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Rachel Saxton is obsessed with the great outdoors. The chef, who helms the kitchen at West End Social at Aspen Meadows Resort, calls the woods her “church.” “It’s always been my place of zen and I love everything about it,” Saxton says. “I grew up in my parents’ garden and I am the granddaughter of farmers, so I was always a part of growing food and being outside. Nature was a big part of my childhood.”
Saxton was raised in Missouri, where she grew up fishing, foraging for mushrooms, and hunting turkeys with her dad. Saxton’s affinity for sourcing straight from the land became a big part of her career. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in New York City, Saxton honed her chops at the famed Eleven Madison Park before she followed some friends to Aspen.
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In the high-country city, she worked her way up the ladder at renowned restaurants, from line cook at the Little Nell to chef de cuisine at now-Michelin-starred Bosq. There, she was mentored by chef-owner Barclay Dodge, who greatly influenced her style of cooking. “When I started working with Barclay at Bosque, I really figured out how to bring the food and the refined training I had together with this immense love for the outdoors,” Saxton says.
Patrons can experience Saxton’s talent at West End Social, which debuted in February in the space that previously housed Plato’s at Aspen Meadows Resort. As chef de cuisine of Plato’s since 2020, Saxton served a menu designed to satisfy travelers with varied tastes, which left the restaurant’s cuisine, in her words, undefined. So she was excited to jazz up West End Social’s food lineup with her own fine-dining touches and farm-to-table flair. The chef even looks for seasonal ingredients—think: porcini mushrooms, pine branches, and berries—on Aspen Meadows’ 40-acre property and leads foraging outings with the resort’s guests during the summer months.
“That’s why I took the job [at Aspen Meadows] in the first place,” Saxton says. “I love working in town, but I needed space. I needed something bigger than Bosq—and not bigger in the sense of name, but physically bigger… with just more space. And I fell in love with the view from here, and you are surrounded by nature all the time.”
The fruits of Saxton’s labors include comforting brunch specialties such as Mo’s Sweet Potato Beni, an ode to her mama who, ever the gardener, tends to a particularly successful crop of sweet potato plants. To make the dish, Saxton tops a griddled sweet potato plank (instead of an English muffin) with arugula pesto, feta cheese, poached eggs, jalapeño hollandaise, crispy sweet potatoes, and scallions. Or go for the espresso martini pancakes and Saxton’s take on a lox bagel with chive cream cheese, dill, red onions, capers, and soft-boiled eggs. And don’t miss her ultra-crispy smashed chipotle potatoes.
For dinner, order the lamb tataki and 14-day dry-aged maple leaf duck—two creations Saxton is particularly proud of. The former features thinly sliced, seared Colorado lamb accompanied by a green garlic purée, while the latter sports a crispy-skinned duck breast brushed with lavender-infused honey and presented with green asparagus purée, local cherries, and purslane (a commonly foraged green). Many of the dishes on the menu are designed for sharing, a feature influenced by the Aspen Institute, the nonprofit thinktank that owns Aspen Meadows and serves as a forum for conversation on global issues like sustainable business, climate change, and artificial intelligence. “The Aspen Institute, in my mind, is groundbreaking on their ideas and the conversations that they have and lead in this world—so why not have food create conversation too?” Saxton says.
In spring 2023, the Salamander Collection, which operates Aspen Meadows Resort, debuted a Bauhaus-style renovation of the hotel’s 98 suites. While you don’t have to stay at the resort to dine at West End Social, the property is offering discounted rates for select dates this fall—a wonderful time to take in the famous wraparound views of the mountains from the restaurant’s patio. Aspen Meadows is also teaming up with Hotel Jerome and the Little Nell to host the new Aspen Pastry Invitational (October 17–19), whose schedule includes workshops by pastry pros such as West End Social’s own Sara Figueiredo.
