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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
Tasty tradition grows on local Resturant owners
The Denver Independent Network of Restaurants, DINR, celebrates Sept. 6 - 12 its Harvest Week, a celebration of local and organic produce and products.
DINR, a collective of locally owned restaurants, created this event as a tribute to the spirit of the group and a celebration of each restaurant's individuality and commitment to creative and sustainable practices. Each restaurant created a menu, in addition to their regular menu, that uses as many local products as possible in each item.
Popular items include fresh peaches from Palisade, Olathe corn, lamb from a variety of producers around the state, Haystack Mountain and MouCo Co. cheeses from Longmont and Fort Collins, Rocky Ford cantaloupes and heirloom tomatoes.
Seventeen restaurants are participating in the event. Menu prices range from $9 to 11 a la carte options at Dixon's Downtown Grill and P17 in uptown, to prix fixe menus priced as high as $65 per person at Denver's top restaurants.
In additon to special menus around town, several restaurants are hosting other events to help raise excitement for local products. Duo and Highland's Garden restaurants hosted farmers dinners in which local farmers discussed contemporary farming practices and share some of their favorite uses for their products.
Local wines and, of course, beers will be featured at each restaurant, many of which are carefully paired to compliment specific dishes.
Denver showed the world its commitment to raising awareness of sustainable lifestyles during the Democratic National Convention. A "greening task force" hosted sustainability fairs, offered loaner bikes for visitors to downtown and provided Lean and Green menu guidelines for restaurants and caterers of the event. The menus were required to be at least 70 percent local, 70 percent organic, 50 percent vegetarian and feature at least three different colors of vegetables on each plate with no fried items.
Harvest Week falls closely on the heels of that event. Matt Selby of Vesta. Dipping Grill and Steubens said that when the spokespeople for the mayor's Lean and Green arrived to tell them about the upcoming DNC event, their response was "hey we came up with that first!" DINR agreed that the DNC was such a special time for Denver that they were happy to follow the event with the debut of their new annual Harvest Week.
Dixon's chef chooses favorite dishes
Among the long established restaurants of Denver's culinary scene is Dixon's Downtown Grill. A constant favorite of local regulars for 15 years, Dixon's rarely makes changes to its eclectic menu.
Yet for Harvest Week, chef and owner Aaron Youngblood launched a selection of his own favorite choices. A mix of organically grown food is presented in the temporary menu that includes peaches from Colorado Springs, wine from Grand Junction and squash from Boulder. The new menu has four authentic dishes that highlight Colorado's distinct growers. Organic butternut squash risotto, a creamy combination of sauteed squash and rice, includes Colorado heirloom tomatoes and Rocky Mountain mushrooms. Youngblood personally traveled to Colorado Springs to obtain the purple cauliflower for the free-range chicken breast appetizer.
Manager Julia Sherman is excited for the options Youngblood featured in the Harvest Festival.
"The free range chicken is the best. The flavors that Aaron Youngblood chose to have featured [are] really, really great. It features a lot of great things about Colorado," Sherman said.
Not only does the festival help promote local restaurants, but it helps growers to showcase their product to a variety of customers. Dixon's plans to support future Harvest Weeks, in turn encouraging customers to eat healthy and support local growers.
"It's kind of a way to give back to Denver. We're really enjoying our restaurant," Sherman said.
Hit the Snooze
Harvest Week brought offerings both sweet and savory to Snooze, a breakfast-and-lunch eatery that sits at the corner of Larimer Street and Park Avenue West downtown.
Finally, a menu of local offerings that even students can afford. Choose the peach cobbler pancakes made with rosy orbs from the western slope, topped with cinnamon whipped cream and house caramel butter for $7.50.
"The biggest difference I've found in using local products, especially in the fruits, is the natural sweetness," owner Jon Schlegel said. "Peaches are delicious. Cantaloupes are brighter, also a touch sweeter. Local organic peanut butter is not your typical Peter Pan. Ironically, it's less sweet ... more peanutty."
If you're more in the mood for something with a bit of a kick, try the savory corn pancakes topped with heirloom tomato chutney at $8. Or throw down $12 for the 75-mile breakfast tacos, so named because every ingredient originated within 75 miles of the restaurant.
Although this is their first year in business, Schlegel thinks Harvest Week has increased traffic and goodwill.
"Most of the products we found (for Harvest Week) were from local folks in the ballpark neighborhood," he said. "This is our gift back to our community to share in our collaborative efforts."
Hot, Health choices dominate menue at hip eatery
most affordable Harvest Fest options around.
The place is cool. Old-fashioned murals, posters of Mexican wrestlers and dozens of framed antique prints of Mexican movies stars and athletes warm the walls of the Colfax hotspot. Dozens of dimly lit Moroccan lanterns with colored glass hang throughout the bar and the yellow walls are stenciled with colorful borders. "Like a cross between a new-style, hip Mexican restaurant and a punk-rock bar," my dining partner said.
We ordered everything on the Harvest Fest menu.
The first appetizer was a shrimp and poblano chile tamale. The smooth and earthy masa, cornmeal, used for the tamale was purchased from La Esmeralda tortilla factory in Greeley. A single butterflied grilled shrimp was tucked into the folds of the tamale's papery corn husk wrapper. The black bean refritos beneath the tamale were chunky and undercooked. The poblano pepper, which was said to be from Star Farms in Brighton, was nowhere to be found.
The second appetizer, a stuffed poblano from Musso farms was quite good. The pepper was stuffed with flatiron strips, roasted potatoes and melted queso de mano, a raw, aged goat cheese from Haystack Mountain creamery in Longmont. Chewy cheese crumbles (cotija perhaps? the waitress couldn't answer) topped the blistery monster along with pico de gallo, drizzles of Mexican crema and spectacular roasted chili salsa. Not bad for seven bucks.
Mezcal's main course for Harvest Week is Colorado lamb and potatoes au gratin. The roughly six-ounce chunk of roasted leg of lamb was tender, richly seasoned and fell apart like slow-roasted barbecue. A healthy serving of sweet and creamy Olathe corn puree and spicy Villano farms Anaheim chile sauce pooled around the meat and sliced potatoes.
We finished our meal with the dessert special. Mexican bread pudding with melted Mexican cheese, queso campesino requeson, and a Palisade peach cooked in a piloncillo, a raw sugar from South America.
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