Stock Up for Winter Now

Ok, you may have only been to the farmers’ market once (maybe twice) this year. So the last thing that you’re likely to be thinking about in these first days of summer is winter. But for a moment just imagine the first chilly day of December—and think how nice it would be as the snow comes down if you could eat the same locally grown cherries and Colorado beets that you’ve recently enjoyed.

That’s how MM Local, the hip local canning company that came to a First Friday lunch last year, is thinking. Right now as you are heading out to farmer’s markets, MM Local is beginning to work with local farmers to preserve the season’s best so that it can deliver Colorado produce to you in the cooler months.

MM Local has just launched its 2011 Harvest Share program—and this is a great way to ensure your access to local produce year-round. Sign up now, and in the fall you will get a delivery of preserved tomatoes, peaches, and more. (You can think of it like your winter CSA.) And good news some of its shares are on sale now!

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Spring Showers Bring…New Restaurants

As we shake the final rainy days of spring and look forward to a forecast of sunshine, we’re anxious to get out and about. And the good weather’s not the only reason. In the past months, Boulder and Denver restaurateurs have been busy creating new spots--and reinventing old ones. This weekend and next week, they start to open their doors (and food truck windows). Here’s what to keep your eye on.

BOULDER

Tangerine – This breakfast and lunch spot from the chef/owner of Arugula promises to bring retro fun to the beginning of the day. Opens Saturday, June 4.

The Kitchen [Next Door] – The Kitchen’s third venture is focused on approachable, community dining and sustainability. Soups, salads, and sandwiches make up the menu, and the restaurant's floors, bar, and windows are made of recycled materials. Opens Thursday, June 9.

DENVER

Justice League of Street Food - This hip group of food trucks kicks off its summer parties at a new location, TAXI, with food from Steuben’s, Biker Jim’s, and more. First event is Saturday, June 4.

Linger - In the Olinger Mortuary, the hub of Lower Highland, the owner of Root Down opens a restaurant dedicated to crafted cocktails and global street food. Opens Tuesday, June, 7.

-Kazia Jankowski

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Recipe Search Tools Aren’t Always What You Think

Recently, NatureSweet tomatoes sent over a last-minute request for recipe testing, and the first thing I did was open my browser. Crunched on time and in need of reliable ideas, I knew I could turn to the internet for recipe research. What I didn’t know at the time, though, is just how many options I had—or that there’s mounting criticism to some of the biggest of these.

I visited sites I knew well, like Epicurious.com, but as the New York Times’ article Can Recipe Search Engines Make You a Better Cook points out, I could have turned to Google’s recipe search. Or Bing. Or I could have checked out Foodily. Or Cookzillas. Each of these search tools would have pulled up countless tomato recipes for me—or they might not have. The recent NYT article notes that these sites are still primarily designed by programmers, not foodies. Which means that a search for no-bean chili might actually turn up a recipe packed with jus the ingredient you didn’t want. Similarly, these tools are likely to only pull recipes from the major food websites, like Allrecipes.com, but not chefs’ blogs.

So the takeway? Recipe search engines are still in the early stages of development. We’re eager to see how they take shape in the next several years, especially given that recipes are one of the most searched items on the internet. But for now, we’ll stick to going to the sites we trust.

Here's a list of our go-tos:

MyRecipes.com
Epicurious.com
Chow.com
EverydayFood.com

-Kazia Jankowski

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Blog Pick: Fooducate

After our Food Revolution speaker-and-movie series, we got an influx of emails. We want to eat better food. One way to do that is to begin to better educate ourselves. For that there’s Fooducate, a blog and mobile app (pictured here) that breaks down what makes up the food on grocery store shelves.

The Fooducate blog offers regular updates on topics, like artificial colors, food allergies, and unfamiliar back-panel ingredients. But what’s even cooler is the Fooducate mobile app. For those moments when you’re grocery shopping and you can’t decide if a cereal has too much sugar—or not enough real fruit—pull out your smart phone and use the Fooducate app (available at the App Store) to scan the bar code. Fooducate will pull up a rating of the product as well as a list of product warnings (too much sugar, artificial ingredients, controversial additives). In seconds, you can decide if you’re dropping a product into your grocery cart or putting it back on the shelves.

