At Denver’s RARE Steak Championships this year, another competitor will be LoDo’s restaurant Avelina.
Avelina’s is a modern yet elegant space in the heart of LoDo. For those of you new to Denver, that means the area known as lower downtown. The restaurant has an open kitchen concept with their gorgeous dining room seating up to 75 people. The private dining area can accommodate large parties of up to 40, and the bar and outside patio hosts a slightly smaller 25 to 30.
Avelina focuses on New American cuisine that rotates with the season, always leaving you inspired and craving more. The full bar offers a diverse menu of cocktails, craft beers and boutique wines. So there is surely something for every palate.
The LoDo location is one of nine restaurants owned and operated by Kevin and Stacey Jennings of the Urban Food Group (UFG) based in Raleigh, NC. The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Joshua Oakley who brings 10 years of culinary experience to his role at Avelina. His experience ranges from turn-and-burn to fine dining and farm-to-table, including training at the renowned Gastronomicom Cooking School of Agde, France.
Oakley, having a sense of adventure and love of Colorado, several positions in Colorado before making his way to Avelina. He worked a line cook position with The Pullman in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, working up to sous chef in just one year. While there he had his first taste of managing a kitchen, creating menus, and training a line team. Oakley also accepted the position of sous chef with Town, in Carbondale, Colorado. Town was one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in Colorado, with Oakley developing daily new menus.
Oakley has also created pairing menus for private events with Wood Creek Distillery since 2014, providing him the experience of developing dishes for multi-course meals from start to finish.
So, Josh Oakley for Avelina restaurant should be a fierce competitor at this year’s RARE competition.
In partnership with Yolo Rum and benefitting Colorado Restaurant Foundation, RARE will be a much anticipated competition among Denver’s finest steakhouses. Twenty-five of the region’s top steakhouses will vie for the title of Top Steak.
Get your tickets now.
You can use code IFDenver for $30 or more off tickets to the event. https://bit.ly/3zxfT91
I know I am excited to see the competition on August 18th. Good luck to Avelina and the other competitors this year. Hope to see you all there!
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