FROM ASPEN, WITH LOVE FOOD MATTERS INVISIBLE GIANTS · Food & Wine Best New Chef during the 2014...
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ASPEN TIMES WEEKLY F August 16 - August 22, 2018 10 FOOD MATTERS FOOD KEPT COMING. Four dishes, standard, to start: a fat rectangle of fluffy focaccia topped with creamy mozzarella and ribbon- thin slices of La Quercia smoked ham; grilled octopus and olive oil-basted vegetables in a small, enamel-coated Staub casserole dish; zucchini with runner beans, basil and shaved sheep’s milk cheese; and a bowl of mixed greens with chunky avocado and heirloom tomatoes tossed in green goddess dressing. en, two pastas we picked as our primi course: pillowy potato gnocchi with corn crema and heady huitlacoche black butter, plus tender cocoa-flour strozzapreti with lamb ragu, asparagus, fresh ricotta and mint. A pair of surprise kitchen experiments also arrived: bite-size arancini (crispy risotto balls) dusted with “black magic” made from black garlic, plus a petite portion of black truffle risotto topped with a soft egg. All of it prefaced our two chosen main courses (one, a comically large bistecca fiorentina porterhouse with marrow butter), two farmers’ market sides (spigarello with broccoli pesto and sesame seeds; charred sweet corn with sundried chili) and dessert. We were here in the airy Chefs Club dining room, inside the St. Regis Aspen Resort, to experience San Francisco summer resident chef Matthew Accarrino’s epic tasting menu. e kicker: It’s five courses priced at $69 per person. Why, then, we wondered, wasn’t the dining room packed? Where were the people who complain that impressive food with reasonable pricing is increasingly difficult to find in Aspen? A few other tables were occupied—“e Cheese Lady” Laura Werlin swung by to tell us conspiratorially, “I’ve been here three times this week!”—but the subdued atmosphere seemed incompatible with a peak-season Tuesday. A few folks sat at the seven- seat chef’s counter, which looks into the sparkling open kitchen where executive chef Todd Slossberg and team assist visiting chef Accarrino (who returns for the final engagement of his three-month residency on Sept. 3-7). Mostly, it was mellow. e lack of locals at Chefs Club is even more shocking when you consider who’s cooking. Accarrino has received a Michelin star at SPQR in the Golden Gate City every year since 2013. He’s a five-time James Beard Award nominee. And he’s got Aspen street cred: When crowned a Food & Wine Best New Chef during the 2014 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, the champion cyclist pedaled into town via Independence Pass from Leadville to accept the award. is got my dining pal and I debating: Even with a crazy good prix-fixe deal for a lavish meal made by a world-class chef, why is it so hard to attract locals to restaurants in hotels? To be clear, Chefs Club is a tenant within the St. Regis Aspen property; it’s not operated by the resort. Ditto for Marble Bar in the Hyatt Grand Aspen. Marble Distilling Co. opened the Aspen outpost of its Carbondale tasting room in the Hyatt (adjacent to the St. Regis) this past winter, yet the few bustling evenings were during après-ski parties. “You hit the nail on the head! We are slow,” confirms Connie Baker of Marble Bar, flummoxed after putting ads in local newspapers every Wednesday with buy-one-get-one offers and bestowing a 20-percent- off-always “Distillers Card” to any local who asks. “I’m scratching my head. We have delicious craft cocktails at very reasonable prices and still so quiet. Our space (doesn’t) feel touristy. It is strange.” A while back I visited element47 at e Little Nell to sample chef Matthew Zubrod’s three-course prix- fixe menu ($69) showcasing dishes using ingredients from a special garden cultivated specifically for the Nell at ACES at Rock Bottom Ranch (RBR) in Basalt. From what I could tell, the patio wasn’t swimming with locals, either. ough e47’s prix-fixe offering isn’t intended as a locals’ deal, it does highlight local ingredients from the RBR partnership, as well as Wagyu beef raised by West Emma Cattle Co. in an exclusive, multi-year Nell contract for 100 head of cattle. Locals would be wise, though, to order the steak. According to e47 chef de cuisine Lucas Rocca, “70 percent of entrées ordered have been wagyu since we introduced this summer