Boulder – It was hard to choose among the Senegalese chicken curry with pumpkin seeds and coconut; the tilapia baked in a ginger-citrus glaze and served atop couscous; and the lemon sole in a white wine butter sauce with fresh asparagus.
And that was before desserts of housemade raspberry sorbet, fig and sun-dried strawberry turnover with rum caramel sauce and sabayon, and a poached pear with honey-orange mascarpone cheese.
A meal at the latest hip restaurant? Fare from a celebrity chef? The menu from a show on the Food Network?
None of the above. This was another typical dinner at The Academy, a retirement community in Boulder dedicated to running itself like a five-star hotel, with dining experiences to match.
For the 60 residents, all over age 55 but most between 60 and 90, who call The Academy home, it’s a place that simply continues a lifestyle to which they already had become accustomed. These are retired scientists, doctors, lawyers and advisers to various government entities.
Many of them have family ties of some sort to Colorado, but they come from all over the country. What most of them also have in common is their love of good food and wine, and they claim that was a major selling point when they picked the Academy over other retirement options.
“We’re just older, we’re not dead yet, and neither are our palates,” laughs John Richardson, a native Boulderite who has lived at the Academy for three years after spending much of his life in Washington, D.C. “I eat out in Boulder restaurants all the time, and sometimes down in Denver, and when I eat here at the Academy’s dining room, I know I will find the same kind of food I get in the best restaurants in the area.”
That’s exactly what the eight members of the development group that founded the Academy wanted to offer when they launched the project in the late 1980s.
The group took over the former Mount St. Gertrude’s Academy Catholic girls’ school, originally built in 1892 by Sister Mary Theodore O’Connor, which sits two blocks from Chautauqua Park. They gutted the buildings and renovated them following the guidelines set down by the National Register of Historic Places, on which the Academy is listed.
It means that the rooms, including the Piñons Dining Room, have retained an elegance that imbues mealtimes with a homey, upscale-eatery feel, with walls the color of fresh butter, plaid upholstered chairs, antique wood tables, book-lined shelves and dark carpeting.
The cheerful, efficient servers are mostly students from Boulder High School who come to work the 4 to 7 p.m. shift.
The kitchen staff is one that many restaurants would envy: four full-timers, two of them culinary school graduates, all overseen by chef John Butera, once co-owner of Boulder’s popular Two Bitts Bistro and a chef for several other area eateries until two of the Academy’s founders, Gary Berg and Karen McMurry, tapped him to help implement their vision.
“We really wanted to reinvent the way retirement communities do food, and that’s basically what we’ve done,” Butera says. “When people come to a retirement place, they expect Jell-O and corn dogs. It’s so refreshing to see the looks on their faces when they see what we do here.”
What they do here includes regular wine tastings where residents bring favorite bottles to share, as well as monthly themed cooking seminars featuring international cuisines and weekly get-togethers for appetizers and drinks.
Varying numbers of meals are included in the Academy’s base cost of $3,700 to $5,600 a month; higher rates can net room service, laundry, home health care and other perks or necessities. The Academy is usually nearly full with a waiting list for some residences, including its assisted-living facility, and in the fall the owners will open an Alzheimer’s home based on the same model a few miles away.
The residents living in the bungalows and apartments also have their own kitchens, but most admit that they either eat their meals at the Academy or in one of Boulder’s fine dining establishments.
“Oh, I love L’Atelier and Frasca,” says Herta Hess Kahn, a native German who moved here from Chicago a year and a half ago. “But the great thing is, I can get that caliber of food right where I live, too.”
Butera, along with chefs Dave Neale and Nikki Idol and kitchen staffers Polo Caballero and Martin Tremillo, works hard to be keep that caliber high, constantly asking residents for their input on favored dishes and revamping the menu to reflect trends and seasons.
“That’s the benefit of running this place like a regular restaurant, and of having a small number of residents,” Butera says. “I can’t take the BLT off the lunch menu, because they love those, but if someone says, ‘Hey, back home we had Yankee pot roast,’ or ‘I really like Boston cream pie,’ we can put that on the menu for a night or even on the regular menu for a while if enough people like it.”
The dining room offers a regular menu as well as daily specials and desserts, but it’s the level of quality and sophistication that strikes most visitors, especially for some of the wine dinners the Academy regularly holds.
For example, one menu included lobster cocktail with green tea aspic, seared Hudson Valley foie gras with caramelized shallot jelly, cool peach soup, roast pheasant and wild elk done two ways.
“They’re serious about wine here, too, which is what’s important to me,” says Stan Ruttenberg, a native Boulderite who moved into the Academy in 1998 and has a 700-bottle collection in his bungalow. He’s eyeing a 2000 Gran Coronas Reserva that Butera has set out for lunch, and the two of them open it and compare it with one they’d sampled before.
“Considering that the number of senior people is expected to double in the next 15 to 20 years, I think the Academy is on to something,” Butera says. “I think we’re setting the bar high for other retirement communities to look at and for people to consider when they look at where they’ll spend their later years.”
