"Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty
If your cup is full, may it be again...."
-The Grateful Dead
Welcome to week two of indoor dining! This past week was quite a ride, we got so many compliments and all of you showed us so much grace and patience. Thanks to you all from the bottom of my heart. We were complimented many times on the food and service, and yes, we did receive some constructive criticism that we take seriously and are still working on systems and training. As so many of you have such nice things to say, let me take this time to announce that the annual Resident Satisfaction Survey begins tomorrow.
You will all receive an e-mail Monday morning with a code and a link for your questions. This survey comes out once a year and is how we at Vi measure our success in keeping our residents and guests happy in all departments. I personally think that Highlands Ranch has the best food and friendliest servers in the company but that's just my opinion. This may be shameless pandering but we would truly love to hear validation of the work and dedication our Culinary and Dining teams put in over the summer. There were some doubts in the beginning of the summer whether the tent dining would work but our home office trusted Yo and our Food and Beverage team enough to let us try and think it worked out very well. With one week under our belts in the New Dining spaces I feel like we are well on our way to even more success.
The Tent came down last Monday, most were happy, a few nostalgic... They were so fast taking it down and repairing the turf that most of us missed it.
So far the Dining on Demand from the Hive market seems to be working pretty well. Residents are telling me that the food is hotter and fresher than before and once we got used to it I think the staff prefers it as well.
The 1859 has been packed to capacity almost every night since opening, and I think we re really getting faster and more efficient. David will be starting verbal daily specials that your server can tell you about. This week's menu is a good one, let's discuss.
The soup of the week is Pumpkin Ginger with toasted pumpkin seeds on top. Think about it: if you eat a bowl of this at the beginning of your meal you have already had a serving of vegetables plus fiber from the seeds. You may now skip straight to dessert.
The appetizer this week is is a Salmon Mousse Crostini, drizzled with truffle dill oil. If you are having a glass of the Kendall Jackson Chardonnay it pair beautifully here.
The cheese is one of my favorites: Fried Cotija Cheese on a fresh house-made corn tortilla with avocado and fresh salsa. This comes out looking more like a quesadilla than a cheese plate but it is really delicious and I would try it with the Helfritch Gewurztraminer.
This week we are serving Pan-Seared Halibut drizzled with honey and lemon glaze. Did you know the name is derived from haly (holy) and butte (flat fish), for its popularity on Catholic holy days? neither did I but it's interesting. The flesh is mild and flaky, and we recommend it with the Louis Jadot Chardonnay from Beaune.
Try the Meatloaf this week, with wild mushroom gravy. Our meatloaf recipe is probably a lot like yours, we don't get too fancy but David wants to use Lion's Mane and Oyster
Mushrooms in the sauce so I suppose that counts. As we know Lion's Mane is reputed to be very good for memory and so I think I will have this for dinner at least once. The Mènage á Trois Merlot is excellent and would fit this nicely.
We have a boneless Pork Chop with Creamy Garlic sauce that looks good and an Impossible Stuffed Pepper. What makes it impossible, you ask? Well it's vegetarian/Vegan for one thing. We use Impossible brand vegetarian beef, combine it with cooked rice, stuff it in a bell pepper and bake it with marinara sauce. So it's definitely possible, just different. Either one would probably go with a beer-- you can't beat a 90 Shilling draft from the Dad Clark Bar.
David has Gnocchi this week tossed with Italian sausage and mushrooms in a tomato-vodka sauce. Gnocchi is like a potato dumpling and is delicious when done right. Try it with one of our two Zinfandel's but it really makes me realize that we don't have any Italian wines and I think we may have to remedy that.
I don't usually highlight the desserts-they tend to speak for themselves but we have Anna's Key Lime Pie this week and I know a big part of my job is to taste it at least twice this week. You should too.
The Dad Clark Bar now has food at dinner. The menu is very limited, but will be very quick and easy for those who want to get in and out without much fuss. There are three entrées this week, and they come with their own sides and dessert. The whole meal is delivered at once-- we hope within ten minutes-- and we can print a check right there at the bar. Choose from Chicken Fajitas, Prime Brisket Burger, or Panko-Crusted Macaroni and Cheese. Also in the Bar this week we will be featuring one of our house-made brews called Campfire. When I was making it I was thinking about S'Mores and cooking sweet treats over the fire. It's basically an amber ale with a touch of spice.
We are continuing to hold the Culinary Corner in the Art Room at 10 am on Mondays-eventually Angie will probably want us to move and we will have to figure out where that will be. I hope to see you then!
