8 of Denver’s newest chefs wow ‘Evening of Decadent Delights’

The best attire advice I gave to attendees at this year’s Penny Parker’s Evening of Decadent Delights was to wear elastic waists.

Eight of Denver’s relatively new kids on the chopping block showed off their chef stripes by creating courses that wowed the sold-out crowd at Coohill’s, a French-style restaurant owned by Tom and Diane Coohill at 14th and Wewatta.

This year’s kitchen crew started with passed apps created by Tom Coohill of scallop with English pea puree and pork belly; spring asparagus La Quercia Prosciutto, crisp capers, pickled red onion and lemon; buckwheat blini with eggplant caviar tomato jam and spring chives;  Snake River Farms Wagyu strip steak with spring air jordan 5 femmes onions and  Madeira sauce; blue crab flan with mustard sauce paired with Ruffino Prosecco.

The food lover’s feast moved on to baby carrots and parsley root puree from celebrity chef Kelly Liken; pho-style soup with rib eye and oxtail from Lon Symensma of ChoLon Bistro; gravlax, salmon roe egg salad with crème fraiche mustard from Patrik Landberg at Charcoal; shellfish ravioli with fava bean pesto from Gabe Balenzuela at Ambria; Lake Superior whitefish with toasted caraway carrot puree, morel mushroom vinaigrette and oxford garden arugula from Trillium chef Ryan Leinonen, lamb loin with spring ratatouille, black rice and quinoa with lamb jus from Elway’s Downtown chef Robert Bogart.

Dessert from Jenica Flippo at Aria was a panna cotta with strawberries, basil and black pepper, and Sean McGaughey at Opus created dark chocolate ganache with vanilla curd and lavender.

Besides being a gut buster, the evening – with a silent auction and live one emceed by the unsinkable Peter Kudla – earned roughly $30,000 for Sense of Security, a breast cancer organization that helps patients take care of their non-medical bills during treatment. SOS was a victim of Susan G. Komen’s money woes.

Big props go to event queen bee Trisha Lindeman, volunteer guitarist Robert Eldridge, sponsors King Soopers, Squire Sanders, Hamilton Linens, Republic National Distributing Co., Lifestyles Catering, Bagel Bakery, Seattle Fish Co., The Wedding Pink and Better Webs Online.

The shortfall in fundraising this year from Susan G. Komen has left a $60,000 loss in the SOS budget . Our next dinner for SOS will take place in the fall featuring “the old guard” of super chefs. Stay tuned for details.

Steak escape

You may or may not have a beef with this list, but Gayot.com recently released its 2012 best picks in for carnivores in the U.S., and the original Elway’s in Cherry Creek (Gayot reminds readers that it’s named after football great John Elway, duh!) made the cut.

Best steak spaces in alphabetical order:

  • Bern’s Steak House,  Tampa;
  • Bob’s Steak & Chop House, Dallas (didn’t make it here, however);
  • Bobo’s, San Francisco;
  • Carnevino, Las Vegas;
  • Chicago Cut Steakhouse, Chicago;
  • CUT Wolfgang Puck, Beverly Hills;
  • Elway’s
  • Emeril’s Delmonico, New Orleans;
  • Peter Luger Steak House, Brooklyn;
  • The Precinct, Cincinnati (been there, done that).

More info at gayot.com.

It’s new if it’s new to you

Deja Blue, the gently used designer clothing store run by Goodwill Denver, has been such a hit since its March 24 opening that the Cherry Creek North store sold the equivalent of three full stores of merchandise since the first day.

Major designer air jordan 6 femmes items that were snatched up immediately included a $400 Marc Jacobs handbag that sold for $40, as well as a number of Coach purses and name-brand jeans like Citizens of Humanity, J-Brand, Sevens and Lucky.

Note to self: Get over there!!!!

Eavesdropping  on a 50-something woman trying on low-cut jeans: “Who in the hell puts pants down here?”

Sign up here to receive Penny Parker’s “On The Town” reports by e-mail!