Perfect Plates
Photography by Jim Paussa
Brexi's steak au poivre with pommes frites
RISE AND SHINE: Best Breakfasts
Aspen’s best breakfasts are not always found in the most obvious places—at least according to our eager researchers. There are a lot of limp pancakes, banal burritos, and weak cups of coffee out there, but here are a half-dozen truly satisfying ways to get your motor running.
Scrambled Egg Nachos Diablo, Jacob’s Corner, Hotel Jerome
Mexico is known for great breakfasts, and here’s a clever—to say nothing of filling—dish that hovers midway between happy-hour nachos and traditional morning chilaquiles: tri-colored tortilla chips over which are scattered roasted peppers and onions, scrambled eggs, smoked bacon, chorizo, and cheese, with a guajillo chile salsa and sour cream. Afterward, you can waddle to the gondola and ski through lunch.
Lemon Soufflé Pancakes, Montagna, The Little Nell
This plate of deceptively filling, delightfully tangy flapjacks has been on the menu virtually since the day the Nell opened, and like the famous tortilla soup, it’s unlikely to ever come off. (Executive chef Ryan Hardy believes this dish dates back to the days when George Mahaffey manned the stoves.) The batter contains ricotta, lemon zest, and lemon juice for a taste that’s at once rich, light, and just slightly tart. The finished cakes are topped with pine nuts and homemade raspberry syrup.
Burnt-Ends Hash, Smoke’s weekend brunch
Consider the splendor of this (very large) plate of food: a pile of crusty hash browns embedded with bits and pieces of crispy, salty burnt ends of smoked meat, topped with two fried eggs, chopped scallions, and some melted cheddar cheese. You cut into an egg with your fork, and the soft yellow yolk runs down into the potatoes and beef, creating a primordial ooze of caveman lusciousness. Unbelievable with one of Smoke’s great Bloody Marys.
Blueberry Corn Pancakes, The Village Smithy
Not for nothing was the recipe for these hearty pancakes recently published in Bon Appétit magazine. The combination of fragrant, slightly grainy cornmeal whipped up into handsome griddlecakes and juicy, sweet blueberries renders syrup almost superfluous. These cakes are clearly worth a drive down to Carbondale to join the ranchers, aging hippies, and other locals who pack this place every morning.
Open Face Sandwich,
Peach’s Corner Café
If you consider the expression “new classic” an oxymoron, wait until you try this signature dish at Peach’s, an eye-opening riff on the traditional BLT. It starts with a slab of toasted French bread spread with peach butter, then topped with applewood-smoked bacon, heirloom tomatoes, two poached eggs, arugula, shaved Asiago cheese, and a sweet balsamic glaze. It’s the sweet bite of the peach butter that really pulls the flavors together and makes this sandwich a candidate for the breakfast hall of fame.
Green Chile Burrito, The Hickory House
Of course we love the ribs any time of day—including breakfast—but one of the Hick’s hidden gems is an excellent New Mexico–style pork green chile, ladled atop a flour burrito stuffed with scrambled eggs, cheese, and onions. Accompanied by a heap of hash browns that do honor to the name, this is perfect fuel for a powder morning. Now if only the coffee were better ...
Simply looking at the brioche at Franck Thirion’s French Pastry is enough to get all parts of the palate firing. The experience ahead may be a savory one; those white crystals on top call to mind a salt bagel. Pick it up, though, and you know it’s nothing like a bagel—light and delicate, it’s more like a bun. With the first bite, those crystals announce themselves as something new: They’re pearl sugar, a complex, distinctively French take on sugar. (Who would have imagined: a form of sugar that is foreign to America?) The crunchy sweetness begins to combine with the oh-so-buttery bread, and you’ve been transported to pastry heaven. French-born Franck Thirion, known as a perfectionist, has here his most flawless creation. How to improve on perfection? Make it more convenient: This winter, Thirion and his wife, Marilyn, open an extension of their Airport Business Center bakery in downtown Aspen, at 317 E. Hopkins Ave. —Stewart Oksenhorn
CAFFEINE, FOUR WAYS
House French Press, Victoria’s
The house coffee that pumps from the air pot at Victoria’s is not just another vat of drip. It’s either Mexican, Sumatran, or New Guinean bean, which is ground and then brewed in an extra-large French press—the richest, fullest-bodied house brew in town.
