Continuing my posts about the Fort, a historic restaurant in the hills outside of Denver, we arrive at my entree, the Game Plate. It was a bison filet, an elk steak, and a teriyaki quail. I was on a quest to eat things that I would not be able to easily find in New Jersey or New York, you see. I also love good steak but never order it out for dieting reasons. Since I was on vacation, I was splurging all over the place.

Please forgive the slightly lower quality; I was seated a few feet from a window in a dark building, and the sun was going down. Out of courtesy, I never use flash in a restaurant. These low-light photos were taken with my wonderful Mark II 50mm Canon lens that is amazingly only $90.

The elk chop is the larger cut on top. It was great! This was the most meat I’ve eaten in one sitting in literally years, period, because even when we eat it at home, I limit myself to 5 oz. The flavor and texture were wonderful. Sometimes gamey meat has a bad connotation to it but there was nothing ‘off’ or ‘rancid’ or ‘vegetal’ about the flavor that I recall.

Steaks at the Fort

That bird sticking out is a quail in teriyaki sauce. It’s a wee bird for sure. I never eat non-breast chicken so this, too, was an unusual feat for me, and I wasn’t quite sure how to eat it, so I tore it apart with my fork. I think that’s a good sign, as it was very tender, but this property might have do with how small a quail is. There was never more than an inch thickness of meat at any given point. The teriyaki sauce was good but I imagined it overshadowed any unique flavors of the quail. However, I thought this was tasty, and I’d eat it again.

The photo makes me laugh because it’s like the quail is the wicked witch in the wizard of oz. An elk steak fell on it instead of a house.

Quail and Elk steak in the Fort's Game Plate

I love rare meat, as it has more flavor and juiciness to me. I prefer the meltingly soft texture of a rare cut to the stringy texture of something well-done. The bison was, as you can see, quite rare, and I was pretty pleased. It’s also a lean meat – bison is low fat and in fact does not have the same ‘marbled’ property as beef at all.

Piece of bison steak

So there I was, a young woman in a dress, sitting alone, eating two appetizers, a salad, and a plate of game, to be followed by two desserts, most of which I didn’t eat. This young woman also had a camera and a bag of lenses.

Now, it’s not unusual, in the Tristate area (NJ, PA, NY), to have a manager come over to your table once in awhile and ask how you are. I have been asked that many times when I did not have a camera on me. When my waiter and then a manager asked me how my meal was, I thought that was normal.

Then the owner came over.

She asked asked me point blank if I was live-blogging(!) because I was texting up a storm. I was indeed giving my significant other the blow-by-blow because he was at home in NJ, eating pizza. I was also tweeting the meal to GoodTastePhoto but much, much less frequently. Flustered, I forgot about that, and said no, I was just talking to a friend and liked taking pictures. (with a pro-amateur camera.)

She was actually a very nice woman, but our resulting conversation was awkward because I was seriously thrown by her question and whether I had answered it legitimately. I was a blogger, obviously. I hadn’t been live-blogging, more like live-tweeting, but I revealed soon into our chat that I did have a website, to make it clear. She mentioned The Fort had a cookbook coming out in November with historic recipes and photos, and I enthusiastically said I’d mention it on my site, but I was a little unsure if that was a hint like “Don’t take photos because we’ll be selling our own soon”. I left my business card in the bill with a note that she could email me if she didn’t want me to post them, but she did not.

Again, she was very nice! It was mostly awkward because of me – I was simply so surprised, as well as nervous that she’d ask me not to post them. I’ve never, ever been asked about my photos or camera before, in years of doing this. I’m always very courteous as well – I don’t use flash,  I don’t make a show out of myself by posing the food, and I take as few shots as possible because of the clicking noise. I will say I was a little less discrete than usual in Colorado because 1) I was on a vacation in which eating was a main component, and 2) I was alone, so I didn’t have companions to embarrass.

I’m not sure what the lesson here is. Is my camera more unusual in Colorado than it is in NYC? I have to guess so, but she was astute enough to mention live-blogging, so I don’t know whether she came over because this was unusual or if she specifically mentioned live-blogging because it wasn’t.

After I spoke with her, my waiter told me that the owner is the daughter of the previous owner. The family has not only owned the restaurant since at least the 70s, but the surrounding area, too. I have a soft spot for these sorts of stories, and when he mentioned that I could go back on the patio and wander around the property for awhile and take some pictures, I was pretty thrilled.

The back of the Fort restaurant

I had specifically timed my meal so I would be there at sunset. The Fort is positioned on the hills that overlook Denver, near the gorgeous Red Rock Amphitheatre, so the view is tremendous. You can see the city in the distance, some farmland, and some red rock behind you. While there, a bunny hopped up next to my foot, and I caught the most spectacular moonrise I have ever seen. The moon was caught behind some clouds, so when it finally peaked over them, it was like it was materializing out of thin air like a Cheshire Cat’s smile. I felt very lucky to be there.

Moonrise over the hills outside of Denver

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