Ten years ago the nation was grossed out and stunned as Morgan Spurlock messed himself up by eating at McDonald’s for a month straight.His documentary Supersize Me contributed to the national debate about the confluence of rising obesity rates and the prevalence of fast-food restaurants.

A decade later, many would argue that at least some progress has been made. Fast food restaurants are offering healthier options, and new laws have required that restaurants with more than 20 locations must post the calorie count of their menu items right on the menu. Also, a new batch of so-called “fast casual” restaurants have sprung up with even more of what we might term real, healthy food.

Boulder filmmaker and registered dietitian Ande Anderson wanted to make a film showing this progress and proving the opposite of Morgan Spurlock’s hypothesis: That with the improvements in fast casual dining menus, and the availability of nutritional information for those restaurants, people can make healthy choices and even lose weight by dining out exclusively.

Enter Ande’s guinea pig, partner, and boyfriend iKE Allen. Prompted by his daughter’s comment that he was “too lumpy” to eat his own birthday cake, he agreed to let Ande—a vegan and dietician—help him lose 10 pounds in 30 days by eating at quick service restaurants.

By their own admission, Anderson and Allen set out to make a film that shows the quick service restaurant industry in a positive light, and the film does just that. We see the relative ease with which the funny and personable Allen can alter his normal order at various restaurants, saving him hundreds of calories per meal.

And does he reach his goal? Well, of course he does. Perhaps the film’s biggest flaw is that there is doubt as to whether Allen will lose the 10 pounds he hopes to lose. He enjoys his food, plays with his kids for exercise, learns to love his daily green smoothie (the only meal eaten at home), and works in his extensive home garden.

It’s all very … nice.

And while it seems that the film’s concept is sound—that the average person could lose weight on a diet of fast food and moderate exercise—it also fails to break through much of the Boulder bubble. The filmmakers claim they wanted to show that anyone living in all but the most rural parts of America can eat this way—dining at Subway, McDonald’s and Taco Bell in addition to our regional chains Mad Greens, Qdoba and Chipotle. But it doesn’t address the fact that many Americans eat fast food because of the price, and the price of the salads at McDonalds or anything at chains like Boston Market and Tokyo Joe’s are more expensive than the dollar menu hamburger and fries.

The film is funny, pleasant, and makes its point, but it is yet another reminder about how lucky we are to live in the health-conscious world of Colorado, where quality food is fairly easy to come by.

Check out more bits and bites at Formation of a Foodie’s new blog: foodieformation.tumblr.com

The post Healthy Fast Food? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

For a state with as much Mexican-American history woven into its heritage as ours, you’d think finding great Mexican food would be a snap. Ana’s Mexican Grill is a step in the right direction, with a rich local tradition of her own.

Every meal starts with a basket of warm tortilla chips and a bowl of piquant house-made salsa. While waiting for our food, we ordered the La Flaca margarita because it included local spirits (not because it was the “skinny” option, as the name implies), but the drink was bracingly sour—way too much lime juice and not enough agave.

This place is packed on Friday nights, possibly due to the very popular Friday night special, carnitas. I enjoyed the slow-cooked pork doused liberally in a fresh-tasting green chile that’s full of flavor without being overly hot. The accompanying chimichanga and soft tacos were pretty standard, but well executed. All the meats were richly seasoned without being hot, and the rice was full of flavor—not the tasteless instant, mixed veggie stuff you come across far too often.  We were happy to dig into a plate of fresh, piping hot sopapillas to round off the meal.

On our second visit, we ordered the huge bowl of pozole, which comes wittwo fried potato tacos, and the el pollo loco plate: half a grilled chicken with potatoes.  The pozole was by far the best thing we ate at Ana’s. Brilliantly green with cilantro and tomatillos, the hominy was perfectly cooked (not a tough or chewy piece in the bowl), studded with big, flavorful chunks of chicken and hot enough to perk up your taste buds. The fried potato tacos seemed a little better in concept than in practice; I love the fact that they offer fried tacos, but these were overly greasy and dripping oil onto the plate.

The pollo loco grilled chicken was succulent. My friend—a huge devotee of crispy chicken skin—was over the moon with this bird, covered in ridiculously tasty skin. Served with fresh corn tortillas, fresh pico de gallo, and a dollop of guacamole, this really hit the spot.

The service, however, was not on par with the food’s excellence. When we returned for lunch on Wednesday, the service, as with the last visit, was inattentive and brusque.

It should say something about the food, then, that I’d be willing to risk the iffy service again for another bowl of that pozole.  Or to try Ana’s special shrimp or the ceviche that occasionally makes an appearance as a special. I think the true talent of this place shows up not in the Mexican-American style dishes you can get at any chain restaurant, but in the more authentic dishes and specials of the house.

Bottom line: Tasty food with an eye for authenticity, but less-than-stellar service.

Ana’s Mexican Grill
2821 A 120th Ave., Westminster
303.465.6472

The post Spice Department appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When I attended a preview event for Fresh Thymes Eatery, located in the Steel Yards in Boulder, someone described the concept as “the Barefoot Contessa meets Boulder crunchy granola.”

Not a terrible description. Fresh Thymes Eatery is part prepared foods shop, part sit-down restaurant, but all healthy—and more importantly, delicious. Managing partner and chef Christine Ruch has been battling and effectively managing Celiac Disease and Multiple Sclerosis through clean eating for years, and taught both whole food nutrition and food allergy awareness as head of Bauman College’s culinary department.  So you might be able to imagine some of what her menu looks like: lots of local kale, Brussels sprouts and leafy greens, and no wheat flour, cane sugar, peanuts, or artificial anything.

What you might not imagine is how remarkably tasty it all is.

The overwhelming feeling I get when dining at Fresh Thymes Eatery—whether opting for table service or take out—is a blissful sense of how virtuous I’m being. I say blissful, because usually such healthy fare might make you feel good intellectually, but leave you wanting in the taste department.  Not so here.

Take, for example, the bountiful and leafy counter salads. These change frequently. But on my visits, I sampled a shaved brussels sprouts salad with honey mustard dressing that balanced a combination of sweet and spicy, and a kale salad with roasted squash in a sweet, savory vinaigrette. These salads will turn the heads of even avowed salad haters.

But haters are likely to find something to love here, too. How about a big plate of creamy, gluten-free macaroni and cheese with caramelized onions and sun-dried tomatoes, for example? The warm veggie sandwich spilling over with mushrooms and feta on a gluten-free baguette took my husband by surprise (in a good way). And don’t even get me started on the pork tortilla soup, which was really more like a thick, rich, spicy, stew—not that we were complaining. Even the desserts, like the magic bars that took me back to childhood, are unbelievably good considering they are gluten- and cane sugar-free.

Beyond the food, Fresh Thymes Eatery is also cool for its method of raising capital. It’s a Community Supported Restaurant, or CSR (they call it “Localvesting”). It works like a farm CSA in that members buy a “share” of the restaurant’s food for their upfront contribution. And actually, it’s a pretty stellar deal, netting members a 20- to 40-percent return on their investment by way of tasty comestibles.

This place is the perfect fit for Boulder, catering to the food needs and whims of anyone in your party. Where else can the vegan and the carnivore, the gluten-free and the locavore all find things on the same menu to please their palate?

Fresh Thymes Eatery

2500 30th Street #101, Boulder
303.955.7988, freshthymeseater.com

Bottom line: Healthy, allergy-friendly food that tastes a lot better than it sounds.

The post Localvesting appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Smoked Porter Pork Shoulder Ragu

The addition of a smoked porter, such as the Wood Shed smoked porter from Chautauqua Dining Hall, gives this ragu a robust, woodsy taste—perfect comfort food for a long winter’s night, and a great “one pot” meal to serve at any gathering. Homey polenta and melt-in-your-mouth braised kale will make this a meal that will bring anyone in out of the cold.

Pork Shoulder Ragu

2 lbs pork shoulder, medium dice

2 slices bacon, sliced into ¼ inch ribbons

2 T butter

1 small onion, cut into ¼ inch dice

1 carrot, cut into ¼ inch dice

1 celery rib, cut into ¼ inch dice

¼ cup tomato paste

1 sprig sage

1 sprig rosemary

1 cup smoked porter

1 cup chicken stock

1. Combine butter and bacon in a skillet large enough to hold all ingredients.  Render bacon over medium-low heat until lightly golden brown.  Add onion, carrot, and celery and simmer approx. 5-10 min.

2. Add tomato paste and cook until lightly golden brown.  Be careful not to burn the tomato paste; you should not walk away from the pan for this.  When it takes on an amber tinge and begins to emit a sweet aroma add smoked porter and reduce by half.

3. Add pork shoulder, sage, rosemary, and chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Adjust seasoning at this point.  To do so, add salt and pepper to broth until lightly seasoned.  Do not over season as it will reduce slightly and could become over seasoned.  Seasoning at this point will help to penetrate the meat.

4. Once it begins to simmer reduce heat to a slow bubble. If you cook the ragu too fast it will dry out. Simmer approx. 30-45 minutes and test a piece of pork to determine doneness.

 Kale

2 large bunches of Lacinato kale, stems removed and sliced

3 T butter

6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

½ teaspoon chili flake

1 cup apple cider

1 cup water

1. Sweat garlic in butter with chili flakes over medium heat until translucent.  Add kale, cider, and water and reduce heat to medium low.  Cover pot with a tight fitting lid and simmer 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender.  Season to taste.

Polenta

2 cups water

2 cups milk

1 cup polenta

2 T butter

1 cup heavy cream

Salt, to taste

1. Combine water and milk and bring to a rapid boil.  Rain in dry polenta while whisking to prevent lumping.  Reduce to a simmer and stir frequently.  Simmer approx. 45 min.

2. When polenta tastes cooked, add butter and cream.  When smooth and combined, season to taste and pour into a nonstick skillet to cool.

3. Once cool, remove from pan, portion into individual servings and sear in hot skillet with butter.

The post Holiday Recipes from Top Chefs appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Have you ever had a food that you desperately wanted to like, but didn’t? My best childhood friend always wanted to like shrimp. For some reason, she was hung up on being the kind of person who likes shrimp; so she would try them periodically—and hate them every time.

For me, it was red chile. I spent four years in Santa Fe, and my answer to New Mexico’s ubiquitous question, “Red or green?” was always green. Always. Red chile seemed to me to be bitter and hot in a way that wasn’t at all pleasant the way a good green chile could be. It took 10 years and a trip to Longmont to change all that.

Antonio’s took up residence in the spot vacated by Terroir earlier this year, and I’ll be the first to admit, that’s a tough act to follow. But the owners are not newbies to tough restaurant scenes, as the original Antonio’s is based in Taos, New Mexico. Looking for a place to open a second location that wasn’t as seasonal as Taos, the owners decided on Longmont mostly based upon space.

On my first visit, I started with the tableside guacamole, fixed to your specifications—whether you like lots of goodies like tomatoes and onions, or just a little lime juice. The guacamole is good, but the revelation for me was the red chile.

Oh, the red chile…

I ordered the classic New Mexico-style cheese enchiladas at Antonio’s and it was like a heavenly choir of red chiles burst onto my taste buds.  This, I thought, is what red chile should taste like—or, at least, it’s what I always dreamed it should taste like, with the rich complex flavors of the dried, red New Mexico chiles coming through, but without the bitterness or the overpowering heat that had driven me away in the past.

I scraped up every last drop of it from my plate.  Forget everything else.  This was the real deal.

So much so that when I hauled my husband and daughter back up there (it’s nearly an hour’s drive from our house), I ordered red chile again—this time over chiles rellenos (dipped in a light batter and fried, not wrapped in an egg roll wrapper as you often find in Colorado) with astonishingly tender carne asada on the side. The menu specializes in New Mexican cuisine as well as more authentic Mexican dishes.

My husband ordered a pork chimichanga with green chile, which was also authentic and not the “greasy gravy” you sometimes find.  The wait staff said the green chile was milder, but they were about the same for my money.

Other points in Antonio’s favor: real crispy tacos, i.e. corn tortillas stuffed with meat and lightly fried; pinto beans with actual flavor; and a nicely smoky
chipotle salsa.

My only problem with Antonio’s is that it’s not right around the corner from my house. To the owners: if you’re looking for a third location, how about Westminster?

