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Brittany Anas, a freelance writer, featured Grand Junction in the article "8 Colorado farm-to-table restaurants to feast on Olathe sweet corn, Palisade peaches and more local flavor".
Bartender Jacob Pereira makes a drink at the bar inside the popular restaurant Rootstalk, which is in an old home along Main Street on Feb. 28, 2023, in Breckenridge. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
By Brittany Anas | brittanyanas@gmail.com | Special to The Denver Post
PUBLISHED:
Late summer is a tasty time in Colorado, with tart cherries, succulent Olathe sweet corn, and juicy Palisade peaches.
Around the state, chefs at top farm-to-table restaurants work closely with local farmers to get the freshest produce hauls they can build their seasonal menus around.
While it’s hard to predict what exact dishes will be plated due to the effects on crops of hailstorms, late freezes, snacky pests, and other variables, chefs did share some of their favorite summer go-tos for Colorado cooking.
To get a taste of summer, sample eight fantastic farm-to-table restaurants.
Annette
James Beard Award-winning Chef Caroline Glover is a summer regular at the City Park Farmers Market.
One dish she looks forward to featuring at Annette each season is a panzanella salad bursting with zesty tomatoes, drenched with a charred cucumber vinaigrette, topped with big, crunchy croutons made from Bakery Four’s bread, and sprinkled with fresh basil.
Glover’s simple succotash gives Olathe sweet corn a lead role, and her decadent dulce de leche dessert calls for fresh Palisade peaches.
James Beard Award-winning chef Caroline Glover alongside husband and co-owner Nelson Harvey at Annette in Stanley Marketplace in Aurora on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
To make the most of Colorado’s short growing seasons, Glover plans to stock up on stone fruits–peaches, plums, nectarines—this summer to preserve as sauces and glazes.
“Colorado stone fruit just keeps getting better and better,” Glover says.
Want to go? 2501 Dallas St., Suite 108, Aurora; annettescratchtotable.com
Potager
At Potager, a Capitol Hill bistro serving farm-to-table dishes since 1997, Chef Paul Warthen loves to showcase seasonal produce in soufflés, like one with cheese, charred corn and fermented tomatoes.
The restaurant partners with more than 30 farms and local purveyors and tends to its own plots and patio garden. It plucks edible flowers for garnishes but mostly uses the harvest for staff meals.
Foliage frames the back door and patio of Potager restaurant. (Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post)
Warthen, who grew up on a 500-acre dairy farm in western Maryland, has forged relationships with local farmers, staying on top of what they’re growing.
One of his favorite early summertime ingredients is green garlic, which he prepares in late May and early June to marinate for a burrata or turn into a powder to dust focaccia.
Come peach season, Warthen uses the stone fruit for crisps, pies, salsas, and, perhaps most interestingly, a peach soup made with Colorado riesling. Eileen Warthen curates Potager’s stellar wine list.
Want to go? 1109 Ogden St., Denver; potagerrestaurant.com
Somebody People
With homemade pasta, Mediterranean dishes, and natural wines, Somebody People is a cheery South Broadway restaurant that meat eaters love as much as vegans.
Chef Art Burnayev dishes pasta up in a tiffins for takeout order at Somebody People restaurant in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday. Nov. 25, 2020. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Chef Justin Freeman wins over diners with vegan makeovers of dairy-dominant dishes like cacio e pepe, tiramisu, and mushroom risotto. The restaurant partners with local farmers to source microgreens from Mountain Man Micro Farms and gourmet mushrooms from Jacob’s Mushrooms.
In the summer, look for dishes like marinated tomato salad served with cucumbers, onions, and herbs on top of creamy whipped vegan feta.
Pro tip: Come for Sunday supper to enjoy a seven-course prix fixe menu for $42 per person. That’s when the culinary team has carte blanche to transform leftover produce from the week into a unique pre-fixe menu to avoid excess waste.
Want to go? 1165 S. Broadway, # 104, Denver; somebodypeople.com
Rootstalk
When Chef Matt Vawter was at Mercantile in Denver, shopping for fresh produce was seamless: He could just step out onto the Union Station plaza and make rounds at the Saturday farmers market.
Logistics became much more difficult when he struck out to open Rootstalk in Breckenridge in the fall of 2020. “We’re up at 9,600 feet–there’s not a lot of opportunity to grow up here,” says Vawter, who in 2024 was named the James Beard Award winner for Best Mountain Chef.
Rootstalk, located in a historic home on Breckenridge's Main Street. Photo courtesy of Rootstalk
So, he patched together delivery routes through his network in order to source from farms like Esoterra Culinary Garden, a favorite among Colorado’s chefs, and others on the Western Slope so he could bring the best of the best to his modern American restaurant in the high country.
In the summer, Rootstalk, located in a historic home on Breckenridge’s Main Street, serves Colorado produce-centric dishes like an heirloom tomato salad. It also offers different takes on corn–corn cakes, creamed corn, corn with pork, and a three-sister combination with corn, beans, and squash.
Vawter also preserves summer’s bounty, like cherries, apricots, nectarines, and peaches.
Want to go? 207 N. Main St., Breckenridge; rootstalkbreck.com
The Plimoth
Peaches may be Colorado’s produce darling, but don’t sleep on the state’s cherries. Paonia grows superlative ones, and they headline summer menus at The Plimoth, from cherries on top of salads to cherry barbecue sauce ladled over smoked pork loin to cherry tarts for dessert.
Since day one of opening in 2013, Chef-Owner Peter Ryan has prioritized sourcing the best ingredients from as close of a radius as possible. That way, diners can, say, enjoy carrots that were plucked just hours before their reservation.
The Plimoth features fresh produce including Paonia's cherries in various dishes including salads, cherry barbecue sauce for smoked pork loin, and cherry tarts for dessert. Photo courtesy of Plimoth
“We don’t just buy from farmers because it’s local; it’s local and it’s good,” says Ryan, who is in constant communication with local farmers year-round and shops the City Park and Boulder farmers markets in the summer for his dishes like ratatouille and succotash.
Want to go? 2335 E. 28th Ave., Denver; theplimoth.com
Coperta
Coperta, a Northern Capitol Hill restaurant serving Southern Italian dishes, rarely repeats menu items and recipes from season to season, except for charred young fava beans with light and bright lemon aioli.
“There is a small window right before the Fourth of July every summer where the fava beans can be eaten whole in their pod, and they are such a treat and absolutely wonderful,” says Paul Reilly, culinary director of beast + bottle group.
Executive chef and co-owner of the Coperta restaurant Paul Reilly August 23, 2023. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
The farm-to-table concept carries through to the cocktail menu, where bartenders make a margherita carrota with spicy tequila, orange juice, and a simple syrup made with freshly juiced carrots from local farms.
Want to go? 400 E 20th Ave., Denver; copertadenver.com
Bin 707 Foodbar and Tacoparty
Chef Josh Niernberg, a 2025 James Beard nominee, is a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement in Colorado, opening Bin 707 almost 14 years ago with the entire menu being an exercise in seasonality and regional cooking.
The restaurant recently moved to a spot on Grand Junction’s Main Street close to Niernberg’s second restaurant, Tacoparty, which also takes advantage of the region’s bounty with Al pastor made with an adobo that uses local guajillo peppers, sage, and juniper.
Come August, Tacoparty makes a killer Olathe sweet corn soft serve, and the same ice cream tops the Palisade Peach cobbler at Bin 707 Foodbar. It’s worth a trip to the Western Slope to try.
Want to go?
Bin 707: 400 Main St., Grand Junction; bin707.com
Tacoparty: 126 S. 5th St., Grand Junction; tacopartygj.com