-Kazia Jankowski

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

CSA Season Begins

The Boulder Farmer’s Market kicked off last weekend—and next weekend, most ski mountains shut down for the season. Which means that right now, you’re probably thinking more about skinny carrots than skinny skis. If that’s the case, you’ve got many options to get your hands on the season’s produce.

Of course, there are the farmer’s markets (in Boulder and Denver), but there are also countless CSAs. These Community Supported Agriculture programs allow you to buy a share of a farm and receive regular deliveries, all summer long, of the farm’s best. Early summer, greens will fill your fridge. Mid-summer, expect juicy, red tomatoes. And late summer, watch out for squash and pumpkin.

To kick start the CSA season, Eileen, our in-house CSA devotee, and our Culinary Team share their favorite local programs:

Stone Bridge Farm CSA
Ollin Farms
Oxford Gardens Boulder
Grant Family Farms

Please let us know if you have others.

-Kazia Jankowski

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

DIY Valentine Gifts

As we sat down to brainstorm Valentine gifts this year, we couldn’t get our heads out of the pantry. Thinking of all the pickles and jams we’d made this year—and the chefs across the country, who in the "More is Less" mentality, are doing the same—we decided that we had all the ingredients for great last minute Valentine gifts right in our kitchens.  All we needed was a free afternoon to mix, stir, and make delicious treats. Sunday afternoon sounds ideal, so we share with you a few of our favorite DIY Valentine gift ideas.

Basil-infused Olive Oil (Feel free to substitute other herbs like cilantro or rosemary)

Chinese Five Spice Candied Nuts

Cowboy Cookie Mix in a Jar

Almond Crunch Granola

Fresh Vegetable Pickles

-- Kazia Jankowski & the Culinary Team

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

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

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

Refined Comfort Food

When Bon Appetit awarded Boulder the Foodiest Town in America this fall, it praised our small city for its farm-to-table mentality and restaurants, like the Kitchen and Salt, which brought refined comfort flavors to local ingredients. And that was before Oak at 14th opened.

The latest addition to the Boulder dining scene, a stylish, understated restaurant, takes familiar dining up a notch more. In the kitchen of Oak at 14th is Steven Redzikowski, a former Frasca sous chef, and at the bar, Bryan Dayton, previously Frasca’s bar manager, mixes drinks. Which is why Oak’s grits are arguably the lightest, fluffiest on the Front Range and why its cocktails (both alcoholic and booze-free) taste precisely of the bright ginger, lemon, and other juices that they are made of.

Oak’s menu covers the gamut of familiar foods, fried pickles to tacos to black-bottom banana crème pie, and it brings those flavors to life with creativity and precision.
Bon Appetit was even more spot on than it knew.

1400 Pearl St., 303-444-3622

--Kazia Jankowski

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Pie Times

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and pie is on the mind. Tomorrow a pumpkin or pecan pastry will grace almost every house in the country. But that’s not the only reason we’re thinking of pie.

This month, pie is also at the center of the national culinary conversation. Trendologists, like Andrew Freeman, have declared pie the big thing for 2011, and last week, the New York Times officially stated that the cupcake’s time was up, and pie is in line to be our nation’s next sweet obsession.

Indeed, pie shops have begun to spring up in across the country. The culinary capitols of San Francisco and New York have the largest concentration of stores. In those cities, bakers are turning out classic pies, as well as innovative plays on familiar flavors, like apple green-chile pie with a cheddar crust.

Locally, pies are just beginning to make an appearance. Last Wednesday, chef Frank Bonanno (Mizuna, Luca ‘d Italia) opened Wednesday’s Pie, a once-a-week pie shop in Larimer Square that serves up pumpkin, banana cream, and caramel apple pies. Around the corner from Wednesday’s Pie, Euclid Hall dishes up fried pies. Try the chocolate, cheesecake, or peach preserves. And across town in Highland, the bakery Cake makes the classics: pumpkin, pumpkin praline, apple, pecan, and more.