Godiva, Peach’s Corner Café
Prefer your coffee as something more akin to an alcohol-infused dessert? Peach’s sneaks steamed milk and two shots of espresso into a decadently adult beverage that includes Frangelico, Tia Maria coffee liqueur, Grand Marnier, Baileys whipped cream and a drizzle of Godiva chocolate liqueur.
Turkish Coffee, Parallel 15
This sweet and tasty concoction—a very finely ground dark bean, four ounces of water, and a pinch of cardamom, all brought to a boil in an ibrik—oxidizes (read: goes bitter) more slowly than espresso, making it ideal for sipping.
Blended Black and White, Ink! Coffee
Ordering a frozen coffee drink in the dead of winter may seem masochistic, but this mix of dark and white chocolate, ice, milk, and two shots of espresso (though we ask for three) does wonders after a late night at Belly Up. —Michael Miracle
BEST WITH SKI BOOTS
We asked Jim Butchart, the Aspen Skiing Company’s new executive chef for on-mountain dining, to pick his favorite dishes for this winter.
Pork Mongolian Barbecue, The Cliffhouse at Buttermilk
At the Cliffhouse’s make-your-own Mongolian barbecue, diners choose among five proteins, jasmine rice or Asian noodles, an array of veggies, and one of six sauces. Butchart likes the pork plus most of the veggies over the noodles with coconut green curry.
Beer-battered Fish Tacos, Merry-Go-Round at Aspen Highlands
Butchart says he seeks out great fish tacos whenever he travels. To bring some to Highlands and create a dish he calls “all about combining textures and tastes,” he sets mahi-mahi into fresh tortillas from Carbondale and serves them with crisp cabbage, fresh cilantro, lime sour cream, and fire-roasted salsa.
New York−Style Pizza, The Sundeck at Aspen Mountain
Butchart doesn’t oversee the food at Aspen Mountain’s restaurants, but he says no one could best executive chef Andrew Helsley’s New York–style pizza, which, at 11,200 feet, isn’t a small feat. “Perfect crust thickness, perfect amount of cheese—it’s just perfect,” Butchart says.
Cheeseburger, Hand-cut Fries, and Huckleberry Shake, The Ullrhof at Snowmass
Butchart narrowed the Ullrhof’s menu to one principal foodstuff—burgers. Trained on Ajax Tavern’s legendary double cheeseburger, he created something special for Snowmass: local grass-fed beef, soft bun, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and house sauce—a “seamless meat-to-bun-to-cheese experience,” the chef says.
Big Nachos, Sneaky’s Tavern at Snowmass
In building this ultimate après plate, Butchart was guided by an ambitious goal: All of the ingredients must be present on each individual nacho. To accomplish this coup de cuisine, cooks move the plate into and out of the oven four times as they carefully layer the house-fried local tortillas, aged cheddar, black beans, and jalapeños. —MM
DISH FULFILLMENT For Big Appetites
You’ve skied (or shopped) yourself into exhaustion, and now all you want is a solid, no-fuss meal that will warm you to your toes. And seeing as you’re in Aspen, you’ll also get a truly world-class dinner at the following places.
Rack of Colorado Lamb, Piñons
All visitors need to eat fresh Colorado lamb—by far the best in the world, in our humble opinion—when they come to Aspen. And while there are plenty of good renditions around town, it’s hard to beat the iconic version at Piñons. While the side dishes may change—they recently included mashed rutabagas—the rich, minerally quality of the lamb, with just enough fat to heighten the flavor, has been consistently great for a couple of decades now.
Porterhouse for Two, Jimmy’s
Steaks abound hereabouts, but only Jimmy’s offers a porterhouse for two people. It’s the classic steakhouse cut, in this case of Harris Ranch beef, from the largest part of the T-bone with significant acreage of both the short loin and the tenderloin. Grilled over an open flame, seasoned with only salt and pepper, and topped with a little caramelized onion, it’s served sliced, so the red-tinged juices pool up on the platter. House-made steak sauce is available on request, as are port demiglace and peppercorn sauces, but we say that’s just gilding the lily.
