The supper club concept was born in New York in the 1950s, courting guests with a single-stop dining, drinking and dancing socialite soiree. 7908 Aspen owner Roger Wilson—you might recognize the former actor and screenwriter as Mickey from the ’80s cult classic Porky’s—has put his raucous and regal spin on the party. Before you surrender to DJs under the disco ball, settle in for executive chef Byron Gomez’s delectable Colorado rack of lamb.
Gomez uses a Frenching technique to remove the meat and fat that connect the individual rib bones, tying it with butcher’s twine for a quick sear and then roasting the tender serving with grapeseed oil in a cast iron pan. He then finishes with rosemary, thyme and garlic aromatics, basting the lamb slowly with butter before finishing with a baked-on rosemary and parsley crust. The classic dish is served with charred locally sourced eggplant, shallots and a rich broken lamb fat gravy.
Master Sommelier Jonathan Pullis recommends pairing the dish with a syrah by Domaine Jean-Louis Chave from the northern Rhône. “The savory red cherry, blackberry, bacon and green piney notes really sing with lamb, especially when it has a herbaceous crust of parsley-rosemary,” Pullis says. 415 E. Hyman Ave., 970.516.7908
Photography by: shawn o’connor/7908
