DINING OUT OF DENVER

February / March, 2012

Germany Meets Colorado at Chinook Tavern

Family-run restaurant reflects owners' roots in Germany and choice of Colorado.

By Claire Walter

The Chinook Tavern bridges two cultures and two cuisines. The name says "North American West," while the restaurant's menu conveys Germany. The Georg family hails from Darmstadt, Germany, where father Manfred was an architect and mother Liselotte painted in a vibrant folk-art style and raised three sons. During a road trip across America, Manfred was taken by Colorado. The family relocated and opened the Chinook Tavern in Cherry Creek North, which for 14 years was a favorite of European expats and Yanks seeking authentic German food in Denver's most fashionable area.

Landlord issues caused the restaurant to close. After a planned move to the Landmark development fell through, the Georgs found raw ground--floor space in a new Fiddlers Green office tower. Undaunted by the long skinny concrete shell and captivated by the location just steps from light rail, they signed on. Manfred began sketching a concept for dividing 9,000 square feet of challenging space into intimate, inviting rooms. He started on a Thursday, and by Sunday all elements were in place. Son Clemens says that only formal renderings and plans were needed, but the essence of what Manfred had conceived is what we see today: a big, beautiful restaurant with elegant fishes.

Happy hour and other socializing center around the bar with a backlit, translucent base and a row of gleaming brass beer taps. The coffee bar corner features Chinook's Stammtisch, a table where regular customers gather for conversation and camaraderie. This commodious corner table is scarred from years of use but also because the wood was a floor joist salvaged during the Cherry Creek location's remodel. It is the only furniture the Georgs brought with them.

The dining area is subdivided into smaller sections and features tabletops of rare old heart pine fished up from river bottoms, Liselotte's cheerful artworks and two fireplaces. The effect is both elegant and cozy. A spacious deck along one side of the building is similarly flexible and can be divided between dining and socializing in the warm months. A custom-made gas-fueled fire pit looks like a sculpture by day and a fire by night.

Markus Georg, the executive chef, balances the menu with traditional Continental items and contemporary presentations and dishes adopted from French, Italian and Asian culinary strains. Long-time regulars followed the Chinook Tavern to Fiddlers Green for the classic Wiener Schnitzel with roasted potatoes, Jägerschnitzel with a sublime wild mushroom sauce and Spätzle and a German cherry and mixed-berry pudding of sorts called Rote Grütze that is topped with silky crème anglais. A more contemporary but also popular dish is an elegant assemblage of red trout, spinach, fingerling potatoes and berry-accented beurre blanc. And yes, they offer ever-popular pizzas and burgers too. The food, like the décor and the owners themselves, links Old World and New World ways.

Chinook Tavern
6380 South Fiddlers Green Circle
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
720-266-6000,
chinookdenver.com

Claire Walter is a freelance travel and food writer. Her award-winning blogs include travel-babel.com and culinary-colorado.com, which are Colorado-focused but not Colorado-exclusive. She can be reached at cmwalter@claire-walter.com.