All these options should offer plenty of choices for Turkey Day and the year to come.

--Kazia Jankowski

Photo courtesy of the New York Times

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Mexican Street Food in Boulder

For a western town, Boulder has had a surprisingly limited selection of Mexican restaurants. Sure, there’s Agave and Efrain’s. But where can you grab the Mexican street food (tortas, tacos, and tamarind soda) that have captivated the rest of the nation? Up until a couple of months ago, we shrugged in response.

But now, thanks to the opening of two new restaurants, you have a choice of two tasty options: Pica’s Mexican Taqueria or Restaurante 100% Mexicano.

Pica’s dishes up a variety of street food flavors—and Restaurante 100% Mexicano the authenticity. In Pica’s bright, causal, Baja-style dining, try warm corn tortilla tacos of carne asada or fish (pictured here) with a Jarritos taramind soda. Or try chilaquiles, fried corn tortillas smothered in red sauce.

At Restaurante 100% Mexicano, order a cantelope agua fresco, red chile and pork tamales, and a slice of creamy tres leches cake.

--Kazia Jankowski

Photo courtesy of Pica's Mexican Taqueria

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Ethnic Flavors in the Grocery Store Aisles

Last week, Kazia spoke on behalf of the SRG Culinary Practice at Expo East, the East coast natural foods tradeshow. She sat on a panel about emerging ethnic flavors and talked up the taste and ingredients of India, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. Then, Kazia hit the tradeshow floor—only to find that several new business are already embracing authentic foreign flavors.


Saffron Road Founded by a former exec of Terra Chips and Alexia foods, this Connecticut-based start up offers a line of frozen Indian foods (chicken tikka masala, lamb saag). But what makes it unique are its meats, which are are halal (as well as hormone and antibiotic free) so that Muslims can eat them.




Julian’s Recipe Culinarily Belgium is known for its frites (French fries), beers, and waffles—and it’s the last that another ex-exec of Terra Chips and Alexia foods has decided to bring to U.S. freezers. The sweet, golden pastries are authentic down to their sugar nibs (crunchy bits of sugar baked into the waffle).





TIAS! Kettle Chips has decided to embrace Latin American flavor and launch its own line of tortilla chips. Called TIAS!, which means AUNTS! in English, the brand adds an element of fun to recipes that your tia would make.

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Street Food Party on Friday

Friday night, when you don't want to cook and you're debating dinner destinations, consider the Justice League of Street Food's third outdoor party. This pop-up event is a gathering of Denver's best food trucks--and it's a rarity that these taco makers, burger masters, and biscuit bakers actually get out in the evening. (These mobile modern restaurants are easier to find at lunchtime or during morning farmers' markets.)

The trucks will gather in an empty lot outside of Coors Field, and there, you can try warm, gooey mac 'n' cheese balls from Deluxe Little Orange Rocket, brothy drunken noodles from Steamin' Demon, spicy Mexican from Pinche Tacos, and more. And if you stick around long enough you might catch a party, too. The Justice League likes to dish up its gourmet street eats with style, and Friday night is '80s themed. The Denver Film Society will be showing '80s movie clips, DJs will spin '80s tunes, and you're encouraged to throw on your jean jackets and leg warmers.

Friday, Oct. 1, 5-10 p.m., 29th Avenue and Huron Street, Denver

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Salt's Customizable Cocktails

How many times have you waited in line for a Chipotle burrito? Or at the Apple store, for the new iWhatever? We are a culture that loves customization (whether it comes via burritos or iPads).

In our busy, cluttered worlds, we look for any opportunity to create true expressions of our tastes. And cocktails, Salt has decided, are the next best medium to do just that.

Our neighborhood bistro now has a DIY cocktail menu. Pick from one of six alcohols, a selection of herbs and seasonings, and a variety of drink styles to make the cocktail of your choice. And then do it again, changing it up according to your mood or preferences.

So just one question: What are you up for today?

