International Association of Culinary Professionals Honors Sam Arnold
with a Lifetime Achievement Award

Every little boy dreams of living the life of a cowboy but few actually make it happen.  Sam P. Arnold is one of those is one of those few. Arnold’s restaurant, The Fort, and his work to keep the traditions of the Old West alive are a shining example of a man who has spent his life dedicated to restoring the spirit of a cuisine and lifestyle that inspired so many travelers and settlers as they ventured beyond the Mississippi to fulfill their dreams.

The Fort is a living replica of Bent’s Fort, Colorado’s first trading post, a place of respite and commerce for   those traveling on the Santa Fe Trail. Sam Arnold scouted history books and old photographs to build an adobe brick and hand-hewn beamed structure that is true to the architectural detail of the original fort and Southwestern building traditions.

But Arnold didn’t just construct a building; he also build a Colorado culinary masterpiece by studying the native foods of American Indians, trappers and traders, and Spanish and Mexican immigrants.  Not content with his own backyard, Arnold traveled to far away destinations and broadened his horizons studying with James Beard and La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris and attending cooking schools in Sri Lanka, Thailand and China.

Today, when many find American food difficult to define because of its melting pot of recipes, the food at The Fort stands as a living example of the roots of Western cuisine including bison, lamb, guinea hen and elk enhanced with southwestern food experts to continuously fine tune the menu to honor the cuisine of the Rocky Mountain region and Southwest.

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