The weekend is a long one – starting on Thursday – and includes a mix of receptions, cooking demos, special dinners and après ski events, as well as events that make use of the snow itself.
Snow Events
The on-the-snow options notably include a Friday Snowshoe & Gourmet Lunch. The morning is spent on a guided snow shoe tour of Beaver Creek’s Nordic Sports Center and McCoy Park, which will definitely earn you the right to tuck into a multicourse lunch prepared by Alex Seidel, chef at Denver’s celebrated restaurant Fruition. Seidel was on FOOD+WINE magazine’s 2010 list of best new chefs. The price is $135 a person, and includes equipment and lift access.
Downhill skiers have their own version of this event on Saturday, with a morning spent with Beaver Creek ski guides, and a gourmet lunch at the Ritz-Carlton in Bachelor Gulch Village prepared by one of Louisiana’s best known culinary stars John Besh. This event costs $120 per person and does not include a lift ticket. You can get another crack at John Besh’s cuisine at a Friday night dinner at Allie’s Cabin, a Beaver Creek restaurant. Besh collaborates with Kirk Weems, the executive chef of Allies’ Cabin on the menu, which runs $200 per person.
There’s also an opportunity to ski with the chefs, if you plan ahead. The last event of the weekend is a ski race and a brunch, in which John Besh, Gail Simmons, Tim Love and Spike Mendelsohn will lead a racing team of four – the slots to be auctioned off from January 1st to January 14th, 2013. The bidding begins at $300, and the proceeds benefit each leader’s chosen charity. The fastest chef will be honored at a brunch, which costs $50 to attend.
The Top Chef Connection
Fans of the Bravo TV series have a number of chances to gaze at the faces they know from Top Chef. Gail Simmons leaves judges table for a Friday cooking demonstration at Splendido at The Chateau, followed by a lunch with wine pairings, which runs $130 per person. She’s also headlining a cooking demonstration on Saturday at a larger event at Beaver Creek’s Vilar Performing Arts Center, followed by lunch and, of course, wine. This costs $115 per person.Former Top Chef contestants make their appearances too. On Friday, Spike Mendelsohn collaborates with Texas barbecue expert Tim Love for Après Ski Burgers and Beers This event is $50 per person, and it’s the only event of the festival that’s not restricted to those over the age of 21. (There’s a discount for those under the age of 14.) Another former contestant, Sam Talbot, co-produces a dinner with Splendido’s executive chef David Walford on Saturday, which runs $200 per person.
As far as the reception style events, the opening reception is bargain priced at $75, and the food is hors d'oeuvres prepared by Beaver Creek chefs. This is a casual affair: the attire is “mountain casual”, which means a jacket and tie and their female equivalent aren’t required. The Saturday night Grand Tasting at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa adds in celebrity chef cooking and runs $150 per person. This is considered semi-formal. Jacket and tie and cocktail dresses encouraged.
Plan Your Trip
- Tickets to festival events are purchased a la carte.
- if you book lodging at any of the participating properties at the resort, you’ll get 20% off of your admissions
- FOOD+WINE magazine is published by American Express publishing, American Express cardholders get access to some special packages.
