The Brass Tag at Deer Valley was our destination for date night but I didn’t pay much attention to the name. To me a brass tag was a pull on your jacket or an engraved name plate attached to the bottom of a picture frame.

 If I had been paying any attention to subtleties, I’d have thought “mining!” “Park City” and “Deer Valley.”  I didn’t put those three together until I got there.

In the foyer of The Brass Tag, there is a shadow box with a series of tags. Historically, brass tags were used in mines to indicate who was in the mine and who was out of the mine, it gave a quick visual of how many miners were below. A miner would “tag in” or “brass in” by putting his tag (with his name or number) on a board and subsequently “tag out” or “brass out” when he left.

For a miner, a brass tag could save his life. Now they are works of art for us to enjoy.

After our history lesson, we opened the drink menu, and found some names of our favorite Deer Valley ski runs (which are named after mining claims). While we associate Deer Valley with incredible skiing, world class service and family fun, it is nice to be reminded of the mining industry that originally built this community.

Jay kicked off the night with a Brass Tag take on the Manhattan – named Autumnal. The Brass Tag puts their twist on it with homemade citrus and spice bitters. I chose wine (not surprising) and the waiter suggested the Barbera after discussing my possible entre selections from the menu. The night was off to a solid start.

Now I knew the Brass Tag had a brick oven but I didn’t realize the menu was expansive and innovative. I was thinking pizza, but to my surprise, the chef prepares everything in the brick oven with the open flame. It’s pretty amazing.

Here is a taste of what we had (pun intended):

Appetizer

Oven Fired Chimichurri Chips (The Brass Tag’s take on nachos). Gold Creek cheddar, gruyère, bacon.

Entrees

Jay came hungry and was extremely pleased with the Niman Ranch Bone-In Pork Chop with bourbon glazed acorn squash, and whole grain mustard sauce.

 I loved the flavors as well as the portion size in Tandoori Rubbed Quail with bacon corn bread stuffing, kale chips, sweet potato purée, and lime coconut sauce.

 

Our waiter brought me a Rosé to taste just to experience another side of Tandoori spices. It was interesting to taste the difference in flavors pairing the Rosé with this dish and the Barbera.  Both were excellent but different.

Dessert 

For dessert we started with Sorbet fired in the brick oven- just kidding. (I wanted to see if you were paying attention.) Though this frozen delight was not roasted in the oven, it was an amazing mix of fresh berries.

 

Pretzel bread pudding – Jay ordered this (and I ate most of it). As a pretzel lover, I went nuts over this dessert. It’s officially my new favorite.  Try it and let me know if it’s yours!

We ended the evening having our coffee at the bar. It’s a map bar.  Like how Red Square Bar in Las Vegas has an ice bar, The Brass Tag’s take is a historical map of the mining claims of Deer Valley. We saw the claims we were standing on, claims we had skied on, as well as all the way to the Jordanelle Reservoir (which wasn’t a reservoir back then).

A little history, an interesting menu, a relaxed atmosphere and great food made a nice combination for an evening out.

To review menus, get directions and make reservations at The Brass Tag, click here.

Don’t forget to let me know how you liked the pretzel bread pudding in the comments or Tweet me @nancy_moneydiva