Denver Restaurant Week’s second installment for 2014 is upon us, and unlike previous years, when the whole shebang was held in February, area chefs will have an array of summer produce to use in their menus.
Lucky us.
“We’re very excited about the Colorado produce that’s coming in,” says Sharon Rodriguez, executive chef at Zink Kitchen + Bar in the Denver Tech Center. “We’re getting in peaches, melons, beets, corn, even cilantro.”
When Rodriguez talks local, she means it. Her restaurant even has a small, on-premises herb garden. It doesn’t get much fresher than that.
Denver Restaurant Week is sponsored by Visit Denver (Denver’s Convention & Visitors Bureau), and presented by Lexus.
It runs Aug. 23-29, six months after the winter version. More than 300 restaurants participate, making it the biggest event of its kind in the nation. The restaurants create three-course menus, priced this year at $30 per person.
One of the dishes Rodriguez is most enthusiastic about is a Salvadoran-style pupusa made with crab and Olathe corn, the famed sweet variety now arriving fresh from that Montrose County town.
She’s dressing the dish with queso fresco, local heirloom tomatoes, pancetta and roasted jalapeño salsa. “I love pupusas, and this version has a little sunny flair to it,” she says.
Rodriguez has also created two desserts using Colorado fruit: a Palisade peach sundae with vanilla bean gelato, and a Rocky Ford cantaloupe custard with compressed raspberries and bruléed meringue.
Jill’s Restaurant in Boulder is also enjoying the local bounty during Restaurant Week.
Among the items on the menu is a chowder made with corn from Munson Farms in Boulder, a peach crème brulée made with peaches from the Western Slope, and a spinach ravioli using mushrooms grown at Hazel Dell Mushroom Farm in Fort Collins.
“This time of year it’s a little bit easier to connect the dots with local suppliers,” says Laurent Mechin, the restaurant’s executive chef. “Using locally available produce is one of our guiding philosophies.”
And Thirsty Lion Gastropub & Grill, located in the Union Station neighborhood, is featuring local produce on its Restaurant Week menu with tempura-fried green beans, a kale salad with currants and almonds, and a cheesecake with strawberry-rhubarb purée.
For more information, plus a list of restaurants and their menus, check out DenverRestaurantWeek.com.
William Porter: 303-954-1877, wporter@ denverpost.com or twitter.com/williamporterdp
