Grouse Mountain Grill offers fine dining with panoramic views in Beaver Creek

Nostalgia or newness? Fan favorites or evolving experiences? This is the philosophical question at the heart of Grouse Mountain Grill, a casually upscale restaurant that emphasizes comfort with fine-dining details. Located in the Pines Lodge, the panoramic view from the floor-to-ceiling windows can be seen from every area of the dining room. And in answer to the above question — they’ve settled on both.

Executive Chef Frank Blea heads into his third winter with Grouse, and he’s hitting his stride. An energetic guy who likes to create dishes that are meaningful to him, he often spends a little time in the dining room getting some real-time feedback from his guests. Cleaned plates only tell you so much.

For roughly 30 years, Grouse’s signature dish has been a pretzel-crusted pork chop with a creamy mustard sauce. Scores of families have come over the years, passing on their love of this dish to the next generation. Chef Blea decided to offer an additional variation of the classic — deboned porchetta — in keeping with a more contemporary and nuanced style. He recently had a table order both the pork chop and the porchetta side by side, and he got to chat with them.

“They liked the nostalgia of the chop, but also the attention to detail of the porchetta,” he says. “It was good to hear that. This restaurant has deep roots.”

And so he’ll continue to keep both on the menu — in addition to the new plates he brings in for the season. This winter, he’s got a New Zealand elk loin that is about as pretty as it gets. Served with sauce au poivre, sweet potatoes and asparagus, it’s finished with a little garlic butter on top.

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“Oh yeah, it’s plated really nicely,” he admits.

He’s also doing some crazy things with salmon. The salmon crudo appetizer is becoming a signature — it’s somewhere on the continuum between fresh sashimi and preserved lox — served demurely draped over beets with lemon crème fraiche and pickled shallots. And for an entrée, a filet of salmon, served split down the middle in a kaffir-lime miso broth with bok choy and nori dumplings. That’s right, seaweed dumplings, which play off the ginger and kaffir flavors. It’s smoothed out with a touch of cream.

“It’s a bold, exciting dish,” he says. 

Other entrees include favorites from last winter, such as the 21-day dry-aged Liberty duck breast, and a Mishima Reserve NY strip. And in deference to dining trends, there’s also a chef’s tasting menu.

“You might start with a ginger-grapefruit soda and finish with a chocolate pot — and in between four courses,” he says. “It’s based on all the experiences that I’ve gone through in my career. I’ve been in this industry my whole life, and this is a different level of customer service, if you will.” Ask for wine pairings from wine director Andrew Weakly’s substantial wines-by-the-glass menu, or dive into the bottle list, which is roughly 400 strong and primarily focuses on regions in California, France and Italy. Grouse Mountain Grill was recently named to Wine Spectator’s 12 Rising-Star Wine Restaurants for 2023, earning a Best of Award of Excellence — the perfect accompaniment to a convivial evening.