Time passes in the lodging business like dog years: Though Vail’s Four Seasons Resort is barely a decade old, the property is in the throes of a $40 million makeover that includes new hotel rooms and private residences, upgrades to the lobby and meeting spaces, and changes to Remedy Bar and Flame, the resort’s signature restaurants. Though the renovation won’t be entirely finished until 2020, essential elements of it, like the addition of a kitchen for Remedy Bar (previously, food was prepared in Flame’s kitchen two floors below).

Another enhancement? The addition of Marco Fossati as executive chef, a culinary artist with more than three decades of experience cooking in Europe’s most respected kitchens. Fossati’s career began preparing Sunday dinners with his grandparents. A native of the Italian Riviera, half of his family is Piemontese, from the northern region of Italy (his great-grandfather was executive chef of the renowned Italian cruise liner Rex, which was featured in the Hollywood classic Dodsworth). After completing his culinary studies, he began working at luxury hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants, and private clubs in Tuscany, Milano, Sardinia, Paris, Hamburg, and London, and most recently, the Biltmore Santa Barbara.

Now, he’s bringing his global culinary inspiration to Remedy Bar and Flame.

“We just opened a brand-new, open-air kitchen in The Remedy; it’s beautiful and very nicely appointed,” Fossati says. “I’d love to share what we’re creating in both The Remedy and Flame. Our talented team and I have been working on incorporating local, sustainable, fresh ingredients into all of our dishes—while creating new dishes that appeal to vegetarians and vegans alike.”

Fossati has added 23 new items to the Remedy menu that showcase his Italian heritage and globe-trotting culinary résumé. New “Green Remedies” include the burrata with heirloom tomato, stone fruit, basil oil, endive, red onion, and walnut pesto. Must try: The Toast (oxtail marmalade, grated fresh horseradish, and arugula, which Fossati describes as “ridiculously delicious.”), spiced Hawaiian tuna (burnt eggplant purée, pickled peppers, Castelvetrano olives, and micro cilantro), as well as flatbread pizzas meant to be shared (like the Calabrese, an artisan pie of chewy mozzarella and Tuscan pecorino over San Marzano pelati sauce with house-made bison pepperoni).

The menu focuses on local and regional favorites—including plenty of game—but there are also new options for a variety of diets, like the spicy jackfruit tacos with red cabbage, pinto beans, avocado, cotija, and chipotle aioli. It’s vegetarian but can easily be made vegan.

Though the reimagined Flame won’t debut until next year (formerly a steak house, the new concept is still a closely guarded secret), Chef Fossati promises to put a personal spin on the menu there as well, with additions like a vegan chia seed pudding for the breakfast menu—a taste of his time in California.

“There is a certain excitement that comes with an enhanced resort and having the opportunity to create something new and unique, as the entire resort is currently being reimagined,” says Fossati. “This is all very exciting; it feels like I’ve gotten the keys to a new Ferrari!”

If you go: Remedy Bar is open 11 a.m.–midnight daily. Flame is open daily for breakfast 7–11 a.m. and for dinner on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 5–9:30 p.m. fourseasons.com/vail