|
 |
|
The
Cliff House was a 20-room stagecoach stop, mainly for runs
between Leadville and Colorado Springs where bubbling spring
waters were therapeutic lures to the region. But it had run
into disrepair until the investor Jim Morely came to the rescue,
recently and with the help of Craig and Donna, restored the
56-room Colorado limestone Queen Anne so that it could open
reborn in June 1999.
|
circa
1878-1879, Photo by James Thurlow. Courtesy of Special Collections,
The Colorado College Library
|
|
|
 When
Craig Hartman cooks, he is surrounded by much more than a walk-in
freezer and a flat-top stove. In the last decade of his 20-year-career
as professional chef, Craig has been working in places touched by
some of the world's most important and influential people. You might
say history follows Craig Hartman around in his kitchen like a lover
of romance follows the poems of Emily Dickinson or a bead of water
chases the smooth surface of a hot nonstick skillet.
Take
for example, his previous position as executive chef at The Clifton
Inn in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he and his wife and innkeeper,
Donna Hartman, brought national acclaim to a little country inn
in the heart of Thomas Jefferson country. The chef introduced fresh
and lively cooking to the region, — "his harmony cuisine" —
with the inventive yet reverent spirit of Thomas Jefferson, whose
daughter had lived in the house where Craig was cooking.
 Now
he is bringing the essence of his flavors across the country where
he weaves the philosophy of his kitchen with indigenous products
of the Rocky Mountains. And once again, he seasons it all with the
past, where the soothing powers of natural springs at Manitou were
lures for the presence of Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas A. Edison,
Clark Gable and P.T. Barnum.
|
