"Learn to expand your horizons… what doesn't kill us
makes us stronger" – Carrie Shores.
Table 6
609 Corona Street
303-831-8800
table6denver.com
A popular,
cozy and comfortable neighborhood bistro in Washington Park, Denver. My venue of
choice in which to celebrate reaching the latter stages of a life rapidly
approaching the mid-term.
Carrie
Shores recently took over from executive Chef Scott Parker in July this year.
Parker previously worked with Bryan Moscatello at Adega on Wynkoop Street
downtown. Table 6, from it’s emergence in 2003, over a ten-year period, Parker
established the eatery as one of the finest in Denver – winning the Westword
‘Best American Restaurant’ award in 2012. Parker had a wicked sense of humor in
his interpretation of American comfort food. Its firm hospitality policy has
also ensured its success, drawing both anonymous locals and renowned Colorado
politicos such as John Hickenlooper, Roy Romer, Dick Lamm and Andrew Romanoff
to this reliable and congenial oasis.
A
disadvantage of its popularity is that even on nights during the week it can be
noisy, although this doesn’t distract from the overall ambience. The staff are just plain friendly and helpful
with advice on drinks and food. Letting the establishment know in advance that
we were celebrating a birthday we were presented with a complimentary glass of Cava,
which got us off to a good start. My drink of choice was a Belgian sour ale
‘Duchesse De Bourgogne.’ I am a complete virgin to this line of beer and found
it refreshing, a dark reddish brown colour and slightly sparkling with a sweet
and sour nutting taste, and a hint of salt with dried fruity undertones.
The
menu looks a little like a shopping list of abbreviated ingredients, when (in
my humble opinion) it should resemble an ecstatic poem in honour of the arts
gastronomic. We commenced with the Baby greens, honeycrisp apple and beet
salad. Finely balanced in taste and texture… actually beautiful. We shared the
Chicken oyster flatbread (the flatbread toppings change on a daily basis) which
was the highlight of the entire meal. A confusion occurred in this respect, we
failed to correctly interpret ‘chix’ and imagined that we were getting actual
oysters. Nevertheless the presentation and flavor was amazing, smoky and salty,
with the sweetness of butternut squash and dressed mixed leaves combined with a
smooth and creamy goat’s cheese sauce on hot bread. Really, it was something a rustic Greek
shepherd would be nibbling as a snack atop one of those craggy moss encrusted
hill-tops. My entrée was definitely less than successful. I opted for the Maple
pork loin and oat risotto. The word which first came to my mind in attempting
to describe this dish was ‘vulvic.’ It is extremely hard for me to be critical
without being offensive; I was confronted by a large mass of soft meat plopped
on top of a bowl of watery porridge. It had an acidic taste that reminded me of
gastric juices offset by the bitterness of the escarole underneath. The only
‘bite’ to the whole composition was from a Tallegio cheese crisp, which
actually in terms of flavor didn’t prevent me from drowning in a nightmarish
bath of agrodolce. Sweet and sour more in terms of an experiment rather than
elevating my palate. In other words, the food had the distinct taste, texture
and appearance of a heavy regurgitation of primal elements. My wife had the
Mussels with spicy sausage, white beans and fennel, a creative version of the
classic ‘moules provencale.’ The
combination of the aniseed flavor of the fennel and tomato, creates a solid and
substantial background to the mussels. A sturdy dish albeit rather ‘run of the
mill.’
Fortunately
our waitress saved the night with (again) a complimentary dessert of cinnamon
doughnuts and chocolate sauce. Unfortunately it wasn’t good; the doughnuts had
a stale stodgy texture, and most definitely did not have the scrumptious taste
of freshly fried dough, and were dumped on top of a sticky mass of marmalade. I
presume that the pastry chef was absent this evening.
The
three course meal, with two drinks costing in the region of $90. Hospitality was above board and excellent.
Food was disappointing and I would give it 4/10. Chef Carrie Shores seems to be
on a sweet-sour express which is reflected in the majority of the meals.
All Right Reserved / Copyright David John Drew 2013.
