For the last winter mountain season, Land Rover created the Range Rover Park City Edition to satisfy a small number of buyers. For the summer mountain season, Lexus has created the one-of-a-kind GX Monogram to satisfy visitors to Aspen’s Food & Wine Classic this weekend. The GX Monogram is the result of the Japanese automaker working with American appliance maker Monogram to design “a culinary experience on wheels.” Let’s provide some context for the word “culinary,” though — Monogram makes four microwave ovens that cost $3,500 or more, 13 refrigerators that cost $10,000 or more, and four professional ranges that cost $11,000 or more. This is Aspen culinary, served with sherbet and a table crumber between courses, not GX in Overland trim “Look what I can make in just one plastic bag” culinary.
With that out of the way, what do we have here? Inside, the rear area’s been done up for some sumptuous pre-gaming. Among a background of black and quilted camel leathers, brass, titanium and Dekton slate accents, a full-length center console creates four individual seating areas. The rear occupants have access to a cold drawer as well as a cold console compartment that “offer flexible chilling for your ingredients,” because sometimes you want to mix up crisper choice, keep it fresh, you know? Between the rear seats, Monogram’s $1,500 heated ice press creates spheres of transparent ice that pair nicely with the kinds of ingredients usually served in a tumbler.
On-site, the party’s in back. Opening a panel where the rear side glass would normally reside reveals a set of wine glasses. Barn doors replace the GX’s standard tailgate, the left door housing bartending tools including a shaker, decanter and cutting board, the right door holding cooking accessories such as a pizza peel and roll of kitchen tools. Monogram’s 30-inch Smart Flush Hearth Oven sits in-between, said to “capture the performance of a wood-fired brick oven to prepare pizza, soft artisanal bread, or fresh-caught roasted branzino.” Not much branzino in Aspen, but the oven probably does just as well with the copious trout in the area rivers. Other cubbies hide useful tidbits like cutlery and a trash bin.
We’re not sure what the ornate roof rack is meant to hold, but if we were in Aspen, we’d be too busy stamping out ice cubes to ask questions. Monogram says its heated ice press is the only one in the country.
If you can’t make it to the event but want to join in the fun, Food & Wine has posted the weekend’s recipes and the wine list. Whip up some shakshuka with eggplant and peppers, head down to a Lexus dealer, and ask a salesman to plate it up for you in the other kind of Monogram model — the luxury brand’s “Monogram by Lexus” program that makes the shopping experience quicker and easier for prospective buyers. Don’t forget to ask the salesman for a glass of 2016 Pierre Meurgey Les Vignes Franches Beaune 1er Cru while you’re there.