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.
