About Grappa Italian Restaurant

Scallops at Grappa Restaurant in Park Citu, Utah

About Us

Bill White opened Grappa in 1992. It was the first restaurant that started Bill White Enterprises . The building is over 100 years old and sits at the top of Main Street. It was home to a brothel, a bed and breakfast, and a bar, to name a few. Grappa has three dining rooms on three floors, with patios offering beautiful gardens and water features that highlight five different levels. Grappa serves regional Italian food. Bill drew on his French Culinary influences to blend the flavors and textures of Italy. We incorporated three important business factors that we use to this very day: Food, Service, and Ambiance. The next four years would prove to be a positive period, because it was then, in 1996, that we opened Chimayo Southwestern Restaurant.

Interior view of Grappa restaurant showcasing elegant dining space.

Grappa Brandy

Nothing could be more foreign to the American palate than grappa, the Northern Italian brandy distilled from the grape skins, stems, and seeds left over from winemaking (what the French produce as marc). By tradition, a poor man's drink, grappa can pistol-whip the palate of the neophyte. Rustic, often fiery, it smells of hay, Earth, and God knows what else.

Today, top winemakers and distillers from all over Italy artfully craft their grappas, often distilling them from a single grape variety, or even a single variety from a single designated vineyard.

Some are aged in wood anywhere from six months to a year. The result is a smoother, more insinuating product that can be downright elegant, while still retaining the spirit's primary characteristics. Grappa has an intensity, a pristine quality, and an underlying simplicity. Grappa is strong, but it leaves the taste buds refreshed.

Historic Building

Built in 1926 as the Royal Hotel, offering room and board for around $40 a month to mining workers, with over 30 residents recorded in 1930.

Closed during the Great Depression before reopening in the 1960s as the Alpine Prospectors Lodge. It was a popular spot for early Park City skiers, with records indicating it housed a "Sirloin Saloon" and a cafe during 1972–1974.

Following its tenure as a lodge, the building became the site of the Italian restaurant Grappa in 1992, and it has remained a prominent Historic Old Town landmark.