It has been 10 years since Harley Baldwin, architect by training, founded the Caribou Club and set himself on a path to become king of Aspen’s nightlife. Anticipating the passion for comfort, informality and casual dress that was infecting the new rich (and the young old rich), the club he built was intended to appeal “to classy people with their hair down.” It is “almost residential in scale,” with a series of small rooms that combine “English comfort with Western style.” It has a lounge, a nightclub with disco music that is open until 4 a.m. and five private dining rooms. Pine, not mahogany, is the dominant wood.
The customer base is the club membership, about 1,000 strong. Membership is a relatively modest $3,000 plus an annual fee of $1,000. There is a six-month waiting list, but a weekly pass may be purchased on the recommendation of a member.
On any given night during the ski season or, increasingly, from July through Labor Day, you might see an amiable Kevin Costner chatting in the lounge, Diana Ross sweeping into the kitchen to compliment chef Miles Angelo (imported four years ago from New York City), Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell entering one of the private dining rooms. The staff still is reminiscing about the evening Michael Douglas proposed to Catherine Zeta-Jones. Beyond the entertainment celebrities, one finds the usual suspects: brokers, corporate executives, sports personalities, business people and those who make a career of leisure activities.
Baldwin has been part of the Aspen food and entertainment scene since he made a $1,200 investment 32 years ago, at age 23, and introduced the town’s first popcorn wagon. Here he explains how the Caribou Club has survived in the risky arena of high-end resort dining.
Q. To risk being impertinent, why is the Caribou Club still here?
A. Probably because we didn’t aim too high. My vision was to create a place where a fantasy person who knows the great places in the world, who loves to eat well, loves to dance and talk, would want to spend time with his friends. We tried very hard to not be so cutting edge that we would have to be considered passe in two years. There’s always a place in this town that at 1 a.m. has a crowd that is younger, hipper, hotter than anywhere else. They like to say they will bury us, but so far no one has.
Q. What would you do differently?
A. Just about nothing. I think we were the first club here to have a lounge where people could drink and talk before going in to dinner. Building private dining rooms of different size made us very attractive to people who want to entertain out of the spotlight. Our most important door may be the back door. World leaders have come in, had significant meetings and left without anyone but the staff knowing they were here. We did change the food. It was too casual, so we moved it upscale.
Q. Describe the scene at night.
A. This is a place where people really have fun. A lot of our members know each other, so there’s plenty of conversation and lots of sending bottles of champagne from one table to another. It’s very genteel early; some people have been skiing and will go to bed early. Families may come by before or after a movie. But around 9 p.m. the costumes change–you see bigger jewels and smaller dresses–and so does the mood. Conviviality rules.
Q. You mentioned the food. What are your members’ food and drink preferences?
A. We pour an enormous amount of champagne and, if we had a house cocktail, it would be a champagne cocktail made with framboise (raspberry liqueur). Our customers drink a lot of spirits too. Cosmopolitans are very popular. So are Manhattans. Our menu contains some classics: a caviar service, Caesar salad, aged prime ribeye. We also do what I call Snow Country Cuisine: campfire trout with hash browns, tamale of braised rabbit, loin of elk, Colorado lamb, corned bison reuben. The food is rich, but after five hours on the slopes and a workout with a private trainer, if you don’t indulge yourself now, will you ever?
More Top Picks Best Canister Vacuums