Chef Eric Brenner will soon wake up to a vista of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Beginning July 1, Brenner will assume the position of corporate executive chef at Colorado Mountain Brewery in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The St. Louis native is currently the consulting chef at Lascelles, which opened in Granite City, Illinois, earlier this year. Although Brenner won’t be a daily presence at Lascelles after June 30, he will remain in an active role as consulting chef for the restaurant. “It can run without me,” he said. “It’s a pretty easy transition for the staff. I started delegating duties to staff almost immediately because they all wanted to learn.”
The new opportunity came about recently while Brenner and his wife, Lara Brenner, were on vacation in Colorado. “We always go there. And like most people, I always look around and think, ‘I could open a place here,’ but I never followed through,” he said. This time, however, Brenner learned of the job at Colorado Mountain Brewery and applied for the position. Within a week, the job was his.
At Colorado Mountain Brewery, Brenner will oversee the food and beverage side of operations at all three of the brewpub’s locations, creating a chef-driven menu with the “feel and idea of Colorado.”
While leaving St. Louis will be bittersweet, Brener said he is excited for the opportunity. “I just couldn’t think of a reason not to move to a place that I love and to take on this challenge,” he said. “They want to take this company and grow it, and that’s perfect for me.”
-photo by Michelle Volansky
This article appears in June 2015.