Three Anniversary Dinners, Two Michelin Stars and One Big Check: The Wolf’s Tailor Continues to Deliver

My wife and I have celebrated our anniversary at The Wolf’s Tailor twice before. And like our marriage, the celebrated restaurant has evolved over the years. It’s more refined, more complicated…and definitely more expensive. 

The first anniversary meal there was in early 2019, shortly after the Wolf’s Tailor’s debut the year prior. It was my wife’s idea, based on a recommendation from a friend, and I was initially skeptical. I thought it was a stupid name and the “Italian/Asian” concept didn’t make any sense to me. Back then, it was a standard a la carte service, and I remember the waiter doing a lot of explaining to help us navigate our way through the menu. The only dish I recall today was a skewer of grilled chicken hearts. But I know I left thinking that it was the best meal I’d had at a Denver restaurant. 

The second was sometime after the pandemic, before the Michelin Guide came to town. Let’s call it 2021. I remember I was thankful that the Wolf’s Tailor had adopted a tasting menu, because its food was so unique, so different from anything I’ve had before, that making choices was next to impossible. The FoMo was too high. I welcomed simply submitting to the will of a trusted chef who understood the vision far better than I could interpret (especially after a couple of cocktails). 

While that meal stumbled at the start thanks to a strange amuse bouche of a consommé inexplicably served in a shotglass that changed color with the temperature of the liquid, all was forgiven after the bucatini carbonara, which was spiked with a miso paste that gave it an added layer of luxuriousness. 

So it was two for two.

Shortly after came the Michelin stars, first just the one, and then last year the Wolf’s Tailor became the first and only Colorado restaurant to earn two Michelin stars. Since then it’s become a target of sorts — not just for competitors, but for (mostly local) diners with looking for justification or “proof” for such recognition.

And, of course, there’s the price. Today, with the tasting menu running $225 a person and a mandatory 22 percent service fee, a dinner for two just drinking water is going to set you back $550, minimum, and more if you tuck into the booze and optional course upgrades. 

All of which begs the question: Is a meal at the Wolf’s Tailor “worth” it? For our latest anniversary celebration (21 years!), we returned for a third time to find out. 

The Meal

The Wolf’s Tailor tasting menu changes regularly, and on our latest visit it was serving a winter menu that focused on corn throughout, sourced from its twenty-acre plot. The restaurant also sources its own Colorado-grown grains through sister company Dry Storage. 

The seven-course menu is broken into three portions— Sea, Land and Soil (think seafood, meat and produce) — presented in a leather-bound booklet with diagrams and directional arrows that attempt to outline its “circular culinary sensibility.” (I’m as big a food geek as it gets, but this earnestness is Achille’s heel of the Wolf’s Tailor.)

Here are the standouts: 

The first course is a trio of small bites taken from the “scrap” of the courses to follow. Among them, the corn panna cotta with scallop X.O. sauce won the day. Sweet, savory and smooth, it both set the tone and awakened the palate for the waves of flavor to come. 

Then three more sea-based dishes, featuring caviar, scallop and lobster — the most memorable being the caviar. For all the overexposure caviar has gotten of late, the dish featured here doesn’t rely on it to carry the load. 

Instead, the generous mound of black roe is complemented by a bed of shaved, cured egg yolks, which itself covers a base of crème fraîche. But it’s something as simple as the salty, nutty popped sorghum that brings it all together. I was literally giggling my way through every bite. And while the masa blini were a nice touch, I frankly wouldn’t have missed them at all. 

Representing the land is a duck course served with a corn mole and refreshing consommé, supported by perfectly backed White Sonoran flour Piada bread and blue corn butter. The steak course comes standard as a strip loin of Rock River Ranch bison with a dollop of spicy gochujang. But for $105 extra, you can upgrade the bison to an A5 Iwate Wagyu beef, which you should definitely do. A5 is the highest grade of beef possible, and it shows. It was, without question, the single best steak I’ve had in my 55 years (including the actual Kobe beef I ate in Japan). If the kitchen had offered a second slice for another $105, I would have jumped at it like an addict. 

The meal concludes with a wave of desserts, featuring a range of masa, cacao, squash, mole and yuzu. My favorite was the crunchy masa seca, which is like a butter cookie with a strong corn flavor that creates a much-needed bridge from the savory to the sweet. 

The Judgment

Does the Wolf’s Tailor “deserve” two Michelin stars? That’s a hard yes. Admittedly, I’ve only experienced one-star restaurants, across both the U.S. and Europe, and the Wolf’s Tailor meal was a clear step up from them all, delicately balancing flawless technique with wild creativity. It’s artistry — and not just in the visual appeal of the plating, but in the complexity and thoughtfulness of the composition of each dish served. 

Is it “worth” the cost? After the Wagyu upgrade, the three by-the-glass wines and the service fee, the bill totaled just under $850. Few will find that a “reasonable” amount to spend on dinner for two — but the point is, we didn’t want something reasonable. This was an anniversary dinner. We weren’t looking to just be fed. We were seeking a transcendent experience. More importantly, a memorable one. 

How many meals can you remember in even the past week? Month? How about past year? It’s tough for any one to stand out. Those that rise above the fog of memory do so for a reason. 

Twenty years from now, when we (hopefully) celebrate our fortieth anniversary, will I remember this year’s celebratory dinner? Yes, I believe I will. Not because of the bill, but because of the experience. 

So was it worth it? Absolutely. 

The Wolf’s Tailor is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday at 4058 Tejon Street. Learn more here.