Beaver Creek’s Splendido at the Chateau opens for summer with a new chef-owner, a new menu and a slew of familiar faces
BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – June 16, 2016 – When Splendido at the Chateau opens for the summer season on June 17th, patrons will find many longtime traditions and favorites remain in place, as well as the addition of some exciting innovations. Topping the list is the debut of longtime Splendido Chef de Cuisine Brian Ackerman as Splendido’s new Executive Chef-Owner. Regular guests will recognize Ackerman’s familiar face as one of many mainstays at the acclaimed Beaver Creek restaurant for much of the last 15 years.
“I have the utmost respect for the restaurant and its first very successful 21 years and I’m excited to lead the way for Splendido’s next decade,” said Ackerman, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has worked at well-respected local restaurants as well as under notable national chefs during his career, including Ken Oringer (of Toro and Uni acclaim).
As chef de cuisine, Ackerman has had no small part in contributing to Splendido’s success as the best restaurant in the Vail Valley, having been second in command for more than a decade.
The restaurant’s new menu will feel familiar to Splendido regulars, with a focus on seasonal food and the highest-quality ingredients Ackerman can source, all prepared with respect and care.
Highlights include hearty proteins, like Colorado lamb and beef and New Zealand venison, juxtaposed with plenty of lighter seafood fare for summer, including Idaho trout, Maine lobster, Alaskan halibut and Dover sole. There’s plenty of Colorado influence at play, but also a nod to Mediterranean flavors. Take the hamachi appetizer, for instance, which will combine Marcona almonds, Spanish olives, Valencia oranges, piquillo peppers and bottarga, a dried, cured roe.
Another standout dish is the Jidori chicken — a mixed-breed, free-range chicken known for its robust flavor — served with morel mushrooms sautéed with vin jaune, a golden port, crème fraiche, haricot verts and Jerusalem artichoke.
The venison is encrusted with a trio of seeds, pumpkin, hemp and sunflower, which lends the dish a nutty flavor and plenty of texture, while also protecting the lean meat from the heat, Ackerman said. Cabbage braised with local beer and Colorado cherries, just as soon as chef can source them, finish the dish.
“It’s a beautiful combination of textures and flavors,” Ackerman said. “I’m preparing dishes exactly how I like to eat them.”
As ingredients can be sourced locally they will be. The staff will continue to forage for wild mushrooms, like porcini and chanterelles, as they come into season, Ackerman said, and he’s working with two farms on Colorado’s Western Slope to buy much of the produce featured on the summer menu. As usual, all of the herbs are grown in the on-site garden.
New this season, Ackerman will buy ingredients from the Edwards Farmers Market to create the menu items on his ever-evolving blackboard bar menu, which will be a little more playful and a little less composed than the regular menu, essentially “clean, simple food you can eat every night,” Ackerman said. “I understand you can’t have that rack of lamb every night. We’ll offer things that are lighter and simpler, like a burger that changes weekly, and, once we have tomatoes in season, a tomato salad with minimal ingredients so the flavor really shines.
“This is such a beautiful property, we’d love for folks to come up and have a burger or sit down for a simple dessert. You don’t have to just come up for your anniversary — though you should,” he continued.
Guests can sit on the beautiful and newly refurbished deck to enjoy views of Beaver Creek Mountain while sipping a cocktail from the new signature cocktail menu and noshing on a burger.
The majority of the staff remains the same, which means customers can expect the same level of stellar service; customers will recognize longtime dining room manager Brian Rhodes, sommelier Patrick Mildrum and bartenders John Marotta and Bill Davies, both of whom have been behind the bar for close to two decades. Pastry Chef Sebastien Schmitt returns to Splendido after a five-year hiatus spent in Sydney, Australia at acclaimed restaurant Otto.
Four talented, local piano players — Kathy Morrow, Peter Vavra, Bob Finnie and Taylor Kundolf — will entertain guests this summer. The restaurant’s dining room is slated to be refreshed come late fall.
Splendido at the Chateau is now open nightly for the summer season, except Mondays and Tuesdays in June and Mondays in July (they are open July 4, however). For reservations, call 970-845-8808 or visitchateaubeavercreek.com/splendido to learn more.