Take a Journey with

Locally Sourced & Globally Inspired Cuisine

Located within the famous restaurant row in Aspen, the restaurant Ute City serves up European flavors in a sophisticated, and yet fun setting.  With floor to ceiling windows that look up at Aspen mountain, Ute City serves as an upscale Colorado ski town hangout.  For lunch, dinner, or apres ski or hike, locals and tourists alike gather in Ute City’s swanky and slightly rustic dining room.

The Dining Room

The chef behind Ute City’s gastronomic magic, Chef Peter Coyne, is noted for being an early advocate of farm to table, emphasizing regional cuisine in many of his signature dishes.  Intertwining the best of both worlds, Chef Coyne marries Colorado cuisine with exotic flavors from many of the rich food cultures of Europe.  Thus, a meal at Ute City offers the diner a sampling of the best flavors of the Old and the New World, often using local products to create European flavors.

In the end, the cuisine at Ute City presents the diner with a multicultural experience with the opportunity to taste a different culture’s cuisine at every meal.  Beginning with Greece for lunch, you can bite into a gyro-inspired panini, made with a slow-roasted leg of lamb, sprinkled with a healthy helping of mint, a generous dollop of cucumber sauce, all of which is tucked away into a warm pita.  Follow this up with a dinner of forest mushroom gnocchi topped with basil and a luxurious truffle sauce, inspired by the rustic countryside of Italy.

For dessert, you can come back home to indulge in that all American Lee’s Carrot Cake piled with a thick, mile-high cream cheese frosting dotted by those delicious little morsels of cinnamon sugared pecans.  After this happy and somewhat fairytale ending to your gastronomic journey in tasting various flavors of the world, you will surely have an increased appreciation for the locally sourced, globally inspired cuisine of Ute City in Aspen.

Ute City is located at 308 E. Hopkins Avenue; Tel: 970-925-2900; Open Lunch & Dinner 11:30 a.m. to close.

Jonathan Sawyer from The Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, OH and LeeAnn Kaufman, Sommelier at FOOD & WINE’S Chef’s Club at the St. Regis in Aspen join Culinary Connectors LIVE! host Becky Creighton. At the Chef’s Club, FOOD & WINE brings the pages of the magazine alive creating a unique and diverse menu. Every 6 months, a four new chefs from the magazine’s list of “Best New Chefs” consult and curate new menu items. Jonathan, who is currently moonlighting at the Chef’s Club discuss his menu and restaurants in Ohio. LeeAnn provides insights on what it is like to work with an ever changing chef line up and how she pairs wines with each unique dish created!

Jimmy’s Magic Tastes of Comfort, Quality,

& An Unexpected Zest

As the days begin to warm, and frost gives way to green grass, the Latin music at Jimmy’s bar and restaurant heats up to accommodate the energetic vibe of the springtime. Set at the base of Aspen mountain, offering an exhilarating view, Jimmy’s is the kind of neighborhood spot that offers both comfort and that upbeat, vivacious ambience that sets the stage for an enjoyable afternoon and/or evening you will surely remember.

Beyond Jimmy’s appealing atmosphere, Jimmy’s food alone makes it a favorite among locals and tourists alike. On the first page of their menu, Jimmy’s proudly declares its food philosophy that caters to local suppliers who provide the highest quality food money can buy. Their bourbon is non-GMO, the beef is always grass-fed, raised without antibiotics or hormones, and all of their ingredients are free of high-fructose corn syrup, including their ketchup, in case you were wondering. Their seafood is always wild-caught, causing you to temporarily forget that you are dining in a land-locked state.

Of course, Jimmy’s menu reminds any diner that there is plenty to satisfy your appetite that is Colorado grown. Featured menu items such as the elk and steak chili and the rocky mountain trout will make you forget all about that seafood. For some extra comfort, try some of Jimmy’s signature meatloaf or their mac n’ cheese, prepared with a surprising twist you will have to discover for yourself. Next, don’t forget to grab at the cookie jar, meant to be shared by the whole table, and served with a glass of milk, just like mom used to have.

