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LTRW Blog.

April 15th, 2010

A Chef for the Mountains: Resort at Squaw Creek's Executive Chef Jason Friendy

By Melissa Siig

Resort at Squaw Creek Executive Chef Jason Friendy has cooked in kitchens all over the country, but he considers himself a mountain chef. From the Poconos to Aspen to Telluride to Tahoe, Friendy has chased the mountains to combine his two loves – an active lifestyle and cooking.

Friendy, 37, has been cooking every since he can remember. Growing up in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, Friendy got his start in the kitchen by watching his Hungarian grandmother cook goulash and chicken paprikash. By age 11, he was making his own dishes to bring to school potlucks.

“I enjoy feeding people, the hospitality – that’s what I love,” he said. “Even until today, I enjoy my job. It’s a dream job.”

Friendy has been in the industry a long time. He attended Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, which is well known for its culinary arts program, followed by an externship at the historic Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia. There, he worked in every department, from the bakery to fine dining. After three years at the hotel, he went to work for Wyndham International as a task force chef. While he was based in Newark, N.J., Friendy traveled all over the country to the company’s different properties, staying in each location for two months at a time to train a new chef, open a new restaurant, or fill in for a vacationing chef.

Ten years spent working in different regions of the country helped Friendy develop his skills as a regional American chef. This means he specializes in using the best local ingredients to create traditional as well as unique dishes.

“I get to cook with the best of the best, to work with whatever is the freshest food,” he said. “In California I work with seafood from the Bay Area, in Colorado with stone fruits and wild game, and on the East Coast with blue crab.”

For instance, after working at Wyndham Friendy moved on to become the executive chef of Silvertree Properties’ two hotels and conference center in Aspen, Co. His signature dish was smoked elk T-bone with port wine and caramelized onions.

After three years in Aspen and three more in Telluride, Co. as the executive chef of the Peaks Resort, two years ago Friendy landed in Tahoe at the Resort at Squaw Creek. As the executive chef, he oversees 72 employees, four restaurants, in-room dining, and the banquets and catering department. The hotel’s kitchens are all scratch kitchens, meaning every ingredient, from ice cream to bread to chicken stalk, is made in-house. During peak season in the winter, the Resort serves 3,000 meals a day.

“On the busiest day at the Resort, I’m a traffic cop, moving people and food where it’s supposed to go,” Friendy said.

Although his job can get hectic, Friendy’s favorite part about his position is interacting with people, both employees and guests.

“I touch every single employee and guest every day when they eat here,” he said.

Friendy also enjoys going out of his way for guests. On a couple of occasions, he’s had people ask him to cook the mackinaw trout they just caught in Lake Tahoe. Friendy said he was happy to oblige. He boned the fish, breaded it, and served it in a chive buerre blanc sauce.

“There’s nothing we can’t do for our guests, from making food gluten-free to cooking fresh-caught fish,” he said.

One staple of the Resort’s restaurants is preparing meals in front of the guests. The Ristorante Montagne and Wine Bar is a show kitchen, where guests can watch the cooks make the food. For Mother’s Day brunch, the chefs at Six Peaks Grille, the hotel’s flagship fine dining restaurant, take the guests’ orders in the kitchen, and then let them stay to watch them cook. There is also a chef’s table in the Six Peaks kitchen, where diners get served a three-course meal.

“We love cooking in front of guests,” said Friendy. “We wanted to open up the back of the house, to show people that the back of the house is the heart of the house.”

Some of the resort’s most popular dishes include Montagne’s lamb osso buco, Six Peak Grille’s 30-oz. bone-in Kobe ribeye steak, Sandy’s Pub’s house-made meatloaf and Joey wings (Friendy’s favorite), and the Chuck Wagon’s pastrami sandwich.

When Friendy isn’t working, you can find him skiing or riding his road bike.

“I’ve always had an active lifestyle and chased the mountains,” Friendy said. “That’s my niche – to take over a mountain hotel and put my stamp on it. I want to bring a little bit of New York City to the mountains.”

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