Flagstaff House is a restaurant located on Flagstaff Mountain, in Boulder, CO. The property has an interesting history (originally a summer cabin), and now today a destination restaurant, with absolutely stunning views over the valley below.
Flagstaff House is an establishment generally intended for celebrations, aimed to impress. They primarily serve a tasting menu, or a "simple" 3 course menu for $88, with your choice of "1st" (essentially appetizers, with great options like pate, burrata, etc), "2nd" (seemingly small entrees, including foie gras, seafood, lobster, a fantastic looking wild mushroom popover, and more), and "3rd" (heavier main dishes, like filet mignon, lamb shank, rib eye). If you have space, desserts are an additional $12.
My visit however was for a group dinner, the other speciality of the location. We had a large group, more than 100 people, and had the entire dining room for our event.
Flagstaff House is an establishment generally intended for celebrations, aimed to impress. They primarily serve a tasting menu, or a "simple" 3 course menu for $88, with your choice of "1st" (essentially appetizers, with great options like pate, burrata, etc), "2nd" (seemingly small entrees, including foie gras, seafood, lobster, a fantastic looking wild mushroom popover, and more), and "3rd" (heavier main dishes, like filet mignon, lamb shank, rib eye). If you have space, desserts are an additional $12.
My visit however was for a group dinner, the other speciality of the location. We had a large group, more than 100 people, and had the entire dining room for our event.
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| A Nice Looking Meal. |
Everything was presented beautifully. For large group dining in particular, they nailed this.
The ingredients were clearly high quality, well sourced, and prepared well.
The staff were attentive, pacing was reasonable, and they were clearly professionals in all ways, very experienced with doing large events, as I think it is a common wedding venue.
That said, I didn't love my main dish (although a co-worker had a fantastic option), and I really disliked the main dessert (although I had a replacement). So, mixed.
I'd be happy to return not for an event, to see how the restaurant does when not serving so many people at once, and, having the chance to order off the regular menu. Oh, and to get that amazing dessert again ...
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| Dinner Menu. |
Our lineup was:
Cure Farms Mixed Lettuces: Goat Cheese, Vegetables, Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette.
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Choice of:
- Filet Mignon & Braised Short Ribs / yukon gold potato puree, broccoli, sauce of cabernet sauvignon
- Nova Scotia Halibut / gnocchi, Haricot Vert, Tree Oyster Mushrooms, Arugula Pesto.
- Rohan Duck Breast / orange braised barley, goat cheese, plum coulis
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Honeycrisp Apple Tart / Maple & Cinnamon Ice CreamI selected the halibut, but also got to try the filet. One of these was fantastic, the other, highly mediocre. Kudos for offering something other than chicken too, but I wasn't excited about the duck.
I also managed to have a different dessert, more in this soon, that was truly incredible.
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| Wines. |
I'm not sure if I was just being really picky, or if these were low end wines, or what was going on, but I really disliked every single one of them.
After we placed our orders, bread service was presented tableside, with a server coming around with a basket.
The bread, garlic roasted focaccia, was above average: warm (thank you!), moist, and really quite good, although there was not much garlic flavor. Bread was generously offered and re-offered for a short time period, after which, we never saw the bread guy again, which was unfortunate, because I would have liked some with the main dish to lap up sauces.
The butter was also better than average, served soft (thank you! No ripping the bread trying to apply hard butter),topped with large crystals of red salt.
"Goat Cheese, Vegetables, Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette."
We had no choice for starter, just, salad. My notes on this were pretty simple, "nice looking, but, boring". Which about sums it up.
The mixed lettuce salad changes out seasonally at Flagstaff House, and, being fall, it featured fall vegetables, raw sliced beets (both red and yellow) and fennel. The creamy component was supposed to come from goat cheese, but since I hate goat cheese, I had that left off mine (no problem, I just mentioned it when giving my main dish order). I was sad to have missed the summer vegetable version that ended a few weeks ago with parmesan cream instead.
