Q's Reastaurant

Roasted beet and arugula salad with goat cheese, almonds, and an orange drssing


Grilled asparagus with crisp polenta, mushroom vinaigrette, gorganzola and proscuitto


Crab crepe with fennel, leek, celery, orange and saffron


Pan roasted albacore with fedelini pasta and "scampi" broth


Gold potato gnocchi with butternut squash, mushrooms, sage, sun-dried tomato and a Parmesan emulsion


Smoked long's farm pork loin with caramelized apples, sweet potatoes, onions and red chili honey


Lemon brulee tart with blueberry-ginger sorbet and speckled lemon syrup


Chocolate mousse napoleon with banana ice cream, nutella sauce, and caramelized bananas


Fourless chocolate cake with grand marnier glaze, orange sorbet, and candied orange

Q's is a restaurant in The Hotel Boulderado. In Boulder we are having the First bite of Boulder, which is an event where a lot of the really fine restaurants in Boulder let you have a three-course meal for 23 dollars. I jumped to this opportunity and took my family. We started the meal with a Beet and arugula salad. In my opinion the salad did not have enough beets in it. There were enough beets for five perfect bites. The sweetness of the beets was cut beautifully by the pepperiness of the arugula and the goat cheese added a great creamy and rich element to the dish, which made it shine. The almonds added a great punch of texture and the orange dressing was a great hint acidity. Next was the grilled asparagus with crisp polenta. This dish was really good. Asparagus has this great funky flavor and melded very well with the earthy mushrooms and pungent cheese. Adding the hint of salty pork to the dish elevated it to a whole new level. And the polenta was piping hot, crisp on the outside, creamy on the inside fantastic. Next was the crab crepe with orange. The paper-thin crepe was over flowing with delicious meaty crab and had a ton of flavor. My one criticism is that it was a little too sweet. I mean crab, fennel, orange those are all things that are very sweet and leeks do not have an oniony enough flavor to counter the sweetness. Our next offering was a pan-roasted albacore with a "scampi" broth. This dish was very nice. The fish was perfectly cooked and was on a bed of homemade fedelini pasta. The pasta was fabulous it just melted in your mouth. But for me the broth and the capers and the tomatoes made the dish a little to acidic. Next was the gold potato gnocchi. The dish was warming and would be fantastic on a cold winter day sitting by a fire. The smoked pork loin was fantastic. It was like a fine dinning BBQ sandwich. One thing I would have done different was not having the sweet potatoes and onions. Just the pork, apples and honey would have done it for me. Now into dessert we started with a lemon brulee tart. The tarts crust was very flaky and extremely tender. The lemon curd was silky a delicious and the crust of burnt sugar on top was great. The sorbet was good but did not have enough ginger flavors. Next was the chocolate mousse napoleon. The chocolate mousse was creamy and wonderful and was in between two crisp layers of phyllo. The ice cream was very nice and had great banana flavor but it could have used a little cinnamon or cardamom to give it a nice twist. The final offering was a flourless chocolate cake. I love the paring of orange and chocolate and grand marnier is always a good thing. The cake was surprisingly light but the glaze on the plate was solidified and not coming off the plate. Over all it was a great meal.

L'Atelier [2]

Tuna tartare with orange and crispy potato "leafs"


Lobster ravioli


Salami carpaccio with capers and baby greens


Mussels in a lobster-tomato fumet


Living bibb and mozzarella salad with a balsamic reduction


Intermezzo: Mango sorbet


Pan-roasted snapper with caramelized onions, fingerling potato coins, and artichoke-picholine olive "barigoule"


Roasted lamb chops with chickpea fritter, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and lamb jus


Opera cake: Joconde layers with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream


Cheese plate: Fourme d'Ambert and Quadrello di Bufala with candied walnuts, blackberries, aged balsamic, chestnut honey and toast points

