January 26, 2011

Breakfast Boom

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Or so the old adage goes. Whether you believe the axiom or not, the recent restaurant trend is doing its best to make it true. Breakfast has taken over the local dining scene.

Traditional dinner restaurants are opening their doors earlier. In Denver, the pizza joints Atomic Cowboy/Fat Sully’s and Basil Docs have put coffee on their menus, and each morning, they pop biscuits into their ovens so you can enjoy sausage and egg-stuffed breakfast sandwiches. The late-night bar and taco spot El Diablo also just added Mexican morning eats, like huevos and chorizo.

But the latest Denver spot to put some prestige into breakfast is Jelly. The three-week-old Capitol Hill spot serves up tasty breakfast sliders (think gourmet omelets on a mini hamburger bun), as well as sweets, like Bakti chai French toast and Corn Flake and banana pancakes. Even 5280 magazine is a fan.

Now, we just can’t wait for what’s next. In early April, Alec Schuler of Arugula and Phil Armstrong of Hush plan to open Tangerine, and when they do, Boulder will finally get its very own hip breakfast diner.

-Kazia Jankowski

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

January 4, 2011

Cutting Back in the New Year

Just like the rest of us, restaurants, chefs, and even food policy makers use the New Year to rethink how they're doing things. And the food world has entered 2011 with a clear message: Do more with less.

On January 1, Italy banned non-biodegradable, plastic bags.

Celebrity chef David Chang, of the Momofuku restaurant group, has declared that this year he will find domestic purveyors of soy sauce, miso, and sake.

Alice Waters, owner and chef of Chez Paniesse is putting a pretty compost bucket on her counter top so she remembers to use it all the time.

When he goes to restaurants, Bobby Flay plans to eat only three-quarters of the food he's served. That way he can enjoy and save calories.

To check out more ways the country's leading foodies are cutting back, read Oprah's line-up of chef resolutions.

-Kazia Jankowski

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director