prix-fixe menu. $20 an ounce is standard pricing for wagyu in Aspen or pretty much anywhere. For a 4-ounce cut, the value can’t be beat.” By those calculations, the $69 prix-fixe wagyu serving at e47 would otherwise cost $80 per plate—not counting a starter course and dessert. Back at Chefs Club, my dining partner enthused that our meal made by chef Matthew Accarrino himself “flies in the face” of any Aspen dining experience since moving to town in January. Also, “I never think to come to the St. Regis for dinner.” Yet again: It’s not a St. Regis restaurant, it’s just located there. Might there be some sort of weird psychological block that prevents residents from considering venues in hotels—places, which, by definition, cater to outsiders? It’s a shame, because weeks later we’re still talking about that meal at Chefs Club. Sixty-nine dollars may register as a steep price for weeknight dinner (I don’t disagree), but the quantity of food offered, and care with local sourcing and unique ingredients represents value. We took half that marrow-butter steak home. Our dessert cheese plate presented a chef Accarrino exclusive, made nowhere else in the U.S.: Sartori BellaVitano cheese infused with black garlic. A bigger bummer: chef Accarrino’s residency expires Sept. 9, before Chefs Club closes in October to prepare for a fresh winter residency (new chef TBD; a new format showcases a single chef per season). Sometimes, perception is everything. In July when I attended “Bubbles + Seafood” at Ajax Tavern, one in a summer series of themed wine-pairing dinners (two remain, Aug. 18 and 25), the events were described as “designed for locals... with an approachable price and educational component.” After some residents balked online about spending $100-plus per person for the dinners—despite multiple courses and free-flowing wine— marketing shifted. “Ajax Wine Dinners…(are) geared towards incredible value: 3-5 courses and 5-7 servings of wine, dedicated service from a somm and chef(s), in the context of an intimate group,” explains e Little Nell PR director May Selby. Getting Aspen locals on board surely isn’t an issue confined to hotels. Owner Karin Derly recently revised the name of her European restaurant on Restaurant Row: La Crepêrie du Village French Alpine Bistro—three words added in a rebranding effort. (Online it’s opposite: French Alpine Bistro Crepêrie du Village.) “People say: I’ve lived here seven years and always walked by because I didn’t want crepês,” she says. And yet ... crêpes comprise only a fraction of the menu. It’s unfortunate that folks miss out on gooey cheese fondue (gluten- free baguette available), escargots in white sauce with tomatoes and Pastis, foie gras torchon with lingonberries, saffron-lemon-butter scallops, and Croque Madame because of misperception. Five salads are on the menu now. About price: offseason locals’ discounts will remain a hallmark of “French Alpine Bistro.” Most eating establishments located inside Aspen hotels will likely never assume the cozy, elbow-worn, all- welcome, we-won’t-rob-you vibe of, say, L’Hostaria bar. (J-Bar may get a pass, but its burger isn’t cheap.) But excellent meals (and deals) do exist at there. Fewer crowds, too. [email protected] INVISIBLE GIANTS VALUE EXISTS AT RESTAURANTS IN HOTELS. SO WHY DON’T LOCALS GO? First course of the $69 prix-fixe, five-course menu at Chefs Club x Matthew Accarrino (through Sept. 9) includes four dishes for the table. AMANDA RAE FROM ASPEN, WITH LOVE FOOD MATTERS PHOTO BY ISABEL BAER
Transcript of FROM ASPEN, WITH LOVE FOOD MATTERS INVISIBLE GIANTS · Food & Wine Best New Chef during the 2014...
A S P E N T I M E S W E E K L Y F Aug u s t 16 - Aug u s t 22 , 20 18 10
FOOD MATTERS
FOOD KEPT COMING. Four dishes, standard, to start: a fat rectangle of fluffy focaccia topped with creamy mozzarella and ribbon-thin slices of La Quercia smoked
ham; grilled octopus and olive oil-basted vegetables in a small, enamel-coated Staub casserole dish; zucchini with runner beans, basil and shaved sheep’s milk cheese; and a bowl of mixed greens with chunky avocado and heirloom tomatoes tossed in green goddess
dressing. Then, two pastas we picked as our primi course: pillowy potato gnocchi with corn crema and heady huitlacoche black butter, plus tender cocoa-flour strozzapreti with lamb ragu, asparagus, fresh ricotta and mint.