Hey L'Atelier, It's me again and I'm ready for some food. Give me the tasting menu. How would I like my lamb, medium rare please. After my last experiance at L'Atelier, I wanted more. After cooking a large dinner for 20 people I decided it was time to give myself a treat, and what better way than to go to L'Atelier. I sat down and began to look over the menu, lets see, Ribeye, foie gras, veal, hey a tasting menu, lets do that. The first item of this extraordinary meal was an all time french classic, tuna tartare. Chef Radek took tuna tartare to whole new level. The tarter itself was laced with capers and onions and herbs. Then on the plate there was the orange, daikon, herb oil, curry oil, diced jalapeno the crispy potato. There were so many little things going on but they all complemented each other, they worked in perfect harmony. The buttery tuna, the sweet orange and the crispy potato all were a perfect contrast in flavors and textures that created one perfect bite. Our next item was a lobster ravioli. Now this lobster ravioli was nothing like the one I had at my last visit to L'Atelier, this one was in a light, acidic sauce and was much better. The acidity from the sauce was perfect with the rich, sweet, meaty lobster and carrots that were stuffed into the paper-thin pasta shell. Next we enjoyed a fantastic carpaccio of salami. I love charcuterie and salumi so this was great. The salami was very fatty and salty and was great with the earthy sprouts. The perfect was to get some salami some sprouts and some of the tomato garnish all on a toast point, amazing. Next was mussels in a lobster-tomato fumet. the mussels themselves were perfectly cooked but the really good part was sopping up all that sauce with lots of bread. Next was a fantastic salad of bibb lettuce and mozzarella cheese. There were three main parts to this dish:
1. the lettuce
2. the cheese
3. the tomato garnish
Seems pretty simple but it was amazing. The vegetables were so fresh you could taste the life in them. The cheese was house made and was the best cheese I have ever had in my life. Mozzarella normally does not have a lot of flavor but this one did. It was very tender and salty, ugh it was so good. The lettuce was dressed with a champagne vinaigrette and the whole thing was drizzled with some reduced balsamic. Next was the intermezzo, a small palate cleanser of mango sorbet. I also had lychee sorbet but it had melted by the time I got around to taking the picture. Now time for the main courses. The first one was snapper. A beautiful bowl was presented to me with a lovly piece of fish over some great looking vegetables. The fish was perfectly cooked. It was very moist and tender and the top was very crisp. The vegetables on the bottom were amazing as well. They were prepared in the style of a barigoule. A traditional barigoule is cooked with white whine, but Chef Radek cooks it with a light tomato broth. Every vegetable was cooked perfectly and the olives added a great blast of sourness. Next was the lamb, lamb chops to be exact. The lamb was beautifully cooked. I asked for it medium rare and they gave me medium rare. It was served with a chickpea fritter and a lamb jus. The chickpea fritter was very good. It was as if dahl and hummus hooked up in a deep fryer and had a baby. The jus was meaty and rich and pared well with the other components. Now its time for dessert, but not just any dessert, and opera cake. The cake was moist and rich but was light at the same time. The cake was joconde, joconde is a french almond sponge cake. The almond added a punch of earthiness to a very rich cake. The chocolate ganache gave the richness and the coffee buttercream rounded every thing out. On the plate there were swirls of creme anglaise and strawberry coulis. Just a side not: I could drink an entire bottle of that coulis it is so good. Next was the cheese. I am sorry I did not get a very good picture of the cheese. It was hard to edit properly. The photo may be bad but the cheese was not. The cheese was great. Every little accompaniment on the plate worked great with the different cheeses. Thank you again L'Atelier for on of the best meals of my life!!!

Breakfast

Pan-seared trout with gnocchi and a poached egg

Linden

The six course meal for 20 people!!


The staff


Chef Adin and I


The waitresses. Anna, Maya and Becky


Ezra and Leah, the water and bread servers


Maya, the prep cook Oliver, and I


Customers



Plating


Steak tartare with red onions, watermelon, and beet gazpacho


Seared scallops with citrus marmalade and endive salad


Butter-poached lobster with artichokes, mushrooms, leeks, potato gnocchi and basil-lemon butter


Roasted pork tenderloin with polenta, horseradish creme fraiche and chorizo jus


Chocolate lava cake with raspberry coulis, vanilla creme fraiche and almond crunch


Balsamic ice cream with macerated strawberries and candied proscuitto

Thank you to Adin, Ezra, Leah, Anna, Becky, Ollie for working and Jane for letting us use her house!!!

COMING OCTOBER 16TH.......

Coming October 16th is a huge meal my friend and I are making. It will be for over 20 people. We will be cooking 6 dishes and it will be awesome. Pictures will be posted. It is going to be great. If you live in the Boulder area and wish to join us that evening please email me at littlemanchips@gmail.com
Also chefs in the Boulder area if you wish to be the VIP guests RSVP to the same email.
Thank you
Aaron

Cooking Job

Watermelon, tomato and feta salad


Seared scallops with fennel cream


Chocolate lava cake with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream

Cooking on the weekend!

Crispy seared duck breast with turnip puree and balsamic-onion marmalade. Finished with a touch of Italian black truffle sea salt