Dining critic Kyle Wagner can be reached at 303-820-1958 or kwagner@denverpost.com.
The Perfect Poached Pear with Honey-Orange Mascarpone Cheese
Chef John Butera of The Academy says a good poached pear is a wonderful component for any home cook to have in his or her repertoire for its versatility in both flavor and presentation. “It can be paired successfully with everything from spicy grilled lamb to decadently rich foie gras to sweetened mascarpone cheese,” he says.
The following poaching liquid recipe is fairly neutral in flavor. Butera suggests a good, modestly priced cabernet, as it imparts a nice, deep-red color. Just about any type of pear can be used, as long as it is just slightly under-ripe and has no visible blemishes. Serves 8.
Poached Pears
Ingredients
8 medium-sized pears
1 quart water
1 cup sugar
1 bottle red wine
Directions
To prepare the pear for poaching, remove stem and carefully peel pear using vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife. Carefully core pear to remove seeds and fibrous center. Do this immediately before poaching. If you must prepare pears in advance, store them in cold acidulated water, but for no longer than overnight, as they will deteriorate.
Place water and sugar in heavy 6-quart saucepan and bring to boil, stirring constantly with whisk so that sugar completely dissolves. Add wine and bring back to boil.
Add pears, return to boil and reduce to simmer. Cover. Check after about 20 minutes. Once they are tender enough to pierce easily with a paring knife (but not soft) remove from heat. Poaching time will vary with size and ripeness of pears.
Let pears cool to room temperature in poaching liquid. This not only completes the cooking process but gives them a nice, deep color. Be sure to check periodically so they don’t overcook. Remove pears from liquid and let drain thoroughly. They are ready to serve.
Honey-Orange Mascarpone Cheese
Ingredients
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 17-ounce tub mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon honey
2 ounces Grand Marnier
chopped toasted hazelnuts for garnish
Directions
Using a 4- or 5-quart mixer, whip cream and powdered sugar together until fairly stiff. Remove to a separate bowl. Using the mixer bowl, add mascarpone cheese and, using paddle attachment, gently beat until softened. Add whipped cream a little at a time until thoroughly incorporated. Do not overbeat (mascarpone can break down and separate). Add honey and Grand Marnier. Beat just a little more. The mixture should be quite light and smooth. Add mixture to pastry bag with a star tip and pipe into cooled pears. Top with chopped, toasted hazelnuts and serve with a little bit of the chilled poaching liquid.
Wine ideas: The wine match here depends entirely on the pear’s companion on the plate. If it’s foie gras, try an off-dry riesling from Germany; if it’s grilled lamb, opt for a spicy syrah from France’s Southern Rhône. If the pear is solo, the Grand Marnier wouldn’t be a bad way to go, or you could try a honeyed Samos Muscat from Greece (about $10). -Tara Q. Thomas
Braised Lamb Shanks
Chef John Butera at The Academy loves this dish because it’s easy to prepare. “It also goes great with powerhouse bottles of fine red wine, such as Barolo, Chianti Classico Riserva, a Napa cabernet or a hedonistic Aussie shiraz,” he adds.
Lamb shanks come in two cuts: the familiar osso bucco, or circular crosscut; and the whole, bone-in foreshank. While either will work for this recipe, Butera uses the foreshank because it lends itself well to a dramatic presentation on the plate. Serves 4.
Ingredients
4 16- to 18-ounce lamb foreshanks
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup each diced carrot, onion and
celery (mirepoix)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
About half a bottle red wine (depends on size of shanks)
1 22-ounce can whole, peeled pear tomatoes (diced tomatoes can be substituted)
2 cups beef or chicken stock
A few sprigs of fresh basil and oregano, two bay leaves
Salt, pepper to taste
Directions
Use a large, heavy-duty saucepan big enough to hold the shanks and the rest of the ingredients. Set over medium-high heat and be sure pan is hot before you begin.
Combine flour, salt, pepper, oregano and paprika in mixing bowl or resealable bag. Dredge shanks thoroughly in flour mixture. Add olive oil to pan and braise shanks thoroughly on all sides; they should be a nice dark brown. At this point, add mirepoix and quickly sauté. Add garlic and deglaze pan with red wine, stirring well.
Once wine begins to simmer, add tomatoes and stock. Stir well. Add fresh herbs, bay leaves and salt and pepper. Cover the pot tightly with a lid or foil and place in 350-degree oven.
Cooking time will be somewhere between 2 and 3 hours, depending on the size of the shanks. Check them every half-hour or so, stirring if necessary to prevent burning. Once meat becomes very tender, almost falling off the bone, they are done.
Remove pot from oven and let sit 20-30 minutes. This will allow grease to rise to the top so it can be skimmed before serving. Remove shanks and plate them, ladling a generous portion of sauce on top. Serve with risotto, polenta or potatoes.
Wine ideas: Butera is right: This would be marvelous with a Barolo. If you’re not up for spending the $50 Barolo typically asks, look for a generic nebbiolo (same grape as Barolo) from Langhe (same general area as Barolo) such as one from Producttori del Barbaresco or Parusso.
-Tara Q. Thomas
