Food NEWS

•   Blooming Beets has sold after five years in business. The new owners, Keizo and Yuki Aoi, will be developing a new concept at the Boulder spot. Keizo has been a sushi chef for the last 30 years, and after 22 years of dreaming and saving to own a restaurant. So expect a new sushi spot opening up in April.   

•   A Harry Potter-themed Brunch is coming to Denver this summer. The Wizard’s Brunch will feature a magical three-course meal, a potions lesson, fortune tellers and house points. Tickets will go on sale next month for the expected June event, but the location has not been disclosed.    

•   Prominent Boulder chefs and restaurant owners from Frasca/Pizzeria Locale, The Med/Brasserie Ten Ten and Big Red F Restaurant Group, say the city’s regulations and high cost of doing business is hurting good restaurants. Strict parking regulations and high rents and property taxes burden an industry which operates on razor-thin margins. They warn city council, Boulder might be killing its own foodie reputation.

  •   Young farmers are advocating for better incentives to be a farmer. Boulder County’s (and most of Colorado’s) farmers are aging, and will soon age out of the agricultural workforce. With less young people farming, the industry wants help convincing young people it’s a viable career and lifestyle option. Young farmers came to city council to make a case.

  •   The Boulder JCC is hosting a Jewish Food Fest in April. The festival on April 7 is a day of eating, hands-on activities, workshops, music, art, and farm tours at Milk and Honey Farm. See how Jews do food in the 21st Century.    

•   North Field Farm is hosting a home gardening series. For $29, you can learn all the basics to starting your own home vegetable garden.

  •   Three of the eight leading companies in revolutionizing the packaged food industry (think healthier options, more sustainability, and transparency) are Boulder-based. Hope Foods (Organic Hummus), Lily’s Sweets (Chocolate), Good Karma Foods (Flaxseed food and beverages) have a mission to make us all healther.    

•   Frasca is a finalist for a James Beard Award in the Outstanding Restaurant category. It won this award in 2013. Baker Andy Clark of Louisville Moxie Bread Co. has also been nominated for a James Beard award in the Outstanding Baker category. He’s competing against 19 other bakers. Snarf’s Sandwiches, Jet’s Espressoria and three other businesses will be displaced by luxury townhomes on East Pearl Street. Jet’s has already been demolished, while Snarf’s is looking for other locations before they have to close down that location.   

•   Quarters, a new arcade bar, opened in downtown Longmont in early February. They’ve got skee-ball, classic arcade games and 20 taps with beer, wine and cider.