We hit Utah’s rugged wilderness with chef Eduardo Garcia to put Toyota’s longest-running nameplate through its paces.
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00:00Food, the great common denominator, it means hello, it means goodbye, it means see you soon.
00:07Every day it's, what will the day bring? And of course, what will I eat today?
00:13My name is Chef Eduardo Garcia. I live in Southwest Montana with my wife on a small regenerative farm.
00:18And more than anything, I work as a chef.
00:21We're on a mountain in Park City, Utah with Toyota.
00:25They have this event called Return from the Ridge where folks are driving around the mountain.
00:30And I've been in my Land Cruiser, sort of in their dust and off to the sides, finding food,
00:36finding everything that brings the energy to the table so it doesn't dissipate.
00:41The best adventure has some kind of challenge, and learning to work with what you have
00:46all through my 20s as a yacht chef really teed me up for life's, I think, greatest challenge and adventure so far.
00:54I got electrocuted while hunting, and that electrical event took my left hand.
00:59And I think the challenge that I still am served by was just reimagining what is.
01:06You drop a flat of peaches, they all get bruised.
01:09Puree, ice cream, cocktail, awesome.
01:12You get electrocuted, you lose your left hand, you still want to wake up in the morning and get after it.
01:17Well, what am I going to be? I know how to cook really well.
01:20I'm going to still try. It really is one foot in front of the other.
01:26So with the mission, the ask is, alright chef, adventure through Park City, high and low,
01:32and put together both a lunch and a dinner for our attendees.
01:37Ten years of my life traveling the world, the mission was arrive, get in, then it was a boat.
01:43Today it's a Land Cruiser. Get in your rig and go look.
01:47Go find the best there is.
01:50I think what I'm looking forward to the most is just to continue to explore it as a functional partner in what I do every day.
01:56I have a refrigerator in the back holding all of my herbs.
01:59I mean, that's amazing for me, being able to plug that in.
02:02And there's plenty of space in the back for my stove and other things.
02:05And that is kind of the adventure, is saying, what can I load this up with?
02:09What can go in the box on top? And seeing what it does on gravel, what it does on a tight turn.
02:14Vehicles bring out a really robust side of our being.
02:19Especially when you're using them as a tool.
02:25The hunt is on for me, as is always.
02:28What is fresh? What is grown here, local?
02:32Early this morning we ended up on a local farm.
02:35Local honey, edible flowers, all of these fresh greens, tomatoes, just plump on the vine. My heaven.
02:42Hi! Welcome!
02:44Look at this spot you got.
02:46Welcome to the farm.
02:47I want to create a menu and a meal that is evocative of this place.
02:51We can do that.
02:52Well, I hear water, which you're fortunate to have.
02:55Yes, it's clean, it's coming out of the Uintas, a perennial spring.
02:59And that is what we irrigate with. This is what we do.
03:02This is the best way to build a menu. Just go to the farm, see what's happening.
03:05And then we've been on the mountain, just to look for our inspirations.
03:12Our adventures for lunch, they're going to be coming in in the middle of their day.
03:28Not quite done yet, so I'm thinking a hibiscus cooler.
03:32Non-alcoholic, because we're driving these rigs all over the mountain.
03:35But having a nice herbal tea to freshen everybody up.
03:38And then I'd like to teach them a dish that I would cook out of the back of my vehicle,
03:43while on a mountain or while adventuring.
03:45And so I think crepes, perfect for a savory lunch.
03:49I imagine if there was a hot spring on the mountain somewhere,
03:52you could do a hot spring egg, so that if they're out in the wild somewhere,
03:55they'll, hey, Chef Eduardo taught me this.
03:57We can do this out here, under the stars.
04:00And we're going to burn some corn.
04:02This is sweet summer corn. It really doesn't need anything.
04:05A little bit of temperature gets a nice smoky element.
04:08Our first act is we're going to light the burner.
04:10We're going to get two ears of corn on, and this is going to burn on the outside.
04:14This is like Mother Nature's tinfoil.
04:16While that's happening, we'll take our tomatoes
04:19and start the beginning of a tomato corn salad for on top of your crepe.
04:24I'll grab my batter. Pan is hot. Burner's on.
04:28I'm going to pour right in the center of my pan.
04:31And then once it's in the pan, it's really a wrist motion.
04:34Mixed with shaking and encouraging.
04:46Good job, you guys. Bravo.
04:48Thank you so much.
04:49Well done.
04:50Pleasure. Thank you.
04:51See you at dinner.
04:57Dinner service is meant to be fire, starlight,
05:01and sharing the best of this part of Utah.
05:04And it'll be my way of saying see you later,
05:06and hope I get to cook from my heart for all of you again.
05:14Tonight, we're going to invite everyone to come to this station,
05:17get a scoop of what I call ryea.
05:20It's a riff on paella, but made with rye berry.
05:23So I wanted this entire menu to be non-imported,
05:26just 100% from right here in the Rocky Mountains, if not Utah.
05:30And then skirt steak, finishing that with an herby chimichurri,
05:33and charred scallions, charred broccolini, and cabbage.
05:37Then a mousse tenderloin carpaccio.
05:40I harvested the mousse myself.
05:42Some of the cleanest, best meat you could ever eat.
05:45And then we'll do a Dutch oven peach with a rhubarb sauce.
05:49And so that's kind of the flow of the evening.
05:51We'll do our best to stay nice and close to each other and stay warm.
05:54Thank you for eating at my dinner table tonight.
05:58Yep. My pleasure.
06:12When I get to see a table full,
06:14and I'm maybe putting together the last touches for dessert,
06:17more than anything, I feel grateful.
06:19Anytime I can be out in the wild, exploring,
06:22while at the same time dishing that out for someone else,
06:25that's the highlight of my career.
06:27Thank you. You give me purpose. Appreciate it.
06:31Vehicle is an extension of my career without a doubt.
06:35Especially as a chef.
06:37And Toyota gets me around.
06:39Vehicle's a tool.
06:40In my mind, can this vehicle get me to where I have to do lunch,
06:44up on the mountain?
06:45Can I stow it with everything?
06:47And will it get me back down with everything I need for my next adventure?
06:52I think when we try hard in life, those are the best challenges,
06:55and those then become the adventure of our life.
06:57It's saying, how do we take our challenge in stride,
07:00and rather than running from it, just run with it.