Denver restaurant week was awesome

Went to Terroir in Longmont the first day of Restaurant Week(s), February 26.  Here was the special menu:

First Course

Choice of one:

• Asparagus soup with citrus mascarpone ravioli and lobster
• Roasted Hazel Dell mushroom salad with arugula, Haystack chèvre and Meyer lemon vinaigrette
• Arancini with housemade mozzarella and roasted tomato sauce
• Sweet potato gnocchi with dried cherries, roasted onions and duck confit

Second Course

Choice of one:

• Grilled marlin served over spring vegetable risotto cake with snow peas and cucumber salpicon
• Long Family Farm pork shoulder confit served with spätzle, roasted carrots, chard and apple confit
• Grilled Colorado's Best Beef hanger steak served with chili roasted potatoes, jicama citrus salad and chimichurri
• Housemade seitan served with curried lentils and winter squash

Third Course

Choice of one:

• Lavender crème brûlée
• Chocolate caramel tart with smoked sea salt
• Warm pear crisp with honey whipped mascarpone cheese
• Ice cream sandwiches with ginger snap cookies and pumpkin ice cream

Additional Items

• Wine pairings with each course available for additional $15

I had the mushroom salad, hanger steak, and lavender brulee.  The mushrooms, goat cheese, and vinaigrette were unspeakably good in the salad, but the greens were a big, huge, tangled pile or arugula, which became tiresome after a while.  Would've been good to mix in some other kind of green, I think.  


The steak was to die for--heavily rubbed with cumin and perfectly mid-rare; the chimichurri sauce was light, but the steak didn't need it, anyway.  The potatoes were a rare treat underneath a generous pile of meat, but the jicama-grapefruit salad was too heavy-handed; it became a burden after a while.  I thought it seemed like a nice idea, a sort of cool-off from the other bites on the plate, but there was almost as much of it as there was steak, and the flavor was too sharp and demanding.  Perhaps a light creative slaw of some kind (and a smaller portion) would have worked better. 
  


The lavender creme brulee was brilliant: lavender was very present in the flavor, but it worked so well.  The top was heavily torched for maximum caramel-goodness and crunch.  


The wine pairings were "meh".  The Prosecco with dessert was the best.


My companion (OK, it was my husband) had the comforting, mild asparagus soup, the tasty but too-dry pork confit, and the amazing chocolate tart with salted carmel sauce.  


All in all, the meal was full of incredible experiences with a couple of distractions.  They shoot for the moon at Terroir and understandably experience an occasional near miss, but I think it's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.  


Terroir
246 Main St.
Longmont , CO 80501
303-651-0630