Food lust from last night's Chefs Up Front Denver dinner

Lori Midson

Lobster, enoki mushroom and tenderloin carpaccio hand roll from Jonesy's Eat Bar.

Last night, Denver's who's who of chefs congregated at the Colorado Convention Center for Chefs Up Front Denver, a fundraiser that benefited Cooking Matters, a nonprofit that fights childhood hunger and malnutrition and teaches healthy food courses to underserved families on a budget.

The multiple-course dinners, prepared tableside by Denver's top toques -- Olav Peterson (Bittersweet), Jorel Pierce (Euclid Hall), Beau Simmons (Jonesy's Eat Bar), Jamey Fader (Lola), Daniel Asher (Root Down), Max MacKissock (Squeaky Bean), Troy Guard (TAG) and Aaron Whitcomb (Yia Yias's) among them -- were remarkably good, and we brought back plenty of lusty food pics to make you wish you were there.

Lori Midson

Aaron Whitcomb, executive chef of Yia Yias, served a nine-course menu, including this spring soup with squash blossoms, kalamata olive kataifi and fresh ricotta puddled in a green garlic bisque.

Lori Midson

Samir Mohammad, exec chef of the Village Cork, turned out, among other dishes, strips of house-cured duck prosciutto with baby arugula and a quail egg.

Lori Midson

Brandon Biederman of Steuben's wowed his table with baked goat sausage-stuffed calamari pooled in a spicy tomato, olive and onion gravy sprinkled with micro-cilantro.

Lori Midson

Olav Peterson, the kitchen magician/owner of Bittersweet, dished out a lobster-stuffed tortaloni with a cubed potato and asparagus salad floating in a lemongrass broth.