The salad was nice looking though, vibrant from the colorful beets. The lettuces were assorted, fresh, crisp. Everything seemed good quality, but, very boring, and I don't really like raw beets.
The vinaigrette was just a basic vinaigrette, I didn't taste tomato. It was lightly dressed, well mixed, again, quality, just, boring. Much better than most wedding reception offerings, with wilty lettuce or a big clump of dressing dumped on top.
The salad lacked any seasoning, and I joked about "where is the fresh ground pepper?", until I heard the next table mentioning that there wasn't even salt and pepper shakers around.
So, kudos for plating it fresh, sourcing good ingredients, and not drowning it in dressing, but, bo-ring.
"Gnocchi, Haricot Vert, Tree Oyster Mushrooms, Arugula Pesto."
I was really, really, really thrilled at our options for the main course. I looked right past the duck, the filet, and zeroed in on the seafood option. Halibut. One of my favorite seafoods. And gnocchi? I love gnocchi. And fancy earthy mushrooms? This dish was totally up my alley. This dish is also on the regular dinner menu, with blue crab added to it, which sounds even better.
The presentation was lovely, thin sliced haricot vert and herbs perched on top, a nice sized piece of halibut, with the gnocchi, mushrooms, and pesto underneath. The dish was a mixed success.
The halibut should have been the star of the plate, but, sadly it was not great. It was lukewarm, and dried out. Oooph. Clearly it suffered from the group serving. I could do without the haricot vert on top, not that there was anything wrong with it, just not really a component I wanted.
The gnocchi though were quite tasty, cheesy, soft yet slightly crisp. I wished there was more. The pesto too was quite good, and there was plenty of it. I loved the flavor and texture of the pesto. And I adored the few chunks of tree oyster mushrooms that I had.
So the base of the plate? Fantastic. Loved that. I would have been quite pleased with a full size vegetarian dish of gnocchi, pesto, and mushrooms. Really though, I think if this was served normally at the restaurant, rather than in the group setting, it likely would have succeeded.
"Yukon gold potato puree, broccoli, sauce of cabernet sauvignon."
My neighbor opted for the filet mignon. I don't normally take pictures of dishes I don't intend to eat, but, I was blown away when I saw it. Perfect mid-rare? For a group? And yes, every plate that came out of this kitchen looked like this. They did a far better job with the steak than the fish.
Eventually I sheepishly asked if I could try a bite of the potatoes, mostly because I was so sad that my entree was lackluster. The potatoes were nicely done, incredibly smooth and creamy, definitely a potato puree as advertised, not a mashed potato. I liked the cabernet sauce with them.
And then my companion offered a bite of the filet. I didn't say no.
It was as good as it looked. Incredibly tender. Juicy, nicely cooked, quality product. I'm not sure where the "braised short ribs" listed on the menu were though?
He clearly "won" the entree round. We also had someone who ordered the duck, and it didn't look great, a little dried out, and paired with grains ... eh.
After our dishes were cleared, each table received one of these trays, with no explanation.
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| Garlic Roasted Focaccia & Red Salt Butter. |
The bread, garlic roasted focaccia, was above average: warm (thank you!), moist, and really quite good, although there was not much garlic flavor. Bread was generously offered and re-offered for a short time period, after which, we never saw the bread guy again, which was unfortunate, because I would have liked some with the main dish to lap up sauces.
The butter was also better than average, served soft (thank you! No ripping the bread trying to apply hard butter),topped with large crystals of red salt.
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| Starter: CURE FARMS MIXED LETTUCES | . |
We had no choice for starter, just, salad. My notes on this were pretty simple, "nice looking, but, boring". Which about sums it up.
