One of Golden’s most recognizable dining destinations is turning its attention closer to home this summer, with a special farm-to-table dinner celebrating food and beverage producers from Golden and across the Columbia Valley.
The Columbia Valley Farm to Table Dinner will be held Saturday, July 25, at Eagle’s Eye Restaurant at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. The three-course event is part of the restaurant’s summer dinner series and has been carefully designed around ingredients sourced from regional farms, food producers, breweries, distilleries and the Golden Farmers Market.
It is an encouraging step for the local culinary scene. Eagle’s Eye may be known internationally for its mountaintop setting and expansive views, but this dinner places the people producing food in the surrounding valley at the centre of the experience.
The evening will begin with pork belly from Twisted Heifer, served with a Rocky Mountain Honey glaze and wild morel mushrooms. The first course will be paired with Speed Metal Stout from Golden’s Whitetooth Brewing Company.
The main course continues the regional focus with bison striploin from J2 Ranch, accompanied by seasonal vegetables, rosemary mashed potatoes, a red wine and garlic sauce, and Purcell Microgreens.
A feature cocktail crafted by Stolen Bell Spirits will accompany the main course, showcasing the recently opened local distillery.
Dessert will feature a local fruit crumble made with fruit sourced through the Golden Farmers Market and served with D Dutchmen vanilla ice cream. The final pairing will be a shaft featuring coffee from Golden-based North Bench Harvest.
For North Bench Harvest owner and operator Amélie, being included in the dinner is also an opportunity to shine a light on the community that exists beneath Golden’s well-known mountain identity.
“As rural people, I think we can sometimes get lost in the mountain side of Golden and forget about the community side,” she said. “It’s great to have an event like this up at the hill and to be included in such a unique showcase of local producers. It’s a great idea for a community event.”
Her comments speak to what makes the dinner particularly interesting. Taken together, the menu reads almost like a map of the region’s growing food and beverage scene, bringing together ranchers, growers, market vendors, brewers, distillers and specialty producers in a setting that has long been one of Golden’s major tourism attractions.
That connection matters.
Restaurants and resorts have considerable purchasing power, particularly in communities where tourism plays such a large role in the economy.
When those businesses choose to buy locally and showcase regional producers, the benefits can extend well beyond a single meal. Producers are introduced to new customers, visitors get a more authentic taste of the place they are visiting, and more tourism spending has an opportunity to circulate within the region.
The dinner also offers a different interpretation of what it means to dine at Eagle’s Eye. The experience has traditionally been built around its remarkable elevation and dramatic setting, but this event suggests the restaurant’s identity can be connected to the valley below just as strongly as the mountains surrounding it.
Guests will board the gondola at 6 p.m., with dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. The event features one seating and is expected to conclude at approximately 10 p.m.
Tickets are $125 per person before taxes and gratuity. The event is restricted to guests 19 and older, and due to the format of the tasting menu, dietary substitutions will not be available.
For Golden and the Columbia Valley, the dinner represents more than another evening at a scenic restaurant.
It is an opportunity to showcase the people who are quietly helping shape the region’s culinary identity, from the growers and ranchers to the brewers, distillers and small specialty producers.
And perhaps most importantly, it brings the mountain and the community together at the same table.