Pork Shank, L’Hostaria
The moment they lift the lid off the terra-cotta dish, a gust of fragrant braised pork fills the room, causing people at the next table to look over with a mix of wonder and envy. Your first thought might be to offer them some; you can’t imagine eating this massive cut of pork leg on your own. A half hour later, you’re staring down at the bowl—nothing left but a slick of white wine and big bare bone. Gone are the pork, the roasted shallots, the spinach, the horseradish sauce. You’ll dream about this dish tonight.
Suckling Pig Special, Brexi
Once a week, usually on Thursday, executive chef Frank Culmone cooks a whole 40- to 50-pound Colorado-raised pig and serves a substantial portion to 16 or so diners. “We confit the legs in their own fat, then plate it with a couple of other parts from the pig, like a barbecued rib and some slices of grilled loin,” he says. The leg meat, soft and profoundly porky, comes with a cap of crisp skin that would be hard to stop eating, except that the rib and loin are so good, too.
Whole Colorado Striped Bass, Pacifica
If the dish’s name didn’t make it clear, there is no mistaking what you’ve ordered once it arrives: an entire striped bass—head, tail, and all—farm-raised out on the eastern plains of Colorado. Executive chef Bryan Nelson scores the flesh, dredges it in flour, then deep-fries the nearly two-pound striper. The large hunks of firm white flesh flake off at the touch of a fork, perfect for sopping up the sweet coconut green curry broth that bathes the accompanying rice noodles, tree-ear mushrooms, and seasonal vegetables.
Gnocchi al Ragù di Carne, Gisella
Here’s proof that a simple bowl of pasta can be every bit as satisfying as the more protean hunks of protein in this category. The gnocchi themselves are textbook perfect, light little pellets full of potato flavor. And the sauce! Meat sauces have been badly abused all over the world, but here the kitchen manages to bring out the pure, clean flavors and the inherent sweetness and richness of both the finely chopped meat (veal and beef) and the tomatoes by means of slow, careful cooking. This dish cries out for a great Barolo or Barbaresco from Gisella’s excellent wine list.
THE REAL THING Ethnically Authentic
Aspen’s standing as a meat-and-potatoes town is not to be taken lightly (see “Dish Fulfillment,” p. 51). But that doesn’t mean you can’t also get a sophisticated meal that will whisk you to foreign shores.
Hoja Santa Leaf with Oaxacan Cheese & Tomatillo Sauce, Zocalito
Hoja santa translates as “holy leaf,” and while it’s often found in Mexican cooking, it’s seldom seen in the States, especially in whole-leaf form as here. The fragrant, anise-flavored leaf is stuffed with slightly salty Oaxacan mozzarella, also not found here often, and served with a corn sauce and a tangy tomatillo sauce. Chef/owner Michael Beary travels to Oaxaca twice a year to bring back the unique chiles, fried grasshoppers, and other exotic ingredients that keep his cooking deeply authentic even as it is filtered through his European training.
Chicken Scarpariello, Il Mulino
Italian-American is a style of cooking all its own, and chicken scarpariello is a perfect example. It’s just one of the innumerable dishes invented by southern Italian immigrants who came to America in the early 20th century. It’s been on the menu for ages at the original Il Mulino in New York City, and it’s now here in Aspen, too. The origin of the name, which means “shoemaker’s chicken,” is a mystery, but the appeal of this dish is not: The chicken pieces are sautéed with a bit of marsala wine, which adds richness and a hint of sweetness, and balanced with vinegary peppers for spice and tang.
Spaghetti Bottarga, Campo di Fiore
Here’s a true taste of the Mediterranean that sounds like it might take some getting used to—except that it’s enormously popular at Campo. Bottarga is a solid block of salted, pressed, and dried mullet eggs—a down-home caviar cake—that’s either shaved into thin slices or grated atop pasta, especially in Sicily and Sardinia. At Campo, they add some grated, dark-red bottarga to the pan with olive oil, garlic, and chile flakes, then toss more atop the cooked pasta and whisk it to the table. The aroma is strong, dark, and profoundly briny, guaranteed to arouse the most jaded appetite.
