Bill White Enterprises

This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.

If you’ve ever had the privilege of eating at Grappa in Park City, then you know great dining. Perhaps, you’ve eaten at Chimayo or Wahso, two other Park City restaurants of equal caliber. Though each offers its own unique style of cuisine, all three restaurants share one thing in common, the success of owner and creator Bill White.

It was several years ago that Bill began his journey to culinary perfection. He started as a fry cook at a drive-in in the Northern Michigan town where he grew up. In high school, he managed a local restaurant. Next, he was off to Colorado where he skied and managed a seafood restaurant. Then, Bill got serious and enrolled in New York’s Culinary Institute of America. There, he became an instructor and was later sent to Switzerland by the school’s owner to teach students from around the world.

After cooking in restaurants throughout Europe, Bill returned to the States and enrolled in Cornell University’s restaurant management program. He finished there and came to Park City where he started operating a small restaurant called the Olive Barrel. Shortly after the Olive Barrel's opening, Bill began planning to open Grappa—a place that food critics from Utah and across the nation would call one of the West’s finest Italian restaurants.

Grappa, named for the unique brandy distilled in Northern Italy, has become a dining destination for travelers to Park City, including many celebrities. Grappa’s success, of course, led Bill to open Chimayo, which offers southwestern cuisine and was named after Chimayo, New Mexico. And later, Bill opened Wahso, a restaurant with an Asian menu and a name that sounds Asian but is actually the phonetic spelling of a French word that means “birds.” Like Grappa, both restaurants have also gained favor with food critics who have presented awards and praised them in writing.

For Zions Bank, I’m Fred Ball. I’m speaking on business.