Seafood Bouillabaise. Roshni Gorur, Courtesy of Anderson Ranch Arts Center
When small crocks of seafood bouillabaisse arrive to our table, French chef Babette is plating turtle soup for 12 onscreen. Though the multi-course “Dinner & A Movie” tasting conceived by Anderson Ranch Arts Center’s new food and beverage director Rob Ittner and Ranch Café chef de cuisine Daniel Leon is based on the classic 1987 Danish film “Babette’s Feast,” such precise timing was purely coincidental. (The event menu rearranged courses for American palates caviar-topped buckwheat blini are served as an
amuse-bouche; endive salad with Colorado cherries come before the main attraction and Ittner reassures us at the start that no turtles were harmed during the making of the meal.)
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Kaya Williams/The Snowmass Sun
Anderson Ranch Arts Center’s new culinary team takes the “think global, act local” adage to heart.
Rotating menus at the on-campus cafe might feature flavors from Oaxaca, where Food and Beverage Director Rob Ittner spent several months during the pandemic. Diners may taste dishes with Japanese influences (chef Daniel Leon has an extensive background in the cuisine) or they might nosh Venezuelan bites inspired by Leon’s hispanic roots.
The international artist community that flocks to the Snowmass Village arts campus each summer will see their own homes reflected in the menu, too.
Leon aims to channel “some of the flavors that remind us of where we come from,” he said in a June 7 joint interview with Ittner at the cafe.
Anna Stonehouse/Aspen Times file photo
Rob Ittner is back on the local culinary scene as the new food and beverage director at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, where he will take the lead on dining operations at the Snowmass Village arts hub.
Ittner joined the team two weeks ago, he said in an interview Thursday. He plans to kick off the summer season with a Sunday welcome dinner at the on-campus cafe on June 6, just before the return of in-person workshops on June 7.
Ittner has long maintained a philosophy that food is a form of art at culinary ventures like the French bistro Rustique and the Cooking School of Aspen, which he sold in 2019 along with The Cottage Aspen, an art gallery and special events venue.