When chef and owner Matt Harris closed the Main Street location of Tupelo restaurant in May 2020, Park City locals and visitors alike anxiously awaited finding out where they’d open next. After a year and a half away, Tupelo opened a new location in December 2021 — a large, airy space on Kearns Boulevard, about a 5-minute drive from Main Street.
The Details
Where: 1500 Kearns Blvd, Park City, UT, 84060
When: Open daily for dinner, 5pm — close
Website: https://www.tupeloparkcity.com/
Harris and his wife and business partner, Maggie Alvarez, renovated the new space from the ground up. Tupelo’s warm atmosphere is accented with wood and leather finishes, modern touches, and a patio that opens in warmer months. In the main dining room, diners can observe the chefs as they cook and admire the award-winning wine collection. (Tupelo’s wine list has won Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence six times!)
In the new location, guests can sit outside on the large patio in warmer months, which is also available for private bookings. In the summer season, Tupelo will bring back its renowned Sunday brunch. Plus, ample parking around the restaurant is available, so you don’t need to worry about finding a parking spot.
On a recent night, when we dined at Tupelo, we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the bustling bar to begin the night. The signature cocktail list features creative, hand-crafted options with cheeky names such as Resting Bee Face, a mix of gin, crème de violette, Lillet Blanc, and honey sage syrup, or Naked on the Lift, with reposado tequila, honey chili syrup, pomegranate, and lime.
For our meal, we then opted to sit at the chef’s counter where we could watch the impressive kitchen staff busy at work. Our server was attentive and friendly, and we enjoyed chatting with the manager as well as Chef Harris during our meal.
The Food
Harris, a Georgia native who arrived in Park City in 2008, has learned from and worked alongside luminaries in the culinary world, including Jean Georges Vongerichten, Kevin Rathbun, and Pano Karatossos. At Tupelo, Harris has created a thoughtful menu featuring globally inspired cuisine that reflects his southern roots.
In fact, the name Tupelo itself integrates both his southern heritage — the tupelo tree, whose blossoms produce the sweet and delicate tupelo honey, is native to the Southeast — as well as his new home of Utah, also known as the Beehive State.
The Tupelo team prides itself on sourcing many ingredients locally, from Idaho trout to Utah elk. Vegetables and greens are grown right in Harris and Alvarez’s backyard farm in Midway. (Check out our tour of their Tupelo farm on YouTube.)
On our recent visit, we began the meal with Tupelo’s famous buttermilk biscuits with honey butter. It’s a recipe from Harris’ grandmother, though he says it’s more about the “technique'' than the recipe, which of course includes plenty of butter and buttermilk. For a starter, we also tried the delicious Nashville Hot Chicken Bites, a new and notable addition to the menu. The deviled eggs, topped with creme fraiche, fried country ham, and chives, are another popular way to whet your appetite.
When it came time to order, Harris highly recommended the braised Niman Ranch Short Rib with corn grits and root vegetables and topped with red wine jus and the pan-roasted King Salmon with charred broccoli and crispy sweet potato. Both were beautifully plated and delicious, and the short rib was particularly fabulous — it was melt-in-your-mouth tender and the grits were the perfect accompaniment to soak up all of the tasty red wine sauce.
While the menu changes seasonally, other creative options include the beef & barley, Maine lobster pasta, and grilled Iberian pork shoulder. For non-meat eaters, there’s also a vegan option, a crispy broccoli and quinoa cake served with spicy tomato sauce and local mushrooms. And if you’re not too full, you won’t want to miss the dessert menu with house-made delicacies — though we opted to polish off the rest of the buttermilk biscuits to end our meal on a sweet note.
If you can’t get enough of Tupelo’s fresh and inventive flavors, check out the other restaurants run by Harris and Alvarez, including RIME, La Stellina, and Brasserie 7452 at the St. Regis Deer Valley, as well as RIME Raw Bar, located at the top of the Jordanelle Gondola at Deer Valley Resort during the winter season.
