Cristina C.
Yelp
This review is for the Little Bar (restaurant) at the Lumiere Hotel:
When was the last time you ate somewhere and then cancelled your next evening's reservation elsewhere so that you could return to this same restaurant again? Yes - it is that good. Let me give you the deets:
First of all...it is up at Mountain Village. The Little Bar at the Lumiere (per OpenTable.com), is nicely located at the intimate 28-room* Lumiere Hotel (near the gondolas). You take the garage elevator to the 4th floor and voila...swanky, cozy, elegant lounge.
It is IMHO (in my honest opinion) TELLURIDE'S BEST KEPT SECRET!
Lumiere staff Kat and Alex took excellent care of us as we selected a cozy corner of this beautifully understated, mountain cozy bar lounge. The fireplaces, lounge tunes (think Zero 7 and Bitter:Sweet), and ambiance here are like a Four Seasons private residence lounge, but with even better food!
I knew we were in for a treat when we asked each of these lovely Lumiere ambassadors what they like on the menu, and both were GUSHING about the food...and both struggled to find the words to explain just why the dishes tasted so good. It was geniune...honest...they were still gushing. We started to get the idea that perhaps we were going to be amazed with our dishes no matter which ones we chose.
We chose items based on their recommendations: the caesar salad, short rib taco, mushroom lasagna. We weren't starving since we had a large lunch, but we were eager to see what all this fuss was about!
First up was the bread basket. It included a couple of lovely ciabatta rolls (whole grain wheat and plain) with salted butter. Excellent, traditional start.
Then the caesar. The caesar dressing is amazing. Magic. Made with...love? The balance of lemon, garlic, white anchovy, the texture of the parmesan...wow. Best caesar in memory. Truly.
Then, the short rib taco. OMG. Three letters. F*c%$ng Awesome. Fourteen letters. Either way, it rocked. The flavors in it...salty, tangy, sweet...umami. Perfection.
The lasagna...WOW. Three letters again. F*c7$ng Incredible. You do the math. Meantime, I'm eating the lasagna. (Diversion - that's my strategy.)
The lasagna...deconstructed to a certain degree with a melange of vegetables and lentils off to the side, with a gorgeously fried tofu cube...the crispy lasagna pasta layers atop creamy goat cheese, ricotta...mushrooms.
Right about now, I started to formulate my strategy to maintain room for dessert. That lemon tart with chocolate, hazelnut crust, vanilla whipped creme and berry compote...definitely had my number. As in 911. Urgent and immediate attention required.
The dessert arrived and you know you love someone (or you're just pretty mind-blowingly thoughtful) when you put down your fork and say, "...oh no - you go ahead and eat the rest. I'm full."
I could have eaten an entire tart by myself. Not one 'dessert' portion. The whole tart. I can peddle up the mountain again tomorrow to burn those calories, I think to myself. Piece of tart. I mean cake.
I learned that Chef Eamonn O'Hara is the magic man behind the curtain. I think we ought to erect a monument in his name. My guy suggested an addition to Mt Rushmore. I say Rushmore isn't thinking big enough. Yep - it's passionate, head-over-heels-love at Foodie first taste Mr. O'Hara.
Meantime, I guess we'll just have to go back tomorrow night for another dining revelation as we figure out to get this guy's magic to reach us back home in Boulder, CO. For now, I just say make this a MUST DINE while in Telluride or the surrounding, say, 500 miles.
Alex, Kat, Chef Eamon...You da bomb. We'll see you in 24.
*18 guest rooms, 10 residences as we learned. In any case, it's intimate, charming and understated.