EDGE Restaurant Reopens Alongside a Revamped Four Seasons Hotel Downtown

On Monday, May 31 the Four Seasons Denver will reopen after a seven-month renovation. As part of the massive overhaul, EDGE Restaurant — the hotel’s formerly somewhat stuffy steakhouse and bar — has been radically transformed into a progressive experience featuring three separate bars, a raw bar, a main dining area and three separate private rooms with fresh fare from chef Jessica Biederman. The place is decidedly casual while maintaining the kind of grandeur — Dom Perignon and Dom P2 are poured by the glass — that Four Seasons is known for. Luxury is still the obvious motive, but the new face nicely shows a window into the changing attitudes about what it means to be top tier.

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The Four Seasons Denver originally opened in October 2010, with EDGE providing a much more traditional steakhouse experience — dim lights and big booths galore. While the construction happened to coincide with COVID, the refurbishment had been planned for several years prior.

“The designs are established to last at least 10 years,” said director of public relations and communications Jonathan Reap — who also handles the Four Seasons property in Vail. Simple, clean, neat and modern define the latest aesthetic, with the philosophy extending across both rooms and restaurant. The new space could not be further from the original, with each component combining to create a bright and fluid experience. Tables have been intentionally downsized, with the outdoor patio evoking a garden retreat — despite being situated in the center of one of downtown’s more trafficked intersections. A cigar selection is available for those who truly want to lean into leisure. The distinct layout, including a new restaurant-specific entrance — complete with an all-glass aging closet for steaks aged up past 60 days — was orchestrated to give EDGE its own identity. “That’s why we opened the restaurant, to have flow,” said EDGE’s general manager Javier Munoz.

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Biederman was born in the Charleston area and grew up working lines across a variety of Southern kitchens. Eventually growing sick of the overwhelming richness of much of the cuisine, she packed up and moved to Washington D.C. where she got a job at Eric Ripert’s West End Bistro — the Le Bernadin chef’s outpost in the Ritz-Carlton. From there she transferred to Bourbon Steak — the first of what would eventually be three Four Seasons restaurants worked by the chef. The next stop would be a five-year stint at Bristol — a modern American eatery in the Four Seasons Boston. After departing during COVID, Biederman was largely nomadic, doing a range of consulting gigs before ending up working a wine harvest in Oregon where she split her time between chef responsibilities and working the vines.

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EDGE is still ostensibly a steakhouse, though the fare tips much more towards the forward-thinking under Biederman’s direction. “I’m here to accentuate the steak,” she said — noting that the exceptional cuts are coming from New Zealand, Japan, Italy, Australia and the US. Even so, Biederman’s dishes are much more than a supporting cast, with many of the smaller plates commanding as much attention as the robust entrees. The ash-cured hamachi crudo comes dusted with a house-made ash of lemongrass, ginger, garlic, cilantro stems and leeks — which are burnt and then dehydrated — and is served thinly sliced in a nearly neon green aguachile. The Dungeness crab melt — with a combination of Dungeness and jumbo lump crab, pickled onion, a Togarashi aioli, wakame salad and furikake atop ciabatta from Grateful Bread — is reminiscent of a grilled cheese despite lacking its inspiration’s most fundamental ingredient. This is a worthwhile sandwich.

The fregola arancini run along similar lines, with the chef noting right on the menu that flavors of lasagna should be expected. “I like to do things that remind me of growing up,” said Biederman. “I like to put things on the menu that people can see themselves eating,” she continued. Her cooking is nostalgic, with Biederman effectively alluding to childhood comfort food while still producing exquisite interpretations that are generally a few notches removed from the source material. The chocolate mousse pop looks like it could have come straight from the ice cream truck, though the combination of peanut butter sable, toasted meringue, salted pretzel crumb, peanut brittle  and edible flowers and gold leaf align it to more refined palates.

Food can be ordered not only from the various bars but from anywhere in the hotel. A poolside crab melt appearance is recommended. While Biederman’s dishes can only be ordered during EDGE’s business hours, the hotel also has a room service menu that goes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. For a more exclusive experience, one of the three private rooms — aptly titled the butcher block — will feature a set but customizable tasting menu that will rotate and change out seasonally. The new EDGE has indeed shorn the trappings of its previous incarnation, leaning into the modern with remarkable grace.

EDGE Restaurant and Bar is located in the Four Seasons Hotel Denver at 1111 14th St., Denver. It is open every day from 5 – 10:30 p.m.

All photography by Adrienne Thomas.