“Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons took full advantage of the show’s Colorado filming this past spring, and her experience is pretty much #ColoradoGoals for us all.
From mountain biking in Boulder with Frasca’s Bobby Stuckey, to attending a Rockies game with the “Top Chef” crew (the show filmed May-June), to zip-lining in Conifer with chef Jen Jasinski (Rioja, Ultreia, Bistro Vendome), to eating her way through Denver’s (and the rest of the state’s) best restaurants, the woman did it right.
“I loved shooting in Colorado,” Simmons said. “I had been going to Aspen for the for 12 years, but I had only been to the Denver airport and to Boulder once for a week for spring break when I was 21. So it was really exciting to get to come back and get to know Boulder and spend some time in Colorado. We really traversed the state, and I feel like I got a good taste for Colorado.”
A good chunk of that taste, of course, was via the “Top Chef” filming, and two of her favorite challenges aired the past couple of weeks. Simmons said she loved the , where the “cheftestants” cooked, ate and bonded with the immigrant women who cook at .
“It’s a really interesting, beautiful, amazing concept. I love what they do. I’m so impressed by them and the work they’re doing,” Simmons said.
She also loved the .
“It was torture at the time for the chefs, and I feel a little bad about that, but truthfully it was such an extraordinary achievement,” she said. “It was the middle of May, they were not prepared for the snow at all. The fact that they slept all night in 33 degree weather with two feet of snow all around them in the mountains of Colorado and then got up in the morning and cooked us one of the best meals of the season was extra exciting. It was the first challenge of the season where everything really came together. It just thrilled us.”
The weather — the — wasn’t the only thing different about “Top Chef” Colorado compared to other locales. Simmons said that our high altitude was a factor this season, and that our history and size make us one of the more unique spots the show has chosen for filming.
“It was a very different place to shoot,” she said. “I wouldn’t compare it in the same way because other places we go are much more urban. Colorado gave us a chance to focus on the state and focus on the rural, outdoor experience, to focus on nature and the sourcing of food a lot more. I wouldn’t say Denver and Colorado have the same culinary history that the other cities have, but there’s so much new going on there, so much up and coming.”
While filming in Denver, Simmons said some of her favorite meals came from Hop Alley, Mercantile Dining and Provision, Bar Dough, Departure and Stowaway Coffee + Kitchen. She said she did get recognized quite a bit by fans, but that everyone was nice and excited about the show being here.
Simmons will be back in Colorado later this month to promote her new cookbook, “Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes from a Life of Adventurous Eating.” and at a book signing Jan. 27 at Le Creuset in Cherry Creek North.
