Meet Barclay Dodge | Chef and Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Barclay Dodge and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Barclay, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I truly believed in what I was creating at Bosq and continued to push my vision forward. After five years we started to make traction and two years later received our first MICHELIN star. The success behind Bosq is my team, without them I would be a one-man-show.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I love what I do and have always enjoyed my profession. I’ve never viewed it as a job, but rather my craft, one that I work and focus on daily. I am always “plugged- in”, always seeing through a creative culinary lens. Whether hiking in the woods or shopping at a store I carry this mindset throughout, you never know what will pique inspirational ideas. Keeping a mindset and view through daily life of this nature is a constant creative driver.

It’s been 35+ years of working in professional kitchens. I never looked at it as hard or easy, simply put it’s just my life, life-style and the culture that I live and breathe. So, no it is not hard, it is how I have been living since I was 18, I never second guess it.

Some lessons I’ve learned along the way.
One is do not skip the steps on the path to making yourself a great chef. Every step of the way in your craft is vital experience and information. Jumping ahead, for example taking that sous chef job before you aer ready, is detrimental to your growth and knowledge. It’s a craft, there is so much to learn and to be great it is a lifetime of learning that never ends. Take the time to learn and practice.
Another is learn from the best. Put yourself in great kitchens. There are a lot of hack kitchens out there, if want to excel work with amazing chefs and kitchen teams.

I want the culinary world to know about Bosq. I want to collaborate on creative level with my peers and share what we are learning and finding in our Rocky Mountains, sharing our wild foraged food and our amazing farmers.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It depends on the season, winter or summer. Let’s say summer, it offers a greater culinary bounty and outdoor activity.

We would start off road biking to Castle Creek every morning, it is my go to physical get-away, and happens to be my best friend’s too.
Afterwards, breakfast at Bear Den or the Mollie Hotel, both have killer breakfast sandwiches and a good coffee.
Then off to the woods for foraging, definitely wild watercress, blue bell and cow’s parsnip leaves and some porcini mushrooms (if available), and anything else we may find (there is so much out there). I like to forage Independence Pass and Old Snowmass primarily. It’s not far from home and loaded with wild, tasty ingredients.
Sunday funday, would be a quick stop at the Basalt Farmer’s Market (just because we love markets) and then up to Ruedi Reservoir spending the rest of the day on a boat with family and friends.
The next logical stop after such a nautical day would be a bite at Butch’s Lobster Shack in Basalt.
Since I love to cook, and my wife loves nothing more than entertaining (we make an excellent duo) we’d head back to our house, with our farmer’s market and foraged bounty, to grill, open some great wines and have dinner on the patio.
Of course, dinner at Bosq is a given! My best friend has been a part of my culinary path since the early days and one of my biggest supporters. He loves to see where we are with food at the moment.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
All the small farmers on the Western Slope of Colorado! Sustainable Settings, CRMPI, Wild Mountain Seeds, Two Roots and Farm Runners who brings amazing products from the farms of the North Fork Valley.

Website: bosqaspen

Instagram: bosqaspen. barxo

Image Credits
Karl Wolfgang