Food porn from Michael Long's Aria, opening Thursday in Cherry Creek

Lori Midson

Just got off the horn with Michael Long, exec chef and partner at Aria, Long's New American restaurant at 250 Josephine Street, and the news is good: After months of getting the dining room, kitchen and bar in tip-top shape, Aria will open tomorrow at 5 p.m.

"My stress level is a ten on the Richter Scale, but I'm ready," Long assures me, adding that his goal is to turn out irresistible, pure-pleasure dishes in a space that's a haven for the Cherry Creek crowds and everyone else who begged him to unleash a restaurant in Denver, eight years after he opened Opus in Littleton. "For years, I've been cooking in Littleton, and while we've had a lot of success there, everyone kept asking me to open a restaurant in Denver, so here we are," he says. "Here, I want to do artistic food, but not in a special-occasion setting, and ultimately, I just want to feed people and make them happy."

Long did exactly that last night, giving us a sneak peek into the culinary artistry he's orchestrating at Aria.