Crispy Sweetbreads, Rustique
Is it just our imagination, or has the food at “Aspen’s Country French Bistro” gotten ever more rustique lately? The menu reads like a year in Provence, with calf’s liver and frog’s legs as mainstays. But even by those standards, you can’t get much more French than sweetbreads, most recently served with lardons, fava beans, mushrooms, and truffled pommes purées. As far as we know, Rustique is the only place in the valley currently offering sweetbreads, and merci to them for doing so.
Phat Thai with Shrimp & Tofu, Phat Thai
If you’ve got a taste for Bangkok but a budget that says drive to Carbondale, don’t despair. Phat Thai owner/chef Mark Fischer’s superb rendition of the classic pad thai noodles heads a long menu that reflects his many trips to Southeast Asia. Perfectly balanced with blasts of hot, sour, salty, and sweet flavors, this dish blends crunchy shrimp and silky tofu with stir-fried rice noodles and accents of peanuts, bean sprouts, and scallions. Order a bottle of Singha beer, then close your eyes and think of a beach on Koh Samui.
SIT HERE
Great food is obviously the key to a memorable dining experience. But enjoying that meal at the best table in the house somehow makes it even better. Here are five of our favorites.
Plato’s Table No 6
The view from Plato’s at the Aspen Meadows, where 12-foot windows form the restaurant’s back wall, is surely one of the most underappreciated dining experiences in town. That’s most true at sunset, when you can see three ski areas in the distance and a wooded winter wonderland directly in front of you.
Jimmy’s table No 3
Jimmy’s dining room is always lively, but never more so than on Saturday nights, when a handful of tables make way for salsa dancing around 10:30 p.m. Dine at window table #3 and stick around for a while—you’ll have a front-row seat for some baile impresionante.
Tempranillo Community Table
Order off Tempranillo’s tapas menu, and you and your dining companions guarantee yourselves a shared, communal experience. Do it while sitting at the community table, and your dinner with three friends might quickly become a party of 12.
Rustique Wine Room Tables
All of the tables in Rustique’s subterranean wine room are reserved for private parties, and the experience is well worth wrangling between 10 and 34 dining mates. Wine racks, an arched ceiling, and the room’s coziness create an Old World feel that goes perfectly with Rustique’s authentic French country cuisine.
Little Annie’s Table No 3
Tucked in the restaurant’s front corner, against the windows facing Hyman Avenue, this spot affords a view of the whole dining room and of the passersby on the street making their way toward the pedestrian malls. —MM
CREATIVE LICENSE Inventive Dishes
We said creative, not bizarre—you won’t find any molecular gastronomy in these parts. What you will find are lots of deeply satisfying dishes with an unexpected twist, prepared by very talented chefs.
Prawns wrapped with Petrale Sole, Syzygy
Syzygy has long been known for hearty food—think pistachio-crusted veal—with surprising modern spins. Now, in its new location, chef de cuisine Tom Fritz and sous-chef Dan Silver are keeping faith. Witness this dish, a clever twist, literally, on the more traditional shrimp wrapped in bacon. The prawns are skewered and poached, then the sole is twisted around them. Served with Anson Mills grits, pickled pearl onions, artichoke barigoule (another classic recipe put to modern use here), and chanterelles.
Truffled Sika Deer with Seared Japanese Pumpkin Dumplings, King trumpet Mushrooms, & Plum Wine Reduction, Kenichi
This wonderful dish takes a European classic—venison with spätzle and red wine sauce—and gives it a first-class ticket to Japan. The venison is harvested wild in Texas and rubbed with a black-truffle purée, then pan-seared. The egg spätzle are made with kabocha, or Japanese winter squash, while the plum wine stands in for, say, port or a red wine reduction. Bottom line: a curve ball that’s a real hit.
Braised Veal Cheek Lasagna, Eight K at The Viceroy Hotel
“Veal cheeks are some of the most succulent meat around,” says executive chef Rob Zack. When they’re cooked properly, the muscle breaks down into a wonderfully rich glaze, he says, adding that the sweetness of his house-made ricotta adds a perfect complement, along with some roasted tomato and spinach. It’s essentially a simple, approachable dish, elevated by careful cooking and a willingness to liberate the word “lasagna” from its narrowest meaning.