Chocolate coulant with chocolate sauce, basil ice cream and a bruleed banana

Flagstaff House Restaurant

Rabbit butler


Amuse Bouch


Gnocchi


Soft-shell crab


Pancetta wrapped quial


Foie gras and crispy sweet breads


Palate cleanser


Trout and diver scallop


Pre dessert


Chocolate bag


Peach and raspberry tart


Birthday petit fours


Flagstaff house has been a blogging destination for a long time, and now it has happened. I wanted to bring my brother in honor of his birthday because I never really bought him a present. The restaurant is located on Flagstaff mountain, hence the name Flagstaff house. The view from the restaurant is amazing, it shows all of Boulder and the mountains. When we arrived a valet came and parked our car for us. I have never been to a restaurant with a valet, it was so cool. After we sat down, we ordered off these awesome menus that said "Happy 9th birthday" on them. Once we ordered, the fun began. Our waiter, Ryan, delivered a little metal rabbit butler holding our first treat, crostinis, smoked trout with crème fraich and lemon pesto with sun-dried tomato. The crostinis were great; the lemon in the pesto really added a nice contrast to the sort of nuttiness of the basil. The sun-dried tomato added a great sweetness. The trout was amazing. It was incredibly tender and the smoke just lingered on your palate very lightly. The crème fraich was a great addition to the fish. It added a creamy texture to the flaky fish. After that we got another complementary item, Colorado peaches with point reyes blue cheese and basil. This was a great little dish. The blue cheese was very subtle and yet very strong and then same time. The peaches were an amazing, juicy, sweetness to go with the blue cheese. Though I could not really taste the basil, the dish was great. I don't even think the taste of the basil would have made the dish better. After we got our bread we were served our first appetizer, Russet potato gnocchi with maitake mushrooms, English peas, and goat cheese. The gnocchi were incredible. They were so soft, and even though I did not think it was possible, they were softer than the gnocchi I enjoyed and Radda. The earthy flavors of the gnocchi and mushrooms complemented the sweetness of the peas and the saltiness of the cheese. It was all bathing in this delicious buttery sauce, which brought everything together in perfect harmony. Next we enjoyed a Potato crusted soft-shell crab with potato, corn, pepper and saffron mussel chowder. This dish was my brother’s choice to get, he loves soft-shell crab. The potato crust was incredibly crispy and the crab was perfectly cooked. My favorite part of the dish was the chowder. The mussels were juicy and tender. Every vegetable was cooked perfectly. The broth was creamy and the hints of saffron were heavenly. The next dish was a Pancetta wrapped grilled quail with white truffle infused heirloom polenta, tree oyster mushrooms, and garlic sauce. This was my favorite dish. It was incredible, it was fantastic, I could go on for hours about how good this dish was. The pancetta was super crispy and the quail was tender, moist, and seasoned perfectly. The polenta was a work of the gods. It was creamy, and earthy, and funky and awesome. The mushrooms were perfectly cooked and the sauce was rich and had an amazing deep flavor. The last appetizer we had was a Seared foie gras and crispy sweet breads with black pepper pineapple, brioche, and a port wine reduction. This was the least favorite of the night. The foie gras was served cold which was actually a little off putting because that caused the foie gras to get a little goopy. The sweet breads were really really crispy but a little bland. The brioche was super crunchy on the outside and super soft on the inside and the black pepper pineapple was really good. It was juicy, sweet and very peppery. Next was our palate cleanser: Grapefruit sorbet with a paper-thin wafer. The wafer was really crispy and the starchiness did not get in the way of the palate cleansing sorbet. The sorbet was sweet and tart and hit every point of your palate. Our entree was Crispy ruby trout with quail egg, diver scallop with trout roe with spinach, potato, pancetta, and shitake mushrooms. Trout is the state fish of Colorado, and the chef at Flagstaff did that fish an honor. The skin was super crispy and it was mind blowing how tender and moist the fish was. The quail egg was very good. The whites were perfectly cooked and the yolk was really runny. The scallop was sweet and tender and buttery and the roe on top was a great addition. They exploded as you chewed them almost making a sauce. The spinach, mushrooms and pancetta were really nice. The potato was really under cooked. All in all, the dish was amazing. Our next dish was a pre dessert of a chocolate panna cotta. Dishes like this panna cotta make me really happy. It's just super simple but super delicious. In the bottom of the tiny dish was a really dark intense chocolate flavor, which made the dish even better. When the dessert came my brother and I got excited. Our first dessert was the Flagstaff House Infamous chocolate bag with white chocolate mousse, fresh berries and almond cake. The chocolate bag was made off really high quality chocolate and it was filled with yummy goodness. First, a moist, fluffy almond cake, then a velvety smooth white chocolate mousse, then perfect fresh berries. It was great. The next dessert was a Peach and raspberry tart with crème franc ice cream. The tart was composed of an amazing crust, insanely fresh fruit and a nice crumbly topping. The tart was very good. It was perfectly baked that the fruit was soft but still had some firmness. The ice cream...wow.... that is all I can say. The ice cream was sitting on top of a little mound of toffee. The ice cream was sweet but because it was crème fraich, it had a great tang. We finally ended the meal with Ezra's happy birthday petit fours and three complementary loafs of poppy seed blueberry cake. I totally recommend this restaurant; it is the best restaurant I have eaten at in Colorado. If the Michelin guide comes to Colorado, give Flagstaff 3!