Want to make a bison tremble in fear?
Three words: mad cow disease.
At ranches throughout the West, the buffalo
are a little concerned. When an Atkins-slimmed, protein-packing
public starts to turn away from its beloved beef, there's
really only one way for a red-blooded meat-eater to
go, and that's toward the buffalo.
No one at Ted's Montana Grill in Larimer
Square is gloating just yet, but you won't find a prouder
set of folks working in a restaurant. It starts the
second a perky server asks, in the kind of hearty tone
we haven't seen since Hoss on Bonanza, or maybe the
guy who used to introduce Howdy Doody, "Hey, boys
and girls, have you ever eaten bison before?"
And it doesn't stop until, dagnabbit,
you admit that bison - and for heaven's sake, don't
say buffalo, or you'll get the lecture - is every bit
as good as beef. And maybe even better. And healthier.
And cuter.
Truth is, at Ted's, it is.
The Larimer Square Ted's was the first
for Colorado, and there are now three more (Aurora,
Colorado Springs and Littleton). One of the owners is,
of course, Ted Turner (the other is nationally renowned
restaurateur George McKerrow Jr.), and the chain, which
the pair hopes one day to number about 500, is their
answer to the overabundance of bison meat Turner helped
to create on his Montana ranch.
One of my dining buddies who joined me
for a meal at Ted's was visiting here from Montana,
and it's a small world after all, because one of the
servers at Ted's is from Missoula, too, and they actually
recognized one another. Anyway, my buddy got it that
he was there to provide an authenticity check, since
I've been in only one Montana saloon and that was a
touristy "resort" bar outside of Yellowstone.
The space is headed toward the feel of
a manly-man steakhouse, with all of the wood and brass
you'd ever need to eat meat by; the walls are covered
with reproductions of Western paintings; and the environmentally
friendly effects are in line with Turner's own worldview
(recycled-paper menus, paper straws because you can't
recycle plastic, kitchen towels for napkins).
Turner says the recipes came from his
ranch cook, who has come up with some tasty starters
and sides, each with a healthy dose of retro, to go
with all that bison. There's a soup of the day, such
as the thick, spicy chicken and sausage gumbo on Wednesdays,
and a blue plate special, such as the finger-lickin'-good
barbecue bison short ribs on Saturdays, and much of
the rest of the menu is divided evenly among sandwiches,
salads and steaks.
The burger list is the most impressive
thing here, even more so because it offers the option
for any of the two dozen styles to be made with beef,
bison or chicken. And so a "Blue Creek" can
pair its over-the-top Maytag blue cheese, bacon and
mushroom toppings with moist bison done perfectly medium-rare,
or beef done perfectly medium-rare, or chicken done
with a beautiful grill-crossed char.
And then there's the regular dinner menu,
a short roster that can change daily, but that usually
includes bison-based pot roast, bison prime rib, bison
tenderloin and a cedar-planked steelhead, along with
maybe a beef or bison Delmonico or bison strip loin.
It was a toss-up as to whether the thinly
sliced 10-ounce strip loin or the 8-ounce tenderloin
was more flavorful; the strip was chewier and had a
meatier flavor, the filet was velvety textured and juicy.
There was no argument on the sides: the creamy garlic
mashed potatoes were great; the fresh-cut French fries
were great; the well seasoned, thickly battered onion
rings were very, very good.
The dessert choices are few: ice cream,
a milkshake, chocolate chip cookies. Get the cookies,
because like everything else here they're a little bit
homey, a little bit goofy, a lot delicious.