Blogger, writer, hunter, gatherer, and fisherman Hank Shaw will be at Black Cat Farm-Table Bistro on November 1 with a unique opportunity to indulge in a special dinner sourced entirely from foraged foods native to Colorado!

The cost is $65 for a four-course dinner by chef Eric Skokan and a signed copy of Hank’s book, Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, with an optional paired wine flight for an additional $25.

I’ve been going out periodically this summer with Wendy from Hunger and Thirst for Life, learning about what and how to forage. Within easy walking distance of my suburban home, I’ve found asparagus, cherries, apples, garlic, currants, and many other more unusual foods, and I’ve been stunned by the bounty growing everywhere around me. Even with a baby in a stroller or a sling, I could collect real food—with astounding ease—from my environment. It’s forever changed the way I look at parks, open spaces, and even the ditches along the side of the road.

Reservations are going fast! Call (303) 444-5500 to secure your spot and learn with all your senses about the amazing foods truly native to Colorado.

And while the food is easily as good as that served just a few feet away at Arugula, the real draw here are the cocktails.  Mixologists Dante and Bianca have been given free reign behind the bar and have come up with an extensive menu of seasonal specialties as well as their own twist on perennial favorites.  The Fire in the Sky is a must-try, as theatrical as it is tasty.  If you’re uncertain what to order, don’t worry; Dante and Bianca are there to help, to educate, and to encourage you to try something new and different.  And with no cocktails ringing up at more than $12, you won’t feel like you’ve been pressured to order the most expensive thing on the menu just because it’s hip.

Next week, on October 16th, you too can get a taste of this hip little spot as some of Boulder’s top mixologists, including Bianca Huggins (Amaro) and Greg Van Wagner (Oak At Fourteenth), will be shaking it up to see who can mix up the best Amari and 303 cocktails.  As the mixologists compete, guests will be able to enjoy small bites and cocktail samples from the contestants, and ultimately decide the winner.

The Mixology Contest benefits The School Food Project, a local project dedicated to getting healthy foods in schools. Tickets are $20 in advance, $30 at the door.

Tim and Melissa at Terroir are two of the friendliest people in the BoCo foodie world, and happily, own one of the finest restaurants in that world, as well: Terroir is a bastion of excellent dining and fine wines at the south end of Main Street in Longmont’s Old Town, and elevates the neighborhood just by being there.

Last week, Melissa invited me to join them at one of the farm dinners in their Uprooted series.  This one took place at Aspen Moon Farm in Hygiene.  Tim and Melissa have a special relationship with this petite farm, which focuses on organic and biodynamic farming methods to produce beautiful produce.

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Every Wednesday is Paella and a Bottle night at Cafe Aion, with a different paella and paired bottle of wine offered for a fixed price, but they have expanded to also include special occasion dinners as well.  Floor manager Matthew Kenny sent us the following info on this month’s offering:

“We continue our summer dinner series, this month, featuring a farm that we admire for their produce as well as their philosophy,Flatirons Neighborhood Farm.   Grown in the streets just a few blocks from us (a 10 minute walk if you care to time it) the produce we will feature comes from loaned parcels of land on surrounding neighbor’s properties, including back yards, front yards, as well as the city owned right-of-way along the street. These gardens have been carefully planted and tended to by a gaggle of volunteers, school groups and our favorite urban farmer Scott Hoffenberg.  With produce so close the the doors of the cafe, we are super excited to showcase the goings on in our neighborhood.

Reservations are strongly recommended for this very special event. Requests can be made by calling 303-993-8131 or sending us an e-mail to cafeaion@gmail.com

The evening will be in our traditional tapas style of service and a few menu items are likely to be:
Quick pickled vegetables alongside our house-cured meats
Deep fried peppers with aioli and fleur de sel
Hand made pasta with FNF Basil pesto

We are also steeping basil in vodka for use in a cocktail.”

This very special dinner will take place on Aug. 25 and reservations are pretty much mandatory.  To stay in the know about future special events at the cafe, you can subscribe to their excellent newsletter.  Next month the chefs will be  featuring Andy Hampsten’s olive oil.

You may think you’ve seen the “new” store if you’ve been in and perused their incredible prepared foods section, but what you probably haven’t seen—because it was just completed in the last few days—is their new bulk foods section, renamed the cooking department.  This new initiative from Whole Foods includes Beth Pilar, the store’s new cooking coach.  That’s right: the next time you find a product in the store that you’d love to try, but don’t have the first clue how to cook (don’t lie—it’s happened to all of us), Beth can help you out with simple cooking instructions or recipe suggestions from the store’s media collection, all right there at her little kiosk in the cooking department.

But what happens if you get there at an off time, when Beth isn’t around?  Well, there’s an app for that.

