Denver Restaurant Weeks in 2010

Two weeks, two multi-course dinners for $52.80

Denver Restaurant Week 2010 is doubling from one week to two, stretching from February 20 through March 5 to become Denver Retaurant Weeks. Even if you eat out every single night, that's still only enough time to sample a small fraction of the participating restaurants. There were 225 last year, and 100 have already signed up for 2010. Participating restaurants typically offer a multi-course, fixed-priced meal for $52.80 for two, referencing Denver’s 5,280-foot elevation, or $26.40 for one. Last year, with a record 298,200 meals served, about 75 percent of the restaurants extended their Restaurant Week specials beyond the scheduled week of February 21-27, so this year, the second week becomes official.

2009 Taste of Elegance Competition Winners: Corey and Long

Judging a chefs' competition is a delicious but difficult job

 Once again, I was honored to be a judge at the "Taste of Elegance" chefs competition at the 2009 Denver International Wine Festival. As was the case last year, each competitor is given a bottle of red and a bottle of white in advance to taste and then create two dishes to pair with those wines -- wines that had previously place in September's Denver Wine Competition. We judges were charged with evaluating dishes based on presentation, tasted and food/wine compatibility to come up with the best overall chef and the most creative chef.

Chris Davies CEO of Wine Country International, which runs the festival, took the picture, below, of us judges just before we set off on our appointed tasting rounds. We discussed whether to stick together or split apart and decided to move from station to station in a cluster so that the chefs would only have to describe their dishes just once. Below, from left, Hosea Rosenberg of Jax Fish House, Boulder, and winner of last season's "Top Chef" honors, moi, Amanda Faison of 5280 magazine and Teresa Farney of the Colorado Springs Gazette. We did not look quite so perky after we had tasted two dishes from each chef and wines to match -- plus Belgian beers.   

Wine glasses ready for the sell-out crowd of 400 at the entrance to the festival, which this year moved to Mile High Station, a new events facility.

Before 6:00 p.m. when the public was allowed in, the competing chefs and their teams worked quickly and quietly to stage their two dishes.

 There was only so much I could do  at the same time -- tasting, evaluating, snapping quick pictures and scribbing notes in the hopes of matching images with restaurants and chefs. It was beyond my multi-tasting talents to do it all, so below are just some of the dishes we tasted. I can identify some but not all, so I won't label any. Just know that there was a lot of good food, a lot of well-thought-out plating and a lot of care displayed by "Taste of Elegance" chefs.

Attendees milled around, also tasting and sipping, often with considerably less restraint than those of us who had a job to do.

Let me tell you that the decision was difficult. There was a lot of good food preapred by local culinary talents. In the end, we selected Robert Corey of Sandoval's Kitchen, Denver as Most Creative Chef and Michael Long of Opus, Littleton as Best Chef. Jean-Luc Voegele of the Westin Tabor Center, Denver took the People's Choice award. Congratulations to all.

Last year, I managed to write a post immmediately after the festival, and you might want to read it for a backgrounder. Other than the venue and the number of chefs competing, the format was largely the same both years.

2009 Taste of Elegance Chefs

Jeff Bolton, Second Home, JW Marriott, Denver

Chad Clevenger, Mel's Bar and Grill, Greenwood Village

Austin Cueto, Restaurant Kevin Taylor, Denver

Robert Corey, Sandoval's Kitchen (overall Best Chef winner)

Eliza Goodwill, 221 South Oak, Telluride

David Harker, Meritage, Omni Interlocken, Broomfield

Daniel Joly, Mirabelle Restaurant, Avon/Beaver Creek

DeWayne Lieurance, 5280 Chef/Clandestine Chef

Michael Long, Opus Restaurant, Littleton (named Most Creative Chef)