Braised Artichoke Heart Bruschetta, Ellina
Here’s a neat trick: Ellina executive chef Miguel Diaz, who worked with chef Dena Marino at Ajax Tavern, D19, and for one season here at Ellina, took one of Marino’s most popular dishes, the braised Roman-style artichoke, and put his own signature on it. Now a braised artichoke heart rests on toasted ciabatta and is filled with a poached egg, covered with a creamy Parmesan fonduta sauce, and topped with shaved black Italian truffles. Expect moans of pleasure from your tablemates.
Braised North Fork Goat with Wild Mushrooms & House-made Truffled Chèvre AgnolottI, SIX89
Talk about local flavors. SIX89 chef de cuisine Bryce Orblom slow-cooks the Hotchkiss goat in a tomato and basil sauce, then pairs it with agnolotti pasta stuffed with cheese made in-house from local goat’s milk. Each bite is an umami festival in your mouth, as the tang of the cheese cuts the richness of the meat, and the tomato and truffle flavors add deep bass notes. It all adds up to an uncommon take on what may be the most commonly eaten meat in the world.
Seared scallops with Jalapeño Salsa & Brussels Sprouts, Matsuhisa
This combination, on the menu for years, is not exactly Japanese, but somehow it epitomizes the Nobu Matsuhisa approach. The brussels sprout leaves are sautéed, then deglazed with a bit of sake to cut their bitterness, with the scallops set atop them. Meanwhile, the jalapeños (evoking Nobu’s years as a chef in Peru) are seeded and rinsed over and over in water to temper their heat. The result: seemingly strange bedfellows cohabiting deliciously on the plate.
RAISING THE BAR MENU
No one can say for sure who served up the first bar menu in Aspen. What’s not in dispute is this: The smaller-portion, lower-price plates are an essential part of Aspen’s dining culture, allowing food lovers more modest of budget or appetite to eat out regularly.
On any given night, it’s tough to beat Jimmy’s $14 bar special, particularly Monday’s offering of filet mignon with a side of mashed potatoes and veggies. The $12 bar burgers at LuLu Wilson (with fire-roasted potatoes) and The Silver Queen (with bone marrow in the grind) are both deliciously memorable, while the $10 steak and eggs at the Red Onion fills you up just enough to justify a couple of pints. Brexi’s bar steak au poivre ($14) tastes straight out of Paris.
Need some greens? The creamy, spicy yumminess of Elevation’s $7 Wasabi Caesar raises the salad to comfort-food status, and Takah Sushi’s $14 lettuce wraps (which you fill with sautéed chicken and shrimp) make for a great shared plate or entrée for one.
For pasta fans, L’Hostaria’s $9.50 spaghetti carbonara is authentic, and Rustique’s $20 beef short rib risotto will have diners in the main restaurant wondering what’s prompting the pleasureful groans from the bar area. Craving some salmon? Gisella serves eight ounces of wild-caught with grilled veggies for $17. —MM
THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR DESSERT
So appease your sweet tooth with these memorable meal-enders.
Bento Box, Matsuhisa
Matsuhisa’s bento box arrives looking like a
present—appropriate, since chocolate addicts will think this the ultimate gift for their taste buds. Open the lacquer box to find house-made molten chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, crème anglaise, strawberry sauce, and seasonal fruit.
Panna Cotta. Montagna
Montagna’s panna cotta is a miracle of texture as much as a wonder of taste. This Italian treat gives the sensation of melting in your mouth—even though it’s not frozen. Rounding out the flavor are cherry preserves, using fruit from Montagna chef Ryan Hardy’s own Rendezvous Farm.
Apple pie, Ajax Tavern
Ajax Tavern gives our national dessert some palate-pleasing twists, but stays true enough to the original to keep it as American as—well, you know. Made with local organic apples, this slice of heaven is served with cider caramel sauce, candied pecans, cinnamon gelato, and dried cranberries.
Sacher Torte, Wienerstube
The Sacher torte made Vienna synonymous with pastries, and the Wienerstube’s version of the classic shows why. The infinitely moist—but not overly sweet—chocolate cake gets a layer of apricot jam and a dollop of cream.
Semifreddo, Gisella
Take chocolate chip ice cream, raise the bar several notches, and you’ve got the semifreddo at Gisella. Semifreddo—literally “half-cold” in Italian—is served semisoft in cake-like slices and loaded with chocolate chips. —SO
APP ATTACK
Restaurants aren’t the only sources of culinary excellence. Hit the right parties, and you’ll encounter some memorable appetizers, including these four.
