Plat du Jour

The jury is out on this question: Is it better to let the chef cook those epicurean concoctions for you, or would you just as soon whip the same dishes up yourself? Each boasts its charms, but if the latter lights the fire on your shiny Wolf gas range, better pick up a copy of the new and updated Recipe Please: Favorite Recipes from Colorado Restaurants, a compendium by former Rocky Mountain News food editor Marty Meitus of recipes she’d gathered for the paper, with much begging and wheedling, from the crème de la crème of Denver’s top toques.

Jennifer Jasinski’s Butternut Ginger and Apple Soup? There, on page 35, in black and white and beautiful golden-orange. That over-the-top Gorgonzola Steak Salad from the Denver ChopHouse? Slathered across page 54. And what would any person who’s ever taken afternoon tea at the Brown Palace Hotel not give to clutch that scone recipe — so simple, so good — in their hot little hands? Meitus’s book truly spans the ten years or so since she instigated the column, by featuring new dishes, right alongside old favorites from such defunct bistros as Mel’s and the Fourth Story Restaurant.

Sound good? Join Meitus, along with baker Michael Bortz of City Bakery and Chef Aaron Youngblood from Dixons, tonight at 7:30 p.m. for a recipe sampling and book signing at the Tattered Cover Book Store, 2526 East Colfax Avenue. For details, log on to www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-322-7727.
Tue., May 5, 7:30 p.m., 2009