A pair of surprise kitchen experiments also arrived: bite-size arancini (crispy risotto balls) dusted with “black magic” made from black garlic, plus a petite portion of black truffle risotto topped with a soft egg.
All of it prefaced our two chosen main courses (one, a comically large bistecca fiorentina porterhouse with marrow butter), two farmers’ market sides (spigarello with broccoli pesto and sesame seeds; charred sweet corn with sundried chili) and dessert. We were here in the airy Chefs Club dining room, inside the St. Regis Aspen Resort, to experience San Francisco summer resident chef Matthew Accarrino’s epic tasting menu. The kicker: It’s five courses priced at $69 per person.
Why, then, we wondered, wasn’t the dining room packed? Where were the people who complain that impressive food with reasonable pricing is increasingly difficult to find in Aspen? A few other tables were occupied—“The Cheese Lady” Laura Werlin swung by to tell us conspiratorially, “I’ve been here three times this week!”—but the subdued atmosphere seemed incompatible with a peak-season Tuesday. A few folks sat at the seven-seat chef’s counter, which looks into the sparkling open kitchen where executive chef Todd Slossberg and team assist visiting chef Accarrino (who returns for the final engagement of his three-month residency on Sept. 3-7). Mostly, it was mellow.
The lack of locals at Chefs Club is even more shocking when you
consider who’s cooking. Accarrino has received a Michelin star at SPQR in the Golden Gate City every year since 2013. He’s a five-time James Beard Award nominee. And he’s got Aspen street cred: When crowned a Food & Wine Best New Chef during the 2014 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, the champion cyclist pedaled into town via Independence Pass from Leadville to accept the award.
This got my dining pal and I debating: Even with a crazy good prix-fixe deal for a lavish meal made by a world-class chef, why is it so hard to attract locals to restaurants in hotels?
To be clear, Chefs Club is a tenant within the St. Regis Aspen property; it’s not operated by the resort. Ditto for Marble Bar in the Hyatt Grand Aspen. Marble Distilling Co. opened the Aspen outpost of its Carbondale tasting room in the Hyatt (adjacent to the St. Regis) this past winter, yet the few bustling evenings were during après-ski parties.
“You hit the nail on the head! We are slow,” confirms Connie Baker of Marble Bar, flummoxed after putting ads in local newspapers every Wednesday with buy-one-get-one offers and bestowing a 20-percent-off-always “Distillers Card” to any local who asks. “I’m scratching my head. We have delicious craft cocktails at very reasonable prices and still so quiet. Our space (doesn’t) feel touristy. It is strange.”
A while back I visited element47 at The Little Nell to sample chef Matthew Zubrod’s three-course prix-fixe menu ($69) showcasing dishes using ingredients from a special garden cultivated specifically for the Nell at ACES at Rock Bottom Ranch (RBR) in Basalt. From what I could tell, the patio wasn’t swimming with locals, either.
Though e47’s prix-fixe offering isn’t intended as a locals’ deal, it does highlight local ingredients from the RBR partnership, as well as Wagyu beef raised by West Emma Cattle Co. in an exclusive, multi-year Nell contract for 100 head of cattle.
Locals would be wise, though, to order the steak. According to e47 chef de cuisine Lucas Rocca, “70 percent of entrées ordered have been wagyu since we introduced this summer prix-fixe menu. $20 an ounce is standard pricing for wagyu in Aspen or pretty much anywhere. For a 4-ounce cut, the value can’t be beat.”
By those calculations, the $69 prix-fixe wagyu serving at e47 would otherwise cost $80 per plate—not counting a starter course and dessert.