Jimmy’s comfortable atmosphere enlivened with an underlying energetic vibe extends into its kitchen where a jar of chocolate chip cookies is made with the same attention to detail as the porterhouse steak, both tasting of comfort, quality, and the unexpected zest that is mixed into every dish at Jimmy’s. With a touch of zest, and maybe a little Lain Jazz, Jimmy’s continues to serve up a bit of magic that will thrill and entice you into returning again and again.

One Nation, United By Pork

Salted pork, a staple in the Colonial American diet, has always brought Americans to the table.  Indeed, the alluring smell of bacon can awaken anyone’s appetite, leading to a slightly moistened mouth and lip, and a hunger pain that is hard to ignore.

In early America, fatty pigs were prized for their fatty meat that absorbed salt better than the leaner little piggies.  However, later on Americans developed a fear of fat that lead to the production of pigs with leaner meat, taking away from the full flavor of pork that is rooted in the delectable, fine flavor of fat, itself.

In the fight for fat and flavor, a gathering of people are coming together for the fifth year to call attention to the deliciousness of full-fat heritage pork breeds, introducing them to the public in hope of increasing awareness of how the protection and promotion of these heritage breeds is critical for the gastronomic health of this nation.  The event is also endorsing such important practices as sustainable farming, particularly in the context of family farmers and wineries.  The event will showcase wines that are produced sustainably by family wineries.

This special event will arrive to Colorado this Sunday, March 10th at the Four Seasons Resort in Vail.  The event will be centered upon a culinary competition and tasting event that will include 5 local chefs, 5 heritage pigs, and 5 family wineries, hence the “555” component in the name “Cochon 555.”  The chefs will compete to prepare a menu created entirely from heritage breed pigs for 400 pork connoisseurs and 20 pork-loving judges.  The winning chef will be deemed the Prince or Princess of Pork, a title all of the top-chefs are willing to battle for.

The five participating local, Colorado top chefs include Lon Symensma, Alex Seidel, Kelly Liken, Jason Harrison, and Hosea Rosenberg.  Lou Symensma is the chef and owner of “ChoLon,” the Asian inspired restaurant located in Denver’s historic LoDo district.  Chef Alex Seidel was named the Best New Chef by Food & Wine Magazine in 2010, and is also the chef of Denver’s “Fruition,” a farm to table restaurant.  One of the country’s most promising female chefs, as well as a star on Bravo TV’s Top Chef, Chef Kelly Liken is the chef of the restaurant named simply, “Kelly Liken,” an award-winning restaurant located in Vail.  Jason Harrison of the “Four Seasons Restaurant” in Vail is world renowned, belonging to the Chaine des Rotisseurs, the world’s oldest international gastronomic society that was founded in Paris in 1248.  Finally, last but not least, Hosea Rosenberg was the Bravo TV’s Top Chef winner of Season 5, and is also the chef behind “Blackbelly Catering” in Boulder, Colorado.

For a day of nose-to-tail cooking, education on breed diversity, and a window into family farming, Cochon 555 offers an education by way of your senses, particularly your sense of taste.  After all, real sustainability is found in food that is produced responsibly and that just simply tastes better.  Just as it has been done before in our nation’s history, the taste of full-fat pork might just unite us all yet again under this great nation we call America, bringing us together at the table with bibs around our necks, and forks and knives in hand.

For more information on Cochon 555, check out their website or watch this introductory video here.

Cooked or Raw, Kenichi’s Sushi is a Work of Art

courtesy of: http://www.kenichiaspen.com/

Bite by bite, I delicately piece through the plate of sushi before me that more closely resembles a fine work of Asian art rather than the succulent, rich, satisfying plate of sushi that it is.  At Kenichi, located in the mountain resort town of Aspen, Master Sushi Chef Kiyomi Sano and Executive Chef Ed Schmidt combine their talents in the art of cooking and making sushi in order to create culinary works of art that look just as good as they taste.

