Justin Fulton’s food is personal. Sure, the chef hand-delivers a good chunk of the courses he serves at his Monday night pop-up Margot. Also sure, the dishes that land weekly on the tables of LoHi’s Noisette are tweaked constantly according to the availability of local ingredients and the team’s exacting standards. But it’s more than that. There’s something to Fulton’s array of not-so-standard standards that reflect a one-of-a-kind culinary perspective.
Food can be cultural. Food can be historical. This food is plainly his.
“When we opened, I knew the food we were making was going to be the food I am going to die making,” grinned the chef. Margot’s format is still largely the same as it was when it debuted in September 2022, the menu is still seasonally and locally focused. It suffers from few other constraints. “It’s based on what Esoterra Market has,” said Fulton, adding that local sourcing has always been a central component of his cooking style. Most of any given dish’s components come from Colorado, but Fulton says he’s not obsessive and always puts flavor first. If something tasty has to come from out of state, it won’t be shunned. Fresh items are still built around things Fulton snags while perusing the farmers market, inspiration forming on the fly.
Born in North Carolina, Fulton spent his formative years growing up in Keystone where he got his first taste of kitchens while working at the Edgewater Cafe. “Back then it was just for some pocket money and some new skate shoes,” he reminisced. He went to culinary school at Alamance Community College outside of Chapel Hill, where he credits one of his professors for lighting the fire that converted him from a ne’er-do-well to the chef he is today. “I had a love for cooking but I didn’t really know it. I finally got the point where I couldn’t be a dumb kid anymore.” His culinary capstone — what essentially amounted to the program’s thesis — landed him the Award for Exemplary Attitude and Ability.
After graduation, it was off to The Village Grill. “When I was in school I learned technique. Here I learned from motherfuckers who cooked,” said Fulton. He continued to bop around North Carolina, cutting his teeth at 411 West Italian Cafe, where the team would routinely push out 1,500 covers between brunch and dinner. He then did a stint at the Fearrington House Restaurant, his first Five-Star, Five-Diamond joint. He credits the place with being his first exposure to that high level of cooking.
From there, he moved to France, and the elegance continued to escalate. He did private in-home dining in Cannes and chef gigs aboard yachts in Antibes. He returned stateside to a job at Maine’s Camden Harbor Inn, before moving to New York where he worked at Daniel, Marlow and Sons and Cookshop. “I’ve always had the ability to put food together in a really remarkable way,” said Fulton.
While the offerings are in steady rotation, the current menu is laced with dishes like Japanese bluefin tuna with coconut broth, preserved corianander and avocado, Parisian Gnocchi with sunchoke and sorrel and poached Atlantic cod with chard, hazelnut romesco and ice lettuce. The portions are sturdy, so save room for the bananas foster profiteroles with rum caramel and brown butter ice cream.
Fulton says the connection with Noisette has been serendipitous. “Seeing Noisette, it was so perfectly us. It was like our restaurant was built by someone else,” he said. The music — which ranges from Crystal Castles to Prince — is also curated by the chef. “Margot is contemporary fine dining. It means we want you to have as much fun as you would at a place that plays loud music. Sometimes we play loud music,” he continued. While the cooking certainly sits centerstage, there’s a unity to the overlapping sensations.
Margot pops up every Monday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Noisette, located at 3254 Navajo St., #100, Denver. Tickets are limited to 40 per night. $75 for the five-course and $125 for the ten, with an optional drink pairing. Reservations can be made here.
All photos courtesy of Jeff Fierberg.