Frasca Food and Wine — Restaurant in Boulder

My wife and I had our anniversary dinner here last weekend. With two decades in the restaurant industry, I’ve long held a deep appreciation for what a Michelin Star is meant to represent—standards of excellence, balance, and precision in food, service, and experience.

TLDR: A good enough dinner for a fine dining experience but not worthy of a star. The service was fine, but the timing of everything was just a little off. We got a table touch while my wife was in the bathroom which was an odd time to come by. Wine/cocktails, Assaggi, Pljukanci, and Pasticcini were highlights.

The wine was excellent, fit the story of the restaurant while providing great pairings with the dishes. The cocktail list has some nice whimsy and unique personality.

The Assaggi was lots of fun. You can actually taste the elderflower in the tempura, my wife loved the pollen tart and trout ciccioli, and I loved the walnut pesto on the polenta puff. A great start.

The crudo di salmone was more of a crudo di kiwi and gelee. I scraped three quarters of the top layer off and could actually taste the salmon. The brunoise on the radish was spot on, and it added a nice texture and flavor counter. This dish needs a few refining touches, and it will be a great second.

We both enjoyed the white asparagus. I found the preserved citrus to be poorly distributed. Not everything has to be put on with tweezers, but more than one of my bites had no acid. And one had half the bite filled with citrus. Again, once I redistributed the dish, it had a nice balance. My wife’s was well distributed. Both were well seasoned.

The bread was fantastic. The front waiter told us the pastry chef has had this sourdough starter for many years. Subtly sweet and full of complex flavors. I wish I could have that bread regularly.

Pljukanci Verde, for me, was the star of the tasting. The aroma of this dish was exactly what I wanted it to be. Bold and strong while still feeling like spring/ early summer. The pljukanci was executed perfectly. Rustic but refined shape and the perfect amount of chewy. The kani miso added a beautiful umami and a creaminess that highlighted the other flavors of the crab. Fantastic knife work again, this time on the green garlic. Combined with the esoterra greens, it brought a fresh bright and mildly peppery bitter balance to the sweetness of the crab. This dish was also perfectly seasoned.

My risotto had multiple bites of undercooked rice which ruined the dish overall for me. I though the nettle was a smart choice with the acquerello rice. It absorbed those unique herby, mineral flavors of the nettle really well.

The venison was a miss for me. The most boringly plated dish of the evening. Meat on top of puree with sauce and cherry on top. It also severely lacked seasoning. A high quality finishing salt would have saved the flavor of this dish.

The pork was a big miss for us both. Berkshire pork has delicious marbling and is typically very tender. Both of our portions were over-rested and poorly seasoned. We needed a better knife to get through it and ultimately gave up eating the dish.

The Rabarbaro alla Fragola felt like it had been plated too early or pre-portioned. The cookie fell apart as if it had overly absorbed moisture from the rest of the dish. The topping then slid off on the plate as if it was all one mousse-jam-veil topping. Neither of us finished this either.

The Pasticcini was a highlight. The flavors of the goat cheese were fun and had to be eaten quickly to preserve the excellently balanced textures. The calamansi was funky in the best way and provided a nice continuation. The kiwi seemed to be forced and was a touch overpowering, even as a palate cleanser (my wife disagrees and liked this bite). The cashew was my personal favorite bite on the dish. Buttery and a touch sweet. The flavor of the fat may have been lost if not for the palate being cleansed after the creamy tang of the calamansi. And the chocolate gave a big pop of espresso flavor while not overpowering the rich chocolate. A wonderful finish...

Frasca is an indulgent high-end culinary experience complemented with excellent staff and some intriguing and excellent wine pairings and cocktails. Unfortunately, I feel that it has faded back into the background noise of fine dining available in Denver and Boulder after briefly making itself heard.

While some courses stood out in quality and execution on the Friulano tasting menu, others fell quite short. Multiple dishes attempted to be unnecessarily complex and had significantly over-seasoned components, while some of the simpler ones highlighted the quality of the ingredients leaving us craving another plate.

Front of house was a huge standout with excellent attention to detail and personal accommodations. I highly recommend Frasca for the wine and cocktails, but I can't quite recommend the food given the price point and the competition in the area. We'll give Frasca another try in a few months; all of the components are there to be a destination restaurant worthy of every foodie's attention, but with top-tier pricing, expectations are high and execution must be flawless.

Feedback for Frasca: Assaggi: 5/5, Excellent oyster & eel, the tarts were not memorable

Trota: 5/5, simple dish with high-quality ingredients, delicious in every way although the rhubarb slices were an unnecessary and unwanted distraction

Sourdough: 3/5, bread was great although basic, I'll reserve my comments about putting gold-leaf on top of ordinary butter

Toc'in Braide: 0/5, dish was a few notches beyond overseasoned, kitchen definitely did not taste it before sending it

Agnolotti: 1/5, undercooked pasta, overcooked tough & overseasoned rabbit, vegetarian version with potatoes was not particularly good and it had the very not-vegetarian lardo on it. Artichoke was excellent.

Porcini Canederli: 3/5, dumpling & greens were unique and delicious, excellent earthy tones. Broth was decent, morels were salt-bombs

Agnello Alla Scottadito: 5/5+, both the Lamb and the zucchini were the best dishes we had at Frasca

Porcini Canederli: 3.5/5, broth, dumpling, and greens were spot-on

Rabarbaro: 3/5, some great components (excellent consommé) but overall unremarkable

Espresso: excellent beans, but the shot was under-extracted and sour

Krug Grand Cuvée: I'm in love, thank you for...

We went here for a team offsite. I've never been to such a fancy restaurant, so I don't have much to compare it to and feel incapable of contextualizing this restaurant against others in the same category. Still, I'll share my thoughts. We got the "four plates" option, which provides four courses that you choose. It was a fun experience to see a team of servers come out in unison with each course, then set the plates down in front of us almost with perfect timing. We also opted for wine pairing.

The round table, cushioned chairs, and general atmosphere were ideal for our group of eight. It was really comfortable to sit and talk. The waiter was attentive and knowledgeable as well. (I wish he peppered in some Italian and maybe had a more fun personality, but he was still good.) The food was both interesting and tasty. One other reviewer called out the ciliegia or cherry dessert, noting, "It is a cherry mousse and (maybe) crème anglaise in a cherry chocolate shell and a dark chocolate stem. Both presentation and taste were 11/10." I completely agree. This dessert blew my mind. I honestly think it was the best dessert I've ever eaten in my life. Both presentation and taste are off the charts here. This is the dessert you want, trust me.

As for the other food, well, it was also good. Nothing that blew me away, though. The Mozzarella di Bufala (whipped mozarella and fruit/flowers) was colorful and had interesting, fun flavors. The Tagliatelle Allo Zaferano (lobster pasta) had a good lobster flavor. The Maiale (pork) had a good texture and sauce but was a bit boring and needed more variety. Portions were about right (to avoid feeling overstuffed.) Waiters and somaliers were extremely attentive and thoughtful.

If you're looking for a high-end dining experience, perhaps to celebrate a special occasion, this restaurant might be a good choice. It depends on whether you are prepared to spend ~$150 per person. For me, it was a novel experience because, though I'm 46, I'd never had this high-end dining experience before. Trying something new half-way through life was both fun and exciting. I also had great company with my team, and we stayed probably 2 hours past closing time. Overall, this will be a highly memorable experience that I'll probably...