246 Main St.,Longmont 303.772.9923

antoniosoflongmont.com

Bottom line: Authentic Mexican and New Mexican dishes with flavor and flair.

The post Warming Up to Red Chile appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In honor of this month’s Smart Shopping issue, I thought I’d round up some of my favorite places for cheap eats.  (My definition of cheap? Around $20 for dinner for two, without drinks.)

Pho Duy 6 [6600 W. 120th Ave., Broomfield] I love this place for a warm, filling bowl of pho or—my personal favorite—a combination bun, which is vermicelli noodles and veggies topped with slices of beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, and an egg roll.

Efrain’s Mexican [locations in Lafayette and Boulder] There’s no place better when you need your green chile fix, but Efrain’s also ranks right up there for cheap eats. Quality and quantity. (Plus great Margaritas, but that could blow your budget!)

Basil Flats [1067 S. Hover Rd., Longmont] When you’re in search of some decent Mediterranean food, this fast-casual joint doesn’t disappoint. I get the gyro sandwich or the surprisingly sophisticated artichoke and spinach pizza.

Arabesque [1634 Walnut St., Boulder] This little hideaway is a gem, with authentic Middle Eastern food in an elegantly unpretentious setting. Plus, they have killer baklava—always a plus in my book.

Two Dog Diner [645 Tenacity Dr., Longmont] Everything I’ve ever had at this modern diner has been good, from breakfast to burgers and back again. But don’t overlook their daily specials, which tend to always be something truly special.

Pica’s Mexican Taqueria [5360 Arapahoe Ave., Suite F, Boulder] With an assortment of truly delicious street-taco-style tacos (as well as burritos and other stuff), this whole menu is bang for your buck. I dream of the carne asada and carnitas tacos.

Sun Rose Café [379 Main St., Longmont] I knew I’d found someplace special when I sipped the lavender lemonade at Sun Rose. Pair that with distinctive sandwiches, excellent salads and a truly local vibe and you’ll see why this place is one of my favorites.

Zoe Ma Ma [2010 10th St., Boulder] This tiny restaurant is a chef favorite in Boulder (I’ve heard several mention it among their favorite places to dine) and one of the few places to get really great cheap eats on (or just off) the mall. Try the roast duck wonton soup on Fridays and be amazed.

Fresh Thymes Eatery [2500 30th St., Suite 101, Boulder] Opening in mid-August in the Steelyards, I got a sneak peek of this market café concept, and I’ve got to say: eating healthfully never tasted so good. All of the dishes served are gluten-free, many are allergy-free, and most are vegan—except the meats that carnivores can add on.

The post Cheap Eats appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Is it a restaurant? Is it a brewery? Is it a blues bar? Is it an old barn with a silo painted like a giant beer can, welcoming visitors to Longmont? Oskar Blues’ Homemade Liquids and Solids is the last one for sure—and some combination of the rest.

If you love beer, this is your kind of place: 44 American craft beers on tap including the entire Oskar Blues lineup. If you love blues and bluegrass, this is also your kind of place due to its  nearly nightly live lineup.

What might come as a surprise is that it’s also your kind of place if you love good food.

Full disclosure: this is a pub, and the noise level, service and menu reflect that, but beyond that there are a few standout items that transcend the stereotype. Appetizers here are hearty and heavy. Fried pickles are a must; crunchy, salty homemade pickles coated in a peppery batter and fried crisp. Careful! They’re hot. They also go down amazingly well with a cold brew. The fried green tomatoes were disappointingly flavorless, and I wished the pickle batter had been applied to the tomatoes as well. But the smoked chicken wings were amazing. Tender and flavorful, not greasy, these guys are seriously addictive.

The large main menu offers a selection of pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, barbeque and more—all perfectly serviceable, but the gems are hiding out along the edges. The Haystack goat cheese flatbread (on the appetizer menu, but enough for a meal) is quite the surprising masterpiece, with piquant G’Knight goat cheese, creamy sautéed asparagus and salty prosciutto piled high with lightly dressed peppery arugula. The house-smoked salmon fish and chips are a pub classic turned on its head. Mildly smoked fish and light-as-air batter make this dish a true winner. And if by chance you happen to be there on a Tuesday, do not pass up the opportunity to order the toked meatloaf—nothing like mama used to make, and so much the better for it. Smoking the meats elevates this dish way beyond a blue plate special.

We also took a drive just up Ken Pratt to try out their new fast-casual—excuse me, craft-casual—location, CHUBurger, where the food is much more appealing than the name. Short and sweet, the menu offers burgers in a variety of proteins, including beef, bison, Berkshire pork, salmon and falafel, and a Berkshire pork hot dog. The burgers are thick, juicy, and crazy good, with all the traditional fixings, including house-made ketchups and mustards. Fries are crispy and addictive—unlike the limp, soggy ones served at Liquids and Solids—and the onion rings were out of this world: colossal rings battered perfectly to a golden brown. CHUBurger can hold its own with any of the myriad upscale burger joints in the area, no question.

In short, both of these beer halls can hold their own when it comes to the solids side of things.

The post Deviant Dishes appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

I’ve noticed that there’s a sort of cult surrounding really super spicy foods. The initiated will seek them out, share tips, even bring their own hot sauce in case the place doesn’t stack up.

The post The Spiciest Spots Around appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It’s funny and a little sad to me how processed food and popular culture have bastardized traditional foods into something unrecognizable. On my first visit to Rincon Argentino in Boulder, which specializes in gorgeous Argentinian empanadas, I heard a young man outside the restaurant explaining to a friend, “It’s kind of like a Hot Pocket.”

Heathen! The restaurant should sue that boy for slander, because an empanada from Rincon Argentino is only “kind of like a Hot Pocket” in the very loosest sense—that it is filling surrounded by pastry.  There, the similarities end.

Rincon’s menu offers a dozen different varieties of empanadas, which are taco-sized pastries, wrapped around one of their many flavorful fillings and baked in a gorgeous stone fire oven.  Helpful staff will guide you through your choices, but there’s something here for every taste.

Argentina was colonized by the Spanish and has embraced a variety of European immigrants over the years, so the cuisine is heavily influenced by Spanish, Italian and French Mediterranean flavors. The tradicional empanada has savory steak, onions, and peppers spiked with the earthy flavors of green olives and Spanish spices, while the gaucho’s ground beef and caramelized onions are balanced with the rich sweetness of raisins like a Mediterranean tagine.

Argentina is known for its beef, but Rincon uses Colorado’s Best Beef rather than importing, a nice nod to the locavore. And the chicken empanadas were equally tasty. I loved the peppery heat of the pollo picante and the sausage texture of the chorizo de pollo empanadas—both spicy and flavorful, but totally distinct with differing levels of heat and variety of spice. The vegetarian versions (served open-faced) are equally hearty and satisfying, and you can see the European influences even more strongly here, in a fresh caprese version and the espinaca stuffed with fresh spinach, onions, red peppers and pine nuts.

Two or three of these empanadas makes a solid meal, served with a selection of salsas, including the traditional bright and piquant chimichurri, made from grassy parsley, oregano, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and a dash of red pepper; a cool salsa verde made with creamy avocado, a kick of jalapeno, and cilantro; and their hottest, the asado sauce with tomato, cayenne, and other spices.  Interestingly, I found the empanada fillings spicier than the salsas, but the condiments do add an exciting extra layer of flavor.

Rincon also offers a selection of traditional sandwiches, most served on French baguettes. Choose from thinly sliced steak, ham, or sausage, with your choice of flavor profiles (Milanesa napolitana for an Italian flare, or the lomito for a more Argentinian bite). They even serve yerba mate in traditional gourds during their mate power hour.

The post Haute Pockets appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Colorado Urban Winefest returns 1–6 pm June 8, 2013, to Denver at Infinity Park, 4599 E. Tennessee Ave. It will be the centerpiece event of the third annual Colorado Wine Week, offering a celebration of Colorado wine and food, top Denver restaurants will join dozens of Colorado wineries in creating the ultimate in local wine drinking and eating experiences.

Entrants to Urban Winefest receive free samples of hundreds of Colorado wines, live cooking demonstrations with some of Denver’s best restaurants, live entertainment, and the chance to purchase wine direct from Colorado’s talented winemakers.

They will also have more than 20 top restaurants signed up to provide unique small plates and Colorado wine pairings for $20 or less throughout the week. The roster includes Mizuna, The Squeaky Bean and Row 14.

Other events include:

Farm to Turntable, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. June 2 at The Universal

This event will pair inspired farm cuisine with Colorado wines and music from the legendary Steve French.

Colorado Wine Cocktail Celebration, 4:30-6:30 p.m. June 4 at Green Russell 

Six top bartenders will create terrior inspired cocktails in this second annual (friendly) competition.

Head to their website to purchase tickets. 

The post Eat, Drink, and Be Merry at Colorado Urban Winefest appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Two years ago this month, my daughter was born. A little less than two years ago, I started down a path to lose the weight I’d gained before and during my pregnancy. I’m proud to say I’ve done it, all while eating butter, real bread, full-fat Greek yogurt, whole eggs and chocolate chip cookies—oh, and continuing to eat out at restaurants.

The post Living, Not Dieting appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

After taking a friend to 95a in Lafayette, so named because of the nearby intersection of 95th and Arapaho, she remarked that she would never have known it was there without my intervention, despite living just a few miles away. If you haven’t been out to explore the magical confluence at this intersection that seems to breed good restaurants, you ought to make the trek.

The post Tip Tapas appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

I have the great honor of speaking at the Blossoming Women’s Conference next month here in Colorado, and I want to personally invite everyone (who is a lady) here to attend!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat for a few minutes with the conference founder, Christine Vazquez (owner of Blossoming and FORK Social Lab in Louisville). Hear what this amazing conference will be like in her own words:

Interview with Christine Vazquez

Want some more details?  Here you go!

Blossoming Women’s Conference

Saturday, May 11 : 9a – 4:30p

The Westin Denver North

 A Day for Women, by Women

Featuring:

Yellow Scene Magazine’s Food Editor, Lacy Boggs

Blossoming + FORK Social Lab Owner, Christine Vazquez

Woody & Bud Owner, Terri Mitchell

ROOT PR’s Kuvy Ax

You’ll:

Open the space to allow yourself to Think Big

Clarify the kind of adventure you want more of in your life

Invite creativity into your life on a deeper level

Set clear and accurate intentions for your future

Uncover what truly motivates and inspires you

Learn the fine art of saying No without guilt and Yes with joy

Share in the collective insight, inspiration and imagination of a group of accomplished women

Discover why dieting isn’t the answer, but eating whole foods and understanding your emotions, is

Acknowledge fully, and begin to release blocks to allow you to move forward with greater ease

Connect with like-minded women on a path of passion and possibility

Rejuvenate your mind, energy and spirit

$129. Includes a day full of insight + inspiration + a goody bag + continental breakfast

The post Blossoming Women’s Conference appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings/Closings
J Wells Brewery opened on 49th St. in Boulder. /Ian Clark will be leaving Jax Boulder to open BRU Handbuilt Ales and Eats in Boulder in April. /Fresh Thymes Eatery is slated to open in the former Elephant Hut location in the Steel Yards this spring. /Rumor has it that Boxed, a California-based pizza company, will take over the former Pickled Lemon space on the Hill. /Folsom Street Coffee closed in Boulder. /Paul Roberts of Two Dog Diner is taking over the old 7West location in Longmont to open Joe’s Restaurant. /The Corner, a new restaurant offering healthy fare and local baked goods, opened on the Hill in Boulder. /Under the Sun, from the Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery family, opened in Boulder. /Larkburger opened a new location in Broomfield near 120th Ave. and Sheridan. /Very Nice Brewing Co. opened in Nederland. /The Porch Deli Market in Louisville expanded their space to include more seating. /Westminster’s Little Brazil relocated to Wheat Ridge. /Zanitas in Boulder closed, as did Tossa Pizza.

