Seasons

Mountain Club has gone and done the strangest thing. They've taken the white table cloth, crumb-scraping, chandelier dining experience of Seasons Restaurants and the après-ski, exposed rafters, fireplace & acoustic sounds of Johnny Corduroy found at Black Diamond, and decidedly merged the menus.

So yes, you can get pan seared salmon with warm orange vinaigrette and roasted winter vegetables with a Jägerbomb, or spicy buffalo chicken fingers served under silver by white gloves. Saywha?

Menu craziness aside, the food is simple and satisfying. The aforementioned salmon was a perfect medium rare and rocked a tacky, sweet glaze, and the Caesar salad (with 'chovies or without) is well dressed and loaded with salty Parm. For dinner service, Jeremie wanted our experience to be so magical, I felt he'd most definitely cause self-harm if we weren't 100% satisfied with everything. Especially those turnips. For the love of all that's snowy, please say you love the turnips. In all seriousness, he was great and the dinner service staff is on point.

Breakfast is a bit more casual, but not without clever plating. Most folks opt for the $16 buffet, ripe with fruits, berries, cereals, made-to-order oms, meats and toastables, but for those looking for a single plate, ask about the a la carte menu. Entrees run $7-9 and are plenty hearty enough to energize your inevitable slope tumbling.

A tick more costly than off-campus options, but more than perfectly acceptable if you're staying at the Mountain Club.

Rolled in on Sunday AM (not hungover, thank you very much) for their breakie buffet and was very pleasantly surprised -- the spread included lots of cut fruit, muffins, bagels/toast, potatoes, eggs, bacon, pancakes, oatmeal, cold cereals, and a make your own omelette guy -- sure, none of it is super fancy, but everything tasted fresh and was refilled often. The coffee is drinkable black, the dining room was bright, and the staff is friendly (though slightly out of it).

I think it's $16/pp -- which for any normal breakie buffet that's not a Shoney's (holler at my Southerners), is very respectable. Worth making a trip for? Neg. BUT, if you're staying at the hotel, it's a great option to have -- though I wish they stayed open later -- I think it runs until 9:30a/10a on the weekends, which isn't fully enough time for me to be as much of a fat ass as I desire.