Mushroom strudel
What to do with last summer’s bumper crop of local mushrooms? Paul Johnston of Back Door Catering is taking the 120 pounds of king boletus ’shrooms—a.k.a. porcinis—that he foraged from Aspen’s forests and making miniature mushroom strudels, including a version with elk.
Duck Confit on Corn Cakes
The passion that Julia and Allen Domingos of Epicure Catering have for Asian tastes is expressed this year in braised meats turned into Asian-style hors d’oeuvres. Heading their menu of new offerings is a duck confit with red wine demiglace, shredded and served on a corn cake.
Broiled Unagi & Roasted Marshmallow
Randy Placeres of Aspen Culinary Solutions solves the problem of the app-eater who has seen and tasted it all. His latest creation—broiled unagi and roasted marshmallows with house-cured pickled ginger—will get the attention of even practiced partygoers with its intense combination of sweet, savory, and salty.
Croque Madame with Crème Fraîche & Truffle Caviar
European Caterers’ Steve McKenney stays true to his company’s name with a sophisticated finger-food take on the Euro classic. McKenney’s mini-sandwich has herb-poached layers of chicken breast and gruyère and fontina cheeses on potato bread, with light onion and truffle-infused caviar. —SO
PERFECT PAIRINGS Wine + Food
Is it a fine wine that makes great food better, or vice versa? Tough to say, and, really, it doesn’t matter. Try any of the following combinations, and you’ll only wonder why you haven’t done so sooner.
Risotto + Quintarelli Valpolicella, Montagna
It’s going to be tough to top the pairing currently being offered by Montagna’s executive chef Ryan Hardy and master sommelier Jonathan Pullis. Hardy prepares a risotto using only valpolicella wine—no stock, nothing else, save some butter and Parmesan cheese. Oh, and white truffles on top. The wine is 1999 Giuseppe Quintarelli Valpolicella “Superiore.” “Quintarelli’s wines are incredible,” say Pullis, “full of ripe figs, plum, and prune notes with hints of black licorice and dark chocolate.”
Veal Osso Buco + Domaine de la Mordoree Lirac, Cache Cache
This rich dish, a 16-ounce veal shank braised for hours and served with French green lentils and whipped potatoes, cries out for something equally rich from the superb wine list. “This 2007 Lirac, from the RhÔne region, is a blend of grenache, mourvèdre, and syrah,” says Alex Harvier, Cache Cache’s sommelier. “It has a rich texture to match the dish and brings an extra dimension of boldness with its perfume of dark fruits.”
Double Cheeseburger and Truffle Fries + Sottimano Brachetto Mate, Ajax Tavern
“You want a lighter red that has some tannins, spice, and acidity,” explains Ajax sommelier Vilma Mazaite. “This wine from Piedmont has an amazing nose of crushed strawberries, red roses, and white pepper. It wouldn’t overpower the truffle scent and the juiciness of the burger.” (For you vegetarian hedonists out there, the truffle fries by themselves are perfect with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Champagne—the après-ski snack of champions.)
Pappardelle with Braised Rabbit + Movia Veliko Bianco, Lulu Wilson
Rabbit is rare on local menus, so don’t miss this umami-rich rendition, cooked low and slow with mushrooms and peas and served over house-made wide noodles. The wine is a deep, richly floral white from Slovenia, next door to Italy’s Friuli region. “It’s made from biodynamically grown ribolla gialla grapes and aged for three years in huge oak barrels,” says LuLu’s Sergio Acampora. “It’s easily big enough to stand up to the rabbit and mushrooms.”
Ahi Pizza + “Dr. L” Riesling, Elevation
Now here’s a challenging dish to match with wine: slices of raw yellowfin tuna atop a crisp flour tortilla with anchovy mayonnaise, serrano peppers, cilantro, and eel sauce. John Borie, sommelier at Elevation, picks the 2008 “Dr. L” Riesling from the famed Mosel, Germany, producer Loosen Bros. “It’s got apricot, green apple, lime marmalade, and honey notes,” says Borie, “and also enough weight and acidity to cut right through the fat of the mayo and the tuna. And no wood.”
