If you missed Saturday’s sixth annual Denver Food & Wine Classic, mark your calendars for Sept. 12 next year for this don’t-miss orgy of fine fare that this year included local eateries, more than 600 wine tastings, spirits lounges and famed chef Paul Prudhomme.
The Colorado Restaurant Association has created a food-and-wine event that rivals Aspen’s annual food-and-wine classic — minus the celebrity chefs’ seminars and $1,000-plus admission fee.
Attendees at the Denver event pay $60 for nearly the same experience.
“We’re guesstimating that about 3,000 people were there,” said event organizer Mary Mino, president of the Colorado Restaurant Association’s Education Foundation.
The foundation, The Denver Post Charities and the Metropolitan State College of Denver hospitality program are the beneficiaries of the event, which takes place on the tented south lawns of Metro State.
“The goal is to really give people a broader experience other than just the wine experience,” Mino said. “I used to go to Aspen Food and Wine all the time, but it got difficult to have a personal experience.
“With Denver Food & Wine, our goal initially was to showcase the food in Denver along with the partnership with wine and spirits. What’s great about this was people talk about the food more than they talk about anything else.”
New kids on the block.
Rob and Katherine Francescon are the new owners of former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan‘s former abode at 20 Cherry Hills Park Drive.
I told you Tuesday that the house sold for $7 million — a mere $10 million less than the asking price. The listing and selling broker, Sandy Weigand of the Kentwood Co., apparently brokered a deal to list the Francescons’ current home in exchange for snagging such a deal steal, according to my sources inside the real-estate community.
So who are these folks who bought the house from an LLC headed by Steve Mooney, a partner in Shanahan’s namesake steakhouse in the Tech Center?
Rob and his brother Dale sold Trimark Communities, a real-estate-development company they started, to builder D.R. Horton in 1996 and continued with the company as employees for four years.
After they left, they formed their own company, Century Communities, a joint venture with Utah-based Woodside Homes. Century builds condos, flats, townhomes and single-family homes.
The names of the buyers were first reported on John Rebchook’s InsideRealEstateNews.com blog.
True blue.
American Blue Ribbon Holdings, the new Denver-based owner of Max & Erma’s Restaurants, as well as Village Inn and Bakers Square restaurants, has appointed Jeff Neely as the concept president of Max & Erma’s.
Neely comes from Village Inn, where he was the vice president of operations for the past 18 months.
Meanwhile, Village Inn Restaurants announced its launch of a program to remodel all of its restaurants in the Denver area. The program will include interior and exterior improvements and is scheduled to be completed by the end of October.
EAVESDROPPING
One woman to another in the rest room after the opening night of the Colorado Ballet’s 50th anniversary season at the Newman Center at the University of Denver:
“What should we do now, go to your house and get hammered and eat cheese and salami?”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
