Dang It Delicious: APEX at The Montage Deer Valley

Sunday, February 13, 2011

APEX at The Montage Deer Valley - dinner

All summer long, I witnessed the Montage hotel being built at record speed whenever I dropped off hubby and his biker friends up at Guardman Pass, Deer Valley. We were all amazed when it actually opened in December with three fabulous new restaurants: APEX, Daly's Pub & Rec and Vista Lounge & Terrace. We like Daly's Pub a lot—I've dragged my kids and their friends there a million times. Good things were being said about Apex and they were getting famous for being completely booked—I was dying to go!

Aleda and Mike, our favorite friends who are also hotel/restaurant junkies, were in town and ready to explore and EAT. Mike impressively scored an impossibly complicated reservation at Apex on Saturday night (nice moves, Mike;) and Aleda got us psyched about the Apex desserts she read about online! Here we go...

Chilled Shellfish Patter, horseradish cocktail sauce, mignonette sauce, dijon aioli, $MP - Oysters were perfect—briny, slippery, chilled, and only needing a bare drip of lemon. Colossal shrimp were meaty and tasty, but the skimpy crab legs were disappointing :'( Nevertheless, this was a fantastic starter dish (that spun around in perfect lazy-susan rotations). Nice call, Mike.

Poppers and butter—parmy and fluffy.

Heirloom Tomato Salad, burrata cheese, fresh basil, aged balsamic, $14 - It is impossible to mess up ripe heirlooms with a good balsamic drizzle. The creamy burrata was superb with the oil and vinegar.

Spicy Ahi Tuna Tartare, avocado, soy-lime vinaigrette, sesame lavosh, $17 - Chunky tuna mixed with peaches (?), shallot and avocado was good, but needed an extra texture or crunch (just sayin'). It had a kick but wasn't way too spicy.

Sea Scallops, orange braised endive, celery root puree, $32 - Perfect peppery scallops seared rare and served in a puddle of savory yummy sauce. The server called this light, which it wasn't.

Gnocchi Chive Gratin, $9 - "Oh! wow! Omg! Mmmm..." were sounds we made when we tasted this. If you are gonna do rich, go all the way, right? Brilliant take on gnocchi. Order this and share it with your table.

Pan Roasted Wild Mushrooms and Asparagus, $9.

Apex Surf and Turf, Lobster and Prime Steak, butter poached maine lobster, eight ounce prime filet mignon, caramelized onion gratin potato, fresh asparagus, bearnaise sauce, $MP - Mike and Aleda each got this and Aleda shared her steak which was fabulous. They (A & E) do not mess around ;')

Broccolini, $7.

Organic Spinach and Garlic, $7 - Per hubby's request, of course, the spinach was sauteed in garlic and olive oil versus the chef's "Creamed Organic Spinach and Garlic."

"Frings," pommes frites and buttermilk fried onion rings, $9 - Apex fry sauce rocks. The fries were just so-so, but those onion rings were pretty amazing.

Herb Roasted Chicken, lemon-herb spaetzle, oven-dried tomato, wild mushrooms natural jus, $30.

Pan Seared Sustainable Chilean Seabass, chive potato gnocchi, artichoke, tomato ragu, $36.

German rieslings by Trimbach....my new favorite.

Montage Apple Strudel, malt ice cream, vanilla sauce, $8 - Crazy good—familiar, classic comfort, not sickeningly sweet. The dried muscats were chewy, sugary, surprise explosions in the mouth.

Chocolate Bread Pudding, amano chocolate, sour cherry sauce, frozen vanilla custard, $9 - Chocolate lovers will die, just DIE—dense, dark, rich, not too sweet either. Just insanely good.

Churro S'Mores, chocolate fudge ice cream, cinnamon marshmallow, $9 - Good, but not mind-blowing like the chocolate bread pudding. Mike didn't totally love this take on s'mores—c'mon, a churro?!