"It was a really great night all the way around," says Matt Selby, chef of Vesta Dipping Grill and Steuben's and the local chef chair for Share Our Strength. "We doubled our ticket sales for this year and we had a lot of returning chefs, plus several more new chefs, whose participation I'd like to chalk up to hearing about the kick-ass party we had last year." That, he says, and the fact that "they see and believe in Share Our Strength's mission just as much as I do." More than 30 Denver restaurants, including Argyll, TAG, Venue, Strings, Tambien, the Corner Office, twelve, Encore and Duo, fed the masses last night, while several local distilleries, breweries and winemakers poured cool liquids to fend off the heatwave.
Feedback, says Selby, has been positive. "Judging from what people were saying last night, this is definitely an event that has sustainability, so the goal now is to do it just as successfully next year without burning out our committee member volunteers, who put their heart and soul into putting this together."
So did the chefs, who turned out some brilliant food, the pics of which you can see after the jump.
Charred tomato gazpacho soup with smoked rock shrimp from twelve Housemade pub chips from Argyll Duck confit ravioli with grilled sweet corn and brown butter vinaigrette from Opus Octopus confit with pickled watermelon rind, watercress, compressed watermelon and a chile pasilla vinaigrette from TAG Braised beef cheek tamale with mole rojo, queso fresco and Verde Farms cilantro from Tambien Tarragon pancake with slow-roasted duck and mostarda cherries from Avenue Grill Tomato-cantaloupe gazpacho with fig-balsamic, chipotle cream and sunflower sprouts from Root Down Hawaiian tuna poke with wakame salad from the Corner Office Oysters on the half shell with a tarragon mignonette from Black Pearl Pork belly BLT with cherry tomatoes, arugula and whole grain mustard aioli from Venue Prime New York strip BLT kabobs with an habanero and roasted garlic aioli from Elway's Cherry Creek Cheese display from Solera Rabbit and chanterelle mushroom baloney from Table 6 Mixologist Brian Melton from TAG, who won the cocktail competition The crew from Vesta Dipping Grill, Brandon Foster, Wade Kirwan, Kenny Turk and Matt Selby
