There are dinners you forget by morning and dinners you talk about for the rest of your life. Then, there are the dinners crafted by Elevated Cuisine—meals that blur the line between nourishment and performance, between private dining and poetry.
Steamboat Springs may be known for champagne powder, cowboy hats, and hot springs, but lately, there’s another reason locals and visitors are whispering in ski lift lines and après-ski lounges: if you’re planning a wedding, a milestone, a retreat, or simply want to transform your living room into a restaurant for the night—you hire Elevated Cuisine.
Not because it’s trendy. Because it’s exceptional.
At the helm is Chef Chris Vargoshe, a culinary craftsman whose food doesn’t just feed—it tells stories. A native of the East Coast who cut his teeth in kitchens from New England seafood joints to Colorado mountain bistros, Vargoshe brings a rare blend of grit, elegance, and vision to every plate. His dishes echo a reverence for ingredients and a respect for people. That’s a rare thing in today’s culinary world—especially when it’s served up in your own home.
So what makes Elevated Cuisine worth hiring?
Let’s start with the obvious: the food is phenomenal.
Vargoshe doesn’t rely on gimmicks or overwrought techniques. Instead, he leans into the seasons, sourcing from local farms like Bee Grateful, building menus around what’s fresh, what’s foraged, what’s beautiful now. A spring dinner might feature sugar snap peas tossed in lemon oil with a wisp of mint, followed by Colorado lamb with green harissa and roasted fingerling potatoes. Summer brings seared scallops with saffron jam, or grilled peaches with burrata and smoked honey. Fall might welcome venison, wild mushrooms, or a velvety bisque poured over lump crab and kaffir lime crema.
It’s the kind of food that feels elevated but not alienating. Bold but never brash. Fine dining without the stiffness.
Each menu is custom—no templated dishes or cookie-cutter events. Whether it’s a micro-wedding for 20 in a mountain meadow or a multi-course plated dinner for 12 celebrating a 40th birthday, Chef Chris starts every experience with a conversation. What are your favorite ingredients? What memories do you associate with food? Are you celebrating something sacred, something silly, or simply a Saturday?
From there, he crafts something truly singular. No two menus are the same. No two dinners taste alike.
But Elevated Cuisine is more than just a private chef service. It’s an operation—thoughtful, discreet, and flawlessly executed. That’s thanks in part to the growing team behind the scenes. Vargoshe’s sous chef Jackson ensures the kitchen runs with clockwork precision, while Front-of-House Director Angie Cheng orchestrates the dining experience with quiet grace. Together, they make it all feel effortless—even when it’s anything but.
Guests don’t see the three days of prep that go into a dinner for 10. They don’t see the equipment hauled across backcountry roads to reach a ranch 30 miles outside town. They see the end result: servers moving seamlessly, glasses filled on cue, plates arriving warm and picture-perfect. They taste the sum of that labor—and that’s all they need to know.
What’s more, Elevated Cuisine travels. Whether it’s a lunch for a llama-shearing crew or a wedding deep in the woods, the team brings everything needed to build a restaurant wherever you are: hot boxes, induction burners, custom tableware, even custom bar setups (minus the booze, per Colorado law). And yes, they’ll cook for 10, 100, or 275 with the same care.
The clients range widely—locals, visitors, celebrities flying in under the radar, families reuniting for the first time in years. Some want a five-course tasting menu. Others want a grazing table and paella for 50. Some want a rustic brunch. Others want miso-glazed oyster mushrooms and koji-cured carrots plated like sculpture.
No matter the request, Elevated Cuisine shows up with clarity, creativity, and intention.
What’s perhaps most striking is how rooted the experience feels in place. The food isn’t just good—it feels of Colorado. Vargoshe’s menus often feature native herbs, wild game, high-altitude vegetables, and nods to his love of open fire, alpine terrain, and riverside foraging. His dishes might be plated with the elegance of a Napa bistro, but they carry the wild spirit of the West. They feel personal. Earned. Grounded.
Of course, the people who work with him would say the same about Chris himself. Former clients call him “humble,” “obsessive in the best way,” “the real deal.” More than once, I heard: “We never knew food could be like this.”
But it’s not just about flavor. It’s about hospitality.
When you hire Elevated Cuisine, you’re not just hiring a chef. You’re hiring a storyteller. A steward. A team who understands how to shape an evening, not just serve a meal. From the playlist to the pacing, from handwritten menus to wine pairings (often curated with help from local sommeliers), every detail is dialed.
And yes—if you have guests who are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, or allergic to nuts, the team will handle it seamlessly, without anyone feeling like an afterthought. Everyone is seen. Everyone is fed like they matter.
That’s rare.
In a time when “private chef” often means a half-baked influencer doing seared tuna on Instagram, Elevated Cuisine reminds us what the role is supposed to be: deeply trained, wholly present, and entirely about the guest.
And perhaps that’s what makes Elevated Cuisine worth hiring most of all. It’s not about being seen. It’s about seeing others. About creating something unforgettable in the quietest, most meaningful way possible—around a table.
So go ahead. Book the dinner. Hire the team. Let them take over your kitchen, your rental, your barn, your porch. Let them bring the linens, the ladles, the local greens.
And when they serve you that first bite—hot, handmade, humming with detail—you’ll know you made the right choice.
