Welcome to Front & Center, a series highlighting front of the house professionals in Denver restaurants. Right now, Cafe Society wine columnist Kendra Anderson gives a shout-out to GM/sommelier Aaron Forman of Table 6:
I think Aaron Forman is The Most Interesting Sommelier in Denver. If ever there was a sommelier who could persuade you to try some random wine you've never heard of, it's Aaron Forman. Why? Because he's got that magical, elusive rockstar sommelier combination: deep wine knowledge, palpable passion for the subject and — irrefutably — mad service skills.
When I read the other much-deserved FOH shout-outs than ran on Eater this week, I found myself thinking immediately of my friend Aaron. I've known him for more than ten years, a period of time which precedes what I think can safely say was the point at which either of us had any inclination we'd end up in our current, wine-obsessed professions. Aaron was a bartender at Adega, the now-defunct shrine to haute cuisine in Denver, and me? I was just one of his regulars, chatting him up every weekend about my fantasy of becoming a chef (at that point, becoming a somm wasn't even a twinkle in my eye). Aaron's tenure behind the bar clearly served to hone his incredible ability to connect with guests, something I've had the pleasure of observing him do on many an occasion in his demanding roles as GM and somm at Adega spin-off Table 6 (which he also owns, btw).
That multi-hyphenate title of his also means that it's his job to make sure that every aspect of service — not just related to wine — is flawless. If you've had the pleasure of dining at Table 6, then you've no doubt experienced just what I'm talking about: the impeccable lighting, how the volume of the beats emanating from the DJ's turntables is just right and the way every wineglass is polished to a blinding sheen. He seems to have instilled his very own brand of 'je ne sais quoi' in every member of T6's staff — whether it's there typically irreverent fashion sense or their chillaxed-meets-flawless approach to making sure every moment of your time spent in their presence elapses without complaint.
But back to what makes Aaron the most interesting sommelier In Denver. Aaron is in an enviable, yet incredibly challenging position that nearly every somm craves: He gets to pick out an always-stunning array of wines for a restaurant whose dishes change as often as Denver 's weather (and Chef Parker's culinary moods); putting him in the decidedly difficult predicament of selecting bottles that make for successful mash-ups with the whimsical — sometimes downright non-sensical — but always delicious menu items that seem to simply materialize from the kitchen. Oh yeah — they've got to please guests from novice to oenophile, and exist within price points from budget to ballerific. His resulting wine list? Well, it's intelligent, quirky and absolutely delightful. And most important — always on point. Just like Aaron.
—Kendra Anderson
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Aaron Forman [Photo: RVC Visual Arts]
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