FRUITION
This elegant small restaurant continues
a legacy of epicurean excellence
By COLLEEN SMITH
Photography KIMBERLY DAWN
Fruition Restaurant is a small
establishment creating a big
buzz.
Foodies are falling in love
with Fruition’s “sophisticated comfort
food.” So are critics. With reviews that
glow like the candles in the sconces,
Fruition reigns as the latest darling
among the fine dining establishments
strung along the historic East Sixth
Avenue corridor in central Denver. The
upscale eatery occupies the same
building that once housed Patricia
Perry’s Today’s Gourmet, followed
eventually by Sean Kelly’s Clair de
Lune — both local pioneers in epicurean
excellence.
Fruition continues the legacy. If you
never made it to the other restaurants
that held sway on the same site, you
might be surprised to learn that the
shoebox-sized Fruition actually doubled
its square footage, having
acquired the neighboring space. Still,
its two dining rooms remain a bit
cramped, which means a limited number
of tables, which means you’ll want
reservations.
Fruition pulls off a cozy ambiance
with bookshelves and botanical pen
and ink drawings on the walls painted
in tones of butter and wine, but there
are no white tablecloths despite the
fact that this ranks as a white tablecloth
restaurant.
On a recent end-of-August evening,
taking sustenance at Fruition’s wood
tables were several mover/shaker
women, including a gossip columnist
from a Denver daily newspaper and a
financier who manages billions — with
a “b” — of dollars every year. The
crowd also included several tables of
women indulging in a culinary girls’
night out at the “in” spot.
Have you ever seen that Internet list
for women? The one listing all the marvelous
suggestions for females — like
how a gal should own at least one piece
of fine furniture that did not previously
belong to someone else? Well, here’s an
item overlooked by the list: fine dining.
Just as Anne Morrow Lindbergh (and
Virginia Woolf) were right that a woman
needs a room of her own, a woman does
well, at least once in a while, to indulge
in fine dining.
We’re in the midst of a food renaissance,
and all around town chefs are
cooking up meals that approach art.
That’s right, art. Because on the plate
and on the palate, some culinary creations
elicit the same responses as art:
breathtaking awe, moans and sighs,
reverent silence.
Of course, fine dining costs a lot
more than fast food, but ideally, it’s
worth it because with dining done
right, you’re purchasing a sensory
memory that will feed you long after
your credit card is swiped. That’s the
sort of restaurant Fruition aspires to be,
and they’re meeting with success.
Denver long has had the dubious distinction
of being a meat-and-potatoes
town, but along with our census information,
that’s changing; and perhaps
Fruition will find the following that will
sustain it.
I’ll drink to that! And Fruition pours
a fine Cosmopolitan and offers about a
dozen wines by the glass, including a
French sparkler.
As for the menu, it changes, no surprise,
seasonally. As summer waned,
sweet corn starred: The menu offered a
puree of sweet corn soup, sweet corn
relish for the seared scallops and cornbread
toast. Cash in on the carbohydrates
you’ve been cutting and accept
the fresh, sliced breads — white or
wheat — passed from a large wicker
basket. On the table, you’ll find a
Barbie-doll-sized porcelain skillet of
silky butter and a wooden spreader.
Fruition’s starters range from salads
to substantial selections like pasta carbonara
with house-cured pork belly,
handmade cavatelli and eggs in
Parmesan broth. I overheard the gossip
columnist mention that Elway’s chef
raves about the Oysters Rockefeller, so
if you are an oyster fan, and even if
you’ve never tasted a bivalve you relish,
sample the potato-wrapped oysters
served with a Parmesan-leek emulsion,
bacon lardons and baby spinach.
I read this dining tip once, and it’s a
sound bit of advice: If a menu item carries
the name of the restaurant — for
example, the Fruition Salad — the
establishment is particularly proud of
the dish. The Fruition Salad surprises
the palate with watercress, avocado
and crispy shallots, grilled asparagus
and red onion.
Yet if you are a serious salad person,
you won’t want to pass up the
innovative gaggle of ingredients
known as English Pea Shoot Salad.
Amalgamating lemon-cured salmon, fresh heart of palm and English peas
strewn like confetti, the chef tosses
the salad in pistachio vinaigrette.
Mmmmm. Even in late August, the
salad manages to conjure the flavors
of spring.
As for entrees, if you’re not a fairly
advanced gourmet, the menu could
intimidate you. But don’t let foodie lexicon
or French terms such as confit and
culotte or curious ingredients like halibut
cheeks or oyster mushroom veal
jus or Gwurztraminer-capers get in your
way. Trust that with chefs Alex Seidel
and Drew Inman you are in good gustatory
hands.
At Fruition, you’ll have a half-dozen
entrée options and a two-course “Grazing Vegetarians” choice, too.
Entrées arrive nestled in large white
well plates. The Maple Leaf Farms
Duck Breast presents a risotto accompanied
by grilled arugula and smoked
duck prosciutto and red onion marmalade.
I must admit, I never knew
smoked duck prosciutto or red onion
marmalade existed.
The chefs use preserved Meyer
lemon for the Mediterranean Herb
Grilled Chicken. Or if you’re not in a
fowl mood — sorry, but who can resist
such a cheesy pun? — try the Prime
Certified Stockyard Beef. This succulent
entrée arrives with duck fat
French fries and crumbles of exotic
cheese. The pork tenderloin, served
with roasted Mission figs and haricots
verts, is tasty, too. A caveat: The other
white meat is served on the pink side;
the beef is rare, too. If you prefer your
protein more thoroughly cooked,
inform your server.
The opinionated columnist at the
adjacent table pronounced her fish dish “Duh-LISH-ous! Yummmy yummy yum
yum!” Meanwhile, the financier
walked out with a smile on her face
and a glaze in her eye — the kind that
comes from being satiated with
scrumptious flavors.
Fruition prepares coffee in a French
press and tempts with desserts that
include lemon meringue pie to satisfy
your sweet-sour tooth. This is not your
mother’s lemon meringue. No wedge,
it’s a stout tower with a cookie-crust
base, smooth filling with pucker power
mitigated by a cloud of browned
meringue and accompanied by a ladle
of fresh blueberry compote. It’s startlingly
luscious.
Fruition’s chefs are rooted at sea
level in Carmel and Pebble Beach,
Calif., and in the high country, namely
Sweet Basil in Vail and most recently in
the Mile High City’s Mizuna. Now
catering to equally epicurean whims
and wonders, Fruition is neither bud
nor blossom — nothing to do with
potential, but all about actualization, a
restaurant ripe for the picking. So
when you have a big occasion, pick this
little restaurant because at Fruition,
everything’s coming up roses. And
roses, remember, are technically fruit.
FRUITION
RESTAURANT
1313 East Sixth Ave.
www.fruitionrestaurant.com
Reservations: (303) 831-1962