Back at Chefs Club, my dining partner enthused that our meal made by chef Matthew Accarrino himself “flies in the face” of any Aspen dining experience since moving to town in January. Also, “I never think to come to the St. Regis for dinner.”
Yet again: It’s not a St. Regis restaurant, it’s just located there.
Might there be some sort of weird psychological block that prevents residents from considering venues in hotels—places, which, by definition, cater to outsiders?
It’s a shame, because weeks later we’re still talking about that meal at Chefs Club. Sixty-nine dollars may register as a steep price for weeknight dinner (I don’t disagree), but the quantity of food offered, and care with local sourcing and unique ingredients represents value. We took half that marrow-butter steak home. Our dessert cheese plate presented a chef Accarrino exclusive, made nowhere else in the U.S.: Sartori BellaVitano cheese infused with black garlic. A bigger bummer: chef Accarrino’s residency expires Sept. 9, before Chefs Club closes in October to prepare for a fresh winter residency (new chef TBD; a new format showcases a single chef per season).
Sometimes, perception is everything. In July when I attended “Bubbles + Seafood” at Ajax Tavern, one in a summer series of themed wine-pairing dinners (two remain, Aug. 18 and 25), the events were described as “designed for locals...with an approachable price and educational component.”
After some residents balked online
about spending $100-plus per person for the dinners—despite multiple courses and free-flowing wine—marketing shifted.
“Ajax Wine Dinners…(are) geared towards incredible value: 3-5 courses and 5-7 servings of wine, dedicated service from a somm and chef(s), in the context of an intimate group,” explains The Little Nell PR director May Selby.
Getting Aspen locals on board surely isn’t an issue confined to hotels. Owner Karin Derly recently revised the name of her European restaurant on Restaurant Row: La Crepêrie du Village French Alpine Bistro—three words added in a rebranding effort. (Online it’s opposite: French Alpine Bistro Crepêrie du Village.)
“People say: I’ve lived here seven years and always walked by because I didn’t want crepês,” she says. And yet ... crêpes comprise only a fraction of the menu.
It’s unfortunate that folks miss out on gooey cheese fondue (gluten-free baguette available), escargots in white sauce with tomatoes and Pastis, foie gras torchon with lingonberries, saffron-lemon-butter scallops, and Croque Madame because of misperception. Five salads are on the menu now. About price: offseason locals’ discounts will remain a hallmark of “French Alpine Bistro.”
Most eating establishments located inside Aspen hotels will likely never assume the cozy, elbow-worn, all-welcome, we-won’t-rob-you vibe of, say, L’Hostaria bar. (J-Bar may get a pass, but its burger isn’t cheap.) But excellent meals (and deals) do exist at there. Fewer crowds, too.
INVISIBLE GIANTSVALUE EXISTS AT RESTAURANTS IN HOTELS. SO WHY DON’T LOCALS GO?
First course of the $69 prix-fixe, five-course menu at Chefs Club x Matthew Accarrino (through Sept. 9) includes four dishes for the table.
AMANDARAE
FROM ASPEN, WITH LOVE FOOD MATTERS
P H O T O B Y I S A B E L B A E R
11A S P E N T I M E S . C OM /W E E K LY
BY AMANDA RAE
Chefs Club x Matthew Accarrino $69, 5 coursesThrough Sept. 9Open Tue-Sun at 6 p.m. 315 E. Dean St.970-429-9581chefsclub.com
Marble Bar20% off locals’ “Distillers Card”Hyatt Grand Aspen415 E. Dean St.970-429-9100marbledistilling.com
The Little Nellelement 47 + ACES Rock Bottom Ranch$69, 3 coursesAjax Tavern Wine Dinners$100, 3-5 courses + 5-7 wines675-685 E. Durant Ave.970-920-6334thelittlenell.com
IF YOU GO...
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Sea bass with charred vegetable sauce and grilled zucchini figure into chef Matthew Accarrino’s Italian-inspired prix-fixe menu at Chefs Club; Ajax Tavern coursed, prix-fixe wine dinners continue this month, too.
