Dining in Megève is truly a differentiator as well. You have the haute gastronomy of Flacons de Sel created by my good friend Emmanuel Renaut, which simply does not exist in a place like Aspen, no matter how much one likes the food at the Nell. You also have excellent diversity of cuisine and price, such as the lower-priced, large portions offered at the Bistro of Flacons de Sel located in the center of town, Chez Nano’s excellent food up in the mountains above town at La Sauvageonne, as well as the various bistros offering solid food at good prices that are interspersed along the main street in town and around the Place de l’Eglise.
Aspen is not as fortunate in terms of the variety and quality of its restaurants. The best restaurant in town is clearly Cache-Cache run by Jodi Larner, who is as smart and nice as she as an excellent restaurateur (I love it when the good guy/gal wins!), which explains why it is nearly impossible to get a reservation there during high season, but well worth the effort! Last year, Jodi expanded, so she now has a large casual bar area where reservations are not required and the food is just as good. The other food standout in town is Matsuhisa, Nobu’s Aspen outpost, which is consistently good. Other solid eateries are Montagna at the Nell and the new Il Mulino New York at the Nell Residences, as well as Ajax Tavern on Ajax Mountain, which is great for lunch.
Aside from these five, the rest of Aspen’s eateries pale in comparison to their Megèvan counterparts. For a fancy pizza and a good salad, Mezzaluna is okay, but too predictable to be noteworthy. Campo de Fiori offers Italian fare considered “great!” by people who apparently have never been to Italy or are biased by Campo’s (in all fairness) fun nightlife scene. The rest of the restaurants are forgettable old standbys or just one of the annual newcomers that try to make a splash to attract attention with experimental menus but end up delivering nothing more than subpar food at unwarranted high prices.
So while I tend to eat out when in Megève, I tend to cook at home in Aspen. If I do venture out with guests in Aspen, I stick to the five that I mentioned. Otherwise, with my husband and kids, we like the local greasy spoons like Little Annie’s for burgers, Hickory House for barbecue and ribs, and Boogie’s for classic diner food.
The key to Aspen is not getting trapped in the cliché of trying a new fancy restaurant each night. That is what New Yorkers tend to do. But that is not the real Aspen! When my uncle settled in Aspen in the 1960s, it was a hippy town, and, like him, most of the hippies, intellectuals, and art-loving eccentrics are still there—you just have to look beneath the surface. You might find them at the Caribou Club once a year (or twice) for a good laugh, but for the most part they’re dining at home, going to the Wheeler Opera House for a performance, or waiting for the winter snows to fade, which leads to the inevitable disappearance of the (mainly Los Angeles and New York City) tourists. I still enjoy the Caribou, where the food and wine list are actually exceptionally good, but even Billy Stolz’s excellent management cannot make up for the lack of quality in the crowd, so I am not a frequent visitor.
