Knowing where your food comes from is important. Knowing the people who nurture along your food is even more important. Having the opportunity to enjoy a multi-course meal featuring Wagyu beef, on the ranch, near the Continental Divide in Colorado, is a unique experience. Writer Mindy Sink joins the RealFoodTraveler.com team to tell us what the experience at Devil’s Thumb Ranch was like. This article focuses on a meal Mindy had in July of 2019. The 2020 Dinner on the Divide series has been announced: the dates will be July 12 and Aug. 23, with different menus and wine partners. This will also be the opportunity to enjoy the creations of Devil’s Thumb Ranch’s new Executive Chef, Kim Moyle, who brings more than 30 years of experience in the culinary arena. Read on for a taste of what these dinners have in store.

Wagyu, It’s What’s for Dinner on the Divide

It’s not easy to elevate the farm dinner at this point, but Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Colorado does just that with its Dinner on the Divide series.

When I think of Devil’s Thumb Ranch, I have thoughts of cross-country skiing in winter, hiking in summer, maybe time in the pool or at the spa, and the ranch part of it seems limited to a possible horseback ride. While all of that is the main draw, know that this a real working ranch with over 200 head of pure Wagyu beef cattle.

“The Wagyu beef is high in omega 3 and 6 and it has health benefits,” says Garth Eichler, Director of Animal Husbandry and Agriculture at Devil’s Thumb Ranch.

Yes, you read that correctly: red meat, it can be good for you. When on the menu here, it’s served in a variety of ways, not just as a steak.

Each Dinner on the Divide at Devil’s Thumb Ranch is unique, and the one I attended in late July of 2019 highlighted the Wagyu beef in a four-course dinner served at elegant long tables set up in the Broad Axe Barn with soaring ceilings and windows that bring the outside in (if the weather permits, dinners are served outdoors) with views of the snow-capped mountain peaks and expansive meadows below.

The first course was roasted marrowbone with apple cider, smoked sea salt, chanterelle mushroom, and pink peppercorn—with a waffle on the side instead of bread. For the second course, it was a combination of Colorado foods with compressed Rocky Ford melon, arugula, fennel, and Wagyu bresaola.

The Wagyu breed is originally from Japan, where the cows were used for field work pulling equipment thanks to their remarkable stamina, Garth explains. Their larger chests and other genetic factors mean that the Wagyu store their fat differently and that leads to an “intermuscular fat” as opposed to strands of fat. “It’s more like beads and that’s what just makes it melt in your mouth,” he says.

Garth, who grew up on a dairy farm, is involved in every aspect of raising the Wagyu, which were brought to Devil’s Thumb Ranch in 2013 from a program in New York state. Some of the cattle were bred with Scottish Highlander cows from a ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, though the majority of cows here today are pure Wagyu.

Garth Eichler, Director of Animal Husbandry and Agriculture at Devil’s Thumb Ranch.

When it came time for the third course of six-ounce ribeye steaks with root beer demi, along with whipped cranberry beans and braised mustard greens, we were all ready for the tender Wagyu beef and it did not disappoint. The root beer demi added an unexpected sweetness that had us regularly passing the little pot of sauce back and forth.

Throughout the dinner, wine choices included a 2017 Semper Chardonnay Homage and a 2015 Amulet Napa Valley from Tuck Beskstoffer Estates in St. Helena, California (or, on request, a can of their rosé, Hogwash). Also on site for the evening were local distillers, Fraser Valley Distilling Co. and Breckenridge Brewery.

Before the fourth course was served, diners took a break to step outside and look at the puffy white clouds turning a soft pink. This evening light is also called alpenglow and it’s one of the unexpected delights of a farm-style dinner that you might only be able to catch here.

The dessert of panna cotta atop orange cornmeal cake, sprinkled with macerated blueberries and—surprisingly—kettle corn, had its own melt-in-your-mouth qualities to round out the menu.

It’s not just the gorgeous scenery and creative plates that make a Dinner on the Divide memorable and worth a drive to the mountains; it’s knowing about the connection between the land, the people, the animals, and how it all comes together for this one experience.

And it all starts with the animals for this Dinner on the Divide: Wagyu Symposium. Garth spent years running the ranch’s horse program, and now oversees the cattle operation. He and his wife and their two kids are deeply involved in raising the cattle, which cannot be harvested until at least 36 months of age (as opposed to typical beef cattle which can be harvested at 22-24 months, he says). He and his wife (and maybe someday their two young children) might be up in the middle of the night to help with a birth or to hand feed a newborn whose mother isn’t engaging.

“Whether it’s corn or cattle, I just want people to know how much work is involved and the commitment to what we do here,” he says.

Visit the website and subscribe to their enewsletter to be kept apprised of Dinner on the Divide events in 2020. Guests can also arrange a unique dining experience on the property in one of the private wine cellar dining rooms where custom menus are paired with wines (for groups of 6 to 40 people). These other venues includes John L’s Wine Cellar (up to 16 people) or Grotto Suraboza (up to 40 people) or other private dining options indoors or outdoors for two to 300 people.

— Story and photos by Mindy Sink

Hungry for more? Find out what it’s like to stay at Devil’s Thumb Ranch and explore its offerings in this article.

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