The Fort chef Geoffrey Groditski tapped to cook at the James Beard House in June

Lori Midson

Chef Geoffrey Groditski will cook at the James Beard House in June.

When Holly Arnold Kinney, owner of The Fort, was in New York City last year promoting her cookbook, she met with some people from the James Beard Foundation. And that turned into an invitation for her chef, Geoffrey Groditski, to return and cook at the prestigious James Beard House.

"I'm very excited," he says. "The Fort cooked at the James Beard House in the late 1990s, but I've never done a dinner there."

Groditski will pack up his knives and head to the Big Apple on June 22 with his pastry chef, Matthew Crow, in tow; he's also bringing along a couple of additional chefs to help prepare the five-course meal. The James Beard House staff will serve the crowd, estimated at between fifty and eighty people.

What's Groditski cooking? A Colorado-themed menu that will showcase some favorites from the Fort. Here's the lineup:

Passed hors d'oeuvres:
Braised buffalo tongue on crostini horseradish and vanilla aioli
Port-braised beef cheek tartlets
Miniature rattle snake cakes with chili aioli
Peanut butter and mango chutney filled pickled jalapenos

First:
Chilled pickled oysters with crème fraiche and caviar

Second:
Seared breast of quail with quinoa cucumber and tomato salad

Third:
Roast buffalo bone marrow with red clay salt, bell peppers and toast

Fourth:
Buffalo filet mignon with chayote squash, Fort potatoes, and New Mexico Dixon red chile

Dessert:
Hazelnut mocha bread pudding with coffee-infused caramel sauce

Those courses will be paired with Silver Oak wines. If you're going to be in New York for the event, tickets cost $170 for the general public. If not, the Fort may offer the James Beard menu on a special night at the home restaurant, Groditski says; he and Kinney are still working out the details.