News
The Sink celebrates its 90th birthday in 2013, with a birthday bash planned for this summer. /TheDailyMeal.com listed Frasca as one of the 101 best restaurants in America. /Denver.Eater.com named Café Aion’s Joanna Powell Denver’s hottest chef by an online poll. /Dishcrawl had its first food tour in Boulder. /Twisted Pine Brewing Company received a business incentive package from the city of Boulder to expand. /Cured announced the addition of “The Larder,” a micro-grocer inside their Boulder location.  /Suerte Tequila, a Boulder-based artisan tequila, has popped up on cocktail menus and in liquor stores across Boulder. /Oak at Fourteenth was featured in Food & Wine for their “lighter” cocktails. /Several Colorado received Good Food awards: Syntax Spirits, Dancing Pine Distillery, Leopold Bros., Avalanche Cheese Company, Ritual Chocolate and Serendipity Confections.

Amuse Bouche
On a cold and snowy evening, I popped into the Corner Bar at the Boulderado for a late supper. For $6, the roasted chicken gumbo with Andouille sausage, basmati rice and fried okra was a steal and deliciously warming. The hit of the table was the meatloaf on special for the night, smothered in mozzarella and a rich tomato sauce. The flourless chocolate cake made its way around the table to our delight.

Events
“BEER! Boulder’s History on Tap” is open at the Boulder History Museum. /Downtown Bolder will hold a Dishcrawl on March 27 at 7 pm. Tickets at dishcrawl.com/pearlstreet2. /Colorado Craft Brew Week will take place March 18–24; tickets at coloradocraftbeerweek.com. /BookCliff Vineyards will host its Wine and Food Pairing series with John Platt of Q’s on March 21.

The post Eatery News appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

For this annual issue dedicated to all things small-fry, I turned my thoughts to the attention restaurants pay to their smallest customers: namely, kids’ menus. Most kids’ menus feature some variation of the hamburger-chicken finger-mac and cheese trifecta, and for good reason; there are plenty of kids who won’t eat anything but.

The post Tiny Dining appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

I am very sad to say that no one has ever been playing the piano when I’ve been to Bramble & Hare. On the back of their menu, it states: “With local cabaret in mind, feel free to delight us with your hidden musical talents, on our piano.”

The post Review: Bramble & Hare appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings/Closings

Paul Roberts of Two Dog Diner is taking over the old 7West location in Longmont to open Joe’s Restaurant. /The Corner opened on the Hill in Boulder. Confused? It’s a new restaurant offering healthy fare and local baked goods. /Under the Sun, a new restaurant from the Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery family, opened in Boulder. /Larkburger (pictured) opened a new location in Broomfield near 120th Ave. and Sheridan. /J Wells Brewery opened on 49th Street in Boulder. /Very Nice Brewing Co. opened in Nederland, the first of at least a dozen more breweries slated to open in the metro area in 2013. /The Porch Deli Market in Louisville expanded their space to include more seating. / Westminster’s Little Brazil relocated to Wheat Ridge. /Zanitas in Boulder closed, as did Tossa Pizza. /In addition, Boulder’s protein smoothie company Mix1 is shutting down.

News

DishCrawl has come to Denver, offering progressive dining experiences of Denver culinary neighborhoods. /Cured in Boulder has started offering lunch delivery to businesses in Boulder and Gunbarrel. curedboulder.com. /Pasta Vino tapped Westword’s wine columnist, Kendra Anderson, as their new wine director. /Boulder’s Lazy Dog has had its liquor license suspended for 20 days as part of an agreement reached with the city over the operation of the Underdog in the Lazy’s basement. /Bramble & Hare launched a new $5 happy hour menu available daily from 4–5:30pm. /Oak at Fourteenth was featured in Food & Wine for their “lighter” cocktails. /Several Colorado companies brought home Good Food awards, including Syntax Spirits, Dancing Pine Distillery, Leopold Bros., Avalanche Cheese Company, Ritual Chocolate and Serendipity Confections.

Events

Café Aion now has a Tuesday night happy hour and film extravaganza, playing outdoor adventure films in the bar and pairing with specials. /FORK Social Lab in Louisville is hosting a poetry dinner with Boulder poet Bill Keys at Beatrice and Woodsley in Denver on Feb. 10. /BookCliff Vineyards winery will host a special wine dinner with Bradford Heap of SALT The Bistro on Feb. 21. Tickets are $65 through the BookCliff website.

Amuse Bouche

I enjoyed A Taste of Spain with Chef Bradford Heap at Colterra for a wine dinner in the restaurant’s ongoing series. Light-as-air salt cod fritters with caramelized local apples and fried bread topped with Long Family Farm ham and tomatoes started the evening off, followed by an exquisite albondiga stew with cinnamon and a Colorado lamb stew with olives and peppers. The evening was finished with a tiny local goat cheese tart and marcona almonds. While this evening won’t repeat, you can make reservations now for future dinners, including a Sicilian wine dinner on Feb. 21 and a Pacific Northwest wine dinner on March 21.

The post Eatery News appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When I told my hubby I was going to try some tequila from a new Boulder-based company, he said, “Does agave even grow in Colorado?”

Ha ha, honey.

No, the agave grows in Mexico, but the force behind the product is totally Boulder.

Suerte Tequila is produced at a small family distillery in Jalisco, Mexico, but the two co-owners are Boulderites with a passion for tequila and a nose for branding and business.  They were bored with the selection when it came to well-priced, traditionally produced tequila, and decided to jump at the chance to bring their own distinct brand to market.

Suerte has three varieties, aged for various lengths of time,  but all produced in a totally traditional way: the harvested agave is steamed for 54 hours in a traditional brick oven, then crushed by a giant stone wheel called a tahona to mash out the juices and double distilled for purity.  Most big tequila brands these days use a shredder to extract the juices from the agave.

“It’s like the difference between salsa made in a blender versus a molcajete,” co-founder and CEO Laurence Spiewak told me.  “It’s just a totally different product.”

You should be able to find Suerte just about anywhere you go these days, as it’s in more than 100 locations and counting. SALT and The Kitchen both have Suerte cocktails on the menu (the “Dweezil” and the lucky rabbit Manhattan, respectively), as the brand lends itself well to mixology.

I brought it home and made myself a “Suerte ginger”—a tequila version of a dark and stormy with tequilla, ginger beer and lime.  Totally delicious, and worth seeking out this lucky rabbit for a taste.

The post Boulder-Based Tequila? It’s a Thing appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Don’t be fooled by the attached Best Western hotel: Harold’s is a cool place. You’ll know it as soon as you walk in and are presented with your choice of sitting in the dining room or the lounge, known as the Bayonet Room. We chose the dining room, but the Bayonet Room would be a great place to hang out for happy hour; tin ceiling, wood panels and red leather upholstery offer a speakeasy vibe. The classic movies playing on big screens are a nice touch.

The post Review: Harold’s Restaurant appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

If you’re still a little scared of venturing outside BoCo to dine—or you were just feeling a little jealous of the awesome time I had on Denver’s inaugural Dishcrawl, never fear! Dishcrawl Boulder launches Wednesday, Feb. 20th.

Dishcrawl is a fun, social, progressive dining experience (like a pub crawl, but for food) where participants walk from restaurant to restaurant, tasting the best the chefs have to offer.  Restaurants are kept secret until the crawlers arrive for the event, so there’s an element of surprise, too.  Plus, you get to meet and eat with a bunch of like-minded foodies out for some fun and good eats.

Tickets are $45 per person for four restaurants and can be purchased at dishcrawl.com/boulder. And there’s still time to get in on the fun for this first foray, or just sign up to hear about future crawls.

The post Dishcrawl Comes to Boulder appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Boulder’s restaurants have a slew of specials happening to honor St. Valentin; these are our picks for the evening:

(And, just for full disclosure: as much as I like lobster, I picked most of these based on the amazing-sounding dessert options!)

• Cafe Aion: $75 per couple gets you a choice of two tapas, a large platter to share and two desserts, including: Crispy Duck Confit with winter panzanella, Lobster Paella – Chorizo, saffron, preserved lemon & chilies, and Rosewater & Pomegranate Crème Brulee.
• St. Julien: $59.95 per person gets you four courses, including surf and turf and baked Alaska for two, flambéed table side. (Sure to impress!)
• Oak at Fourteenth: $65 per person for four courses featuring lobster shooters, their famous kale salad, oak grilled beef shortribs and a romantic-sounding passion fruit and dark chocolate fondu.
• Flagstaff House isn’t offering a prix fixe menu, but does highlight a Valentine’s seafood sampler for two, and a Valentine’s dessert for two. Their romantic views alone would put them on my list, regardless of the menu.
• Frasca: $110 per person for a five course menu that features lobster salad and lobster bisque, petrale sole with caviar and sunchokes, and the “ Sfogliata”, house-made puff pastry, brown butter-hazelnut frangipane, banana, hazelnut crumble, and custard gelato.

And, for anyone not celebrating with a sweetheart (or anyone with a sweetheart who has a great sense of humor), The Kitchen [Next Door] is hosting an anti-Valentine’s Day 80’s dance party, 9pm-close, complete with DJ, and guests are invited to start the evening at the BOCA, for a complimentary champagne and chocolate reception for the opening of their newest exhibit, the Museum of Broken Relationships, starting at 6:30PM.

Other exciting stuff:

Local Table Tours Valentine’s Day Cocktail Tour: a Cupid-inspired bar hopping experience.

The Pearl’s Treats Valentine Day ‘Hearts and Tarts’ Burlesque Extravaganza at Shine Restaurant & Gathering Place: A titillating evening of delicious food, music, comedy, belly dance, and burlesque performances.  Dance party to follow.

Red Party at Bitter Bar: to benefit OUT Boulder.

Wine & Dessert Pairing at Oliverde: with Settembre Cellars and Nathan Miller Chocolates.

Colorado Crafted Valentine’s Day Boxes: with artisan, Colorad-made chocolates.  Shipping is free to anywhere in the U.S. if you order by 2/10.

Want a full rundown of what Boulder restaurants are dishing up for Valentine’s Day? Check out this more comprehensive list.

The post Our Picks for Valentine’s Day Dinner appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Whew! What a night. If you saw my post last week about the inaugural Dishcrawl in Denver, you might have been wondering how it went and if it was worth it to venture out of the safety of Boulder County onto the cold, dark streets of Denver.

Totally. Worth it.

We started at the brand spanking new Jezebel’s Southern Bistro & Bar, in the former Squeaky Bean space. This place has serious southern cred with a handsome head chef who hails from Atlanta and has the cooking chops and cute accent to prove it. A tasting platter of shrimp and grits, barbeque braised pork belly, deviled eggs with bacon and gluten-free corn bread started the evening off with a bang.

From there, we meandered down to Vita restaurant, where we were plied with butternut squash soup topped with smoked paprika oil, a salmon carpaccio crostini with beet puree and mustard cream, and the awe-inspiring house-cured skewered lamb belly with confit tomato and cumin creme fraiche.  To die for, really.

A tough act to follow, but Central Bistro & Bar was up to the challenge with a gorgeous grilled baby octopus ragu and etherial chicken liver mousse “old fashioned” with cherries and orange.  Follow that up with a bacon chocolate chip cookie, and it made for one happy crowd.

Finally, we rolled ourselves across the bridge to Eat+Drink Denver where owner Pollyana Forster made us all feel like her new best friends with an exquisite cheese platter.

Worth the drive to Denver? Oh, absolutely.

Do yourself a favor and sign up now for the next Dishcrawl, a Foodie’s Night Out in LoDo on March 27th.

The post Doing the Dishcrawl in LoHi appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Sometimes I forget how blessed we are to live in the foodie Mecca of BoCo.  I mean, no matter what you’re craving, you can pretty much find it somewhere within the county limits, and that’s a beautiful thing.

On the other hand, it sometimes also makes me forget that there is “life past 55th street” as my publisher would say—or even beyond the county line.  Remember that place to our south they call the Mile High City? Turns out, it has pretty good restaurants, too.

If you’re a little out of the loop with the Denver food scene, Dishcrawl Denver is a fun way to get to sample a few of the hottest places without taking out a second mortgage on your house.  For $45 you get to try out four different restaurants in one evening, with all the food included in the ticket price.

Think of it like a pubcrawl, but for food.

The first crawl takes place January 23 and there are still a few tickets left; or, you can sign up on their website to be notified of future events.  If you’d like to hobnob with your favorite foodie (no, no… I meant me), click on over and buy a ticket.  Because half the fun of these sorts of things is getting to nosh with like-minded food fiends you otherwise might never have met.

