More restaurant tales from Aspen 🌳
There are many hard to believe tales from our restaurant in Snowmass. Almost all of our staff had completed graduate levels in college. We had MDs, veterinarians, MBA types, a large array of over educated employees that quickly became no longer challenged and got bored with restaurant biz and skiing. They were very bright and equally creative and that was exhibited in the most amusing ways.
Every year as ski season began to wind down, the tourists were beginning to disappear and the chair lifts were just about to shut down for the season, Spring Fever would set in hard with the staff and they would begin to go just a little bit crazy! We were a European style restaurant and we did a lot of table side performance cooking, so we decided it would be a fun little competition to see who could fire up the largest flame while doing a table side flaming dessert. One particular night, we were featuring mangos flambé. Two of the servers, Oliver and Craig, were preparing a flambé at a nearby table and they impressed as they ignited some really big flames when they poured the rum into the sauté pan. Game on! To ensure that I got a winning flame, I switched the Mount Gay rum for the highly flammable 151 Bacardi rum. When it was time to add the rum, I tilted the mango pan and let the fruit and juices run down to the bottom half of the pan and then got the dry upper half of the pan smoking hot. When I finally poured the 151 rum into the super-heated sauté pan the rum vaporized before it reached the dessert. When I pulled the pan back towards me the rum ignited and sent a fireball to the ceiling where it mushroomed out. One guest screamed, another guest ran for the door, Gert came running out of the kitchen, but in a matter of seconds the flames subsided and everything returned to normal. I served the dessert as if this dramatic procedure was just your everyday tableside protocol. Nevertheless, the only part of this story that is important is that I did indeed win, hands down.
Every morning, the restaurant served breakfast due to our agreement with the ski lodge. The breakfast staff was out of bed, suited up and on the clock with nothing to do as the tourist population had diminished. We began to use our idle mornings to have our pre-skiing meeting. We migrated to the bar where we would blend a fruit daiquiri and I would toss in several magic mushrooms as the blender was spinning. The veterans in our group were aware of the contents of the morning beverage but the newbies were soon to learn by experiencing. It was amusing when we had an unaware newbie and was always fun to quiz them an hour later to see how they felt. It was entertaining to stand at the top of a ski run while our large hallucinating group skied “wildly” down the slope and watch as the tourists skied into the trees on either side of the run to get out of the way and allow our crazy group to pass. Jack and Winston had a buffalo hat complete with horns and we never knew who was going show up wearing the head piece, but it certainly added a little extra crazy to our possessed look.
One overcast day in the mountains the light was extremely flat and there were no shadows which made visibility a bit more challenging. Gert had decided to join us on this low light ski day and got in the line to take his turn. Gert was not a regular on the slopes and was not familiar with the lay of the land. This particular ski run had a jump in the middle of the run that was not visible that day because of the lack of sun shine and this roll would always throw us in the air. I knew that Gert was completely in the dark in more ways than one so I let him go in front of me in the line so I could get the full Gert show. I stood at the top of the run looking down as Gert skied down into the invisible jump. You can imagine my excitement as I was watching with anticipation, knowing Gert would be unaware of the jump and be taken completely by surprise. Gert did not disappoint, I laughed hysterically as Gert was flying in the air with his feet above his head, but don’t worry he was okay after a hard landing.
Chuck Barris and The Gong Show was all the rage at the time and we had the genius idea of putting together our own version and we called it “The Bong Show”. We printed up fliers and posted them all around the village in all the highly trafficked places weeks in advance. Jack and Winston were the obvious choice because of their lack of inhibition and so we appointed them to be our MC’s and judges. On the evening of “The Bong Show”, the tavern was packed beyond our expectations with audience and talent. The talent that showed up to compete varied from singers in strange costumes,
magic acts, and even animal/pet acts. It was all fun and games until someone got in on the fun and filled pie tins with whipped cream and hit the judges in the face. Winston leaped towards the whipped cream throwers and tore down our make shift stage as he flew across the stage and into the crowd in a fury. Fights broke out and “The Bong Show” was over.
John Beauchamp always gave Winston a ride to work and one day he was running late for work but still had to pick up Winston so he was hauling down the road at an unsafe speed. The parking lot at Winston’s condo was on the same level as the second story of the condos and there was a railroad tie fence defining the end of the parking lot that acted as the stop barrier for the approaching parking cars. The snow plows pushed the snow smack dab up to the railroad ties and there was a steep hill leading down to the first-floor condos. John was in an extreme hurry and was going way too fast and blew over the snow bank and over the ties and proceeded to go down the hill and crashed through someone’s plate glass window, crushing their dinner table where his car came to a stop. The residents of this condo were in their living room smoking a joint when the crash happened. John got out of his Jeep just as Winston walked into the condo to see what the heck. Winston acted like nothing was out of the ordinary and asked the stunned residents if they would kindly push their sofa out of the way so John could turn around and drive out and up the hill. They didn’t see the humor and called the sheriff. The only time Jack and Winston got in trouble was when their humor was misunderstood.
