The Fort in Denver

[Mile High Eater]

Hi I am fairly new to these forums but thought I would add in a restaurant experience we had recently.

We went out to eat at The Fort (www.thefort.com) with my father for no particular reason. The reason that is in bold is that for a few years now every time we have tried to get together for a special occasion the sky falls down, the car dies or the restaurant has a bad night and the food is terrible, so we decided to go out this time for no particular reason!

The Fort is one of the restaurants I think about when someone asks me for a uniquely Colorado restaurant.

The restaurant outside is a reproduction of Bents Fort and coming into the courtyard you can almost feel you are leaving the present behind and stepping back into the old west.

Once you come inside, that illusion fades away as the smells from kitchen hit your nose and your mouth starts craving to taste what is coming out of there. The menu itself is very game heavy with buffalo, quail and many other items to tempt you.

We decided to split two appetizers between the three of us. Here is the first.

Bison Eggs: Pickled quail eggs wrapped in house made buffalo sausage. Served with a

raspberry-jalapeno jam.

This was good on many levels was crunchy on the outside and then you hit the softer sausage and the even softer egg so the textures were very nice and the flavors went together very well also. Nice sage flavor with the sausage along with the egg and finally the sweet and slightly hot flavor of the jam.

Our second appetizer.

Bison Empanadas. A flakey pasty stuffed with buffalo meat, with two sauces: a chili or chipotle sauce.

These had a good flavor to them but the pastry was a bit sweet which threw off the over all taste for me.

My fathers main course.

An 8 oz buffalo filet mignon with ‘fort” potatoes and corn.

The meat was perfectly cooked and tender and was everything you could ask for in a steak. The potatoes were fried potatoes with a bit of spice added in which gave a little bit of heat with the potato and butter flavor

Barbs Main

Washtunkala Cast Iron Kettle: Tender tips of Buffalo Tenderloin in a rich buffalo demi-glace with roasted green chilies, pearl onions, fresh thyme, fire-roasted corn and sunflower seeds

I wanted to like this I really did but the meat was a bit tough (though Barb says not all of it was) and honestly the overall taste and consistency just did not please. It was not bad but just kind of ehh

Jonathan Main

Buffalo Ribs, slowly braised, smoked and smothered with our own tangy Jack

Daniels BBQ sauce. Served with historical BBQ heirloom beans and seasonal vegetable.

No, this is not an extreme close, they are that big. If you happen to go to The Fort and order these, order the half rack not the full! These were great, a sweet smoky flavor and meat that just fell off the bone. The beans were ok, but nothing special. The only down side if you can even call it that was the shear size of the platter which ended up being lunch and dinner the next day.

Our dessert.

Peaches topped with an oatmeal streusel served hot with vanilla ice cream and a lime-caramel sauce.

This was good and once again a huge portion the three of us split it but nothing really special just a good solid dessert.

If you would like pictures of the meal feel free to check out our blog at www.milehigheater.blogspot.com

[MCM]

I do not know why but I feel the Fort gets a bad rap amongst us locals. I happen to enjoy eating there as I have always found the food and the service to be very good.