And the other half is being able to tell all your BoCo foodie friends about the great new place you found in LoHi…

The post Dishcrawl Gets You Out of Your County appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It’s kind of rough being a food columnist in January. Oh, everyone’s excited to talk to you in November and December; family is coming into town, the holiday debauchery is in full swing and everyone wants to know where’s the best place to eat. What have you had lately that’s amazing? Where can I find the best…[insert your favorite holiday treat here]?

But come Jan. 1, it’s a whole different story. Suddenly those same people who wanted to gab on heirloom bacon and gossip about who has the best seasonal cocktail menu are suddenly teetotalers and cleansers, giving up their lardons and bourbons for kale and green smoothies.

I try to be moderate in all things, and I try very hard not to swing to the extremes that come so easily this time of year. In fact, I gave up New Year’s resolutions a few years ago as a bad habit. But it’s a habit I’m willing to take up again as I offer you some suggestions for a different (dare I say better?) kind of resolution.

Shift 10 percent of your food budget to local food. This could be the most important resolution you ever make. Buying locally ensures that the farmers who will save our sorry butts when the next revolution/apocalypse/financial cliff comes will still be around when we need them. It also helps us to think, eat and act more seasonally, which is better for our environment, our bodies, our communities and our wallets, to be honest. Can’t make the commitment to 10 percent? Try 5 percent. Or 1 percent. Or just shift to buying one thing locally that you currently buy from somewhere else. It makes a difference.

Eat more veggies. Rather than proclaiming that you’re going to lose 20 pounds or run a marathon or get back into your skinny jeans, why not simply resolve to put a vegetable on your plate at every meal. That’s right: every single meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. How different would your diet be if you did that? I don’t care if they’re bacon roasted Brussels sprouts or carrots drenched in butter; it’s a step in the right direction (and a delicious one, I might add).

Give up chains. Do you eat out a lot? Do you mostly eat at locally owned restaurants, or at mega-chain restaurants? I’ve got nothing against chains in general—truly—but it breaks my heart when the votes come in every spring for our Best of the West awards and people list Chili’s as the best restaurant in East Boulder County (yes, this happens). If you’re reading this column, I’m most likely preaching to the choir, but we as a community are blessed with so many good restaurants, it seems like a crime not to get to know them.

Don’t know where to start? Email me. (lacy.boggs@yellowscene.com) I’ve got tons of good suggestions.

And I tend to be pretty lonely this time of year.

The post You Say You Want a Resolution appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

If Beehive were a person instead of “a West Pearl Eatery + Bar,” as the website says, she would be that unbelievably hip acquaintance of yours who always looks perfectly chic, who dances ballet for exercise and who uses mason jars in her décor without a hint of irony. She probably makes her own bitters and has gorgeous, naturally red hair, too. You kind of want to be her, if just for a little while.

Well, you can. Maybe you can pull up a stool at the white granite bar inside this dapper, elegant little restaurant and feel like a regular when you order your perfect Dark and Stormy and the waiter brings out warm gourgeres for you to nibble.

You take in the minimalist décor with the white plaster deer head over the kitchen window and the roll of brown butcher paper listing the happy hour specials. You sip the cauliflower and pesto soup you’ve just been served in a 4-ounce mason jar on a vintage jadite plate. You bite into the perfectly balanced ham, gouda and crisp apple salad. (No one will look askance if you dip your gourgere in your soup; trust me, it’s heaven.)

There’s something about the food here that feels homespun yet refined at the same time. The scallops with Texas Rio Star grapefruit and greens isn’t a complicated dish, yet you feel more sophisticated while eating it. And the heirloom pork ragu is transcendent both as classic Sunday fare and seasonal foodie paradise.

From the deviled eggs and house-made pickles to the well-curated wine selection, from the vintage flatware to the beetle-kill tables, everything about Beehive straddles that invisible line between homemade and urbane.

Stop here for brunch on the weekend and you can decide which guise you’ll try on for the day while sipping gigantic mugs of excellent coffee. Will you try the standard: eggs, potatoes and a cornmeal biscuit with homemade strawberry jam? Or will you be a little more exotic: Scandinavian eggs with smoked salmon, capers and horseradish sauce—along with a gorgeous pile of golden gaufrettes (French-style, waffle-cut potato chips)? Either way, you won’t be disappointed.

They even take the children seriously here, with a kids’ menu that manages to balance young taste buds with the expectation that even little ones want something delicious.

This is exactly the sort of place that takes trendy things and makes them seem erudite and enduring, rather than a passing fad. It’s the sort of place that gives the term “hipster” back its cred.

It’s the sort of place that amazing friend of yours who can pull off skinny jeans and beret would go for a social hour nibble and cocktail. You should totally invite her and be the friend who introduced her to her favorite new restaurant.

Beehive

2018 10th St., Boulder

303.786.8585,

beehivegoodness.com

Bottom Line: Worth the price to eat this well and feel this cool.

The post Being Beehive appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings and Closings

Poppy Café opened in the Peloton Building in Boulder. Boulder got new brewery when Wild Woods Brewery opened on Conestoga Court. Oskar Blues is opening CHUBurgers in Longmont in 2013. Lucky’s Market will expand to Longmont in 2013. Arlene’s Bistro and Creperie moved into the former Crepes á la Carte space on Broadway. Spirit Hound Distillers opened in Lyons, specializing in gin and, soon, whiskey. Oak at Fourteenth will a second restaurant, Acorn, in the Denver River North neighborhood. Pickled Lemon is closing its location on The Hill in Boulder and looking for new digs. Apeizza opened in the former Angelo’s Pizza Parlour, and Headliners Pub and Pizza opened in the former spot of Hanna’s; both on South Boulder Road in Lafayette.

News

Edwin Zoe, owner of Zoe Mama, became CEO of Radda Tratoria. The executive sushi chef of 95a, Craig Amidon, has moved to Sushi Leo in Longmont.

Amuse Bouche

I was duly impressed by the soft opening of Lucky’s Bakehouse & Creamery. The shop is adorable, but more importantly, the sweets are delectable. We loved the red velvet cupcakes and the gluten-free s’mores cookies as well as the caramel brownies. They serve coffee and gelato, making this a perfect stop to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Events

The Bitter Bar has live music every Thursday night beginning at 9 p.m. with no cover. The St. Julien’s Gingerbread Teas started Nov. 24. They sell out quickly, so make reservations. Illegal Pete’s will be hosting Illegal X-Mas parties at both Boulder locations on Dec. 15. Black Cat is offering a special Christmas Eve dinner for $55 or $86 with paired wine. Reservations required. Arugula will host a Barolo Wine Dinner with Mauro Molino Wines on Jan. 10. Reservations are required.

The post Eatery News appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Jill’s at the St. Julien in Boulder has added some spectacular dishes to their menu.

For a truly memorable dining experience, patrons can order one of five dishes—including shrimp scampi and bananas Foster—to be made and served table side. What’s so special about that, you may wonder? These dishes are served en flambé.

Take an attractive restaurant with good food and a delightfully eccentric French general manager and add the entertainment of (expertly controlled) fire at your table and you have a recipe for a pretty amazing date night.

In addition, I was interested to learn that the restaurant hosts what they call a Tuscan Table—an all you care to eat lunch buffet featuring salads, wood-fired pizzas, and a pasta station for just $11.95 during the work week.  Plus, the restaurant opens at 6:30 every morning for breakfast—and we have heard good things about their weekend brunch.

If you haven’t visited Jill’s in a while, it’s time to give it another (or a first) try.  The restaurant will also host special events on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve.

The post Jill’s Table-Side Spectacle appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Every family has holiday traditions, no matter which holidays you celebrate. For years, my family celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with a Butterball and New Year’s with a HoneyBaked Ham. It wasn’t until after my grandmother passed that my mom decided that a smoked turkey was much easier to heat up (and equally, if not more, delicious) and that she really hated honey glazed hams and would rather have a pork loin at New Year’s instead.

Maybe it’s time for you to take a look at your holiday traditions and upgrade the main course a bit as well. Here are some stellar options for your feast that bring things a little closer to home.

• For a delicious bird for Thanksgiving or Christmas, our local Whole Foods Markets have some good choices. All of their meat now has to comply with the Global Animal Partnerhip’s 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating (wholefoodsmarket.com/meat/welfare.php), so you can be sure that your turkeys lived a healthy, happy life. Order ahead for guaranteed availability at your local store.

• Love a good spiral-cut ham? Our local pork purveyor, Tender Belly, offers 100 percent Berkshire, naturally cured spiral-cut hams via their website, tenderbelly.com. (Plus, there was a coupon floating around on Facebook a while back for 15 percent off—worth tracking down if you’re thinking of buying!)

• It used to be that I would drive into Erie in the morning and wonder who was cooking the amazing-smelling bacon. Turns out it was Arapahoe Hog Roasters, and apart from offering whole local, free-range roasted hogs for your shindigs, they also sell smoked turkeys and hams for the holidays. Our publisher swears by them. Order at 303.673.9200.

• Cured in Boulder will again be offering porchettas from Il Mondo Vecchio in full and half sizes at $10/pound that will be paired with a special four-pack of wines. They’ll also have farm goodies from Oxford Gardens to round out your meal.

• My Mom’s Pies in Niwot (mmpies.com) is a one-stop shop for your sweet tooth. This family-owned business produces some of the best pies you’ll have. Just like mom baked…except these folks will make special order pies—from gluten or dairy free to sugar-cream pie.

• Fromage is always welcome at my house, especially during the holidays when mom serves her cheese ball. Elevate your dairy game with a visit to Longmont’s newest incarnation of Cheese Importers, where you’ll find local and imported options.

5 Websites to Get Recipes for the Holidays

1. Pinterest

My Pinterest board at pinterest.com/lacylu42/autumn-recipesseasonal-cooking—I’ve been collecting LOTS of good ones, including eggs, green chile and cheesy pastry crust (pictured above)!

2. The Door to Door Organics “Kitchen”

This site (at colorado.doortodoororganics.com) lets you search by ingredients and then shop for those ingredients on the same site.

3. The Savory Spice Shop (savoryspiceshop.com/recipes) has TONS of interesting and unusual recipes to get you out of your Thanksgiving rut.

4. Boulder Locavore

I highly recommend the Boulder Locavore blog (boulderlocavore.com) for recipes, especially if you’re gluten-free, as Toni gives gluten-free and gluten-full versions of most of her recipes.

5. Two Tarts

I also love the Two Tarts blog (two-tarts.com) by two ladies out of Longmont, who bring not only the food, but the drinks recipes to the table as well. Yum.

The post Going Whole Hog (or Turkey) appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings and Closings

Rinco Argentino opened in Boulder, bringing Argentinian cuisine to The Village on Arapahoe. Harold’s and The Bayonette Room opened on Ken Pratt in Longmont. Press Play, an “arcade bar,” opened in the former Round Midnight space on Pearl Street, combining a bustling bar scene with an old-school arcade. And a sign outside the former Daddy Bruce’s BBQ location on Arapahoe and 20th announces that Flippin Burgers by Snarf’s is coming to the location. The USDA announced it is shutting down Il Mondo Vecchio, 1174 South Cherokee St., Denver, a mecca for pig-loving, salumi-seeking foodies across the Front Range. The company’s final Loading Dock Friday will be on Nov. 30.

News

West End Tavern in Boulder celebrated its 25th birthday in October, and Colterra in Niwot celebrated six years. Tim Payne, owner and chef of Terroir in Longmont, is now offering his services through Sweet Pea Catering and doing farm-to-table dinners with Feast Supper Club. Fodors did a round-up of their favorite places to eat in Boulder, highlighting Oak at Fourteenth, Bitter Bar, Dushanbe Tea House, Jill’s and Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids & Solids Restaurant in Longmont. Door to Door Organics won Company of the Year from Naturally Boulder. Café Aion’s Dakota Soifer is writing a cookbook. Dishcrawl (dishcrawl.com) is coming to Boulder with events that are like pub crawls—but for food. Food & Wine included a recipe from The Kitchen in its roundup of apple cocktails. And Sunset magazine called Boulder the “most inspired town in the West,” highlighting Cured; Piece, Love & Chocolate; Boxcar Coffee Roasters; Oak; Bitter Bar; and Bramble and Hare as places not to be missed. And an oyster shucker from Jax in land-locked Boulder won a shucking competition in Maine. Shucks.