One night I was with Winston at a bar when Winston and a friend decided it would be a good idea to do shots of 151 rum set aflame. I in an uncharacteristic moment, opted to stick with observing this shenanigan. Somewhere around the 6th shot Winston missed his mouth and splashed his face with the blazing rum and caught his face on fire. He quickly patted the fire out and ordered another shot. I was aghast and turned to Winston to suggest “another shot was not a good idea” and as I spoke, Winston’s eyebrows were still smoking.
There were many embarrassing and hard to believe events that occurred with our drug induced unconsciousness. It was 1971, my first year in Aspen, I was the nighttime desk clerk at the Wildwood Inn and my shift began at 11:00pm and I almost always arrived very high. Upon arrival I would post all of the room charges and taxes to each room’s billing, then I would do the hard part, blow up my air mattress and take a lovely drug induced nap. Then I would get up from the floor nap at 6:00am to greet the guests as they passed by the front desk to get their complimentary coffee and sweet roll. I could go on and on about all of the benefits this job afforded which most importantly included a ski pass, but I’ll stop.
I lived up the Frying Pan River Valley with Tom Mertz. We decided it would be a good idea to take peyote buttons and go cross country skiing. I found the psychedelic cactus and some large empty capsules, I carefully removed the hair like centers which contained the strychnine poisonous centers that made you sick (so I was told), I then proceeded to chop and fill the empty capsules. I gave Tom 6 caps and I had 6 caps and we agreed to ingest the cactus at the same time, 7:00am. Tom was driving my ’69 VW Bug and was going to pick me up from my job at 8:00am just about the time we would begin feeling the effects of the Peyote. By 8:00am I had dutifully greeted all of the guests and my desk replacement had arrived, I followed the agreed upon time line and was ready to go but unfortunately Tom was late and I was starting to get high and sick. It was a weird combo, but experienced friends had told me everyone gets sick at the onset, just in varying degrees. So, I took an empty ice bucket and hid out of view of the hotel guests. About 8:30 I heard my car. Tom had parked by a picture window and on the other side of the window were the guests I had just greeted. They were enjoying their complimentary coffee and roll and waving at me as I headed to get into my car. I was white as a sheet and smiled sickly as I passed them but when I was halfway into the passenger side of my car I couldn’t hold my illness any longer and to the guest’s amazement I projectile vomited onto the picture window. Tom drove the car while I hung outside the car window throwing up the entire way around the circle drive. I felt embarrassed, but so much better. I enjoyed Tom’s turn at illness and the day of skiing in the back country.
Two ingredients that you very seldom see cooked together are at their prime during the summer.
Peaches and Tomatoes.
The method is very much like a Tarte Tatin.
In this recipe I don’t peel the peaches or tomatoes 🍅
I find the intense flavor is next to the skin.
We use Roma Tomatoes because they have more meat and less juice.
Ingredients
1 stick of butter (4 tablespoons)
6 ripe peaches
6 Roma tomatoes
1 lemon juiced with zest
1 cup of granulated cane sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon (canella)
2 tablespoons of vanilla
1 tablespoon of corn starch
1 12” sheet of puff pastry. Found frozen in the dairy case.
½ tablespoon of sea salt
2 eggs, whisk the yolks & set aside
Method
In a 12” skillet with slanted sides and an oven safe handle, melt the butter.
Mix the sugar, cornstarch and salt.
Add this mixture to the skillet and mix until smooth.
Whisk in the vanilla and lemon juice and lemon zest.
Remove the skillet from the fire.
Cut the peaches and tomatoes into quarters and add them to the pan in a pinwheel formation.
Place more peach and tomato wedges into the skillet as they heat and shrink.
Fit as many of the wedges into the skillet as possible while on medium heat.
The sugar will start to brown.
Cook for approximately 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat.
Cover the tomatoes and peaches while in the hot skillet with a sheet of puff pastry (you may need to use a rolling pin to stretch the pastry to 12”).
Press the excess pastry onto the pan to cut off the excess.
Brush the pastry with the egg yolks to insure a golden, shiny and crisp base.
Bake at 375degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is a deep golden brown.
Allow to cool but only cool to warm.
Now comes the tricky part. When the pan is warm place another 14” platter on top of the skillet and invert.
When you remove the skillet 🍳 you have the ingredients on top of the pastry.
Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum