wordplay by orange peel moses
images by 211photography/David Schmidt

Cherry Creek is a tough market to crack.  As most of the neighborhood’s residents are fairly well off, financially speaking, their tastes not-so-surprisingly reflect their net worth.  In other words, people who can afford to be finicky often are.  When the owners of the basement level space at 231 Milwaukee (most recently home to Steak au Poivre) began brainstorming about how to transform the room into one that would appeal to the available patrons, they took a nanosecond or two (or three) to consider which of the area’s watering holes were banking and why.  Armed with that newfound insight, they hired designer Kristina Veio to go all out—to go to town and manifest the aesthetically pleasing opulence that is now Bar Luxe.

Upon one’s initial descent of the stairs leading down to Luxe’s outermost doors, the very first feature that anyone but a blind man or woman will inevitably notice is the patio.  Whereas most patios, both mile high and otherwise, proudly tout their unhindered exposure to the sun, this particular one’s a little shady, but several large heat lamps thankfully compensate for the resulting lack of solar warmth.  Inside the foyer, a choose-your-own-adventure scenario of sorts exists, as there are entrances Luxe’s white tablecloth sister restaurant Euro, and the bar in question.  To reiterate, Veio seriously outdid herself.  Based on the bar’s color scheme, anyone braving a barely educated guestimation about the kind of clientele she was attempting to entice just might find the first word to escape their trap, “angels.”  From the slightly impure marble bar top to the booths covered in a vinyl resembling albino crocodile skin, a lack of color completely dominates the interior décor.  Luckily, one cannot honestly make any such statement about the fare that parades out of Euro’s kitchen. 

Luxe Marketing Consultant Jennifer Rushford unexpectedly joined the big cheese and eye one night for a Gazpacho “3 Ways” (traditional tomato, grape cilantro and my personal fav, a palate-refreshing cantaloupe mint).  Additional small plate choices we made that evening included Clams Manhattan (with baby tomatoes, wine & bacon), House Made Pâté (country style pork pâté, grilled brioche, and balsamic) and Carrot Salad (baby carrots, orange blossom honey and lavender sabayon) which eye ended up barely sharing with anyone.  All of the small plates we sampled were delicious, clams especially included, but eye was partial to the Carrot Salad (as well as the aforementioned Cantaloupe Mint Gazpacho).  Although our appetites were no longer as big, having just collectively put away all four apps, our “Large Plates” loomed larger than life on the horizon.  To be perfectly clear, none of our dishes, small or large, were exactly ginormous, it’s just that pacing their arrival at our table was obviously not top priority.

Peach Grilled Pork Tenderloin (with mustard seed gnocchi, Riesling sauce and grilled strawberries) was my top entrée choice, given my obsession with always taste testing any recipe incorporating even a single orange ingredient.  Roasted Rabbit (with wild rice, ramps, mascarpone & carrot sauce) and Crab Stuffed Halibut (crab fritters, spring salad & sweet corn bisque) rounded out my fellow diners’ selections.  The sweet corn bisque was by far the best part of the halibut presentation, but, in the words of King Missile bandleader John S. Hall, “one of my favorite foods to eat is called corn.”  There’s a first time for everything and that night was my taste buds’ own virgin experience with cottontail.  Tasted kinda like chicken to me…

Seems Luxe has got much more than just luck on its side.

231 Milwaukee (Cherry Creek)

www.BarLuxe.com  - See pictures from Greg Bloom's Birthday at Bar Luxe in our iSpy Albums