Element 47 at the Little Nell looks strikingly like its predecessor- Montagna, except it seems chef Ryan Hardy decamped for NYC and there is a new name, menu and approach - for instance Monday is Pink on the Patio for $12 pp (translation: all you can drink rose wine for $12) and in case you wanted to know what Element 47 is, it's silver of course, the source of Aspen and Leadville's boom (Baby Doe, the Matchless Mine, Tabor and all that).
To my uneducated naturalistic eye, they have filled in the space between the patio/terrace and swimming pool with much higher plants and flowers and made the menu much less precious. It just seemed right that we go almost vegetrarian; Colette with a salad of various-colored beets, goat cheese and grains; me with various-colored hierloom tomatoes with goat cheese and a dish of carpaccio of gravlox and capers and such - three perfectly resourced, perfectly prepared and perfectly served summer dishes.
With the aforesaid wine and no desserts or coffee, our bill was $86 and change.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plato's (Retreat) Restaurant at the Aspen Meadows has been a favorite of ours for years, especially for a meal between stuff at the Music Tent, Paepke and/or Harris Hall and this is the first disappointing meal we've had. The waiter we had tonight was the best-ever here or in Aspen, the view the best-ever here or in Aspen but the food uninspired.
Colette had the sweet-pea agnolotti with wild mushrooms and I the seafood a la plancha; her pasta was with very old peas (not sweet spring peas) and tasteless muschrooms was bland to an extent I've never seen before - she was pouring on salt and pepper and dipping the pasta into my intense, too intense for me, Balsamico, to no avail.
Our bill with a bottle of Cab and fine rolls and butter but no desserts or coffee, was $85.26. We were very disappointed with our meal.
Recent Comments