Barolo’s bar remains high, so missteps are magnified

By Tucker Shaw | The Denver Post

June 1, 2009 at 1:23 p.m.

You’d be hard pressed to find a Denver restaurant with more devoted fans than Barolo Grill. Now in its 17th year of operation, the grande dame of Sixth Avenue has enjoyed the kind of longevity that eludes the vast majority of restaurants of any kind.

Only part of Barolo’s success has to do with its estimable (and often splendid) Piedmontese and Tuscan food. Part has to do with a well- heeled neighborhood clientele for whom Barolo is a local. Part has to do with its exhaustive and carefully tended wine program.

But all of it has to do with owner Blair Taylor and his team’s collective understanding of the craft of restaurant stewardship. This is a man who knows his customers, values his customers, builds relationships with his customers and, most important, knows how to make his customers happy.

Usually.

Four visits over the course of a few months might not qualify for “regular” status, but it does make for a measured appraisal of the Barolo Grill experience.

It is not easy to assess, dish by dish, the menu at Barolo because the menu is a moving target. Some dishes (fritto misto, braised duckling) stick around, while others (halibut with ramps pesto, Barolo- braised short ribs) appear with intermittent seasonal frequency.

This is a good sign. It means that the kitchen reacts to the market, which signifies a stubborn insistence on good ingredients. It also means that the cooks in the kitchen (directed by knowledgeable and skilled executive chef Brian Laird) are thoughtful and capable.

When Barolo’s cooking shines, it dazzles. A recent appetizer of meaty sardines and snappy calamari, grilled and plated with less precision than passion, was eloquently simple — seafood, olive oil, salt. An equally uncomplicated toss of hand-nurtured gnocchi with saporous wild mushrooms and staccato points of fontina struck soft and savory notes simultaneously.

But when dishes were off, they flopped: A veal tenderloin proved chewy, not buttery. A too-garlicky pesto clobbered a fillet of halibut. An impermeable wine sauce suffocated a braised short rib. Such on-plate failures at Barolo are infrequent — reflections of carelessness, not ineptitude. But they happen.

Service mistakes (or lapses) are more common: Rushed courses. Hot food on cold dishes. Bored visages. Are these missteps exceptions? Yes. But they are present.

Of course, not every moment can be perfect. A restaurant is, after all, human beings. But even isolated foibles can make settling up the (not insignificant) bill less palatable.

Particularly when we know the truth about Barolo Grill: This group of professionals is more capable than it sometimes lets on.

No question about it, the Barolo Grill boat ain’t broke, not by any stretch. The room (which, depending on where you sit, can range from lively to cozy to gloomy) is always full. The menu is generally well-executed. The bartending is top-notch. As is, this is one of Denver’s elite restaurants.

But because it is one of Denver’s top restaurants, we look to Barolo Grill not just for pleasant evenings and reliable dinners, but for leadership, for an answer to that most insistent of cultural questions: “What’s next?”

One wonders what Barolo might look like if they challenged themselves to a little reinvention. A refreshed, more contemporary room perhaps. A smaller, riskier menu. A more engaged, focused energy in the front of the house.

The brain trust behind Barolo Grill is one of Denver’s most formidable creative teams, and they need no business advice from anyone. Still, here’s hoping that they find an opportunity soon to take a deep, reflective breath — and perhaps a giant leap forward.

Tucker Shaw: dining@denverpost.com