Nicole Strothman thought her wine bar would end up in a strip-mall alley. She told The Park Record that she first pictured "some tiny little strip mall alley kind of wine bar, that was a little bit dark and moody." Then she and her partner found a space at Studio Crossing in Quinn's Junction.
The Park Record lists what the site offered: plenty of parking, a spot on the route to and from downtown Park City, a completely clean slate, and neighbors within walking distance. Tannin Bar's grand opening is scheduled for December 9.
The new bus route proposed for the same corner will not arrive this winter. On October 1, Park City Council paused it until Studio Crossing is fully open. So for the next few months, the east side's newest gathering place is mostly one you drive to. For Park Meadows, the closest established neighborhood, that puts the place on the same trip as a Round Valley ski or a dog walk out of the Quinn's Junction trailhead.
The Apartments Came First, the Storefronts Second
Studio Crossing is the largest affordable housing project in Park City's history. Its plans call for 60,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floors once it's complete. The first phase opened a year ago with 104 affordable apartments, and its ribbon cutting was on Friday, November 7, 2025, KPCW reported. Its plans also include a plaza, a playground, sports courts and a transit hub.
The second phase is expected to open in late December. That's a few weeks after Tannin Bar's planned opening night. According to KPCW, the 204 total units will not be filled for months after that, which is part of why Council wanted to wait on the bus.
What Opens December 9
Tannin Bar's co-owners are Nicole Strothman, who has followed wine for about 20 years, and chef Aaron Deal. In 2009, Deal was nominated for a James Beard Foundation award and named a James Beard Rising Star semifinalist. He ran the kitchen at The River and Rail in Roanoke, Virginia, as executive chef for almost a decade. The couple moved to Park City full time from Florida. They told The Park Record that town didn't have the kind of wine bar they wanted.
Chef Hadi Ibrahim leads the kitchen. He's based in Salt Lake City, has a Syrian background, and brings Mediterranean-focused cooking. General manager Brianna Ellis moved to Park City from California in 2021 and recently earned her Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 2 certification.
The room is split into zones, each meant for a different kind of night:
- High-tops on the right for a casual, standing-room crowd
- A banquette along the full left wall with dining-height tables
- A lounge with club chairs, a couch and cocktail tables for happy hour
- A "tasting room" in the right rear that seats two tables of five or one table of ten for private dinners and events
A bar doesn't need a full kitchen, but Deal built the menu so guests have a reason to stay through dinner. Small plates include popcorn with a house seasoning, housemade pickles, oysters on the half shell, tinned fish and a caviar service. Larger shareables include bison meatballs, chicken skewers and wagyu beef corndogs. There will also be three or four "larger plates," including a burger and a fish, chicken or steak dish.
The wine list will pour more than 20 rotating wines by the glass, with a bigger list by the bottle. It focuses on biodynamic and natural wines and leans on regions like Germany, South Africa and Margaret River in Australia. Cocktails, beer and nonalcoholic drinks will be on the menu too. Ellis also has to build the list around what's available through the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services.
There will be no TVs. The owners are already promoting "The Cellar Club," a newsletter for locals about upcoming wines and events. Strothman mentioned singles nights, sip-and-paints and meet-the-winemaker dinners as examples.
"We're super excited to be able to sort of further ingrain ourselves in the community in a positive way." — Aaron Deal, to The Park Record
The bar's details are posted at thetanninbar.com.
The Bus Council Decided to Wait For
In late September, City Manager Adam Lenhard explained on KPCW why staff wanted service out to Quinn's Junction. He pointed to traffic patterns, job growth in the area and "the new units coming online at Studio Crossing." Staff brought three options to Council on October 1:
| Option | Route | Service window | Approx. frequency without National Ability Center stop | Daily cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-day 10-Pink | Fresh Market on SR-224 to Park City Hospital and Studio Crossing | 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. | 30 to 35 minutes | Over $1,900 |
| Midday 10-Pink | Same stops | 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 30 to 35 minutes | About $1,000 |
| Combined Pink and Silver | Old Town Transit Center to Richardson Flat | Midday | 40 to 45 minutes | No implementation cost |
Council approved this winter's scheduling strategy and paused the Quinn's Junction route. As KPCW reported, Councilmember Bill Ciraco worried that a pilot launched too early would draw low ridership and produce "static or noise in terms of data instead of like a real true picture." The rest of Council agreed.
KPCW reported that Councilmember Tana Toly saw a second benefit to waiting. It gives staff time to work out how to bring the National Ability Center onto a route. The city can't serve the center now because its access road isn't public. Council said it prefers the new Pink route over changing another route's schedule once service does come. The proposed line would start at Fresh Market and stop at Park City Hospital and Studio Crossing.
For now, High Valley Transit's 102 and 106 commuter routes serve Park City Hospital in the morning and evening. The pause leaves the midday hours without bus service. A wine bar that opens in the evening, at a development with no city route yet, depends on the parking Strothman listed as a selling point.
What Changes on December 6 Instead
Alongside the pause, Council asked staff to study whether the 20-Tan could run more often. Park City Transit's winter 2026-2027 service page says that after public input asked for more 20-Tan service, the route will leave each stop once an hour instead of every two hours from 8 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.
Every route switches to the new schedule on December 6. The city says it rebuilt the timetables from performance data because the old run times didn't match real road conditions, especially on congested winter afternoons. Stop times are different from last winter, while average frequencies stay the same. Anyone who rides a route near Park Meadows should check the new timetable after that date.
Round Valley Shares the Corner
Quinn's Junction already brought people out east before Studio Crossing opened. The Park City trails guide calls it Round Valley's main access point, with heated bathrooms and the most parking. It also warns that the lot can fill at peak times and suggests public transit.
Mountain Trails Foundation says it grooms about 25 kilometers of Nordic trail in Round Valley daily or as conditions allow, and sets classic tracks when it can. Besides Quinn's Junction, its access points include Highland and Round Valley Way. Fat-bike grooming covers the six-mile Big Easy Loop and the directional PorcUclimb and Down Dog trails. Well-behaved dogs can be off leash except in Nordic-only areas, where dogs aren't allowed. Across the county network, the foundation grooms nearly 80 kilometers of winter trail, posts daily updates and runs trailhead cameras at North Round Valley and Sunny Slopes.
Grooming depends on snow, so the foundation's daily report is the place to check each morning. For a Park Meadows household, a Round Valley outing and a stop at Studio Crossing now happen in the same part of town. Until the Pink route runs, both trips start with a car and a parking spot.
If your plans for the house, a move or the winter ahead include Park City's east side, Selling the Slopes follows Quinn's Junction and the Park Meadows streets closest to it, from new openings to the decisions coming out of City Hall. Let's talk about what the changes this winter mean for your property.
