{"id":2444739,"date":"2019-05-30T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T06:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/from-miners-to-millionaires-aspens-food-scene-is-one-for-history-books\/"},"modified":"2019-05-30T00:00:01","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T06:00:01","slug":"from-miners-to-millionaires-aspens-food-scene-is-one-for-history-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/from-miners-to-millionaires-aspens-food-scene-is-one-for-history-books\/","title":{"rendered":"From miners to millionaires: Aspen\u2019s food scene is one for history books"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.1574074074074\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-307151-493\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy of Red Onion | Old menu from the historic Red Onion.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Old menu from the historic Red Onion.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy of Red Onion<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3.jpg\" alt=\"Old menu from the historic Red Onion.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy of Red Onion | Menu options for the Red Onion back in the day.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Menu options for the Red Onion back in the day.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy of Red Onion<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"Menu options for the Red Onion back in the day.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspen Historical Society | Outside the Red Onion, circa 1965.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Outside the Red Onion, circa 1965.<\/strong><br \/>Aspen Historical Society<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/food-atw-053019-3-2.jpg\" alt=\"Outside the Red Onion, circa 1965.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/from-miners-to-millionaires-aspens-food-scene-is-one-for-history-books\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/from-miners-to-millionaires-aspens-food-scene-is-one-for-history-books\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">The two-week countdown to Food &amp; Wine Classic in Aspen has begun. And this is the time to decide if it\u2019s better preparation to fast, over-indulge, or simply practice moderation, and to remember a polite way to eat a bone-in French cut ribeye with your fingers, while also holding a glass of wine \u2014 because obviously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Long before Food &amp; Wine, before caviar nachos at 7908 and Shake Shack pop-ups, before Matsuhisa\u2019s sushi sorcery and chefs trained in Michelin-starred restaurants, Aspen was a food town. While early settlers had to survive mostly on what they brought with them or could catch or hunt, functional and fancy foods have coexisted since rail lines made it to town in the 1880s. Mining success brought money and culture, as well as white-tablecloth restaurants, European wine and delicacies such as oysters and fresh seafood brought in from the coasts. However, stick-to-your-ribs fare has always had a place. Think how good a burger and fries taste after hiking up and down Ajax. For the prospectors, miners, ranchers and workers who built Aspen, hearty food was even more critical.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Because of Aspen\u2019s remote location, much of what those early residents consumed for sustenance was local. Farm to table was the way of life. Locally raised food was also organic because, again, it was the only option. So, what was on local menus? Mountain trout, steak and lamb were popular. Cattle farming came early, and menus advertised not only fresh beef, but also butter and ice cream. Harvests from local produce gardens and orchards rounded out the offerings, although it still made the paper when a proprietor had \u201call kinds of dried fruit\u201d available. Farmers soon discovered that potatoes grew well in the Roaring Fork Valley, making them a menu staple, and a popular crop to sell outside of the state. An agricultural report from 1907, referencing the local potato harvest, stated: \u201cFew places can compare with the Carbondale District either in yield per acre or in quality of product.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">In 1883, The Clarendon, an early hotel and restaurant in town advertised as \u201cthe only modern hotel in the camp,\u201d had \u201c40 head of stock connected with the hotel.\u201d Delmonico marketed itself as the most metropolitan place in town, while the Metropolitan Restaurant claimed the best cook and a reputation as a place for good living. If you wanted something other than whiskey or coffee to drink, WM Webb would deliver three barrels of fresh spring water (water was already an issue 136 years ago) to \u201cany part of the camp\u201d for $1. Aspen\u2019s first luxury hotel, the Hotel Jerome, was built in 1889, complete with a French chef to run the kitchen. The Red Onion, then known as The New Brick, was built in 1892.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">While the EMP Winter House was in town this winter, and Bumble has the Kirby Ice House coming this summer, pop-ups are nothing new in town. In September 1884, a temporary peanut and fruit stand in the post office building made news in the Rocky Mountain Sun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">According to Nina Gabianelli, vice president of programming and education for the Aspen Historical Society, when the train stopped running to Aspen around 1918, so too did the flow of epicurean delicacies. Town\u2019s well-established hunting culture became even more important during the Quiet Years, with locals eating whatever they could harvest. If you like squirrel pie, you would have been in luck \u2014 no wonder they\u2019re so skittish. The Hotel Jerome went from a luxury property to a boarding house, charging $10 a month for room and board. In July of 1925, they hosted The Big Bean Meal for miners and their guests, and it included the \u201cregular miner\u2019s repast\u201d of beans, tomatoes in the can, corned beef and cabbages, spuds with jackets in condensed cream, more beans, creamed corn, crackers and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">When skiing took off as an industry in the 1950s, many of the early ski pioneers brought hearty European mountain fare to town. Restaurants like the Copper Kettle, Pomegranate Inn, Golden Horn and the Wienerstube opened in the 1960s, with menus featuring old world and local delicacies. Longtime favorites such as Hickory House, the Stew Pot, Pine Creek Cookhouse, Poppycock\u2019s (which originally served crepes and lemonade) and Little Annie\u2019s came on the scene in the 1970s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Believe it or not, in 1982, Marian Burros declared in her restaurant review for The New York Times, \u201cAfter all, you don\u2019t go to Aspen to eat.\u201d To Burros\u2019 point, the late \u201970s and 1980s may not have been the height of Aspen\u2019s epicurean history, but there was still good food to be had. As Aspen\u2019s cache developed, the local restaurant scene followed suit, paving the way to the creative restaurant scene we appreciate today. Now, even the Aspen School District Food Service Department serves meals made from locally grown, sustainable ingredients to the greatest extent possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Instead of mines and millionaires, we now have those mining the local lifestyle and billionaires. And still, everyone has to eat. Considering Aspen\u2019s long and storied culinary history, anyone wanting to make their mark in the local restaurant scene should spend an afternoon at the Aspen Historical Society rifling through old menus for eye-opening proof of the statement \u201ceverything old is new again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">I\u2019ll pass on the squirrel pie, though.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/from-miners-to-millionaires-aspens-food-scene-is-one-for-history-books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Old menu from the historic Red Onion.Courtesy of Red Onion Menu options for the Red Onion back in the day.Courtesy of Red Onion Outside the Red Onion, circa 1965.Aspen Historical Society Show CaptionsHide Captions The two-week countdown to Food &amp; Wine Classic in Aspen has begun. And this is the time to decide if it\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 23:38:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}