Fruition

Slowly but surely we've eaten our way through many of 5280's 25 Best Restaurants of 2011. Fruition has been at the top of our list for a while, mostly because it's been near the top of the 25 Best list for a while (#2 in 2011). We finally had a chance to visit in early January with another couple.

Fruition is located at 6th and Downing, between Cheesman Park and the Denver Country Club. Our reservations were for a Wednesday night at 7:30 pm. Before even entering the restaurant, we were already irked by the upscale establishment's lack of a valet on the very cold January night. After walking in, the hostess was unavailable, and we had to wait a few minutes before being seated.

Fruition is a small, intimate space, with dark lighting and tables stuffed in very close to one another. The restaurant was full to capacity except for our reserved table when we arrived.

It was hot inside the restaurant. Really hot. Bikram yoga hot (ok, not that bad). So after griping about how cold I was during my short walk from our parking spot to Fruition, I was abruptly faced with overheating during my meal. 

We started off with drinks and complimentary bread and butter. Perusing the menu, Fruition seemed to offer many of the same foods as other well-known restaurants in Denver, including things like pork belly, duck confit, and fancy-sounding pasta topped with a runny-yolk egg.

Our waiter was very knowledgeable but disappeared for a couple very long stretches during the meal.

Between the four of us, we selected the following appetizers: Pasta Carbonara ($12), Confit Duck Leg Cassoulet ($12), and Nantucket Bay Scallops ($15).

Pasta Carbonara

The dish included house-cured pork belly, home made cavatelli noodles, and a "six minute" egg. I loved every bite. The egg had a fully cooked white and a runny yolk that melded well with the perfectly cooked pasta. The pork belly - aka bacon - was fatty, salty, and rich; coupled with the egg, it tasted like breakfast. But with pasta.

Confit Duck Leg Cassoulet

This traditional French stew included house-made duck sausage and white beans. Perfectly seasoned and filled with large chunks of savory duck sausage, it was an excellent comfort-food dish. On the side was a duck crackling salad that was less memorable.

Nantucket Bay Scallops

Yes, those are scallops, and not some kind of newfangled breakfast potatoes. The scallops were chopped into small pieces, seared, and served with veal sweetbreads, Meyer lemon gnocchi, Palisade pears and a heavy cauliflower soubise sauce. The natural flavor and texture of the scallops was completely drowned out in the searing and by the addition of so many other foods. The dish reminded me of the messy, greasy, too-much-stuff-on-the-plate gnocchi appetizer at Root Down.

We enjoyed the cassoulet and pasta carbonara appetizers, but we weren't crazy about the scallops.

As main courses, I settled on the Crock Pot Veal Cheeks ($28), and my husband ordered the Tender Belly Farms Grilled Pork Chop ($27).

Crock Pot Veal Cheeks

The slow-cooked veal cheeks were incredibly tender, and fell apart easily at the press of a fork. They were complimented by a wonderfully creamy sweet carrot crema. Atop the veal cheeks was a roasted chestnut and foraged mushroom salad with Pommery mustard vinaigrette. My only complaint about the dish was I felt the salad dressing was too liberally applied. Coupled with the fattiness of the crema and veal cheeks, it made for a very heavy taste to each bite. On the salad was a gnarled potato galette that I suppose was more for garnish than flavor.

Tender Belly Farms Grilled Pork Chop

The pork was served with a spaghetti squash rosti, and a caramelized brussel sprout and apple salad. The pork chop was very tender, but it was very weakly seasoned. The accompanying vegetables were tasty and well-prepared but not memorable. My veal cheeks were definitely better.

We finished off with one of their long-lived desserts, the Lemon Meringue Pie ($8):

Lemon Meringue Pie

The "pie" was a cylinder with a graham cracker crust, blueberry compote, and a torched whipped topping. It had a sharp lemony tartness, which I enjoyed, but I appreciated the small portion as the strong flavor made it hard to eat more than a few bites.

Everything felt like a bit of a letdown after our extremely high expectations for the restaurant. We generally liked the food, but it wasn't good enough for the price we paid. The service and atmosphere were sub-par for a fine dining experience. Fruition seems to have a loyal neighborhood following, but with our long trek to dine there, it just didn't seem worth it.


