montagna

It's been close to a month and I still have written about my experience at  Montagna at the five star/five diamond Little Nell hotel in downtown Aspen.

Time to fix that...

My best friend Shannon has been working at the Montagna for about 6 months and I was thrilled to finally experience the fine dining at this Aspen hot-spot this past January. The staff at Montagna really pulled out all the stops for us during our 7-course meal.

And now, for my next trick, I will make you drool...

Course #1

Chicken liver pate with whole grain mustard and house made peach preserves

Course #2 

Spicy Thai rock shrimp

Course #3

Crab salad, topped with avacado, served over lemon panna cotta

Course #4

Curried Califlower Tortellini with pulled short ribs, olives, and roasted red peppers

Course #5

Chef's take on spaghetti and meatballs, which included Yukon-gold potato gnocchi, Sicilian Meatballs, fresh parmesan and a tomato basil sauce

Course #6

Wagyu beef with potatoe purée and parmesan foam

Course #7

Pear Tart, chocolate peanut butter cup with roasted peanut ice cream, and sorbet and gelato selection of mango and passion fruit with marinated pineapple and white coffee with cocoa nibs

My experience at Montagna was very enjoyable and it was great that Shannon's connections allowed for the chefs and sommelier to spend a lot of time with our table to explain the food and wine pairings to us. The Thai rock shrimp was my absolute favorite. Since that meal, Shannon has learned to make this dish and she has promised to send me the recipe. I can't wait to try it myself! I also really loved the flavor combination of the crab salad as well. Shannon was hoping that the chef would prepare some bacon panna cotta, but the lemon panna cotta was just as delicious. Montagna was my first experience with Wagyu beef as well, and mmm mm mmm, it was so delish and just melted in my mouth. By the time we got through the sixth course, my mouth was bursting with savory that I was dying for something sweet. I had my heart set on ice cream and was thrilled to see a selection of gelato and sorbets. We had about 5 flavors total, but unfortunately I only remember three. I was totally hogging the white coffee gelato.

No meal is complete without wine, and we sure had our fill thanks to Jonathan, the sommelier. Montagna boasts 20,000 wine bottles and has earned Montagna the Wine Spectator Grand Award. He did an excellent job at pairing our meal with four delicious wines and never left us with an empty glass. Our selections included a nice, bubbly Prosecco (that unfortunately I didn't catch the name of), Dr. Loosen Riesling, Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir, Cask Cabernet and Innocent Bystander Moscato. I really enjoyed the Pinor Noir and Moscato. The Cabernet was interesting and the fullest bodied wine I have ever had. The flavors were insane and completely exploded in my mouth. I was riding on 4 hours of sleep and it was almost too intense to drink much more than one glass that evening.

One of the highlights to the night was the wine carafes that the sommelier brought with the Pinot Noir and Cabernet. This picture doesn't quit do justice, but the carafe on the left was hand blown to feature two faces looking at each other in the center -- one black, one white. Kind of like the Michael Jackson of wine carafes. The other, was my favorite. It was blown to resemble a coiled up snake with it's head perked up (think snake charmer). The best part was that when you rotated the carafe in a circular motion it made a blowing sound, or "hiss".

I've been lucky enough to experience some really great meals over the past year and I'd like to think that my palette is getting more and more developed with each new meal or wine I try. Eating 7-course meals is certainly something that I can't do very often, but I love the experience and I have a great appreciation for chefs, sommeliers and wine makers that have devoted their lives work to this scrumptious passion.

Next up, Graham Elliott...