The menu features an endless list of seafood options, all listed in their traditional names in addition to english, that may be enjoyed in sushi form or cooked to the diner’s delight.  Among the finest sushi you may come across in this land-locked state, Kenichi offers such notable dishes as the wild salmon sashimi with goat cheese and a red onion vinaigrette.  Their house sushi rolls are made of ingredients as novel as the presentation.  Try their “Kamodo” made with blackened tuna, mango, and avocado on edamame paper, a novelty indeed.

If you prefer your seafood cooked, cut into their Asian BBQ Wild Salmon with wok-fired greens and a japanese mustard emulsion.  My personal favorite might just be the truffle miso halibut with stir-fried garlic spinach, combining flavors of Asia and Italy for a compatible marriage that will surely last.

Cooked or raw, the seafood at Kenichi’s holds an appearance and a taste that will have you dreaming up what sort of artwork you might be able to taste next.  You might just hang a picture of your sushi up on your kitchen wall.

Kenichi is located at 533 East Hopkins Avenue #2, Tel: 970-920-2212.

Shaken, Not Stirred

courtesy of: http://writing.cwbuecheler.com/2012/11/26/new-article-james-bond-and-the-martini/

For those James Bond fans who have always fantasized of speaking the famous words “vodka martini…shaken, not stirred, ” BB’s Kitchen might just be the place where such fantasies may become a reality.  BB’s allows you to order your martini any way you like it—shaken, with a twist, a little dirty, manhattan sly, just plain perfect, or the good old-fashioned way.

If the classics bore you, BB’s will accommodate you according to your ability to hold your drinks. For all those light weights, they offer such refreshing drinks as the Orange Mojito with muddled oranges, a far cry from a traditional mojito. However, if you are more of a big hitter, BB’s may suggest a more potent Whiskey Tea made with locally distilled Leopold’s Peach Whiskey.

If you are still holding on once the first drinks have been had, it might be in your best interest to try a drink from BB’s “Into the Evening” category that will reinvigorate and refresh. BB’s Elderflower Margarita is a wise choice, the elderflower offering a healthy does of antioxidants and vitamin C that will fight off that lingering winter cold, preparing you for this coming spring.

Cocktails will keep you busy at BB’s, but if you are a wine and beer connoisseur, BB’s offers a long list of local beer and novel wines. Their canned beers, such as the straw-colored Colorado Kolsch, sell for just five bucks.  For a worldly wine tasting experience, taste test their Pinot Grigio from Trentino, Italy, grown in the Italian sunshine at the base of tall, green mountains that divide Austria and Italy.

Whether you would like your drink shaken, stirred, twisted, canned, dirty, or muddled, just speak the words and BB’s Kitchen will provide you with a taste of whatever drink your fantasy calls for.

BB’s Kitchen is located at 525 E. Cooper Avenue, 2nd floor, Aspen CO 81611; Tel: 970-429-8284.

Sip Upon “La Dolce Vita”

Everyone could benefit from a little taste of “la dolce vita” (a.k.a. the sweet life) from time to time. Gisella’s in Aspen offers a tasting of the sweet life through their wine list that holds the longest list of Italian reds, whites, and sparkling wines you will find anywhere on the western slope.

First, start your evening off as the Italians do, with a lively, sparkling Prosecco that will reawaken your senses that are still under a work haze. Next, travel up to Tuscany, the land of such prized favorites as Chianti Classico and the Super Tuscan. With wine in hand, imagine the terroir of these wines, with its rolling hills and medieval hill-top towns. Finish it all with a wine from Sicily, the land of the Godfather. You will taste this land’s bold, colored past with a taste of the rich and juicy Nero d’Avolo that speaks of the rich, black, fertile soil of this land of Roman gods and goddesses.

