We ate in the bar lounge of the new Aspen Silver Queen restaurant this past month. The chic streamlined feel gave my date an “at home” feeling. The minimalist bar decor flows into dining room highlighted by the bling of the chandeliers and the best window tables in town. The average age on this particular night was refreshingly younger than one comes to expect in other upscale Aspen restaurants.
Ordering mostly from the bar menu we mixed it up, starting with Aspen Brewing Company Blonde ($5/draft) which is a new favorite. As for bites, the first was the hummus, pita, & olive plate ($7). Unfortunately for us hummus lovers, it just didn’t hit the mark. To tempting not to test was the cheese stuffed pretzel ($6), which once presented looked alot like the dinner rolls and not like a traditional pretzel, hesitantly we cut into it and were pleasantly surprised at how good it was, served with a tasty dipping sauce. The chicken wings ($8) with chim-chirri were served sauceless, which was great to expose the natural crispy goodness of the wing but the chim-chirri sprinkled atop the wing, although good, just kept falling off making it hard to eat with the wing.
The menu was in for a bit of a change, so we had to forgo the mussels altogether and exchange the lobster gnocchi ($15) for a scallop gnocchi, which was a small disappointment. The Papusa ($12) was deconstructed so it just wasn’t what we were looking for, a papusa. The kale salad served atop couscous ($11) was another great surprise, fresh, clean, and good. Also a favorite among the table, was the roasted red pepper and tomato soup ($10), which was a beautiful hearty soup in a freshly baked bread bowl.
With only two desserts offered that evening we order both the soft chocolate cake ($9) & trio of ice cream ($9, apple cider, sage, chocolate) and quickly realized we should have passed on both. The apple cider ice cream seemed to lack any flavor while the sage had way to much. The chocolate cake didn’t taste like chocolate nor cake, we are still trying to figure that one out. Disappointingly we left the desserts unfinished at the table, which is nearly a first for us.
Throughout our dinner at the Silver Queen it was a series of hits and misses. While there were some tasty treats that would definitely bring us back, the food didn’t completely wow us, however the great service and good atmosphere made it all a pleasant and comfortable evening out in Aspen and the total bill of $111 seemed rather affordable for 3.
– an eatAspen DKD review
Visit the Silver Queen listing for Restaurant Menu and more.
Share your Aspen restaurant review of the Silver Queen.
2 Comments