Best Cheese Course 2003 | Vesta Dipping Grill | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Artisan cheeses from around the world come together beautifully on the cheese plate at Vesta Dipping Grill. Far from the plain, cutting-block cheese presentations of yesterday, this new-age version of the old standby is pumped up by the inclusion of fresh strawberries, raspberries, figs, candied walnuts, and salad greens laced with aged balsamic vinegar. And knowing full well that a properly arranged cheese course can do double-duty either as a jumpstart for the tastebuds or a gentle cap to a great meal, Vesta offers its plate both as an appetizer and as a dessert.


Artisan cheeses from around the world come together beautifully on the cheese plate at Vesta Dipping Grill. Far from the plain, cutting-block cheese presentations of yesterday, this new-age version of the old standby is pumped up by the inclusion of fresh strawberries, raspberries, figs, candied walnuts, and salad greens laced with aged balsamic vinegar. And knowing full well that a properly arranged cheese course can do double-duty either as a jumpstart for the tastebuds or a gentle cap to a great meal, Vesta offers its plate both as an appetizer and as a dessert.
Cheese whiz Jeremy Myers takes home the Cheesehead Trophy this year, for capably arranging the globe-trotting cheese board at Cook's Fresh Market, and for having more milk-related trivia stored up in the old melon than any other human being should ever need in ten lifetimes.
Cheese whiz Jeremy Myers takes home the Cheesehead Trophy this year, for capably arranging the globe-trotting cheese board at Cook's Fresh Market, and for having more milk-related trivia stored up in the old melon than any other human being should ever need in ten lifetimes.
Chef Matt Selby's grillardins at Vesta Dipping Grill win the Fire-Eater Award. Not only do they deserve it just for hanging tough in a restaurant where damn near every menu item has to come (at least in part) off their station, but they also put out some of the best, most butter-tender and flawlessly temped tenderloin we've had anywhere.


Chef Matt Selby's grillardins at Vesta Dipping Grill win the Fire-Eater Award. Not only do they deserve it just for hanging tough in a restaurant where damn near every menu item has to come (at least in part) off their station, but they also put out some of the best, most butter-tender and flawlessly temped tenderloin we've had anywhere.
The Iron Skillet Medal of Honor goes to chef Michael Long's sauté crew at Opus, for conspicuous and sustained gallantry in the face of a chef who's been known to change his menu by phone from the golf course just a few hours before the start of service. Granted, Long's particular brand of ironic culinary artistry is a welcome addition to Denver's high-end restaurant scene, and we're supposed to forgive the quirks that come along with such creativity. But, Chef, we think you owe the fellas a drink.


The Iron Skillet Medal of Honor goes to chef Michael Long's sauté crew at Opus, for conspicuous and sustained gallantry in the face of a chef who's been known to change his menu by phone from the golf course just a few hours before the start of service. Granted, Long's particular brand of ironic culinary artistry is a welcome addition to Denver's high-end restaurant scene, and we're supposed to forgive the quirks that come along with such creativity. But, Chef, we think you owe the fellas a drink.
Fried cheese, fried onion rings, fried pickles. No matter how good something is in its natural state, it can only be improved by a dunk in the fryer. And it's for his unfailing dedication to this simple fact that we award Dick Lande -- a 25-year veteran of the kitchen at 2052 Stout Street, now home of the Stout Pub -- the Gold Fryolator Lifetime Achievement Award.


Fried cheese, fried onion rings, fried pickles. No matter how good something is in its natural state, it can only be improved by a dunk in the fryer. And it's for his unfailing dedication to this simple fact that we award Dick Lande -- a 25-year veteran of the kitchen at 2052 Stout Street, now home of the Stout Pub -- the Gold Fryolator Lifetime Achievement Award.

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