Steven Fretz got his first restaurant job at eighteen, cooking down five hundred pounds of live Dungeness crab a shift at Deer Valley's Snow Park Lodge and Stein Eriksen Lodge. He and his high school friends had moved to Park City together, more energy than technique, the kind of kitchen crew a chef remembers fondly and worries about in equal measure. Fretz left Utah not long after for two decades in professional kitchens across San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, including a run at Michael Mina's XIV. He opened his own place, The Church Key, on Sunset Boulevard in 2012, then built a steakhouse called Coast Range in Solvang, California, that has carried Michelin recognition for four consecutive years.
This fall, he's opening a restaurant a short drive from Marcella, in Midway.
What's Actually Coming to Southill
Fretz's new project is called Montblu, a French-inspired daytime restaurant built into Southill, the 30-acre Cotswolds-style village rising on Midway's Main Street just south of Park City and Deer Valley East Village. Southill is now in its third of five planned phases, developed by Dan Luster, whose earlier work includes Whitaker Farms and Farm Springs. The village is built around walkable paths and shared green space, and it's one of the few communities in the country still lit by authentic gas lamps.
Montblu received its conditional use permit in March 2026, and the restaurant is targeting a mid to late October opening. A second, more formal project from Fretz, an elevated steakhouse called Charolais, is planned to follow in 2027. Luster has said he expects it to become one of the state's top-rated restaurants, drawing the comparison to what the French Laundry means to San Francisco.
For anyone whose dinner rotation usually runs between Park City's Main Street and Marcella's own dining rooms, that's worth knowing. Midway sits on the far side of the valley, past Heber, in a direction most residents drive for Wasatch Mountain State Park or the Homestead Crater rather than for dinner. A restaurant with this kind of pedigree changes what a Tuesday night looks like.
What Fretz Is Actually Cooking
Montblu is built around breakfast and lunch rather than dinner, which sets it apart from most fine-dining openings in the valley. The menu runs under twenty items, which Fretz describes as approachable French: technical underneath, familiar on the plate. Reported dishes and drinks include:
- A biscuit-croissant hybrid stuffed with gruyere and sausage espuma
- A Wagyu roast beef dip finished with raclette and caramelized peaches
- A signature fried chicken sandwich
- Valrhona dark hot chocolate topped with toasted marshmallow meringue
- A strawberry lemonade built with strawberry sherbet
- A wine list that includes two Montblu private-label pinot noirs from Central Coast producers, a small nod to Fretz's California years
The building itself is a limestone petit maison, built from stone quarried on site, with a slate roof, a sunroom, and a fireplace. It sits beside a small pasture where a herd of sheep will graze within view of the patio, close enough that lunch guests should expect visitors. It's an odd, specific detail, and it's the kind of thing that tends to outlast whatever's on the menu next season.
The Slower Story Behind the Opening
Southill entered its third of five planned phases in December 2024, and the pace since has been deliberate by design. Luster has talked about wanting the development to avoid the feel of a typical new-build subdivision. Residents will be required to park underground rather than in visible driveways. The goal, as he's described it, is a walking village rather than a parking lot with houses attached. Andrew Osborne, a Midway city councilor who toured the development, has said Southill's approach to open space could set a standard other projects in the city may end up following.
None of that changes what matters most to a diner: this has been years in the making, not a pop-up timed to a season. Fretz has said the decision to build in Midway rather than take another high-profile city job came down to family. His roots in the valley run back generations, and after three decades split between Utah and California, he's described the project as a chance to bring everything he's learned back to a place that already means something to him personally.
Why This Matters If You're Already Here
None of this is a reason to buy or sell anything. It's a reason to update the mental map of what's within reach on an ordinary week.
Midway's food scene has been building quietly around Montblu's arrival rather than starting with it. Midway Mercantile has been serving New American plates and craft cocktails on Main Street for a while now. Hidden Peak Provisions turned a small deli into a local favorite for sandwiches and soups. The Ballerina Farm Store opened its flagship market in town in the summer of 2025. The Olive Press Café moved into the Dainty Pear boutique with a seasonal, pastry-forward menu. None of these openings are news by themselves, but taken together with Montblu, they describe a town whose dining options have quietly outgrown its size.
For anyone living inside Marcella, that's the actual story here. The club calendar stays the same. The golf season and ski lodge access stay the same. What's changed is the value of a drive most residents used to reserve for the reservoir or for Main Street. Midway now has a reason of its own, and it's a reason with a Deer Valley connection baked into the story: the chef running the kitchen learned to cook on the same mountain a good number of Marcella residents ski every winter.
If the October timeline holds, Montblu will be open and settled well before the first real snow closes in on Deer Valley, which gives residents the rest of autumn to find their order before winter schedules take over.
Whether you're already settled into life at Marcella or thinking ahead to what's next in the Wasatch Back, Debbie Millar brings three decades of experience across Park City's private club communities and beyond. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