P H O T O S B Y I S A B E L B A E R A N D J A M I E J A Y E F L E T C H E R ( B O T T O M )
OPEN 7am-6pmEVERY DAY OF THE YEAR970.544.0206
Aspen/Pitkin Animal Shelter101 Animal Shelter Road ◆◆◆◆◆ www.dogsaspen.com
Your BEST FRIEND is waiting for YOU!
BRUCEGorgeous orange
tabby. A new arrivalfrom Texas, he is 8-10 months old. Veryplayful. He gave hisblood to another catrecently for a life-
saving transfusion sohe’s a bit of a hero.
BANDIT + THORBrothers Bandit and Thor are gorgeous,
happy, friendly, 8-month-old, male SiberianHuskys. Great with people and other dogs.Not trustworthy off leash. Thor is shy while
Bandit is the more outgoing of the two.
CHARLIEBROWN
Verty cute 7-year-old male Cattle Dog.Loves all people butnot good with otheranimals. Needs to be
the only pet.
ZENZen is a three-year-old Border Collie/Australian CattleDog mix who is
initially a bitreserved, but quicklyloosens up and gets
along well witheveryone.
EROLTall, long-legged,
1.5-year-old Akbash/Siberian Husky
mix.Great with allpeople and mostother dogs. Can
climb a fence as highas 8 feet. NEEDS A
RESPONSIBLEOWNER AS DOESHIS NEW BUDDY
SAM.
SAM9-year-old Pit Bull
mix. Has been at theshelter for 7.5 years.
Great with allpeople, including
kids, but aggressivewith most dogs,
including allfemales. HoweverSam often acceptslarge, stable, maledogs. She likes hernew friend Erol!
CALICali is a beautiful,sweet, 10-year-old,indoor cat who gets
along well witheveryone.
BLUEBlue is a happy,super friendly,
8-month-old Pit Bull/Husky mix, or Pitsky,Fine with people andother pets, includingcats. Lots of energy.Much friendlier and
happier than helooks in this photo!
NATALIEOne-year old Border
Collie mix female.She is gentle, sweet
and a bit shy. She hasserved as a surrogate
mom helping tonurse the threeyoung pups who
came in this groupbut were not hers.
KONAGentle, affectionate,
two-year-oldAustralian Shepherd/Cattle Dog mix. Gets
along well witheveryone, includingkids, cats and other
dogs.
PIPERGentle, affectionate,friendly 4-year-old
female BorderCollie/AustralianShepherd/Golden
Retriever. From Nat’lMill Dog Rescuewho rescued her
from a home whichhoarded 61 dogs.
PUPSOne of three youngpups. This little girlis 7 weeks old and
available next week.From Nat’l Mill DogRescue who rescued
her from a homewhich hoarded 61
dogs. Border Collie/Australian Shepherd/
Golden Retrievermixes.
SUNCute,funky-looking,
1.5-year-oldAustralian Shepherd/
Pit Bull mix. Getsalong with people
and other dogs. Musthave a responsiblehousehold because
initially wary ofstrangers, and she
can be protective ofher food with other
dogs. Once you haveearned her trust, Sun
shines brightly :)
MAGGIEMaggie is a gentle,calm, 3-year-oldBorder Collie mix
female. A littlecamera-shy but very
sweet. From Nat’lMill Dog Rescuewho rescued her
from a home whichhoarded 61 dogs.
ERIK CAVARRA [email protected] 970.618.9733
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This simply stunning 3 Bedroom, 3 Bath home is perfectly situated on Hole #5 of Snowmass Club Golf Course. Enjoy entertaining and expansive views from your spacious deck which welcomes indoor/outdoor living. $3,379,000
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This Luxurious 5 Bedroom, 5 Bath Snowmass Ski Home HAS IT ALL. Perfectly located abutting National Forest land, enjoy the perks of click-in/click-out ski access to Eddy Out, the Gondola & the Village Express. $6,795,000
107 BABY DOE LANE
Sprawling 5 Bedroom, 6 Bath Red Mountain Home enjoys views of Aspen Mountain from nearly every room, including the dramatic Master Suite. Spend the day on the nearby trails or enjoy the library, gym, and home theatre. $16,000,000
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