Why Are the Restaurants So Bad in Aspen?

Final grades:
Syzygy gets a B. But had a great wine selection.
Montagna gets a B, or if you want to recognize the effort infused into the terrific antipasti, a B+.
Piñons gets an A-.

So the question remains: Why? WHY? Why doesn't Aspen have a great restaurant?

There are all manner of explanations.

Aspen is so rich, there are too many private chefs. I don't buy it. The restaurants are busy, and the rich transients eat out a lot and would patronize a great place.

Rents are exorbitant and the prices people are willing to pay cannot support a great restaurant. WHAT? The prices are already high for what one gets. And a town filled with millionaires would not spend a few hundred dollars on a great dining experience? Surely rents for the best places in New York, Chicago, or San Francisco are competitive with those in Aspen.

Insufficient year-round demand. Once upon a time Aspen was only a ski resort, but now it is a year-round destination. So many things are going on, from the comedy festival to Food + Wine to the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Fortune Brainstorm conference, it is hard for anyone to find a free week to book another event. Furthermore, it is not as if Napa and Sonoma have more people passing through than Aspen—but those valleys have numerous great food establishments.

The growing season is so short there are not the ingredients for a great restaurant. With great lamb—and great game, such as elk and bison—outside the door, and berries and all manner of vegetables just miles down the road in Paonia, Orchard City, and surrounding towns, this seems hard to believe. And then there is the obvious question of why Chicago or New York—far from ranches and organic vegetable growers—seem to get the fresh ingredients for great restaurants.

Maybe the rich aren't like you and me. Maybe they are so preoccupied by making money, they don't care about enjoying the great things of life, like great food. Don't we wish they were uncultured bores.

I don't know, but I have not yet heard a plausible explanation for my question. But I do know that dining in Aspen is always a disappointment and by all rights should be much, much better than it is. Maybe next year.

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