Whole Foods has teamed up with the website Food52 to create their own web community, http://boulder.wholefoodsmarketcooking.com/ and the cooking department is outfitted with iPads that can reach the site any time, offering recipes shoppers can easily email to themselves, as well as the Food Pickler section, in which users can ask one another for advice, such as “What is the benefit or purpose of using unfiltered olive oil?” or How long do pinto beans need to soak?

And, per those two questions above, the bulk section also offers a few new goodies including heirloom dry beans, bulk olive oil and vinegar, and a superfoods station.

If you’re super quick, there’s still time to sign up for a VIP tour of the store. DO IT NOW!

• Friday, Aug. 12, 10 a.m.: The official “Bread Breaking” and Grand Reopening.
• Saturday, Aug. 13, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Live music, vendor demos and children’s activities.
• Sunday, Aug. 14, 12 p.m.: Special lunch offered to shoppers prepared by the Kitchen’s Chef Hugo Matheson. All proceeds from the lunch event will benefit the Kitchen Community.
• Sunday, Aug. 14: “Boulder Born” vendor fair featuring samples from more than 20 local producers, including Gluten Free Bistro, White Girl Salsa, Tres Pupusas and Evol Foods.
• Friday, Aug. 19, 5 p.m.: Outdoor benefit concert featuring Todd Park Mohr and Jeremy Lawton of Big Head Todd and The Monsters, with openers Mollie O’Brien and Danielle Ate the Sandwich. Advance tickets available at the Pearl, Tamarac and Belmar Whole Foods Markets for $15 each. All ticket proceeds will benefit the Boulder Valley School District’s School Food Project.

Check out my previous review of the new store here, and stay-tuned for a sneak peek at their new cooking department and website.

Modern Middle Eastern at Pickled Lemon

On Tuesday evening, Russ Wall and Jeff Lindauer, the men behind Spring 44, unveiled their vodka, gin and honey vodka to a large group of Boulder-area media, industry and friends at Salt the Bistro. Salt mixologists, led by the incomparable Evan Faber, created batches of tremendous cocktails to peddle Spring 44’s goods. The drinks—my favorite featured Spring 44 vodka, cucumber, serrano pepper, lime juice, simple syrup and black pepper—were paired with tasty little treats, such as oysters, sliders and crudo.

Still, more interesting is the story behind the drinks. In the late 1960s, Lindauer’s father purchased land in a remote spot in the Colorado Rockies, surrounded completely by Roosevelt National Park. Lindauer has very clear memories of following his father throughout their land—and of drinking from the spring. Now, all grown up with a wife and a son heading to college, Lindauer and his longtime friend Russ Wall decided it was time to share the unique mountain water with the rest of the world. Both men have extensive experience in business, and they knew the water they were drinking had tremendous potential. And it came down to either bottling it, or turning it into liquor.

Seeing as the world has way too many bottled waters and can never have enough booze, they opted for spirits. Keep an eye out for their new distillery in Loveland and for Spring 44 bottles in local stores and restaurants.

Openings/Closings

Boulder sports hub The Lazy Dog has announced a second location in Erie’s Village at Vista Shopping Center, taking up the old spot of abandoned Benchwarmer’s Tavern and Grill; they expect to open in mid-July. /With locations in Boulder and Denver, Jax Fish House and Oyster Bar opened a new restaurant at 123 North College Ave. in Old Town Fort Collins. /From the people who brought you Tahona Tequila Bistro and Sushi Tora comes an intimate restaurant that shares a kitchen with Tahona in downtown Boulder: The Pearl Street Steak House. Look for its opening late this summer. /Though Juanita’s closed its doors in March, Pearl Street officially says goodbye to the Mexican-food eatery after owners ditched a plan to re-invent the restaurant. /This September, popular Denver breakfast stop, Snooze, will make its Boulder debut at 1617 Pearl St. /The Italian Angelo’s Apeizza e Cucina is now open in downtown Lafayette at 300 South Public Rd. /The cheaper, pub-style The Kitchen [Next Door] (pictured) opened in a chic spot just west of the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder—not surprisingly, next door to The Kitchen. /A second Longmont Noodles & Co. is set to open on north Main Street this December. /A new La Mariposa opened at 1240 Ken Pratt Blvd. in Longmont. /Still a year away, Sprouts announced it will finally come to Longmont’s Fairgrounds Marketplace in summer 2012. /Farm owner Jim Docheff announced that Diamond D Dairy-brand milk will no longer be available, due to a financial decision. His farm will remain open, otherwise. /The people behind Rose’s Hot Dawgs, a stand hot dog in Longmont that closed in 2002, are making a comeback with Celestial Dawgs, open outside of Warren Appliance on Main Street, Tuesdays through Saturdays. /Georgia Boys BBQ has set up shop in a 110-year-old house at 237 Collyer St., Longmont. /Udi’s is now sporting pita bread at it’s brand new Pickled Lemon, which serves Middle Eastern food on The Hill, Boulder. /The movie-themed Louisville Rex opened at 817 Main St., in the former spot of Alley Cat. /A sign at 503 South Public Rd. says it will be the future home of the Five 03 Café. More details to come. /An 11,000-square-foot void on 13^th, between Pearl and Spruce—the former home of b.side Lounge and The Draft House—has been filled with Los Oasis Latin Grill and Cerveceria and Shug’s Low Country Cuisine. /The barbecue masters behind Waterloo are so close to opening Lulu’s in downtown Louisville you can smell it (literally, rich, smokey, bbq fumes are wafting through the air outside the 701 B Main St. locale). Expect the “coming soon” sign to turn into a “now open” sign any minute.

