Taste of Vail adds star chefs
The 16th Annual Taste of Vail will be April 5-8. The festival has expanded its guest-chef program to include three nationally recognized participants, including Denver’s Jennifer Jasinski of Rioja; Rick Moonen of rm restaurant in New York and Las Vegas and Martial Noguier of one sixtyblue in Chicago. Each will host a Chef Showcase Dinner at a Vail Valley restaurant during the festival. The Colorado Lamb Cook-
Off will be April 5 on Gore Creek Drive in Vail Village. The Apres- Ski Tasting, “Life Beyond Chardonnay, Cabernet and Merlot,” and the “Cigar Seminar” will be April 6. The signature event, “The Mountaintop Gourmet Picnic,” will be Friday April 7. Other events include a chocolate seminar, a cocktail “mix- off,” a dance and auction, and more. Visit tasteofvail.com.
Grand Traverse ski race
The Elk Mountains Grand Traverse (March 31-April 1) is a backcountry ski race tracing the mail routes that connected the Colorado mining towns of Crested Butte and Aspen in the 1880s. The test requires avalanche awareness, backcountry athleticism, winter-camping knowledge and map-reading skills. The race begins at midnight March 31. Entry fee is $250 a team. Visit elkmountaintraverse.org.
– Andrea Labak and Dane Strom
