It’s not even dark last Sunday night and chef Geoffrey Groditski has already served 170 dinners without breaking a sweat. It’s the second night of Denver Restaurant Week, and his smoking grill is stacked with sizzling steaks and kindled quail.
“It’s incredible how popular this week is,” says The Fort’s executive chef. “It can get crazy. It takes a lot of planning.”
As for many of the 340 metro-area restaurants participating in this year’s two-week celebration of dining out, Denver Restaurant Week is The Fort’s busiest time of the year. Groditski will serve 6,000 quail, 1,500 pounds of slow-braised buffalo ribs, 3,000 buffalo steaks and 2 tons of berry cobbler as part of the largest restaurant party in the nation. (Organizer Visit Denver anticipates this year’s dining festival will top last year’s 360,480 meals and more than $9.5 million in diner spending.)
The $52.80 dinner-for-two deals began with 83 eateries in 2005, most of which were in Denver. But every year, Denver Restaurant Week expands, defying its name by growing deeper into the metro area. This year, more than 155 restaurants are outside the city, from Boulder to Aurora, Thornton to Castle Rock. Nearly all the new restaurants joining the Feb. 25 through March 9 party this year are outside Denver city limits.
The Fort in Morrison was one of the first farflung restaurants to join Denver’s fete to food, despite the 30-minute drive from downtown.
“I think it should turn into a statewide thing. I hope to inspire other restaurants to join, especially in the rural areas. They need a restaurant week more than anything,” says Holly Arnold Kinney, whose father, Sam Arnold, built the museum-restaurant in 1963 and who, as a former member of Visit Denver’s marketing committee, helped dream up the idea of a metro-area restaurant week.
Discounting her $44 signature game plates to $26.40 is painful financially. But all her employees are making money during a traditionally slow period. And she’s reaching new customers.
“We are staying true to our menu and who we are, so it’s an advertising cost. It’s a promotional cost,” Arnold Kinney said.
Three-year-old Merle’s Restaurant in Littleton is one of 39 new restaurants outside of Denver that are participating in Denver Restaurant Week this year. The former gas station and alignment shop is now an auto-themed eatery that enjoyed a big boost in business for the first weekend of restaurant week. Many of the newcomers have never had fried pickles, which manager Brian Wiegman calls “ranch (dressing) delivery vehicles.”
“This has been extremely successful,” Wiegman said. “We are trying to get our name out there, and this has brought in a lot of new people who haven’t ever been here before.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com