Fine Dining

(6 of 10)

Pros: Mostly very good food, high-quality ingredients
Cons: Way too hot during our visit, service sometimes inattentive

Website:
http://fruitionrestaurant.com/

Larkspur

It's a little-known fact: the tasty yet humble hamburgers at Larkburger's many front range locations actually have their roots at the high-end Larkspur restaurant in Vail, CO. Cashing in on the popularity of their Larkburger served at the bar, the management of the mountain restaurant decided to spin off the burger concept with a proliferation of fast-casual restaurants across the state.

And thus it was that our love of the Larkburger brought us to Larkspur during a recent winter fun weekend in Vail.

It was a big step up for us to go from stuffing our faces with the $5 amazingness of Little Larks and Truffle Parmesan Fries on the front range to the fine dining, ski-slope atmosphere of Larkspur, but we were prepared for the challenge.

Larkspur is situated at the extreme east end of the base of Vail mountain, making it close enough to the slope to ski up to for lunch. Except that during our early-season visit, the lifts near the restaurant weren't open, and Larkspur was only offering dinner service.

We had dinner reservations for 7:15 on a Friday in early December. Getting into Larkspur after exiting the cab required trekking through the deserted Golden Peak Lodge, with the restaurant tucked into the back corner.

Larkspur is spacious, beautifully adorned, and upscale. The bar area where the Larkburger was born lies at the very front as you walk in, and behind it in the main dining area is ample seating, including plenty of space for large parties. The restaurant was mostly full when we arrived and filled to near capacity by the end of our meal.

For those of you who have never been to Vail, it's a beautiful ski town bustling with an international assortment of some of the most beautiful and ritzy people you've ever seen. The top echelon of those beautiful people appeared to be dining at Larkspur during our visit.

We were greeted by our waitress and began the meal with drinks and complimentary multigrain bread and butter.

I should point out that Larkspur offers an impressively long wine list. I would elaborate on this point more except I'm completely ignorant about wine.

As an appetizer, we ordered Larkspur's take on a Shrimp Po'boy ($9.5), which was sort of a deconstructed po'boy served with cornbread slices and a mustard sauce.

Shrimp Po'boy

This dish is an unusual choice for a fine dining establishment in Vail, although we certainly enjoyed it. I couldn't find any mention of it in Yelp reviews, so I assume it's new to the menu.

The fried shrimp tasted just like the ones that my mom, a Louisiana native, uses in po'boys. The use of cornbread and mustard sauce is certainly not traditional, but it was very tasty and a pleasant sweet-and-savory compliment to the shrimp.

As my main dish, I ordered the Snake River Sturgeon ($28):

Snake River Sturgeon

The sturgeon was presented with a crispy crust and served on a bed of red beans. The fish was delicate, light, and perfectly seared. The red beans were extremely tasty; they were very well seasoned, and like the fish, expertly cooked.

My husband ordered the Veal Scaloppini ($32):

Veal Scaloppini

Veal scaloppini is a traditional veal dish prepared with floured, flattened veal cutlets. Larkspur's version was accompanied by creamed spinach, twice baked potatoes, and "lemon buerre fondue." It was an excellent, comfort-food type dish.

The twice-baked potatoes were particularly memorable; they were crisp on the outside and incredibly soft and creamy on the inside. They were served as slices rather than potato halves, with no additional toppings, which was unexpected. As far as the lemon beurre sauce, there's no reason to call it "fondue," it was just a cream sauce. The tartness of the sauce nicely balanced the rich flavor of the veal.

We finished the meal with the Brooklyn Blackout Cake ($11.5):

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

The cake was a simple, almost brownie-like chocolate rectangle. It was topped with what Larkspur referred to as "Fudgesicle Sorbet" and "Fox's U-Bet Froth." I have no clue what the froth flavor was supposed to be referring to, and the sorbet had a deep chocolaty but still light flavor.

Service was very good. Our waitress was helpful and friendly but seemed relatively new.

Larkspur was expensive, but so is everything else in Vail. For comparable food in Denver I would expect to pay about 10-20% less. That being said, I generally felt the food and drinks were appropriately priced for the quality and location. One exception was the dessert, which, for $11.5 seemed a little steep for such a simple preparation.

The food and ambiance were lovely at Larkspur, although for fine dining in Colorado I prefer Opus in Littleton. Larkspur is definitely worth a visit for a nice dinner in Vail.

Fine Dining

(7 of 10)

Pros: Excellent food and ambiance
Cons: Expensive, may be hard to get to without skis

Website:
http://www.larkspurvail.com/