Ryan Leinonen, exec chef/owner of Trillium, wants to stage at Le Bernardin

By Lori Midson Thu., Jan. 12 2012 at 9:31 AM

If you weren't a chef, what would you be? A cardiothoracic surgeon, an astrophysicist, or maybe an astronaut.

What's one thing about you or your restaurant that people would be surprised to know? Trillium occupies a space that was a decrepit pawn shop for many years, and the first time I looked at it, I wasn't so sure, but after it we started gutting it, it all came to me -- and came to be, and I was really in love with the location in the Ballpark neighborhood, so I decided to go for it. We demolished the space down to a dirt floor and the walls and then rebuilt it new. We salvaged what we could, like the 108-year-old pine posts and beams, and we refurbished the beautiful brick wall on the north side of the dining room. Our new additions were the five-foot linear fireplace, a "cloud" bar and the open kitchen.

Hardest lesson you've learned: Treat people the way you want to be treated. I worked for some pretty iron-headed, downright mean chefs back in the day, and as a younger cook who hadn't cut his teeth yet, I thought that's how you had to act to be a successful chef. These guys used to throw hot pans, knives, choke cooks out on the line, and take half your paycheck if you burned something. There's something to be said for discipline, but that's not a good way to treat people

What's next for you? Right now I'm focused on all things Trillium: creating a good staff, teaching everything I can to my cooks and looking forward to a busy summer in the Ballpark neighborhood. It's such a great, vibrant area. At some point I might like to do another venture -- who knows? Maybe Denver's first Scandinavian ice bar.

Last meal before you die: Before I die? This assumes I know my death is imminent, in which case, death by foie gras. Consume so much, so rapidly that my heart actually stops and I don't have to face the other death that's coming to me.

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Trillium

2134 Larimer St., Denver, CO

Category: Restaurant

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Ryan Leinonen, Trillium

We Recommend

Sadude108

This place is disgusting i have never had a worse meal in denver. We went hear on friday everything we had was so bad NEVER EVER GO TO THIS PLACE

elle

Those truffle tots were highly disappointing. :(

annoyed yooper

Pasties originated in Cornwall, not Scandinavia. Also, they were made with whatever cheap things poor families could spare, lamb pasties are highly unheard of...but a true pasty is made with hamburger, potatoes, and carrots/rutabaga.

oy.

Ryan is from Michigan and there are pasties in Michigan. He never said they were a Scandinavian food staple. I think it's nice that he chooses to cook some of the food that he spent growing up on as a child.

Trillium is an American Bistro with Scandinavian influence and homages to the Midwest-Ryan's roots. I think it's all going to be ok if he wants to make an upscale pasty. There's all sorts of things that are ideas of how to feed people cheaply turned into something high class.

And Mackinac Island is with a 'c' and Mackinaw City is with a 'w' if you want to correct something worth correcting.

Diamond Dace

Dang, you beat me to it. Pasties come in many varieties in the UK, corned beef being HUGE in Wales but the chicken curry versions ( usually purchased at 2am at the 7-11 ) are tatsy as hell. I'll be there with bells on when they get on the menu. And you're right, cheap beef, taters, carrots, swede and turnip. Edge is crimped so the miners who ate them could keep part they ate away from their dirty hands, and the crust was usually thrown down a non-working part of the mine to keep the rats away from the miners.

Cook1

A well spoken chef, always good to have that shown to the public sector, were not all just a bunch of uneducated kitchen monkeys, we have brains too!

It's Jenn again...

I don't think there is anything he says in this story that I don't like. I agree--good ice cream should not have things mixed in it, or be topped with things. I also forgo the cone. Guy Fieri needs to have someone rip off his sparkly dragon Ed Hardy shirt and gag him with it. And German knives really are the best for my chubby little digits--I'm all about my Wusthof 6" classic.

Please do make pasties. Good ones are hard to come by in restaurants, and since I sleep late they are usually sold out by evening when I'm inclined to dine out. Make pasties for the late diners, and I'll be there.

It's Jenn again...

And I just scoped out the menu for Trillium--truffled tater tots with Hollandaise sauce? Three of my favorite things in one dish? Hells-to-tha-yeya!