1047 Pearl St., 303-444-7258

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

New Products Culinary Shifts Quiz

Once a year at the New Products Conference, Prepared Foods magazine and Mintel join forces to review what's happening in the world of food. Over the course of three days, the trade publication and powerhouse research firm (which we tap for many of our projects) approach new cereals, yogurts, frozen dinners, and more from several vantage points (consumer trends to ideation)--and they highlight some of the strangest, most inventive, and/or most trendsetting new products to reach the international market in recent months. Here are a few of our favorites from this year's conference, which took place last week.

Each one relates to a certain Culinary Shift. Read through and see if you can guess which Shift the product fits. (There's an answer key at the end.)


Kellogg Krave
Released January 2010
Country: UK
Chocolate-hazelnut-filled cereal puffs (a.k.a. nutella cereal)

What's the Shift?















Kit Kat Yoghurt Aloe
Released July 2010
Country: Japan
Kit Kat wafers coated in yogurt and aloe. Developed in conjunction with Tokyo Beauty Clinic.

What's the Shift?







Pepsi Throwback
Released April 2010
Country: USA
Pepsi made with its original recipe (with real sugar) and packaging.

What's the Shift?












Blood Energy Potion
Released March 2010
Country: USA
Fruit punch-flavored energy drink that claims to have similar nutrients to real blood. It promises four hours of iron, protein, and electrolytes.

What's the Shift?













Yoplait Simply GoGurt
Released April 2010
Country: USA
A version of the on-the-go yogurt that's free of high fructose corn syrup, as well as artificial colors and flavors.

What's the Shift?






Answer Key
1) Kellogg Krave: Luxury Re-valued
2) Kit Kat Yoghurt Aloe: Dr. Me
3) Pepsi Throwback: Simple Refuge
4) Blood Energy Potion: Break Free
5) Yoplait Simply Go Gurt: More with Less

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Wines on Tap

In recent years, in an effort to be more sustainable, restaurants have ditched bottled water. Now, increasingly they are doing the same with bottled wine.

Across the country, restaurants are pouring more draft wine (wine served from a keg, like beer). Not only does this serving method offer diners a less wasteful restaurant, it promises better, more affordable wine. Tap wine reduces wine packaging as well as the amount of wine that restaurants throw away. (Restaurants commonly toss open bottles of wine that have oxidized and lost their freshness.) Tap wines, though, which are stored in a barrels, are never exposed to oxygen and stay fresh for weeks. Similarly, they don’t carry the cost of the wine bottle, which means that restaurants can sell them for as little as $4 or $5 a glass.

These advantages have had national restaurants like Daniel Boulud’s newest NYC restaurant, DBGB, and Father’s Office in Los Angeles selling tap wine for the last couple of years. And recently Denver has joined the movement as well. The newly opened Euclid Hall serves three tap wines from the local winery, Infinite Monkey Theorem. Table 6 pours one tap wine at a time, and Jax Denver also has a rotating wine on tap.

And now that our environmentally friendly city has embraced this trend, we don’t expect it to go back to bottles. Rumor already has it that new restaurants (scheduled to open in 2011) are building entire bars around draft wine.

Photo courtesy of the New York Times

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Celebrate Local Food during Harvest Week

For weeks local chefs have been slicing Colorado tomatoes into their salads and peaches over their desserts. But they’ve been doing it kind of undercover, using only their menus to mention the origins of their produce.

But last Saturday, Harvest Week kicked off, and Denver restaurants’ weeklong celebration of late summer product reminds us that Colorado peaches, Olathe corn, and Torpedo Farms Pork are all worth more than a simple menu mention. The 36 restaurants involved in Harvest Week have designed entire meals around local products, and through Friday, they will be serving up dishes dedicated to Colorado food. Table 6, for example, is serving a smoked Colorado trout brandade (think salmon cake, except trout) made of all Colorado products. Root Down kicks off its menu with Rocky Mountain cantaloupe and tomato gazpacho. These dishes, and the many more like them featured during Harvest Week, are worth celebrating for their Colorado ties, super fresh flavor, and culinary sophistication.

