Hearthstone begins sourcing from community garden

Hearthstone Restaurant in Breckenridge is ramping up its summer with fresh produce and a new partnership with the High Country Conservation Center community garden.

“We’re beginning to see some fresh produce from our partnership with HC3’s community garden in Frisco,” said Peter Bakken, managing partner of Hearthstone. “Kyle (Wiseman) and Kyla (Laplante) and their team of farmers are growing several items, including basil, at our request, which we’ve committed to buy from them — both to get some great local produce to our guests here at the Hearthstone and to support the garden.”

The greenhouse gardeners started harvesting basil for the restaurant last week, with more to come as the summer goes on. Bakken said hopefully the partnership takes off and gets bigger year after year. The restaurant is also pulling in produce from other locations around the state.

“We’re ramping up in to summer with fresh heirloom tomatoes (about eight different exotic varieties) just brought up for us from Palisade, so we will bring back our Heirloom Tomato & Housemade Mozzarella salad this week with some very locally grown basil,” Bakken said. “At the local farmers’ markets, we’re starting to get plums, apricots and pattypan squash. Olathe sweet corn will start coming in this week, so we’ll have our Sweet Corn Soup back on the menu for the summer.”

Hearthstone is now sourcing its Buffalo Short Ribs from Bear Mountain Bison, which is located between Kremmling and Steamboat; a free-range, antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed Colorado chicken from Boulder Natural Meats; and an all-natural, humanely raised Heluka pork porterhouse cut from Iowa, Bakken said. All three cuts are available on the restaurant’s three-course, $30 Best of Season menu every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

For more information, visit http://hearthstonerestaurant.biz.

Breckenridge Dining Passport celebrates success

The Breckenridge Restaurant Association recently announced the successful completion of its spring 2013 Breckenridge Dining Passport fundraiser. The association raised more than $15,000 from restaurant guests through passport sales. About 10,000 diners visited 21 different restaurants during the spring season, which ran from April 7 to June 13.

The Breckenridge Dining Passport is a unique fundraising and information-packed pamphlet available seasonally to Breckenridge diners, granting access to discounts, special deals and promotions at participating Breckenridge restaurants. The Dining Passport features a broad selection of the best food, cocktails and entertainment throughout Breckenridge in a 28-page “passport” format.

Dining Passports were available at participating restaurants and bars and the Breckenridge Welcome Center for a $10 donation and were valid for two diners during the promotional period. All proceeds collected by the Breckenridge Restaurant Association benefitted its scholarship program and other special programming.

For more information, visit http://www.breckenridgediningguide.com.

Local restaurants receive wine list awards

A handful of local restaurants have been honored in Wine Spectator’s newly released 2013 Restaurant Wine List Awards, which highlights the eateries around the globe that offer the best wine selections. This year, 3,793 restaurants were named award winners, spanning all 50 U.S. states and 76 other countries and territories, along with 11 cruise ships.

Summit County restaurants featured in the article are Alpenglow Stube, Keystone; Hearthstone Restaurant, Breckenridge; The Keystone Ranch Restaurant, Keystone; Relish, Breckenridge; and the Ski Tip Lodge, Keystone.

The complete list of award winners is featured in the Aug. 31 issue of Wine Spectator, now available on newsstands. For more information, visit http://www.winespectator.com.

Summer events at The Warming Hut

Every week this summer, The Warming Hut in Breckenridge will offer Wine Geek Wednesdays. The event features wine trivia with a different theme each week, wine tasting and nibbles for $15 per person from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The trivia nights are fun for everyone, whether your knowledge of wine is expansive or negligible.

Thursdays in August are bike-in movie nights at the Hut. Bike in or walk in and bring a comfy camp chair to sit under the stars and enjoy a movie. Movie nights boast happy hour pricing on apps and drinks and free popcorn. The series starts with “Casablanca” on Aug. 8, followed by the classic bike movie “Breaking Away” on Aug. 15 for Breckenridge Bike week. The Aug. 22 feature is “Caddyshack,” and string of movies ends with “Captain Ron” on Aug. 29.

For more information and a full schedule of special events at The Warming Hut, visit http://www.thewarminghutrestaurant.com.

Is there something new or exciting going on at your restaurant? Email A&E editor Krista Driscoll at kdriscoll@summitdaily.com.