Chef Daniel Mangin fell in love with cooking young. This was in Madison, where he started his career at Soho Gourmet Cuisine, a food truck that served dumplings with American flavors. “I got a job there at 17 because it was better than working at the U-Haul place,” he says wryly.
He spent most of his youth in Jacksonville. He fell in love with punk and hardcore there. His move to Chicago, where he really cut his teeth, was inspired by the dining experiences he enjoyed during his yearly pilgrimage to Riot Fest.
In the fall of 2021, he took over the kitchen at American Elm, the Brooklyn-inspired bistro opened by Bob Reiter and Chef Brent Turnipseede a couple of years before. Reiter knew hip, previously acting as the Director of East Coast Operations for New York’s famous and now-shuttered hotspot, The Knitting Factory. Turnipseede’s menu was equally well-informed.
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The man brought knowledge and skill from his time as executive chef at TAG Restaurant Group’s crown jewel, Guard and Grace. Right from the jump, the food was always unpretentious but surprisingly technical cuisine. Fresh seafood, local greens and robust slabs of red meat were served in elegant arrangements. Without fail, it was best enjoyed on the patio, under the courtyard’s massive elm tree.
Today, the patio is no less serene, and the interior constantly swarms with the hungry and the hip. The specter of a tragic and still unsolved double homicide on the premises does not dim the place’s brilliance and resolve. In fact, the team seems to have redoubled its efforts to make the place as joyous as possible; the memory of Emerald Vaughn-Dahler and Ignacio Gutierrez Morales still sits center stage among staff and patrons.
Since taking over the kitchen at American Elm, Mangin has been gradually introducing new dishes. The latest menu, which was introduced this last fall, is almost entirely composed of his creations.
“I really wanted to bring a real brightness to the menu, highlighting ingredients without overwhelming technique. The execution is made to highlight the natural flavors,” he says. Dishes like the seared scallops, with corn soubise, charred corn, grilled bok choy, pickled ginger and herb butter are a good example, though Mangin might be being a bit modest when he claims to be going light on method.
The humility probably stems from the fanatical drive that informed his culinary ascent. “I wanted to spend a year at every restaurant I worked at. More than anything, I wanted to be the worst person in the room,” he says.
His career culminated in The Windy City, with stints at Abe Conlon’s James Beard Award-winning Chinese and Portuguese restaurant Fat Rice and hand-made pasta haven Tortello. During COVID-19, he did large-scale outdoor dining on a hemp farm, which included whole pig roasts and massive feasts. “It was Vermont hippie shit,” he says.
So, as in-person dining started to come back into play, Mangin moved to Colorado, convinced that the writing was on the wall for Denver’s dining scene. “In the last couple of years, that thought has been coming to fruition,” he says.
His own commitment to pushing the envelope has been a solid part of the growing swell of talent. When he’s not busy in the kitchen, Mangin says he likes to dine at Spuntino and Hop Alley.
Mangin has opted to change the menu gradually, doing three major shifts rather than the standard seasonal breakdown. Late winter, midsummer and late fall act as demarcations where he intends to update between 20 – 30 percent of the featured dishes. Some highlights include the pan-seared salmon with highland donair sauce, asparagus, confit heirloom tomato and herb oil, a roasted half chicken with spaetzle, heirloom carrots, lemon beurre blanc, pomegranate and salsa verde and the steak frites with ribeye cap, bone marrow butter, arugula salad and fries. Don’t leave without getting the burrata fritters with smoked stracciatella, calabrese aioli and charred lemon.
“We try to pull from the widest variety we can. Not only with flavors but also with technique,” he says.
American Elm makes damn good food but also has proven itself to be a pinnacle of resilience. It’s vibrant, just as it ought to be.
American Elm is located at 4132 West 38th Ave., Denver.
It is open Sunday – Thursday from 4 – p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 – 10 p.m.
All photography courtesy of Lucy Beaugard.