David Olivieri, Farraday's Steakhouse, Isle of Capri Casino & Hotel, Black Hawk

Eric Riviera, LaLa's Wine Bar & Pizza, Denver

Eric Skokan, Black Cat Bistro, Boulder

Jeremy Thomas, Parisi's Italian Market & Deli and Firenze a Tavola, Denver

Jean-Luc Voegele, Westin Tabor Center, Denver (People's Choice winner)

Kelly Yepello, Yepello Chocolates & Confections, Steamboat Springs

Just a Few News Notes

Denver International Wine Festival Report

Yesterday evening, I was honored to be a judge at the "Taste of Elegance" chef competition at the Denver International Wine Festival. My fellow judges (illustrious Coloradans indeed) were last season's "Top Chef" winner Hosea Rosenberg of Jax Fish House in Boulder, Amanda Faison of 5280 Magazine and Teresa Farney of the Colorado Springs Gazette. We ate and wine-paired two dishes from each of 14 leading chefs (plus a "bonus" third dish from Boulder's Restaurant 4580). Even a bite from each dish and a sip of each paired wine meant a lot of food and a lot of wine.

At the end of the competition, we judges met in a private room with video camera trained on us while we deliberated. We had very few differences of opinion -- a dish here, a dish there, perhaps a pairing. There were many excellent dishes that were carefully thought-out and beautifully presented. In the end, our top two chefs for overall excellence were Michael Long of Opus, Littleton, and for creativity, Robert Corey of Sandoval's Kitchen, Denver. I'll write another post with photos when I've digested, literally and figuratively, the evening's fab foods and wines.

Red Hot News: Kleinman Gone from Westin Westminster

I mentioned that 14 chefs competed in the "Taste of Elegance." Number 15 would have been Ian Kleinman, Colorado's captain of molecular gastronomy, except that is no longer at O's Steak and Seafood's in the Westin Westminster. I confirmed this morning and learned that Kurt Zuger, the executive chef, and Christoph Schöttle, who is the executive sous chef are filling the void. Again according to rumor, Kleinman is planning to open a restaurant on Larimer Square. Stay tuned.

Boulder Eatery News

Steve Abo, owner of Abo's Pizza, and a partner, whose name I can't recall have taken over the shuttered space that was occupied by Seven on Pearl (previously Seven Eurobistro) at 1035 Pearl Street, a bistro/bar just west of the Pearl Street Mall. Workers have been busy remodeling (right), so it ought to be opening soon...An Australian pub is reportedly going into the beguiling but challenging space on Broadway between Canyon and Araphahoe that, between sitting empty, has housed a variety of restaurant. The most recent was the short-lived Alexander & Livorio (or similar). With the recently closing of the Scotch Corner, it might fill a pub void on the street....I haven't previously reported on two restaurant that opened not long ago at The Peloton, the upscale condo development at 3601 Arapahoe. The Gindi Café is an an eco-practicing morning, noon and night eatery (i.e., it services breakfast, lunch, happy hour and small plates).The phone number is 720-206-5157. It joins Pizzeria Basta, a southern Italian restaurant with a wood-burning pizza oven and what it calls an "intelligent wine list." Sounds smart to me. Alas, I can't find Pizzeria Basta's phone number. The website is "under construction" and dexknows.com doesn't know...Agave Mexico Bistro & Tequila House opened on Wednesday at 2845 28th Street, Boulder; 303-444-2922. They're offering an extensive menu with organic and all-natural products and many gluten-free and vegetarian offerings. Until November 22, they're mixing their house margaritas for $4 as a grand opening special...Chef Fabio Flagiello is now is working with Bácaro Venetian Taverna owner/chef Anthony Justice, overhauling the menu and adding cred to the restaurant's middle name. Chef Flagiello trained in Italy and France and on this side of the pond, has run restaurants in California. While in Los Angeles, he was as a film, coaching actors with roles that required culinary technique, including Tony Shalhoub’s character, Primo, in the 1996 movie “Big Night.” He's a Boulder kind of buy, a triathlete and Iron Man competitor and interested in finding the balance between both great tasting and healthful meals. Bácaro is at 921 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-444-4888.