Two Twelve in Crested Butte – Catching Fire
Live-fire cooking gets primal at this ambitiously resourceful mountain kitchen
By Lisa Blake
Anthony Nelson grew up on a Yuma, Colorado farm, tending to 700 head of cattle, learning to drive stick shift in an 18-wheeler, fixing downed fences and bottle feeding calves. In high school, he cultivated an obsession with wood smoke, putting meat and potato dinners together for his parents to enjoy after they wrapped up farm chores around 9pm.
“That profound understanding of where food comes from has always been very important to me,” Nelson says. “I was always drawn to the grill. I didn’t understand people who didn’t have beef for every dinner.”
His appreciation for boots-in-the-dirt hard work continues to show up in Nelson’s daily life. As executive chef and co-owner at Two Twelve, he’s helming a live-fire kitchen, pulling ingredients from Western Slope orchards and ranches to build out menu evolutions, and leaving a lasting impression on diners.
Crested Butte’s new raved-worthy dinner spot opened July 16 in blazing wisps of crackle and smoke and Nelson continues to draw a steady stream of curious locals eager to dig into plates of maple-roasted carrots, red eye gravy bison loin, and king salmon.
“Every week we hear ‘Wow, that’s one of the best meals we’ve ever had’ or ‘these vegetables were touched by fire just right,’” Nelson says. “There was a hole in the Crested Butte market for this. We immediately became the special event dinner go-to.”
Nelson’s culinary road to Colorado’s mountains began with a visual arts degree from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington followed by time spent cooking in New Orleans and a Culinary Institute degree earned in New York. Nelson worked at Nobu in Las Vegas and Silo in Nashville before opening Virginia’s top-rated Field and Main where a 10-foot fire hearth reignited his passion for open-flame whole-animal cooking.
Eventually, the Rockies drew Nelson back home and he “wandered into this beautiful little town of Crested Butte.” He and his partner Kyleena Falzone are the brains behind locally treasured Bonez, The Secret Stash, and The Hideout.
Tapping into his visual arts studies, Nelson says every plate is like a blank canvas waiting to be built upon with flavors, visual elements and textures. “If I do my job right, maybe that fried chicken makes them think of their grandmother,” Nelson says. “Food is a great way to create that sensory memory. A time and place response.”
Just as his family would gather around the farm table in Yuma, passing plates and sharing stories, Nelson’s guests are warmed by Two Twelve’s intentional ambiance. The 80-seat two-story restaurant showcases an open-concept kitchen, a hearth stacked with oak and hickory logs, the cozy soft amber glow of real candles, a centerpiece steel and glass wine cellar, flatware from Paris, beetlekill pine tables, and tweed and sherpa fur seating.
“It’s almost like a dinner party at our house rather than going out to a restaurant,” says Falzone. “We’re providing a high level of service, but we’re not stuffy.”
Around 95 percent of Nelson’s hyper seasonal, hyper regional menu will change from season to season. Hits so far include a half chicken from Mountain Bird out of Paonia served with a house green chile mole, a free range Wapiti elk rack with seared foie gras and mountain huckleberry, and a dirty rice-stuffed quail.
“When somebody comes to Crested Butte, I want them to come to Two Twelve and say ‘this tastes like the moment right now, this tastes like where I’m at.’”
Photos: Holly GoSpritely Media, Loren Storer Photography
212 Elk Ave., Crested Butte, twotwelvecb.com
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