Many gamblers know the comforting feeling of having a secret ace up their sleeves.
No one else may know about it, but it’s there to serve the one who has it.
That’s the kind of philosophy that surrounds Hidden Ace, a new drinking and dining experience located at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley East, said Marketing Director Morgan McOlash.
“The hotel opened Nov. 20, 2024, and we consider Hidden Ace to be this tucked away, Western-inspired but not Western-specific place for signature cocktails,” she said. “The biggest piece of it is that it’s quite hidden. It’s located on floor B1, which is one floor below the hotel lobby. It’s incredibly unassuming, and that kind of speaks to an ‘insider’ kind of vibe.”
Although Hidden Ace is a bar first that is open to ages 21 and older and offers a full bar menu, it’s not just a small-bites, appetizer space from a restaurant perspective, McOlash said.
“We’re a full-functioning restaurant with rotating seasonal menus,” she said. “We also have an outdoor dining area that gives us patio opportunities. We have indoor private-dining experiences as well.”
Hidden Ace’s culinary and beverage team have been busy cooking up some unique deals, said Shayla Phillips, director of experiential marketing and activities.
“They created the Adults Happy Meal with a local-focused menu that is available between 5-11 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays,” she said.
Hidden Ace also has extensive cigar offerings and is also available for private events such as wedding experiences, McOlash said.
“We are also a unique, flexible event space, and the only things that might rotate more are the activations and the programming,” she said.
Those events include live music performed by locally based musicians, singers and songwriters and other entertainers, McOlash said.
“We have a tremendous amount of musical talent that comes through for shows,” she said. “We have magicians in house who do slight-of-hand programming that is really fun.”
The programming is community driven, Phillips said.
“We are trying to become a local hub on this side of the mountain for the Heber City and Midway guests,” she said. “During ski season we have live music six nights a week by local musicians. And we have good rotation around that, too.”
Wednesdays are set aside for other types of programming, Phillips said.
“During the summer we’re transitioning between comedy night with Kathleen McCann and trivia as well,” she said.
McCann looks forward to hosting the Joker’s Wild, the first Stand-up comedy show at Hidden Ace on Wednesday.
“I heard they were doing music, and I went a couple of times,” she said. “That’s when I thought it was a great place to do some comedy. It’s so perfect and intimate and has great acoustics and a great menu.”
McCann reached out to McOlash and Phillips and pitched the stand-up idea.
“I wanted to be part of the very first comedy show in this brand-new, spectacular building,” she said.
Wednesday’s performances will feature comedians M_rc Wh_stl_r, Buck Seng, Melissa Merlot and Kristal Starr.
McCann’s roots run deep in the stand-up comedy scene in Park City. She started Cleopatra’s Comedy Club at the Egyptian Theatre, where she brought in comics such as Karen Rontowski, Bob Kubota, Wes Martins and Debbie Lockhart, to name a few.
“The goal was for me to get stage time as a comic, and the fact they paid me and it was a huge success was a bonus win-win,” she said.
But getting comedy into Park City was a challenge, according to McCann.
“I couldn’t get anybody on Main Street to do a show,” she said. “I would go to people and say, ‘Standup,’ and they would say, ‘Improv?’ I would say, ‘Standup,’ and they would say, ‘Sit down?’ and I would say, ‘Standup,’ and they would say, ‘No, thank you.’”
Finally, McCann took a gig in Heber City, and that’s where she met Egyptian Theatre General Manager Randy Barton.
“Randy came out to see what I was doing and offered me the Egyptian Theatre,” McCann said. “I said, ‘I can’t get five people to come out, so what do you mean 500?’ but sure enough the first show was fire-marshall sold-out.”
McCann’s stand-up programming at the Egyptian Theatre ran for 10 years.
“The show was still running when I left town, which makes me a proud mama,” she said. “We raised a ton of money for the Egyptian Theatre, and the show went on.”
McCann moved back to Los Angeles to pursue other opportunities.
“I began a new career with this idea called Secret Shows/Private Shows, which were private gigs,” she said. “I did a whole lot of shows I couldn’t tell many people about, and my last show was at a yacht club in Catalina. They paid me $100 a minute, and I suddenly lost my fear of boats.”
McCann also performed an ongoing show at the Newport Beach Country Club.
“I found that one-percenters like it dirty,” she said. “They are so my people.”
The comedian also teamed up with a friend who had a speakeasy in his basement.
“The house was built in 1928, and the decor was all art deco,” she said. “I did a whole series of shows there, and it was so much fun. He even let me keep all the money.”
Upon returning to Park City, McCann wanted to produce another stand-up show. So she reached out to Hidden Ace and tapped Merlot, whom she met during an Egyptian Theatre show.
“Melissa performed at the Egyptian when I put on a Red-Head Night and only booked red-headed comics,” McCann said laughing. “We have a relationship from the very beginning, and she reached out to the others. And let me tell you, they are so happy to come perform in Park City.”
McCann looks forward to getting back into the MC slot.
“It takes a certain personality to be that person in between acts,” she said. “That must be me because everywhere I go people ask me to be the MC. Now, I don’t know if I’m a terrible comic and they only want me to do six minutes or if they really just want me to MC.”
McCann is thankful to Hidden Ace for working with her on the Joker’s Wild show.
“I’m all about the arts in this town,” she said. “So, anything I can do to expedite the culture, whether it be music or comedy, I’m all about.”
Phillips hopes the Hidden Ace’s standup and other programming will attract people from both Park City and the Heber Valley.
“As a local resident myself I have come to know that people in Heber and Midway usually don’t go all the way to Main Street Park City, and people from the Park City-proper area don’t really go to Heber and Salt Lake City,” she said. “So it’s exciting to create ourselves as an anchor in between Park City and Heber and offer an option that is not the same old thing.”
Focusing on the local community is paramount for Hidden Ace and the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in general, said McOlash.
“I think the ethos Hyatt as a whole concentrates on is immersing itself in the local community to bridge the gap between locals and travelers,” she said.
Joker’s Wild Stand-Up Comedy Show
- When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
- Where: Hidden Ace in the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley East, 1702 Glencoe Mountain Drive
- Phone: 435-574-1234
- Web: hiddenacedv.com
- For information about the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley East, visit tinyurl.com/35r9vyce.
Related Stories
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.parkrecord.com ’