As you travel along on Gisella’s Italian wine journey, be sure to get a taste of their authentic Italian cuisine. With menu items all in Italian, you will surely feel a thrill in speaking some Italian as you order. The bar menu is full of “cozze e vongole” and “crespelle di polenta” that will further entice you into staying just a little longer in order to truly enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing, just as Italians do.

Gisella is located  at 415 East Main Street Aspen, Colorado, Tel: 970-925-8222. Hours are nightly at 5:30 pm.

The Kitchen at BB’s is put to full use since almost everything at BB’s is house made.  Oh so cinnamon-y Monkey Bread (a Mario Batali favorite), frosted cinnamon rolls served with sweet cream butter, and english muffins are swept in and out of BB’s stone oven each day.

Handcrafted dishes such as their “Toad in the Hole French Toast” transforms the classic French Toast into a sweet and savory interplay by combining challah bread, fried eggs, bacon, and that all-American treasure, Vermont Maple Syrup.  Their Belgian Waffle comes with much more than butter and syrup, adding in a macadamia nut crunch and a generous drizzle of salted caramel.

If that is not indulgent enough, slide that spoon into a scoop of their house made caramel, chocolate, or cinnamon ice cream.  For a savory indulgence, scoop up some french onion soup topped with their toasted bread and gruyere cheese.  Add additional comfort with a side of their Mac n’cheese that is house made, of course.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert, BB’s Kitchen will make you feel at home with their house made ingredients that span through every meal.

525 East Cooper Avenue, Aspen, CO 81611  (970) 429-8284

Discover the Secret Sandwich in Aspen

House-made Macaroons

Nestled away in the Colorado mountain town of Aspen is Annette’s Mountain Bake Shop, serving a secret sandwich you will want to get your hands on.  Annette is a baking wizard that will cast a spell on you, making you crave just about every concoction she unveils in her little bake shop.

Artisan breads baked daily in house, focaccia, bagels, cakes, cookies, muffins, scones, empanadas, and pretzels made specially on Saturdays all make the list of options at Annette’s.  She even offers gluten-free options.

Open from 9 am to 9:30 pm, this is not just your morning bakery.  Annette’s even dishes out a daily soup and a notable caesar salad.  Above all, you cannot and must not miss out on the secret sandwich.  We’re not going to give the secret away, but we  assure you it is worth your time and your effort to get a taste of this secret, even if it requires a trip to Aspen.

Jimmy Mac

Drink Your Mac at Jimmy’s

No, I am not asking you to drink up your Mac computer or take down a Big Mac from Micky-D’s, but Mac, as in The Macallan.  This drink is known among tourists, locals, and celebrities alike  as the Jimmy Mac. Created by the owner  himself, Drew Levinson and Tony Abou-Ganim, the Jimmy Mac is a bitter-sweet concoction of top-notch, single-malt The Macallan Whiskey, along with herbal French liquor, Benedictine. Amaro, a.k.a. Italian bitters, orange bitters, and orange peel make this a drink Jimmy Yeager is proud to put his name on.

When you dine or drink at Jimmy’s, you will no doubt be greeted with the vibrant, never-ending enthusiasm that exudes from Jimmy and his staff. This environment is most conducive to sipping on a terrific margarita made with freshly-squeezed lime and lemon juices, a single village mezcal or a glass of wine. Jimmy’s is both comfortable and energetic, offering a neighborhood-based, casual attitude in the afternoon that transforms into a heated, rather sexy setting with Latin dancing on Saturday nights.

Enjoy great food and fabulous drinks all night with Jimmy’s meticulously crafted cocktails and welcoming atmosphere that will have you going back each year just to see Jimmy himself.

Have you had this cocktail? Let us know what you think about mixing single malt scotch with anything other than ice or a drop of water.

Jimmy’s is located at 205 S Mill St Aspen, CO 81611.  970-925-6020