The mixed lettuce salad changes out seasonally at Flagstaff House, and, being fall, it featured fall vegetables, raw sliced beets (both red and yellow) and fennel. The creamy component was supposed to come from goat cheese, but since I hate goat cheese, I had that left off mine (no problem, I just mentioned it when giving my main dish order). I was sad to have missed the summer vegetable version that ended a few weeks ago with parmesan cream instead.
The salad was nice looking though, vibrant from the colorful beets. The lettuces were assorted, fresh, crisp. Everything seemed good quality, but, very boring, and I don't really like raw beets.
The vinaigrette was just a basic vinaigrette, I didn't taste tomato. It was lightly dressed, well mixed, again, quality, just, boring. Much better than most wedding reception offerings, with wilty lettuce or a big clump of dressing dumped on top.
The salad lacked any seasoning, and I joked about "where is the fresh ground pepper?", until I heard the next table mentioning that there wasn't even salt and pepper shakers around.
So, kudos for plating it fresh, sourcing good ingredients, and not drowning it in dressing, but, bo-ring.
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| Main: NOVA SCOTIA HALIBUT. | . |
I was really, really, really thrilled at our options for the main course. I looked right past the duck, the filet, and zeroed in on the seafood option. Halibut. One of my favorite seafoods. And gnocchi? I love gnocchi. And fancy earthy mushrooms? This dish was totally up my alley. This dish is also on the regular dinner menu, with blue crab added to it, which sounds even better.
The presentation was lovely, thin sliced haricot vert and herbs perched on top, a nice sized piece of halibut, with the gnocchi, mushrooms, and pesto underneath. The dish was a mixed success.
The halibut should have been the star of the plate, but, sadly it was not great. It was lukewarm, and dried out. Oooph. Clearly it suffered from the group serving. I could do without the haricot vert on top, not that there was anything wrong with it, just not really a component I wanted.
The gnocchi though were quite tasty, cheesy, soft yet slightly crisp. I wished there was more. The pesto too was quite good, and there was plenty of it. I loved the flavor and texture of the pesto. And I adored the few chunks of tree oyster mushrooms that I had.
So the base of the plate? Fantastic. Loved that. I would have been quite pleased with a full size vegetarian dish of gnocchi, pesto, and mushrooms. Really though, I think if this was served normally at the restaurant, rather than in the group setting, it likely would have succeeded.
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| Main: Filet Mignon & Braised Short Ribs. |
My neighbor opted for the filet mignon. I don't normally take pictures of dishes I don't intend to eat, but, I was blown away when I saw it. Perfect mid-rare? For a group? And yes, every plate that came out of this kitchen looked like this. They did a far better job with the steak than the fish.
Eventually I sheepishly asked if I could try a bite of the potatoes, mostly because I was so sad that my entree was lackluster. The potatoes were nicely done, incredibly smooth and creamy, definitely a potato puree as advertised, not a mashed potato. I liked the cabernet sauce with them.
And then my companion offered a bite of the filet. I didn't say no.
It was as good as it looked. Incredibly tender. Juicy, nicely cooked, quality product. I'm not sure where the "braised short ribs" listed on the menu were though?
He clearly "won" the entree round. We also had someone who ordered the duck, and it didn't look great, a little dried out, and paired with grains ... eh.
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| Whipped Cream, Sugars, Chips, Mints? |
The two corners looked like they housed a little whipped cream. The middle edges were mini chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. The very center looked like Jordan almonds at first glance, but were clearly not quite the right shape. And everything else ... looked like fancy salts? We were confused.
I'm used to pre-desserts and whatnot, but this was just odd. Also, our table had 6 people, and only one of these platters? With only 3 of the little colorful almond looking things?
Finally, we asked someone about it, and we were told it was for the coffee service. Even once we were offered coffee, no one told us what it was though. Finally we asked again, and were told the whipped cream was unsweetened cream (offered instead of cream or milk for the coffee), and that the items that looked like salts were different sugars. Still no details on what the 4 different sugars actually were (one seemed to be simple regular white granulated sugar, another had larger white crystals, another was brown sugar, and the final was almost rock candy like). There were no details given on those middle little things (they seemed to be chocolate mints, and yes, I decided to be the rude one who took one, even though we only had 3).
