5280 Dines

Last Wednesday I went to a great event at Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar to celebrate the October issue of 5280 Magazine, the Top 25 Restaurants Issue. This is my favorite issue of the year, so I was thrilled to get an invitation to attend.

5280 Magazine threw a great party - Le Grand Bistro and Oyster bar was packed with people, drinks were flowing, and 6 of the top 25 restaurants were serving up specially prepared dishes. Cholon, Edge, Table 6, Mizuna, Colt and Gray, and Barolo Grill were all there, executive chefs included. I especially enjoyed chatting with the chefs from several of my personal favorite restaurants - Nelson Perkins of Colt and Gray (who told us he named his restaurant after his sons, Colton and Grayson), Lon Symensma of ChoLon (who I talked with about how much I loved both ChoLon and Spice Market in NYC, which was the restaurant he opened before he was in Denver), and Frank Bonanno (chef-owner of 7 great restaurants in town, two of which made this list).

The menu was as follows:

• Mizuna: Fruti di Mare Insalata (Delicious! I was impressed by the amount of lobster in each serving.)
• Edge: Wild Venison Sausage, Fall Roast Vegetable Hash, Brussels Sprouts Salad, Huckleberry Gastrique (I think the sausage had blueberries in it, or maybe it was just the huckleberry gastrique, but the sweetness complemeted the sausage perfectly)
• Barolo Grill: Vitello Tonnato or Chilled Veal with Tuna Aiolo with a Relish of Roasted Peppers, Olives and Capers (The tuna aiolo was delicious - it actually had the consistency of hummus which was interesting)
• Table 6: Pho Duckin Dumpling Soup (the pho broth was amazing!)
• Colt & Gray: Beef Heart and Trotter (My first time to try beef heart; it had a sort of weird texture that might be too weird for me by itself but it was good on a crustini.)
• ChoLon: Duck Terrine, Foie Gras: Chicken Liver Mousse, Pickled Vegetables and Tarragon-Chinese mustard Aïoli (This was so popular that they ran out of this at 730, about the time I arrived, but I was lucky to be talking to Chef Symensma at the end of the night when they brought some out for the chefs so I didn't miss out after all.)

Be sure to pick up a copy of this fun issue!