Amuse Bouche

West Flanders Brewing on Pearl Street has some serious beer chops—but I leave the discussion of the brews to those more knowledgeable and stick with the food. The fig & sausage pizza is excellent, as are all the other pizzas we sampled. The “one dip & one dipper” appetizer plate is also a nice departure from the ordinary with roasted sweet potato curry and herb bacon dip served with your choice of veggies or chips. The vegetarian Cobb salad was also a refreshing change. Definitely a contender for your next happy hour—with the bonus of some of the best people-watching potential in Boulder.

Events

Tickets are $39 at chewnbrewfestival.com. FORK Social Lab is hosting a Holiday Market on the farm at Red Barn Farm on 95th in Lafayette on Nov. 16 and 17. Tundra Restaurant Supply launched its “What’s Your Dreamstaurant?” contest nationwide; the Grand Prize is a $20,000 restaurant design and product package that will help one lucky restaurateur realize their dream restaurant concept. Learn more at etundra.com/dreamstaurant.

The post Eatery News appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When I say “foodie adventures,” I’m not talking about eating Rocky Mountain oysters or chocolate-dipped scorpions—though you could do that, too!—I’m talking about getting out of your seat, out of the restaurant and burning off a few calories while you sample some of the best food the area has to offer.

Perhaps the most common foodie adventure is a walking tour. Park once and eat all afternoon as you make your way from restaurant to restaurant sampling some of the finest meals Boulder has to offer. Culinary Connectors (culinaryconnectors.com) offers two different walking and dining tours, which offers guests the chance to dine and chat with some of Boulder’s top chefs. They even offer a self-guided tour if you’re anti-social, and they recently launched a craft beer tour and a food truck tour (both in Denver). Local Table Tours (localtabletours.com) offers a classic Boulder dining tour as well, but why not branch out and do a cocktail tour, a coffee and pastry tour, or a farmer’s market tour with them? Oh, heck, why not sign up for all of them?

If pedaling is more your speed, Boulder Area Bicycling (boulderareabicycleadventures.com) offers a popular urban Brews Cruise, hopping from brewery to brewery by bike, including Twisted Pine, Redstone Meadery and Boulder Beer. The company is ramping up to offer a coffee/tea/chocolate tour of Boulder as well.

Of course, the group that pedals together stays together, and My Handle Bar (myhandlebar.com) has got your group covered with its 16-passenger pub-crawl on wheels. Book the bike for a private shindig with 15 of your closest pals or hop on solo (or with a bud) the first or third Wednesday of each month for their Mixer tours. If you grab a pedaling seat, beware: it’s a workout! But the cocktail stops make up for any calories you might be burning.

Biking and Colorado go together like bacon and, well, anything, so it’s no surprise that several big events combine the two as well. Of course, you probably already know about New Belgium’s Tour de Fat, which will took place in Denver in early September. But maybe you haven’t heard of the Tour de Coops? Transition Colorado again sponsored two bike tours during Eat Local Week in August, including a countywide tour of backyard chicken coops, urban farms, and community gardens and a separate tour of rural and urban farms across Boulder County. Sign up for their e-newsletter at transitioncolorado.org to get all the details as they’re finalized for 2013.

Looking for something even more out of the box? Social deals site LivingSocial offers “adventures,” which are often a physical activity paired with a meal. These change all the time, but recently they offered a zipline tour with beer and snacks in Conifer, and a “Shootin’ + Drinkin’” package in Englewood. OK, maybe that second one isn’t such a good idea…. It was actually a shooting lesson at a gun range followed by dinner at a barbecue restaurant and whisky bar. Hey, at least it wasn’t the other way around.

The post Foodie Adventures: Who says being a foodie means sitting at a table? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings/Closings

Rocket Fizz Boulder, a “soda pop and candy shop,” opened on Pearl Street. Twirl Boulder, a self-serve frozen yogurt shop, opened on 15th St. West Flanders Brewing Company opened in the former BJ’s space on Pearl St. Harold’s Restaurant & Lounge opened in the space formerly occupied by Fusion adjacent to the Plaza Hotel in Longmont. Rincon Argentina Boulder is under construction at Folsom and Arapahoe. Much-missed Juanita’s will have a kind of resurrection as former cook Dylan Moore closes his Denver restaurants Deluxe and Delite to reopen as Juanita’s.

News

Comida launched its new happy hour with food and drink specials. The Colorado Chautauqua Association announced that Three Leaf Concepts, owners of the Dushanbe Tea House and The Huckleberry restaurants among others, will take over operations of the Chautauqua Dining Hall beginning Oct. 15. The Louisville outpost of Smiling Moose Deli celebrated its fifth anniversary in September.

Events

The Bitter Bar and FORK Social Lab will host a sausage making class Oct. 14 and a sauce making class Oct. 21. Tickets available through FORK’s website. Asti d’Italia has paired up with Color Me Mine pottery painting for a ladies’ night at Asti with family-style appetizers and wine to enjoy while painting pottery on Oct. 17. Reservations recommended.

Amuse Bouche

Kachina Southwestern Grill, which took over the former O’s space at the Westin in Westminster, offers a variety of northern New Mexico-inspired dishes that range from $4 Navajo tacos (served on fry bread instead of tortillas) to $50 bone-in bison rib eye specials. It puts a fresh twist on Southwest classics with entrees like duck confit Frito pie and lobster posole. A server will grill corn for you tableside and ask about the “Chef and the Butcher” specials with meats from local ranches. Dinner here was delightful, drinks were strong and tasty, and the luxurious patio an excellent place to relax.

The post Eatery news appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Taquerias are hip right now all across the country, so it’s no surprise to me that someone decided to open one on Main Street in Louisville—La Revolución Taqueria y Cantina brings the trend to one of the most happening strips of restaurant real estate in Boulder County.

La Revolución set up shop in the space occupied by the Cactus Wheel, next to the Texas BBQ joint, LuLu’s. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of a taco truck—in a good way. When the weather is fine, the windows around the bar open up, and diners sit on the patio under umbrellas with cold cans of Tecate. Although it is sit-down service, it feels like you could wander right up to the windows and place your order (There is indoor seating, boasting big TVs for sports-viewing, but we opted to enjoy the patio while we still could).

The lunch and dinner menu features mainly tacos and burritos with a few platos thrown in for good measure. Their newly added brunch menu features Mexican breakfast specialties, including excellent chilaquiles, breakfast burritos and even some gringo breakfast options.

We started with the black bean fundido, a combination of queso and black bean dip that made for a nice twist on your average mound of gloppy cheese. The warm, grilled flour tortilla was perhaps the best part of this dish—ask for extra if you’re serving a crowd (or merely disinclined to share).

I decided to go for the gusto and sample three of their Mexico-City-style tacos: the carne asada served with pico de gallo and cotija; the chile lime shrimp served with a pickled cabbage slaw and a tomato pasilla chile salsa that had a pleasant kick; and the pork carnitas taco dressed in tomatillo salsa and cotija. You can order these a la carte or as part of a plate with rice and beans. As the Spanish rice was nearly flavorless, I’d recommend ordering individually. Plus, at happy hour, you can get a great deal on individual tacos.

All three tacos were good enough to have me contemplating seconds, but the carnitas really shone. Crispy and juicy at the same time, they were decadent and delicious. The shrimp taco was my runner-up, with a fresh flavor balance and spicy sauce. And while the carne asada came in third, there was certainly nothing wrong with it. We also had the carne asada burrito smothered in La Revolución pork green chile. If you have the burrito, go hungry: This monster was easily half again as large as a Chipotle burrito, stuffed with rice, beans, guacamole, pico, crema and cheese.

Our only complaint with La Revolución is that some of the dishes come out a bit bland—a simple lack of seasoning. A dash or two of salt would go a long way to remedy this, and from the buzz I’ve heard, I’m not alone in thinking it. Still, the food is quality, the drinks are pleasantly strong, and there are salt shakers on the table, so you might find me there again, enjoying happy hour on the patio while the weather holds out.

La Revolución Taqueria y Cantina

701 Main St., Louisville

303.926.3998

facebook.com/LaRevLouisville

Bottom Line: Quality tacos that could be kicked up a notch.

The post Restaurant review: La Revolución Taqueria Y Cantina appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Starting as a dishwasher at Twist in Hyde Park, New York, and working his way up to executive chef there, Chris Royster knows how to run a restaurant from the ground up. He worked as sous chef at Zucca Italian Restaurant in Louisville and next door as executive chef at The Huckleberry before moving up the hill to become sous chef at The Flagstaff House.

The post Chef De Cuisine Adam Royster, Flagstaff House appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Originally hailing from a small-town in Iowa, Sippel has major, big-city restaurant cred, with cooking credits including L’oustau de Baumaniere in Provence, France, and Michael Tusk’s Quince in San Francisco. He has worked every station at Frasca and has been rewarded for his skill and dedication with his current position as chef de cuisine.

Strongest food memory

When I taste anchovies it takes me back to Italy. I use it a lot in our cuisine, it’s just one of my favorite things. When I taste it in certain things, in certain dishes, it transports me back to Italy. It’s one of those things that has such a distinct flavor, smell, mouth feel.  It’s almost like déjà vu.

Ingredient you’re obsessed with right now

Essentially it’s an Italian fish sauce made from fresh anchovies; they lay them out on racks and salt them and then press it and this black liquid comes out. Mind-blowing stuff. They don’t import it into the U.S. now, but my friend’s trying to get it for me. Just a drizzle on cherry tomatoes, it’s really like nothing I’ve ever had. I don’t even know how to do it justice talking about it.

Body art

The ones on my right arm are Van Gogh’s olive trees from Provence.

Biggest pet peeve

Whistling.

If you weren’t cooking…

I know I’ll never leave the kitchen. But I’m good with writing. We’ve talked about doing a Frasca cookbook. If I had to stop cooking, I think it would have something to do with food and writing.

Eggplant Caponata

Ingredients

• 2 C diced black Italian eggplant

• 1 C diced bell pepper

• 1 C diced red onion

• 1 C diced fennel

• 1 C halved cherry tomatoes

• Thyme

• Rosemary

• 1/2 C sultanas or golden raisins rehydrated in warm white wine and water

• 1/4 C Sicilian pine nuts toasted

• 1/4 C pantelleria capers, soaked in water

• 5 leaves of basil, cut in chiffonade

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Red wine vinegar to taste

• Salt and Pepper to taste

• Cherry tomatoes halved

• Fried basil leaves for garnish

• Fresh grated ricotta salata

Preparation

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees. Dress the eggplant and bell peppers with olive oil and thyme. Dress the onion, fennel and tomatoes with olive oil and rosemary or summer savory. Season all generously with salt and pepper. Roast all veg separately to achieve nice color and flavor. Once roasted, mix all vegetables, seasoning with raisins, pine nuts, capers, basil and red wine vinegar. When the salad is mixed, plate and top with cherry tomatoes, fried basil, grated ricotta salata and a good pour of Sicilian olive oil.

The post Chef De Cuisine Jared Sippel, Frasca Food & Wine, Boulder appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Starting as a dishwasher at Twist in Hyde Park, New York, and working his way up to executive chef there, Chris Royster knows how to run a restaurant from the ground up. He worked as sous chef at Zucca Italian Restaurant in Louisville and next door as executive chef at The Huckleberry before moving up the hill to become sous chef at The Flagstaff House.

Strongest food memory

My exposure to food cooked from scratch and food that was grown in the backyard or food that was taken through hunting was huge. My father’s parents always had the family over on Sundays. I have many memories of my grandfather smoking venison on the porch or my grandmother cleaning fresh green beans from the garden.

Ingredient you’re obsessed with right now

Anything made from scratch. I recently started making my own butter and I have been playing with different charcuterie like pancetta and prosciutto. Working with ingredients that I made myself makes me feel connected to the end product.

Kitchen tool you can’t live without

Terrines. I can’t go more than a couple weeks without making a pate or a terrine.

