article tells you that you just don’t understand the restaurant and you just don’t understand what they are trying to do.You are lying to yourself. You are an idiot. This restaurant is the best thing ever. Just come back a few more times and sit at the table. Come back and see what the restaurant really is.

You stare back into that newspaper article and say, “I don’t need to come back and sit at the table. I already know what it is.”

You know that the faster that restaurant closes and gets torn down, the faster a better restaurant will come in that actually meets the needs of its customers… AND NOT ITS OWNERS.