Saturday, June 10, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $120

Jeffrey Russell has made a career of matching stunning landscapes with equally impressive food in resort meccas across America. Now that he has become executive chef at the Grand America Hotel at the foot of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, his menu is more than standing up to the spectacular surroundings.

Russell’s first mentor was two-time Olympic culinary team captain Gerhardt Schmidt of the Gateways Inn in Lenox, Massa-chusetts. After training at the Culinary Institute of America, Russell held increasingly prestigious positions, including sous-chef to Alex Stratta at the Phoenician in Scottsdale, Arizona, and executive chef at the Hilton at Short Hills in New Jersey. Upon his return to Arizona, Russell garnered wide acclaim at the Ventana Room at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, helping the restaurant garner Zagat’s top-ranked restaurant spot in the Southwest. At the helm of the Ventana Room, Russell turned out “sculptural dishes that are so artistically impressive you’re reluctant to eat them,” wrote Kathleen Allen of the Tucson Citizen. But such reluctance would have come at the expense of enjoying the award-winning cuisine lauded by Wine Spectator, Gourmet, and DiRoNA.

Russell left Arizona for posh Palm Springs, where he created a tribute to American flavors at the Desert Sage restaurant. He was soon snatched away by the Grand America to oversee three restaurants and catering operations at the determinedly European hotel, which was recently recognized as an AAA Five-Diamond property for the second consecutive year.