Close to 20 years ago, Garret Dutton and Jeffrey Clemens met Jimi Prescott in a bar in Boston, and shortly thereafter, G. Love and Special Sauce was born.

Catapulting into national consciousness with the success of its quirky rap-funk single “Cold Beverages,” the band set out on tour, pretty much never to stop. Frequent Boulder and Denver appearances made G. Love an honorary local over the years. Here, he talks about recording on vinyl, dropping holiday albums and living in a crappy van.French Davis: It is very interesting that you seem to have a huge built-in fan base here. Why do you think your sound resonates so much in Boulder?
G. Love: I think Colorado as a whole has been historically a live-music haven. There’s a lot of young, freewheeling and open-minded people in Colorado, and since we first dropped in ’94 we have been embraced.  Boulder in particular was the epicenter for our vibration out there and we played the s**t out of the Fox Theater over the years. I’m thoroughly looking forward to coming back for New Years, bringing the blues and feeling that love in Colorado.

FD: Can you tell us about This Warm December… how the project came together? What made you interested in recording a “holiday album?”
GL: This is the second Brushfire Records holiday record. I think now that Jack and I both have families, the appeal to do a holiday record was automatically there. I’ve always thought that caroling is the best part of Christmas. When my family gets together for the holiday, we jam out after Christmas dinner and everyone gets involved.

FD: Last year was the biggest year of vinyl sales since the ’80s, and you chose to offer a vinyl version of this album. What draws you to the outdated technology?
GL: I’ve always been a record collector, a vinyl collector. I’ve pushed hard to have all my records released on vinyl. Shoot, we’ve been around so long our first two records came out on cassette and eight track! (Google it or ask your parents. –FD) Aside from that, I just feel like everything sounds better coming off vinyl and the artwork certainly looks better the bigger it is.

FD: What do you miss most about the way things used to be when you first started out? What do you not miss at all?
GL: I miss the innocence and blindness of how it was when we first started. I mean I was 20 years old, my head was completely up my ass, I thought I knew everything. I was riding around in a crappy van for seven years playing over 250 shows a year. It was deep. It’s still deep now and I still think I know everything, my head’s still up my ass and now I ride around in a tour bus so it’s a bit of an improvement.  A lot has changed and a lot is the same, but I love it all. Do what you love.

The post Four Questions with Pop Favorite: G. Love appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Having lived in Louisville for nearly two years, I can remember on several occasions passing by the flashy exterior of Spice China on McCaslin Boulevard. Its polished look and imposing size made us wary.

“Too corporate,” we said knowingly. “P.F. Chang’s knock-off,” we assumed. A recent visit to Spice China, however, made us remember something about a book and its cover.

Spice China is far from a pre-fab, corporate mall clone. Rather it is an independently-owned, family establishment. Though its look is highly reminiscent of capital-heavy chain restaurants, its menu is rife with carefully created treats for a variety of appetites. Of particular interest to us was the “Shanghai Menu,” a secondary list of authentic dishes that augments the impressive array of choices for the more, shall we say, American palate.

The interior is as big as its exterior suggests, with two wings projecting out from the center housing some of the choicest window tables. The bar, located in the center of the expansive dining room, offers a fine selection of beer, wine and cocktails, and sits just below the focal point of an enormous, hand-painted mural of agrarian China. Tasteful accents, soft lighting and the lazy swish of ceiling fans make the room a pleasure to be in.

Settled in to one of the many cushy booths that folds diners in loving arms and isolates them from their neighbors,
we began with two Kirins ($4.25) and a steady favorite, the Tofu Lettuce Wraps ($7.50). These were ample and delicious, though they faced us with the ongoing problem of keeping all the luscious sauce from drooling into our palms. Such is the nature of the beast.

The wraps were our only concession to our usual lightweight predilections: We were here to try something authentic!

Our server, Kyle, patiently and knowledgeably gave us some suggestions from the list of “chilled plates,” from which I chose the Garlic Marinated Pork ($8.95). What a delight. Though I needed a bite or two to accustom myself to the textural crack and pop of the bits of fat, I was won over by the incredible, spicy flavor. Those averse to intense zings of chili should pass, but if you love garlic and want to try something outside your comfort zone, this is the dish.

Our entrees were no less satisfying. The Tofu Vegetable Hot Pot ($10.50) came out a-sizzlin’ and chock full of large bricks of fried tofu, fleshy oyster mushrooms, crunchy radishes, resplendent bok choy, zucchini, onion and carrot in a subtly sweet brown gravy. The Red Chili Pepper Chicken ($10.95), meanwhile, was equally indulgent, pairing diced chicken and scallions fried with whole red chili peppers. Smoky, sweet and slightly less inflammatory than the pork dish, the chicken was delicious and ample.

Coming out in support of a restaurant as “authentic” is, of course, a dicey game for someone like me, especially when what I know about authenticity in Chinese cooking is somewhat limited (a few days in Hong Kong notwithstanding). What I can tell you is that we dined next to a Chinese-speaking family and that, our server said, Spice China is a destination for folks from all around the Front Range who are looking for solid Chinese home-cookin’. I take that as a good sign.

SPICE CHINA

720-890-0999
269 McCaslin Boulevard, Louisville
Bottom line: Sweet, savory and spicy flavors in an elegant space.

The post Authentic Spice appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.