EDGE Restaurant’s New Chef is Bringing Imagination, Whimsy and Distinction to an Evolving Menu

In May 2021, EDGE Restaurant reopened in the Four Seasons Denver. What had once been something of a stuffy, more traditional steakhouse reemerged as an epicenter of downtown chic. The food was good and the Dom Perignon was cold. Though when chef Craig Dryhurst took over the kitchen in March 2022, it would appear that the opulent interior had met its culinary match. The London native — who has worked in Four Seasons kitchens since 2002 — has transformed the menu into a hotbed of signature luxury, underpinned by a creative spirit that seems to be constantly in overdrive. “When I write a dish it needs to ring on the menu, it needs to sing in your mouth, it needs to look stunning and it needs to match the time of day,” said Dryhurst. “I want to do a lot of stuff that sings EDGE.”

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Dryhurst knows how to run a high-volume kitchen. He got his start in the White Heat era, on the rough and tumble lines of London’s own Claridge’s Hotel and The Langham. “I got the bug when I was there,” he grinned. That bug took him to Grand Hotel Du Cap Ferrat in France before he began a globetrotting career across Four Seasons in Boston, Hampshire, Vancouver and a seven-year stint at the famed Maui location. EDGE’s menu clearly has been benefitting from Dryhurst’s internationalism, though it’s clear that it’s just one part of the chef’s arsenal. “I like food to be whimsy. I like it to be unpretentious, fun,” he said.

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The latest menu at EDGE nicely shows Dryhurst’s ability to push the boundaries of flavor and presentation while never losing sight of the location’s role as a progressive steak and seafood restaurant. The steaks — which occupy the bountiful aging room situated just by the entrance — are still a major pull. Though the team is pulling further and further away from the norm with additions like the Denvah Bar, a house-made chocolate bar that greets rooms where kids are staying and includes a golden ticket for a free ice cream in the restaurant. Even the more ostensibly basic items are fashioned with highbrow touches. The buttermilk chicken sandwich ($28) becomes riveting with the addition of a house-made fermented fresno hot sauce, with the seabass ($45) arriving draped in a cashew coconut curry broth and sitting atop sticky rice patties that have been perfectly crisped. Saving room for dessert is a must, with the white chocolate blood orange creme brulee ($16) being the most sinful and necessary of the bunch.

Dryhurst’s additions can be seen across breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner menus along with banquet, room service and a fully reconceived set of pool offerings. An end-of-summer bash on September 10 will see Big Green Egg specialist Jack Arnold and Dryhurst going head to head amidst cooking demonstrations and heaps of classic cue. It is sure to sing.

EDGE Restaurant is located in the Four Seasons Denver at 1111 14th St., Denver. It is open Sunday – Thursday from 7 a.m. – 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.

All photography by Alden Bonecutter.