Benjamin Henion

Here is tonight's amuse- bouche . It is a margarita shrimp, on diced avocado, red corn chip and margarita sauce. It is garnished with a touch of Hawaiian pink sea salt and a cilantro puree. I marinated the shrimp in a lime and tequila oil. The margarita sauce has a very potent, yet refreshing flavor. It is roses lime, mae ploy Thai chili, corn syrup, tequila , key lime juice and it is thickened slightly with a slurry. Very nice start to a dinner.

Many people are looking for a deal when dining in this economy. Here is our answer. It is our "Colorado Fusion Tasting" entree. It is a great chance to try the best of the best when it comes to our new menu. Starting on the left you see our Stuffed Poblano dish, which is our vegetarian option. It is packed tight with roasted corn and potato hash, smoked cheddar cheese and mild spices and herbs. The right side has our Pork Adobo , which is a pork wing (the Achilles tendon and surrounding meat). Its garnished with a fresh pomegranate and Mandarin orange relish and a charred scallion. The center of this incredible dish is our Ancho -Coffee Braised Buffalo Short Ribs. It is a hearty, very flavorful dish that we braise for about 5 hours. It literally falls off the bone. We top this off with a roasted forest mushroom salsa. All three dishes have a touch of adobo sauce and grilled glazed yams to complete the dish. We have only run this menu 2 days now, but this dish has been a h...

So, here is our first, somewhat successful, attempt at molecular gastronomy. We used sodium alginate and calcium chloride to make this olive caviar. Our plan is to make a hand passed app that will look like caviar, yet will resemble a tapanade . Although not perfected, the fact that you can see the chemical reaction in making this interesting tapanade excites the hell out of me. Rest assured, more of this will be popping up on this blog.

Here we have a pomegranate brownie, a peppercorn pomegranate soup, and a white chocolate pomegranate parfait. This is a delicate, fresh dessert that makes people feel like they are getting more for their money. 

We stuck with the southwest-Colorado Fusion theme when we decided on fresh churros . As simple as they come, we fry them to order, roll them in sugar and Cinnamon , and sauce them with a spicy chocolate and a mango sauce. Smores also seem to be a great comforting dessert here in the Rockies. We took that idea and made a smore cake. It has a graham cracker crust, chocolate ganache , toasted coconut and a torched coconut meringue.

Huitlacoche . Known to many farmers as corn smutt , huitlacoche has long been used in Mexican cooking. The Aztecs used this Mexican truffle in many meals too. Huitlacoche , also spelled cuitlacoche , has a smoky corn flavor. It is a fungus that grows inside kernals of corn when weather conditions are just right. We have coated the seared salmon with this interesting ingredient and serve it with a buerre blanc . Its a great spring dish.

Another entree looking to make its official place on the new menu is our Achiote Marinated Chicken. We are serving it with a cilantro cream sauce, manchego filled raviolis made in house. The menu states that there is charred corn on this dish, but the corn is also mixed in with edamame , black bean, baby heirloom tomatoes and lime. Another simple plate, fresh ingredients. bright colors and a lot of flavor.