INSPO: HANDLE

Bibin and I just returned from a wonderful ski vacation in Park City. We enjoyed our trip there last year so much that we decided to return this year. We had the pleasure of dining at HANDLE, which is located right off of Main Street in downtown Park City. HANDLE opened late last year and it was recommended to us by the restaurant's neighbor---a shop named, Hathenbruck, which carries a wonderfully curated selection of men's and women's clothing and accessories. Both haunts happened to be right next to where we were staying so it made it especially convenient! Known for its delicious American cuisine and cocktails, HANDLE was buzzing on Saturday night. There was a wonderful energy in there. But I was distracted. The reason? The unique wallpaper surrounding the space and the vast woodwork that occupies the bar area of the restaurant. The walls were donned with an interesting decoupage of prints consisting of: botanicals, sea wonders, birds and other treasures from nature. The woodwork behind the bar was built with terrific compartments that were styled with unique props, such as: antlers, books and vintage metal lockers that were used for storage purposes by the restaurant's team. I knew I had to come back during the day to capture images of this well-designed space. But first---we needed to eat and drink! The cocktails were delicious and the food was extremely tasty. We enjoyed the Buffalo Cauliflower to start and I had the yummy Cheeseburger and Bibin feasted on the Fried Chicken, which is one of HANDLE's signature dishes. When we returned the next day, with natural light filling HANDLE, the restaurant's team was so welcoming, informative and friendly. They allowed me to take pictures and Melissa Gray, one of the owners and who generated the design ideas for the space, was wonderful. She explained that she couldn't quite find the perfect wallpaper for the restaurant and instead used pages from two books to create the decoupage. They even pulled out one of the Taschen books that was used for the project for me to look at. Of course it took some time to produce the wall covering as the wall space is vast, but she gathered some  members of the restaurant's team with some friends, opened some wine, and made a fun "do-it-yourself" party out of it! Sounds like the perfect evening to me. I thought Melissa's idea was brilliant as it lets HANDLE have a unique design element that makes the space even more special as it was created by them. Scrumptious food with alluring interiors. That is HANDLE.

All photos by: Serena