Palace Arms Restaurant: Denver Restaurant Review

The Brown Palace Hotel is located on Tremont Street in downtown Denver. Your experience at this fancy hotel starts with the doorman assisting you with valet parking. The Brown Palace Hotel is billed as the only Mobil Four-Star and AAA Four Diamond Hotel. Located in the Brown Palace Hotel, the Palace Arms is an upper-end restaurant serving everything from caviar to octopus and bison. Expect to pay up to $50 for an entrée. If you're out with friends and feel like splurging, let the chef recommend a six course menu for $80 a person.

A jacket is optional, but you may want to dress up to go to dinner. If you forgot your jacket at home, the restaurant does have a few extras. Seeing the tables with their fancy white tablecloths will inspire you to wear something nice, as will the waiters in their white tuxedos.

Since the wine list is nearly 40 pages long, it's best to ask your server for a recommendation. The restaurant specializes in California Cabernet, Bordeaux, and Burgundy.

You'll enjoy seeing the Napoleonic pistols and the armor and weapons that are on display in the restaurant.

Bread is served on a silver salver and then transferred by the waiter to a side bread dish. You have a choice of brioche or sourdough. I prefer the sourdough.

If money is no object, try the buttery, Osetra Caviar as an appetizer. Ask your server for market price.

Crab cakes are a tasty appetizer that comes with micro greens, baby vegetables, lemongrass, and basil.

The Caesar Salad for Two is prepared tableside. It's so much fun to watch the waiter's presentation and the interested stares of the other diners.

The Seasonal Greens Salad has the crunch of spicy candied walnuts, the rich color of grape tomato, and the zesty taste of manchego cheese. Topped with walnut vinaigrette, it's a feast for the eyes and the taste buds.

For your entrée, I recommend the Day Boat Scallops. Placed atop lobster ravioli, the presentation is then finished with vanilla caviar, butter cream, lime, and cauliflower. Each scallop is so tender; you'll be swooning with every bite.

The Kurobuta Pork is braised in star anise, glossed with ginger, and then set in a pool of truffle vinaigrette. They are so tender; you can cut them with a fork. Coconut, mango curry and a rice puff accompany this succulent pork.

It isn't dessert in a French restaurant unless it's flaming. The Classic Bananas Foster is prepared tableside. Once the dessert is ignited, the flames leap in the air, and you can hear the excited whispers and gasps from the other envious diners.

For peanut butter lovers such as me, the Whimsical PB& J will take you back to your childhood. A thick slice of cake-like bread is topped with creamsicle flavored ice cream and finished with peanut butter sauce.

The next time you're looking for a romantic, Denver restaurant to have a fancy dinner in, try the Palace Arms. It's an experience you won't forget. Reservations can be made at OpenTable.com.

www.brownpalace.com/pdf/Palace_Arms_Dinner_Menu_08.pdf
culinary-colorado.blogspot.com/2008/02/palace-arms-on-road-to-redemption.html