This year, Cochon555’s Heritage Fire event came to Acreage Farms. Just a half hour from downtown Denver in in Lafayette, Colorado, this outdoor live fire cooking festival drew a healthy crowd of food enthusiasts to come eat their body weight in meat, chicken, and seafood over the course of several hours.
It was an absolute perfect day to be outside eating, with a smattering of sun and a magnificent view of the mountains. This may have been one of the best food events I’ve been to since moving to Denver. Yes, even though I received a comped ticket, I would gladly pay to attend this event in the future.⠀
Will Nolan slices meat 
A select number of VIP ticket holders got to attend a wine seminar hosted by Blanchard Family Wines one hour before the event began in one of the beautiful private dining spaces at Acreage Stem Cider. Guests were able to ask questions about the wine making process and determine on their own which of the four wines offered made for their preferred pairing with meats and slaw prepared by Chef Will Nolan and the team at La Marmotte in Telluride/Rico BBQ in Rico, CO.
Down a cordoned off section was where all the action was happening. Walking down the path, there were fires burning on either side and the heat so intense that the skin on my legs was a little pink only after being there for a few minutes.
The guest event space was the perfect size (not too big, not too small) with a limited number of attendees, which resulted in the absence of some of the excruciatingly long lines to get food you see at other events.⠀
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Plenty of food, all of it very good, most of it exceptionally delicious, and no problem getting lubricated or hydrated (whichever you chose). All of this makes for happy guests with happy bellies.⠀
Some favorite dishes of the day:
Chefs Amy Cohen and Eric Lee prep their meat dish
A fresh vegetable salad from Chef Eric Lee of Acreage at Stem Ciders and Amy Cohen of Stowaway Kitchen was a nice way to kick off the event before the full-time meat fest began.
Frying over open flame 
Chef Padilla adding chimichurri sauce 
Hands down, the most talked about dish of the event – Chef Oscar Padilla‘s boar empanadas. These meat pockets were fried in a pan over a live fire were so popular, they quickly ran out. The chimichurri sauce was so tasty, even after they ran out of empanadas, some of us were discussing whether or not they’d just give us a cup fill of the sauce for us to put on other dishes. Start your letter-writing campaigns to have Chef Padilla add this dish to the menu at Social Fare Restaurant at the JW Marriott Cherry Creek, where he leads the kitchen.
Blackbelly’s terrine starter 
Asado lamb pibil on a green chile huarache
Chefs Hosea Rosenberg and Arun Moghe and the crew of Blackbelly had an excellent lamb terrine small bite with the prettiest edible flowers. Later, they offered an asado lamb pibil with a summer escabeche on a green chile huarache.
Over at their regular tent, the shrimp and grits course from Chef Nolan‘s La Marmotte was delicious.
Grilled west coast oysters from Chefs Rebecca Weitzman of Ivy on 7th and Scott Hybbeneth of Angelo’s Taverna, both from the Carboy Winery family of restaurants was a tasty veer towards seafood.
Pastry chef Ariana Quant from Uchi blew my mind with an incredible brûléed brioche donut with bacon custard with a dab of black currant jam.
More scenes from the day:
Burger from Nate Singer at Carter Country Meats
Flipping burgers 
Adam Vero of Hearth and Dram – Duck wings with cochujang 
ChoLon crew, led by Donald Beaney, chops away 
The Wolf’s Tailor team lead by Sean May 
Rabbit Sando from The Wolf’s Tailor 
Tomahawk ribeye gets cut down at La Marmotte’s station 
Warm, freshly cooked chicharrones from Jorgie Ramos of Barley Miami 
Tools of the trade
A big thank you to all the live fire chefs who did an amazing job during the event!
Please note: Financial compensation was not received for this post. I was invited by the PR firm working with Cochon555 to attend the Heritage Fire at Acreage Farms. Opinions expressed here are my own.