For a complete listing of Harvest Week restaurants or for more information on the event, click here.

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Pop-Up Markets Build Community on the Coasts

Mention the word recession, and dark feelings are likely to bubble up. You think of all those lost opportunities. Unless of course, you want to start a food business. In that case, you might be feeling like you've hit the jackpot. Never before has it been so easy--or required less capital investment--to start a bakery, sandwich shop, or cookie company. It's just that your restaurant will probably be based out of a street truck--and your cookie company out of a pop-up market.

Pop-up markets are the latest manifestation of our newly frugal food society. In cities, like Brooklyn and Oakland, homegrown markets are the source of some of the cities best preserves and empanadas. The Brooklyn market, officially titled the Greenpoint Food Market, fills the basement of a local church one Saturday a month. All the eats are homemade, and although recent food safety restrictions will limit the number of participating vendors, you still find hand-crafted treats, like cherry jam and chocolate cheesecake cupcakes. In the Bay Area, the market is more spontaneous. A couple of days, before ex-Chez Panisse chefs throw open the doors of an old Oakland train depot, they post a notice on their website announcing their Pop-Up General Store. There's no fixed schedule or inventory, but you're likely to find fresh produce from Novella Carpenter, the author of "Farm City," delicate fresh pastas, and salted chocolate cookies.

Both of these markets have created an intimate sense of community within their cities. The founders of the Oakland pop-up market attribute their success to the "amazing connection between the person making the food and the person eating it." The Brooklyn vendors feel similarly. There's nothing like meeting the people who snap up your long-brined pickles or Japanese rice balls. So while these vendors haven't hit the actual money jackpot, they are making connections that are allowing them to shape the world of food.

Photo courtesy of the New York Times.

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Connect to the Boulder Beer Community

With all the college bars and craft breweries in Boulder, beer drinking is easy. In one afternoon, you can pull up a seat at Avery Brewery, settle into a table at the Mountain Sun, or jump in a car and head to Lyons and Oscar Blues. Simple, right? And the good news is that all this suds sipping just got a lot easier--and more personal.

Earlier this summer, the West End Tavern launched the Boulder Brew Bus, a shuttle that tours three of the city's best breweries each Sunday evening. Hop on the bus (the very same that's used for Banjo Billy's Bus Tours), and head first to the state's newest microbrewery, Upslope Brewing Company, then to Twisted Pine Brewing Company, and finally to Avery Brewing Company. At each stop, sample beers, walk through the brewery, and meet brewmasters. You'll have a chance to try Upslope's legendary Pale and India ales and Avery's awarding-winning brews--and as you do, you can ask the brewmasters about the hops, fermentation process, and more. Access to Boulder beer--and its makers--has never been so simple.

For more information, click here or call 303-444-3535.

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director

Cocktail Cakes at Kim & Jake's

Last week, we learned about the tiny shop Kim and Jake's Cakes, tucked into the shopping center at Table Mesa Road and Broadway. Word had it that the southern-themed spot had a knack for tender, boozy sweets, like margarita and dark-and-stormy cakes. So we quickly dropped all we were doing and headed south from the office.

Indeed, the bakery, run by two ex-professional cyclists, serves up generous, luscious slices of cocktail-inspired cakes, as well as more traditional offerings, like carrot cake and moon pies. All the options have nuanced, finely developed flavors, influenced by the southern recipes of the owners' pasts. And one forkful of cake provides an escape to slower times and places. Kim & Jake's is a Simple Refuge from our busy, highly wired lives--and it's a great example of how expansive the cocktail movement has become, as well as how classic beverage flavors are Breaking Free of their conventional forms.

If you have a chance to drop by, plan your trip for a Wednesday (happy hour with $1-off slices runs from 5 to 6 p.m.) and watch out for the margarita cake. Based on the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant's famous cocktail, the dessert layers tequila-laced cake with sweet strawberry puree and lemon curd.

641 S. Broadway, Boulder, 303-499-9126

Kazia Jankowski
Associate Culinary Director