I see what they were going for with this, and it was a somewhat cute and fun way to serve your cream and sugar for coffee, but ... yeah. Odd.
That said, it didn't go to waste, we happily added whipped cream to our desserts, and nibbled on the chocolate chips ...
Just as our desserts were brought out, a server came by asking if we'd like coffee. Those of us who said yes were given a mug. Another server came by later with carafes of coffee, filling cups.
I opted for decaf since it was late, and I don't normally even drink decaf that late, but, I did want something to pair with dessert.
It was actually pretty good. Smooth, no funk, not acidic. I would happily drink a full mug earlier in the day, but limited myself to just a few sips alongside dessert.
Our dessert was ... a tart. An apple tart. I don't really care for tarts, and I don't really care for apples. Sure, it had ice cream with it, but, eh! Never what I'd pick.
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| Decaf Coffee. |
I opted for decaf since it was late, and I don't normally even drink decaf that late, but, I did want something to pair with dessert.
It was actually pretty good. Smooth, no funk, not acidic. I would happily drink a full mug earlier in the day, but limited myself to just a few sips alongside dessert.
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| Dessert: Honeycrisp Apple Tart / Maple & Cinnamon Ice Cream | . |
In my dietary constraints though, along with my severe watermelon allergy and moderate avocado allergy, I also had my aversion to pine nuts, goat cheese, and apples. And thus, a replacement dessert was offered (more soon).
But, uh, luckily for dessert loving me, there was someone who didn't want their apple tart, so I actually got to try that as well. No buyer's remorse here!
The tart wasn't very good. Served lukewarm. Topped with sliced cooked spiced apples, not too mushy, but also just very boring. The tart base was a thin chunk of pastry, not thick at all, very lost with the apples.
On top was ice cream, I think housemade, and actually decent ice cream, quite creamy and smooth, although I didn't detect maple, and barely any cinnamon. It was nice ice cream.
And then ... topped with fresh julienne apples? This felt very out of place. I see what the pastry chef was going for, integrating the cooked and raw versions of the same ingredient, two different textures, two different cuts of the fruit but ... raw apple on ice cream just didn't do it for me.
Overall, quite lackluster, and I'm very glad I had an alternative.
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| Dessert: VANILLA BEAN CRÉME BRULEE / Fresh Berries. |
The crème brûlée came topped with fruit. Tons of fruit. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. A bit of an odd presentation, no question. Isn't crème brûlée supposed to be about seeing, and experiencing, the brûlée top? You couldn't easily perform the "tap test" under all that fruit!
But anyway. It actually was quite good crème brûlée. Fairly textbook, really. The top layer did pass my tap test once I reached it, cracking with a good tap, not a wimpy layer, but not too thick either. Lovely caramelized flavor, intense, but not burnt.
The pudding was creamy, rich, nicely set. Nothing negative to say there, not runny nor loose, and it had decent vanilla bean flavor.
I prefer crème brûlée freshly made to order so the top is still a bit warm and the custard cold, and this clearly was done in advance, but, besides that, this was as good as a classic crème brûlée is going to get. I was pleasantly surprised.
As for the fruit, the strawberry was a big letdown, it looked fine, ripe, red, nicely sliced and laid out, but it was very sour. The blueberries and raspberries though were good, fresh, ripe, flavorful in the right ways. While I didn't really want the fruit on top the crème brûlée, I'll admit that the fruit and custard, once I reached it, were a nice pairing.
Overall, this was very good, definitely in the top 10 crème brûlée I have had in my life, perhaps even top 5. Clear highlight of the meal. It certainly made me wonder what their other items from the regular menu are like.
On the regular dessert menu, this item is $12.
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