Most Memorable Meal

That’s really hard. If I had to pinpoint one it would probably be Gotham in Manhattan because it was my first fine-dining experience, and I still remember how perfect the service was, how perfectly seasoned the food was and how beautiful the plates were. Even the petite fours were beautiful.

Pet peeve

Tasting with your fingers. Not OK!

Favorite music in the kitchen

I was taught to appreciate a quiet kitchen so I don’t listen to music while I cook. The sizzles and clanks of a kitchen are music.

If you weren’t cooking

I don’t like to think about that. I am a kitchen lifer. I did take some classes in business, and I found it pretty interesting. I also did some carpentry work when I was younger. I hope to have a future in business with restaurants so that is probably the direction I would have gone.

The post Sous Chef Chris Royster, Flagstaff House, Boulder appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Rachel Best started her cooking career in the dining hall kitchens at CU. Before graduating, she worked at the Dushanbe Tea House before taking a few years off from cooking to work in the agricultural field and then attend the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. As a culinary student, she worked at Aji Latin American Restaurant and then moved to Leaf.

Strongest food memory

I lived in Cameroon, Africa, for two years and got the chance to partake in the sacrifice of a goat. Afterward, we roasted some of the meat on sticks over an open fire in a windowless mud house and passed it around for everyone to taste. The meat was really good and the meal had a lot of meaning. The smell, taste and company are unforgettable.

Favorite place to eat:

In Boulder, breakfast and coffee at Spruce Confection, a picnic lunch on a trail, dinner at Sherpa’s and after dinner drink at the Bitter Bar.

Most memorable meal

When I was a kid, my dad and I grew a small vegetable garden every summer. At the peak of the season my mom would always cook a garden-only dinner…fried eggplant, stewed tomatoes and okra, roasted new potatoes and sautéed squash. Eating these meals on the back porch as the sunset and the lightning bugs came out is a great memory.

Broccoli Puree

Ingredients

• 4 C raw broccoli, stems + florets

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1/4 C lemon juice

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp pepper

• water

• 4 Tbsp butter

Preparation

Put broccoli, lemon juice and seasonings in a pot. Add water to just cover broccoli. Bring to a boil and simmer until soft but not mushy (~10 minutes). Drain but save water. Put broccoli in food processor and blend, slowly adding the reserved liquid until desired consistency is reached. Add butter one tablespoon at a time. Salt to taste. Finish in the blender to get a smoother texture.  Can add ¼ cup goat cheese to create a creamier product.

The post Chef De Cuisine Rachel Best, Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant, Boulder appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

A true farm-to-table connoisseur, Williams started at Sugarbeet as a Johnson & Wales intern in 2010 and has been there ever since. He also works the fields at Zweck’s farm in Longmont and at the CSU extension office as a horticulture program assistant ,growing and researching small fruits and berries.

First cooking job

At a pizzeria. I got to create the most amazing pizzas. The best part was that I got to throw dough up into the air and amaze the kids peering through the glass.

Most memorable meal

On a trip to Thailand, a restaurant/fish market displayed the catch of the day on ice where we would pick what we wanted to eat and they would cook it into a delicious meal. I was with my best friend, his dad and his brother. We ate crab legs, lobster tail, clams, oysters, calamari, scallops, you name it. And it was the most delicious lunch I can remember. It’s even more memorable because we missed the sign saying the price for all the seafood was per kg. With food and beer in our bellies, we got the bill for over $700. We were pissed and amazed, but we sure
enjoyed it.

Favorite place to eat

Thai Kitchen in Longmont. They have the most authentic Thai food you can get because their chef is from Thailand, and she’s been cooking for most of her life.

The digital age

I’ve recently started a business for edible garden consulting, design and cuisine, called SecondGarden. We have a Facebook page (facebook.com/secondgarden) and a blog (secondgarden.blogspot.com) where I share some recipes and tips from the garden. I hope to turn that into my future career.

Vegan Walnut Cupcakes

Yield: 10

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 C wheat flour

• 1/2 C sugar

• 1 tsp salt

• 3 Tbsp agave nectar

• 1/2 C earth balance

• 3 Tbsp wheat germ

• 1/2 C water

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 C walnuts (ground)

Preparation

Combine all ingredients. May need to add more water to get the right consistency. Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with liners or coat with earth balance. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on baking rack.

The post Chef Garde Manager & Expeditor Zach Williams, Sugarbeet, Longmont appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

After culinary school in Torino, Italy, Wallace returned to Colorado and landed his first job in the states with Frasca Food and Wine. After working there for more than five years and rising to sous chef, the owners sent him to Naples for four months to study pizza, then brought him back to help them open Pizzeria Locale.

Kitchen tool you couldn’t live without

The one thing I freak out about is the specific spoon I use to put sauce on the pizzas.

Favorite hangover remedy

Ginger is something that helps—or more beer.

Strongest food memory

When I was working at the restaurant near Torino, Italy, after culinary school. Of course, in the beginning it was all about learning the language—they’d say, “Go get a potato,” and that was hard. But eventually I started making all the handmade pastas. And then the new interns from the culinary school came in. I remember teaching a guy from Japan how to make agnolotti, and he said I was such a professional. That really stuck with me, because the Japanese are so professional, it was a huge compliment.

Ingredient you’re obsessed with right now

Right now, because it’s in season, it’s local peppers of all sorts. We’re doing a salad with Anaheim peppers with melon and cucumber; we’re doing them roasted for a pizza, and we’re going to do something with pickled peppers.

Most memorable meal

At a vineyard in Slovenia. I was over there with Frasca, and we went there for lunch and the vintner had two huge woks—one was full of whole octopus and the other was full of eel, and they were buried in the ground and smoking. It was amazing.

The post Pizzaiolo Jordan Wallace, Pizzeria Locale, Boulder appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This ain’t a playground.

From the kitchens of Boulder County, chefs are making names for themselves in the national press, on reality TV and among their own. But there is a new generation making its way into the food world—raised in the age of the celebrity chef and schooled in both traditional techniques and mad-science methodology. Move over Hosea Rosenberg and Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson. These kids aren’t playing around.

Executive Chef Joe Arena, Bitter Bar, Boulder

Pizzaiolo Jordan Wallace, Pizzeria Locale, Boulder

Chef Garde Manger & Expeditor Zach Williams, Sugarbeet, Longmont

Chef De Cuisine Rachel Best, Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant, Boulder

Chef De Cuisine Adam Royster, Flagstaff House, Boulder

Sous Chef Chris Royster, Flagstaff House, Boulder

Chef De Cuisine Jared Sippel, Frasca Food & Wine, Boulder

The post Young Guns: 2nd Annual Chef’s Issue appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Arena has been cooking since he was 12, but wasn’t legally allowed to do it for a paycheck until he was 17 and working at a supermarket in the prepared foods section. From there, he headed to the Culinary Institute of America. He did his externship at The Flagstaff House and from there got a job at Jax Fish House. Arena started training at The Bitter Bar in 2011 and took over the helm in June of this year.

Favorite music to cook to

Depends on the prep for the day. Butchering is classical, specifically Debussy. (One, for the comic relief it offers when a server walks into the kitchen and witnesses the event, but mostly because butchering is very technical and the music relaxes me.) Bread baking is Jamaican dancehall music. Anything else is usually done to Harry Belafonte radio on Pandora. Clean up time is salsa.

Strongest food memory

1998, fourth grade spring break, Myrtle Beach, S.C. I was at a calabash-style seafood house with my parents. My dad ordered fried calamari with marinara sauce. Up until that point I liked my PB&J sandwiches without crust, and bless your soul if you tried to serve me anything other than a chicken cutlet with mashed potatoes. It was that meal that I decided to try something new. I asked my dad for a piece of calamari. The flavor was unmemorable, but the result of the experience snowballed into what my palette is today.

Favorite hangover remedy

Lying in the fetal position, shaking and sweating… The only thing that seems to work for me is drinking a gallon of water before service and then sweating the rest of the booze out.

Kitchen tool you can’t live without

My plating spoons. A professional painter would have a nice set of finishing brushes to add the finest of details… my spoons are my brushes.

 Yummy banana cheesecake

 Ingredients

Filling

1 lbs. cream cheese

1 C white sugar

2 eggs

3 overripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp bourbon

1 ½ tsp salt

Crust

12 honey graham crackers

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 stick butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch fresh-grated nutmeg

Preparation

In a food processor, whip the cream cheese until smooth. Separately, whisk eggs and sugar together until smooth and lightened in color. Add the egg mixture to the cream cheese and continue to mix until fully homogenized. Thoroughly mash the bananas in the bourbon, vanilla and salt. Add to the cream cheese mixture.

For the crust: Place crackers in food processor and pulverize evenly. Melt the butter and add to the cracker crumb. Mix in remaining ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Grease a nine inch spring form pan and lay in the crust. Press down on the crumb to form an even layer. Pour the cheesecake batter into the pan. Place in the middle rack of pre-heated oven and bake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside with the door closed for 30 additional minutes before removing.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for four hours before removing the outside of the spring form pan.

Top with chocolate or whipped cream.

This recipe came back with me from St. John, Virgin Islands, just this past April. If I had to eat one dessert for the rest of my life, it would be cheesecake, but more importantly, this cheesecake. I run through about 30 of them in a week at The Bitter Bar.

Please note: This is a corrected version of the recipe that was printed in the magazine. The baking time was incorrect. –Ed.

The post Executive Chef Joe Arena, Bitter Bar, Boulder appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings/Closings

Two new restaurants in Westminster: Early Bird Restaurant opened in Westminster for breakfast and lunch in the Bradburn neighborhood and Kachina Southwestern Grill opened at the Westin Westminster. Gravity Brewing opened as Louisville’s first brewery and Dizzy’s Doughnuts opened as Boulder’s only doughnut shop. BJ’s has opened in its new Boulder location on 28th St. and West Flanders Brewing Co. will take over its old Pearl Street location. Urban Bliss opened at the FlatIron Marketplace in Broomfield. Zanitas, a new fast-casual taco joint, opened on the Hill in Boulder. Cheese Importers has finally reopened in their new (larger) location at 103 Main St. in Longmont. Lucky’s Market in Boulder will open Lucky’s Bakehouse and Creamery next door with local baked goods and small-batch ice creams. Fate Brewing Co. broke ground in Boulder and is slated to open in Dec. Sad to say that Longmont’s Terroir (owner Tim Payne pictured above) closed its doors at the end of August due to a leasing issue and Gondolier on Pearl ended its 52-year run at the end of September. World Café (née Cuvée) in Boulder closed after a rebranding that didn’t seem to take. The Rib House moved its Boulder location to The Hill (University and Broadway across from campus). Check their Facebook page for details. Lenny and Sara Martinelli, owners and operators of Three Leaf Concepts, will take over operations of the famed Chautauqua Dining Hall.

News

Chef Brett Smith of Zolo Grill in Boulder will compete in the Food & Wine All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas. Zagat and Travel + Leisure list Frasca one of the top Italian restaurants in the country and Bon Appétit named Pizzeria Locale one of the 50 best new restaurants in the country. Door to Door Organics received “B Corporation” status—for being a company that “meets rigorous and independent standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.” The LoCoYo frozen yogurt shop in Louisville has received the Dan B. Davidson Award for Excellence in Inclusion, by the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council.

Events

Colorado Mountain Winefest takes place Sept. 15 in Palisade. The second annual Isabelle Farm Family Day is Sept. 15, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Tickets required. Café Aion and Oxford Gardens will host a Late Summer Harvest Dinner Sept. 16. Free Cultivate Festival in Denver Oct. 6, with food, farmers, chefs, artisans and musicians. Arugula Bar e Ristorante will host a Wine Maker Dinner with Peter Franus on Oct. 9. Reservations required.

The post September Food News appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Kids in BoCo have it pretty good, as evidenced by the outstanding plethora of classes, camps, and other fun extra-curricular activities touched on in this issue. Lucky for the mini-foodies among us, BoCo adults take their offspring’s food education pretty seriously—both in the classroom and out of it.