News

The classic Greenbriar Inn, located near Lefthand Canyon on the Foothills Highway, is updating its traditional vibe with renovations and is expected to be complete in early August. /The Healthy Gourmet’s new app The Healthy Gourmet: Inspired Eats features gluten-free, dairy-free and vegetarian options in addition to other recipes. It’s available on the iTunes store for $2.99. /All summer long, Mateo will serve half-priced mussels on “Mussel Mondays.” /The Pinyon now features brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am-2pm.

Kudos

Frasca chef Lachlan McKinnon Paterson’s recipes are being featured in a series in the Wall Street Journal; he also revealed to Travel & Leisure that he loves to track down the Comida Food Truck for lunch. /Sunset Magazine debated which city had more foodie cred: Boulder or Denver. We don’t want to spoil the outcome, but let’s just say…we would have picked a different winner. /Black Cat Farm Table Bistro chef Eric Skokan shared a chilled cucumber soup recipe in the June Food & Wine. 

Events

On July 9, Mile High Swappers offers a chance to B.Y.O. homegrown or homemade food in exchange for someone else’s treats. The event will be held in West Washington Park Community Garden in Denver from 11am-1pm (If you go, keep an eye out for YS foodie Lacy Boggs and her jams). /Boulder’s Mateo will head to Lafayette for its second annual Farm Dinner at Isabelle Farms on July 11. Tickets are $80 per person. /Colterra Food and Wine in Niwot announced a Wine Dinner on July 28 featuring a four-course dinner paired with French wine for $65 per person. /12Seasons chef Robert N. Corey will prepare Dinner in the Country, a nin-course feast held in a NoBo country home for $90 per person on Aug. 6. /The 28^th annual A Taste of Colorado, a foodie paradise with entertainment and activities, will be held in the Civic Center Park in Denver over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2-5. atasteofcolorado.com /In July and August, Terroir Restaurant will present it’s annual Terroir Uprooted series, a chance to serve dinners at several local farms. Dates at terroir-restaurant.com /It’s time for tea connoisseurs of Colorado to unite at the 12^th annual Rocky Mountain Tea Festival, held from July 23-24 at the Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder.

Have restuarant news? A dish that our editors much try? A food-related event? Email it to editorial@yellowscene.com

With our food editor out on maternity leave, I’m playing pinch hitter for lots of foodie festivities.

And it’s pretty awesome.

Yesterday, YS associate editor Brandy Simmons and I checked out the newest addition to The Kitchen’s fast-growing family of chic, farm-to-table eateries. The Kitchen [Next Door] is just that: a casual, teeming, less expensive neighbor to the Pearl Street mainstay. It has the same fresh, lively vibe; owners Hugo Matheson and Kimbal Musk—as well as Musk’s wife, Jen, who designed the space—set out to create a style that blends industrial with modern Parisian cafe. That means resourced lights and doors, dark beetle-kill wood floors and pretty bistro tables. Both wine and beer are on tap (the only bottles you see here are for decoration), and a long, inviting bar made of reclaimed Douglas fir calls to you for pre-dinner drinks or a late-night snack.

The menu has a nice simplicity: sides and starters, soups, sandwiches and salads. Everything on it is around or under $9.

The food here has a certain freshness and honesty to it. Nothing overdone, nothing hiding, nothing flamboyant. We started with the kale chips, which were light and fun, nicely seasoned and full of crunch. I then preceded to gorge myself on a hearty pulled pork sandwich with a bright salsa verde of basil and mint. It was accompanied by cumin carrots, which were cooked well, served cold and totally earthy. Brandy, a vegetarian, opted for the garlic smashers and a simple arugula salad, lightly bathed in olive oil and lemon juice.

They also serve a roast lamb sandwich and a beet burger as well as a variety of salads.

As any good meal does, this one ended with dessert. The chocolate mousse was well balanced and airy with just a touch of sweetness. And one of my favorite things: a pair of homemade cookies sandwiching a scoop of vanila ice cream, served in a little paper package.

They are calling The Kitchen [Next Door] a pub, which doesn’t initially translate (How many pubs serve kale chips and beet burgers and decorate with resourced industrial lighting?). But the longer you hang out, the cozier you get with nearby tables, and the longer you nibble, the more you realize that this is a gathering place for the public, for families, for co-workers and for friends.