Brown Palace, Palace Arms, Fall Harvest Dinner
denv.her. was ecstatic to be invited back to Denver's historic Brown Palace this week for a phenomenal "Fall Harvest" meal at the Palace Arms restaurant.
This seasonal dinner was to showcase & experience Palace Arms' new menu created by Executive Chef, Garrett Kasper.
#heyGarretthey!
If there's one thing we love, it's fall. If there's another thing we love, it's food. You put those two things together at a fine dining location such as the Palace Arms and you're in store for one amazing meal.
Palace Arms is not only a divine spot to dine but it and its private dining room, The Independence Room, boasts some history of its own:
The Independence Room offers private dining for groups up to 24 and has
the same 1834 Zuber & Cie wallpaper from France that Jacquelyn
Kennedy added to the White House. The rare wallpaper can only be found
in the Louvre in Paris and a few other places. The main dining room is
decorated with antiques dating to Napleonic times. Among the flags,
weapons, uniforms and ornaments, is a set of flintlock dueling pistols that
belonged to Napoleon and his second wife, Louisa, and extremely rare gold
plated French eagles that were used in his celebrations.
Upon arrival at Palace Arms, we were greeted with a delicious seasonal cocktail that tasted like apple pie and had a beautiful cinnamon garnish.
If you’re hankering for all the fall feels in a glass - this cocktail has your name all over it…& mine of course. Because #YUM.
We then were seated in the Independence Room for dinner.
The sparkling chandelier light danced above us and the beautiful wallpaper really set the tone for what was to be a V decadent meal.
Thyme to turnip the beet!
Our first course was a Fall Salad made with beets, pistachio yogurt, grapes and petite greens. I'm not a huge fan of beets and this salad was prepared really well.
With it being fall, beets are more or less a staple in salads across Denver and this one at Palace Arms will be one of the top ones to try. The earthy taste of beets paired well with the subtle nutty, honey taste of the yogurt. This Fall Salad was paired with a white wine - Drouhin-Vaudon Chablis - it was floral, crisp, and tasty.
Next up was the Moulard Duck. This dish was incredible. The Moulard Duck was cooked to perfection - dark red meat and rich with flavor. The duck came with smoked pistachio, red cabbage marmalade, apple, and sweet potato terrine.
The sweet potato terrine instantly got our entire table reminiscing of Thanksgiving as we savored each bite. Terrines are basically much more elegant forms of scalloped potatoes - the presentation of this sweet potato terrine topped with marshmallow was beautiful. This course was paired with a Joseph Drouhin, Cote de Beaune-Villages - this wine was a nice purple color and smelled of red fruit aromas - it paired V nicely with the duck and apples.
Our next course was my absolute favorite! Seared Elk Loin served with savory butternut squash brulee, beurre noisette, sage, walnuts, and preserved berries.
The elk was OH-so-tender and FULL of delicious flavor - the kind of flavor where you take one bite and you know you are eating something special. The butternut squash brulee was to die for and was sweet, creamy, & pureed to perfection. This course came with a pairing of Chateau Beychevelle Bordeaux - this was a red wine with a richness and concentration to it that brought out sweet flavor tones in the elk.
I will be dreaming about this elk loin for the foreseeable future & I can't wait to go back for more.
Garrett's creativity really shown through with his clever dessert, a pineapple upside down cake...which was literally upside down!
Garrett let the room know he likes trying ideas that are out of the box and tries to push his creativity in new directions - the pineapple upside down cake was a perfect example of this.
The dessert was made with caramel, preserved Colorado cherries, brown sugar meringue, and sponge cake. The cake was tasty and the presentation was flawless.
After this dessert, I learned that I like my pineapple cake both upside down and right side up, lol. The cake was paired with a Michele Chiarlo, Moscato D'Asti - I normally do not like Moscato but I enjoyed this dessert wine - it was creamy and fragrant without being overwhelmingly sweet.
Now THAT my friends, is one heck of a Fall Harvest dinner!
You can try the Fall Harvest Chef’s Tasting Menu now at Palace Arms and it has the option of six or eight decadent courses which can be enhanced with wine pairing. The six course is 80/person plus 60 for additional wine pairing and the eight course is 100/person plus 80 for additional wine pairing.
A HUGE thank you to the Brown Palace for hosting us, their wonderful staff, and Chef, Garrett Kasper for an incredible night. The service was impeccable (per usual) and the new menu blew us away.
We will be RAVING about this meal around town and we will see you all again soon!
xoxo denv.her.