Take, for example, our local “renegade lunch lady,” Ann Cooper. She’s known as a renegade because she has the crazy idea that kids should be getting healthy, natural foods from their school cafeteria, rather than processed, chemical-laden pseudo-food. A nationally renowned chef, author, educator and food advocate, she has helped transform lunchrooms in the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado as well as the Berkeley Unified School District in California to incorporate real foods, not just on the lunch trays but also in the curriculum and the classroom.

Another good local food citizen is The Kitchen [Community], the non-profit arm of the successful family of restaurants in both Boulder and Denver. After years of supporting the Boulder Growe Foundation, which helps construct school gardens, owners Hugo Matheson and Kimbal Musk established The Kitchen [Community] in 2011 and began creating open source, modular learning gardens for schools. The restaurants support the project by donating 20 percent of sales every Monday during Community Night at The Kitchen [Upstairs], and 100 percent of sales on Community Day at The Kitchen [Next Door].

Of course, in the best of all possible worlds, food education starts at home. If you and your family need a refresher in healthy eating, we suggest Kitchen Coach Mary Collette Rogers’ farmers’ market tours and cooking classes. Tour the Boulder or Louisville farmers’ market and then return to the kitchen with your bounty for an educational (and delicious) cooking experience. Older kids are also invited to participate, creating a solid food foundation on which your family can build.

For kids who prefer to learn sans parents, look to local cooking schools cater to the under 18 set. Stir It Up Cooking in Boulder (stiritupcooking.com) offers after school programs, one-day classes, summer camps, and parties for kids from 5 to 16, teaching a variety of cooking skills and fun cooking experiences. Young Chefs Academy in Westminster (youngchefsacademy.com) also offers classes, camps and parties, as well as programs for school groups and scouts that combine cooking skills with education in all the basic cognitive subject areas.

The foundation of a healthy life begins with a healthy education around food. Lucky for us, we live in an area that takes great pride in raising—and feeding—healthy kids.

Support and Education:

1. Become a member of The Kitchen [Community] to support their learning garden projects, and receive invitations to members-only events or volunteer for a community build day. thekitchencommunity.org

2. Donate to Ann Cooper’s non-profit, the Food Family Farming Foundation, and support her healthy lunch box initiatives. foodfamilyfarming.org

3. Dine at The Kitchen [Upstairs] on Monday nights during Community Night, when 20 percent of the profits are donated to The Kitchen [Community]—plus, it’s one of the county’s coolest “family-style” dining experiences.

4. Get involved at your neighborhood school. The National Farm to School Network provides an arsenal of tools to help you get local food in your school cafeteria. farmtoschool.org

5. Start at home. Take your kids to a farm or the farmers’ market. Cook and eat local, seasonal produce. Make real food a priority at your house.

The post Forming Mini-Foodies appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings/Closings

Big Choice Brewing Company brings a craft brewery to Broomfield and Echo Brewing opened in Firestone. La Revolucion Taqueria y Cantina opened on Main St. in Louisville next to Lulu’s, and Miller’s Grille opened on S. Public Rd. in Lafayette. Bramble & Hare, a “farmhouse kitchen and pub” by Eric Skokan of The Black Cat, opened in Boulder next to The Black Cat. Beehive opened in Boulder in the old Saxy’s Café space on 10th St., and World Café opened in Boulder on the west end of Pearl St. where Cuvee Wine Bar & Bistro recently closed. Dizzy Donuts opened a permanent space in Boulder, making it the only donut shop in the People’s Republic. Upslope announced plans for the addition of a second brewery and taproom in Boulder. Comida of Longmont plans to open a second location in Denver. H|Burger took over The Pinyon’s space in Boulder, while Pinyon chef Theo Adley has started a catering company. Bloom at FlatIron Crossing closed in June, and Tutti in Lafayette shut its doors in May.

News

Dushanbe Tea House won the Nature’s Plate People’s Choice award for the greenest restaurant in Boulder from the Nature Conservancy of Colorado. Chris Donato, general manager of Pizzeria Locale, was named one of Eater.com’s Young Guns Class of 2012. Roma’s Catering’s burritos can now be purchased at Whole Foods, Alfalfa’s, Lucky’s Market, and several coffee shops in the area. Flagstaff House hired a new wine director, Melanie Kaman, in May and won their 29th Wine Spectator Grand Award. Smart Balance Inc. purchased Udi’s Healthy Foods LLC in June, and Mrs. Fields relocated its corporate headquarters to Broomfield.

Amuse Bouche

After a memorable experience at Pica’s Mexican Taqueria in Boulder for their “El Milagro del Cerdo” (the miracle of the pig) family-style dinner (by special order only), I returned to try a few tacos off the regular menu. All the street-style tacos we tried were excellent, but extra points go to the hanger steak tacos. We’ll definitely be back to sample the enchiladas, smothered burritos and shrimp tacos—about which we’ve heard miraculous things.

Events

Growing Gardens hosts its 13th annual iCultiva! Harvest Dinner Aug. 4; visit growinggardens.org/cultiva-harvest-dinner for details. Blackbelly Catering and Isabelle Farm will collaborate on a farm dinner Aug. 11; email karen@blackbellycatering.com for more information and reservations. The Greenbriar Inn will host a garden harvest dinner Aug. 16. Terroir’s popular Uprooted farm dinner series continues with three more dates in Aug. and one in Sept; visit terroir-restaurant.com/events for info. Zolo Grill will partner with Isabelle Farm for two farm dinners on Aug. 27 and Oct. 1.

The post Eatery News appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In Texas, barbecue means beef, so any place that purports to be a Texas-style barbecue joint had better bring the goods when it comes to brisket.

And Lulu’s delivers.

Here’s the thing: I’ve never been much of a barbeque connoisseur, so I couldn’t tell you with certainty that this is better than the best barbeque in Texas, because I haven’t had the best barbeque in Texas.

But I can tell you that this is better than all the barbecue I have had in Texas. Yup. It’s that good.

On a rainy Saturday night, we got a great table near the bar and settled in. The space is fun, feeling like a converted filling station, with big garage doors, a large patio out front, and beanbag toss stations set up in the back. Big-screen TVs show whatever sporting events might be going on—or “Diners Drive-Ins and Dives” doing a barbecue special. Coincidence? The special for the night was Kobe beef ribs. Tempting, to be sure, but we decided to stay on menu.

We started with PBR in a can—the restaurant’s entire beer list is delivered in cans (with Lulu’s cozies)—and prickly-pear lemonade to wash down an order of sweet potato tots with cheese sauce. The tots were tasty, and the cheese sauce was surprisingly good, but together… well, it wasn’t my thing.

For our main course, the table sampled the pulled pork, ribs, beer can chicken, spicy sausage, and, of course, the brisket, which is where the restaurant shines. This was quite literally some of the best barbecued meat I have ever eaten. Mouth-wateringly flavorful, juicy and perfectly cooked. My personal favorite was the brisket, but the ribs pulled a close second (and the pork and chicken were nothing to sneeze at). Really, I had no need for sauce, though the two varieties, regular and hot, were just the right balance of savory and sweet. Careful with the hot, though. They aren’t just whistling Dixie.

On the side, the macaroni and cheese, with the same cheese sauce as the tots, was a big hit with everyone at the table. The green bean casserole was too heavy on the cream sauce for my taste, and the Ranchero beans tasted a little like watered-down chili.

In fact, aside from the meat, my favorite thing on the plate was the PPO—that stands for pickles, peppers, and onions, and is a blend of the three, finely chopped into a sort of relish. That I could eat all day long.

Like the sides, the dessert was a fairly forgettable seasonal fruit cobbler. Kudos for using real fruit (instead of pie filling) and not making it too sweet, but points deducted for the gummy pastry.

But I am willing to overlook all of that because the brisket was that damned good. Crack me open a can of Shiner, scoop me a dish of Blue Bell ice cream, and I’m home.

Lulu’s BBQ

701 B Main St., Louisville

720.583.1789, lulus-bbq.com

Bottom Line: The best BBQ brisket this side of the Rio Grande.

The post Rib Ticklin’ Good appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Two years ago, I pitched this column as a record of my explorations into the world of food. I knew I loved food, but I also knew I had a lot to learn. Two years later, I still love food, and I still have a lot to learn—but the learning process is so delicious.

Lucky for me, some of the best and brightest in Boulder County offer culinary classes in everything from vegan cookery to fermenting kimchi, so I decided to put together my own little culinary master course with a selection of classes from around town.

I started my “semester” with a cooking class at Colterra hosted by executive chef Michael Drazsnzak. The afternoon’s theme was pasta and gnocchi; each month, Drazsnzak tackles a different topic, which have so far included his famous tomato soup, the art of risotto, and, on June 24, the thrill of the grill. Seating is limited, because these are intimate cooking demonstrations (with a little hands-on action for the bold).

For my next course (pun intended), I headed over to Cured, where owners Will and Coral Frischkorn offer a full slate of classes exploring all their specialties: cheese, salumi and wine. I signed up for Cheese 101—the beginning is a very good place to start, after all—and spent a very pleasant couple of hours learning the different types of cheeses, how the process by which they’re made distinguishes them, and how to taste them, as well as tips for creating my own cheese plate and pairing them with wines. This is the sort of class in which you realize you’re barely scratching the surface of all there is to know, but the topic is delicious enough to bring you back for the upper level courses.

To round out my education, I turned to Piece, Love and Chocolate for a course in the dessert course. First, I had the opportunity to sit in on their “Chocolate Lab for Lovers… of Sensual Chocolate and Wine.” The class is presented by Sarah Amorese, owner and chocolatier at Piece, Love and Chocolate, and her colleagues, a wine steward and a clinical sexologist. It almost goes without saying, the class was a hoot, but more importantly, it was a font of information about the history and nature of chocolate, why we love this decadent dessert the way we all do, and how to pair chocolates across the spectrum of taste with different wines. With more than a dozen treats to taste with five different wines, this was by far the most decadent of the classes I sampled. If the wine and chocolate class was more of a presentation, their chocolate soufflé and flourless cake chocolate lab is a true hands-on experience. Tie on an apron, get yourself covered in chocolate, and bring home a whole chocolate cake for your troubles.

Clearly, the next step in my education is to host a dinner party to show off all my newfound knowledge. With these experts in my corner, it should be the event of the season.

5 (Plus) More Ways to Educate Yourself

1. Get creative with Market Mornings Farm to Table Classes at FORK Social Lab, June 16, 23, July 7 and 21 (forksociallab.squarespace.com/farm-to-table-classes/) hosted by kitchen coach Mary Colette Rogers, whose nonprofit, EveryDay Good Eating, offers educational programming and resources to get Boulder County cooking again with seasonal, local and healthful foods. And if you want to get even closer to the farm, Cure Organic Farm offers all kinds of classes from lamb butchery to kim chee. cureorganicfarm.com/classes.htm

2. For the serious home chef, Escoffier Cooking School offers home cook classes (escoffier.edu/locations/boulder/home-cook-classes/) and Natural Cooks Studio Cooking Classes offers their Community Dinner Class every Friday night with a vegan master chef in addition to full cooking courses and online classes (thenaturalcookstudio.com/classes/community-dinner-class/ ).

3. Simplespoon.com offers a bevy of classes aimed at the home cook that focus on different cuisines (from tacos to Thai) or techniques (like salads and sauces). And the ladies of Back to Basics Kitchen (backtobasicskitchen.com) offer cooking classes with topics like menu-planning 101, baby food to make at home, and pickling 101.

4. Stir It Up (stiritupcooking.com/) and Young Chef’s Academy (youngchefsacademy.com/rockies) offer classes for the kiddos—and summer camps.

5. On the third Tuesday of each month, The Kitchen [Upstairs] offers their monthly wine and beer class with a paired dinner. (thekitchencommunity.com/upstairs-boulder) You can also take Tequila 101 at Zolo on July 14^th, and the Bitter Bar is still doing its popular cocktail classes “upon request,” so give them a call to set one up.

