Times are tough, but the ritzy Aspen Food & Wine Classic is returning June 17-19 for its 29th year. This year, it’s $1,085 if you sign up by March 15, $1,185 after. That’s a lot to spend to stand in lines as long as the one for Space Mountain, but the people are so much prettier.
Look for the usual suspects: Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Tom Colicchio, Jose Andres, Danny Meyer.
Meyer, a New York restaurateur, is popular here for his offbeat seminars that match wine with things like bacon. He missed the event last year. This year, his seminar is titled “Wine, Wieners & the Works, Sauce on the Side.”
“I think I’ve missed Aspen only three times since 1988,” he says on the phone from NYC. “When you do something that long, it becomes one of the life-sustaining things you enjoy.”
His seminar will concentrate on the condiments you slap on hot dogs and how that goes with the wine. Pickles, ketchup, mayo, onions, sauerkraut, mustard — load it on.
Last year, he finally made it to Aspen in August for his first Big Aspen Barbecue Block Party. Instead of paying $1,000-plus, that event was free. You could just buy a plate of BBQ (from some of the best smokers in the country) for $8 a plate. It was a pigout, a sensation, and it’s coming back to Aspen on Aug. 27 and 28.
Another sign of health in Aspen is the arrival of Mario Di Leone, who sells the swankiest clothes in Denver out of his two Cherry Creek locations. He has just opened a third store in Aspen, next to Fendi and Gucci and the rest of the big boys. “I think it will be good,” says Di Leone. “I love my neighbors. It’s so beautiful here. I just hope that we make it.”
He didn’t go to Jared.
We’re not talking about bad Christmas sweaters here. We’re talking white elephant gifts, really bad gifts. And ARC Thrift Stores specializes in them.
For about $4 each, you can get your special someone a hand-painted Yorky pet rock, a hamburger piggy bank, a wooden-toad business-card holder, a penguin soap dispenser and a carved coconut head that doubles as a drink holder.
Going once.
A few $5,000 tables are still available for the Jan. 21 Bon Jovi concert to benefit CeDAR at the Anschutz Medical Campus. That gets you 10 seats for dinner, the music — and a shot at the silent auction.
Impresario Chuck Morris calls to say he already has some hot items: signed guitars from Tom Petty, Muse and Metallica; four front-row seats to Taylor Swift when she’s in Denver next year; four seats and a meet-and-greet with Reba McEntire and George Strait; and two seats and a meet-and-greet with Kenny Chesney.
If you have $5,000, call 303-231-6204.
City spirit.
Denver plastic surgeon Dr. Gregory Buford is out with a book, “Beauty and the Business.” . . . Frank Abagnale, the subject of the flick “Catch Me If You Can,” is in Denver on June 8 for the 15th Celebration of the VOA Guild Dinner. . . . Sez who: “The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” Burton Hills
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at husted.