The post A Foodie Education appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Openings/Closings

Big Choice Brewing, a 2,500-square-foot brewery and tap room, opened in Broomfield. / Azteca opened on Briggs Street in Erie in the space previously occupied by Delicioso (and countless previous Mexican restaurants). / Miller’s Grille took over the spot previously home to Tutti on South Public Road in Lafayette. / La Revolucion Taqueria Cantina took over the Cactus Wheel space on Main Street in Louisville. / A new tap house will open directly below Southern Sun Pub & Brewery—from the same owners. / Rumor has it that Boulder’s Boxcar Coffee Roasters is opening in Denver and Boom Yogurt Bar will open a second location in Lowery. / Hapa Sushi in Boulder has changed ownership and reopened as Sushi Hana. / Boulder Organic Pizza closed. / Matt Collier, who was a sous chef at The Kitchen and worked in some of the best restaurants in Chicago, was named the new executive chef of T|ACO, which opened in late May at 1175 Walnut St., Boulder.

News

Zagat plans to launch a Colorado restaurant guide for the first time. / Café Aion has begun offering Thursday night communal dinners on their patio at 6 p.m. for $35 per person, excluding beverages./ Travel+Leisure listed Boulder’s Ku Cha House of Tea as one of the best places in America to drink tea. / Boulder Family Farms has a farm stand at 1005 Cherryvale Rd. that operates 24/7 on the honor system. / The Food & Wine 2012 cocktail book includes recipes for Irish coffee from Bryan Dayton of Oak at Fourteenth.

Amuse Bouche

Parma Trattoria Mozzarella Bar on Dillon Rd. in Louisville offers a vast menu of Italian specialties in a fast-casual atmosphere for lunch with table service at dinner.  We enjoyed the bufala mozzarella with pesto, organic roasted peppers and Parma prosciutto. The parma salad (with walnuts, gorgonzola and pears) and the fresca bruschetta (with eggplant, tomatoes, fresh basil and oregano) were also both a hit.

Events

Every Tuesday from 5–8 p.m., Vista Ridge in Erie hosts a food truck rally with Rollin’ Greens and other local food trucks. / Piece, Love & Chocolate has four classes in June, including Bean-to-Bar-to-Love, How to Build a Cake, Eclairs and Cream Puffs, and Molten Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Creme Brulee. See www.peaceloveandchocolate.com for dates and details. / The Escoffier Cooking School hosts chef Suvir Sarah for a two-day workshop on Indian cuisine June 16–17. / Dining out days for the Boulder County AIDS Project returns June 17 at Pizzeria da Lupo. Check other dining out days on the BCAP website, www.bcap.org. / Colterra offers “The Thrill of the Grill” as part of its cooking class series, June 24. / The Uprooted dinner series from Terroir in Longmont returns on June 24 at Colorado’s Best Beef in Boulder. / VegFest Colorado will take place July 7–8 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, sponsored by the Vegetarian Society of Colorado.

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I guess you know you’re getting “old” in the restaurant writing biz when you can name three restaurants that have been in the same space.  I’m sure there were more before this, but since I’ve been writing for YS, I’ve seen Bim Bamboo, The Pinyon, and now H|Burger occupy the same space on east Pearl.

Here’s hoping the space isn’t cursed or something, because H|Burger makes a great addition to the Pearl Street scene.

Upscale burger places are enjoying the same sort of popularity as upscale pizza joints right now, and H|Burger, based in Denver, is capitalizing on it. It’s got a sleeker look and feel than places like Larkburger or Smashburger, with table service, top shelf burbon, and a menu that goes beyond your average patty and cheese.

I got to sample the eponymous H|Burger, an Angus beef patty with roasted Hatch chile, smoked cheddar, bacon, and a house-made tomato red pepper jam that pretty much secured a spot in one of my top 10 burgers of all time (TheChive.com picked it as one of the top 10 burgers in the country, and it won the Denver Burger Battle by a landslide).

But the veggie burger definitely held its own, too.  I really loved the chickpea flavor (a little like falafel) and the topping of sweet and spicy bok choy, red peppers and greens.  YUM.  Both went well with their hand-cut fries; the truffle fries were certainly tasty, but the regular fries were nearly as good, so don’t feel bad if you skip the cheese and shrooms.  They were served with their H|Sauce for dipping: a garlic mayo spiked with roasted ginger.  Forget the ketchup.

I’ll be interested to head back and try some of the other stuff on the menu.  The sweet and spicy hot wings did just what they said on the tin, and they were pretty darned spicy.  But I’d like to try the fried artichokes, the lamb burger, the pulled chicken club, the Thai beef salad… Yeah, I pretty much want to try it all.

Save room for dessert, because the Nutella marshmallow shake, spiked with liquid nitrogen for some special effects, was pretty darned tasty, too.

I’m getting hungry again just writing about it.

H|Burger Boulder
Opens Thursday, May 17
1710 Pearl St., Boulder
hburger.com

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I love discovering a hidden gem, and in this case, maybe even a diamond in the rough. I knew there had to be something to it when my editor kept bringing up this little place she’d discovered in Lafayette called 503 Café.
I’ll admit I was a little skeptical. The menu is…well, eclectic is the first word that comes to mind, with dishes ranging from classic Continental to Asian to South American, and that can sometimes indicate a lack of focus. Then again, the name of the place clearly states that this is “International Cuisine.” And Andra had never steered me wrong before.
Turns out, 503 Café maybe isn’t quite the secret I thought it was, as the dining room was respectably full each time I visited, and clearly the place already has some devoted regulars. From the outside, it is totally nondescript and even a little hard to spot if you don’t know where you’re going. Inside, the décor is nice, if minimal, and there’s a bar with TVs showing sports, and they received their liquor license prior to this issue going to press.
For dinner, we started with the impressive grilled Caesar salad. Whole hearts of romaine are quickly seared on the grill and served with house-made dressing and croutons. My husband was over the moon for this one, loving the smokiness that the grilling imparted, and claiming it gave the salad a “meaty” flavor. Off to an excellent start, but the real delight came with the main course. Our chicken marsala and chicken piccata were beyond excellent, rivaling dishes I’ve had in much fancier restaurants. The chicken was perfectly cooked, the sauces were rich and generously flavorful, and the sides of Parmesan risotto and garlic mashed potatoes easily as tasty as the meat. Talk about a lesson in not judging a book by its cover!
I returned for lunch with friends to try other intriguing dishes. We enjoyed the zucchini pupusa, and I thought it was a reliable version, complete with tomato dipping sauce and slaw. The pad Thai was also a tasty take, as good as many take-away Thai places I’ve had, with a nice balance of sweet and spicy. But the real marvel was the eggs Benedict, served with polenta cakes rather than English muffins on a bed of rich pesto and topped with ham, perfectly poached egg, and a creamy Hollandaise sauce studded with pancetta. Wow is about the only reaction I had.
While the service was always attentive and friendly, there were a few hiccoughs in the operation. On each of the visits I made, there were major changes to the menu: specials added and items that had run out or were unavailable. That’s the name of the game, especially with a place still tweaking its menu, but I would have preferred if the servers had announced all the changes up front, rather than waiting for us to order an item to say that it’s no longer on the menu. Heck, even a blackboard with menu updates would help to alleviate the awkwardness.
But it’s a testament to the quality of the food in this interesting little joint that I’d be willing to overlook the bumps in service and head back to this café for more of their excellent international cuisine.

503 Café International Cuisine
103.5 N. Public Rd., Lafayette
720.583.2596, 503cafe.com
Bottom Line: Remarkably
good food outshines menu hiccoughs.

The post Review: Don’t Judge a Café by its Cover appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

A compilation of recent food news, events and awards:

Openings/Closings

The StarLite Diner and Lounge is now open on the 29th Street Mall. /  PastaVino, a modern Italian bistro, opened in the former Juanita’s space on Pearl Street. / H|Burger has teamed up with Troy Guard of TAG to start T|ACO, opening in Boulder on Walnut St. in the old Pizzeria BOP location. / Rumor has it that Oskar Blues is looking at the old train station in Boulder for its foray into the People’s Republic. It was the end of an era as Daddy Bruce BBQ of Boulder closed. / And The Pinyon (pictured) in Boulder closed quite suddenly when chef and co-owner Theo Adley decided to sell the space to Denver-based H BurgerCo. Adley is reportedly looking at opportunities in Denver.

News

Boulder County Farmer’s Markets celebrates their 25th season this year. Markets are open in Boulder and Longmont. / Twenty-three-year-old Tyler Nemkov was the executive chef at Mateo for about a week before deciding to return to CU to finish his degree. / Frasca Food and Wine, Jennifer Jasinski and Jason Sheehan were named James Beard Award finalists. / Frasca was also named one of the top 40 restaurants in the country by Gayot. / The Comida restaurant in Longmont has expanded their hours to include lunch and brunch. / Tillamook cheese announced a partnership with local Top Chef winner Hosea Rosenberg. / Oak at Fourteenth announced that they will host a quarterly pig roast; the first was on April 3. / And in WTF news, the Comida restaurant and Tina the Comida truck were both egged last month. Police have no suspects.

Amuse Bouche: Mini Review

Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria brings authentic Cuban food to Boulder. Try the excellent traditional Cubano sandwich, of course, with ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, mustard and pickles or the equally awesome lechon asado bowl, with roasted pork, sautéed onions and mojo over white rice and their addictive black beans. Fried plantains are almost a must, and skip the boring soda fountain drinks for an authentic Cuban flavor like watermelon or ironbeer—or go for a mojito on the patio.

Events

The Blind Café returned to Boulder May 4 and 5. Details at theblindcafe.com. / Colterra will offer the third in its series of cooking classes with executive chef Michael Drazsnzak, “The Art of Risotto” on May 20. The class is $35 with a glass of wine and tastings included; reservations required. / On June 8 at 5pm, Gateway Fun Center will host a food truck party including The Tasterie Truck, Heirloom, RollinGreens, Comida, Blackbelly Catering, Verde Food Truck, Top of the Hill Grill West, Crock Spot and Street Eats. The event will benefit the non-profit Parenting Place.

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I’m sure every review of Tossa Pizza so far has mentioned the glut of excellent pizzerias in Boulder (and I just made this one no exception), but interestingly, Tossa fills its own niche. It’s not fast food or delivery like Naked Pizza; it’s not white tablecloth like Pizzeria Locale. It’s something in between. And it works.

Started by Tom Ryan, creator of the Smashburger chain, Tossa is a fast-casual restaurant at lunch and a full-service experience at dinner. The menu isn’t vast, but it’s extensive enough that I certainly couldn’t try everything in my visits here, and encompasses small plates, pizzas in two sizes, salads, pastas and panini. A cleverly coded wine list offers reds and whites that have been pre-matched to the menu items so that you can order a paired red or white with any dish should you choose. (The suggested pinot grigio I had on my first visit was pleasantly dry and nicely matched to the pizza.)

Our favorites started with the harvest salad, topped with roasted chicken, goat cheese, dried cherries, apricots, figs and sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The combination was fresh, different enough to be surprising, and flavorfully balanced. Plus, I for one will be on the lookout for when they start selling bottles of their sundried tomato vinaigrette, as it was a highlight of the meal for me.

Another huge hit was the mushroom, truffle and arugula salad pizza. This white pizza is built on their signature “not too thick, not too thin” oval pizza crust and topped with parmesan, mozzarella, aged provolone, mushrooms and fresh basil beneath a bed of fresh arugula dressed in truffle oil and shaved parmesan. This pizza feels decadent and a bit healthy at the same time, what with all those fresh greens in the mix. A self-proclaimed mushroom-hater at my table nevertheless went back for seconds and thirds and didn’t even attempt to pick the mushrooms off. For someone with more classic tastes, the everything pizza didn’t disappoint, with piles of tasty sausage, pepperoni, roasted veggies and olives. We all enjoyed their custom blend of Italian cheeses, especially the provolone, which gave these pies an extra kick. Also impressive was the list of “contemporary” pastas made primarily with broth rather than a heavier traditional Italian sauce (though those dishes are available as well). My personal favorite was the lemon, pistachio and chicken with baby spinach and roasted mushrooms in a garlic broth. Light yet complexly flavorful and very satisfying.

The restaurant itself is nicer than I had expected, with upscale décor, and the service was mostly attentive and uneventful. Perhaps the most pleasantly surprising aspect was the prices. The quality of the food is higher than the prices would suggest, making this a wise choice for a quick lunch in Boulder or a more leisurely sit-down weeknight dinner. I was able to feed a hungry crowd of six at our office for around $30, including the tip, and everyone came back for seconds.

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