Ten it to win it
Ten it to win it
Hold Fast Coffee Co. celebrates a decade, Lucy I'm Home returns to truck roots + more food & drink news
Hold Fast Coffee Co. launched in mid November 2013 as Peak Place Coffeehouse. In my first interview with owner Grace Harrison (then Keirnes) at the time, she told me she wished to embrace the theme of the Peak Lifestyle Center in which she's located, and which her family has now owned for the past 25 years.
Peak Place added its roastery, Hold Fast, after three years in business, and just this past December 2022 the outfit decided to drop that moniker and change the cafe name to Hold Fast for a cohesive single brand. “Hold Fast has resonated with people so much” Harrison says. “What I love about the name is it means something different to everyone.” She, Roastery GM Vinnie Snyder and Head Roaster Nate Bland decided on the name originally. They’re aware of nautical connotations (knuckle tattoos on deckhands as well as terminology to denote clasping to rigging during a storm) but they thought more of clinging to truths, virtues and “what matters.” She notes “holding fast to serving others excellently and providing great coffee to guests” and not deviating from that clear mission. “I feel like that’s how we’ve gotten where we are 10 years later.” (Back then there were just three employees; today there’s 19.)
I’m sitting with Harrison in the cafe earlier this week, at her invitation, to talk about the big 10th Anniversary Party they’re throwing from Nov. 15-19 as a protracted customer appreciation event. “The thought behind this is ‘how do we say thank you to the city we love, that has shown us so much love over the past 10 years,’” she says. The deals are real: A slice of Sugarplum Cake Shoppe cake (first come first serve) plus a cappuccino for $2 on the 15th. Merch and beans for 20-percent off on the 16th, free coffee tastings in the roastery on the 18th, and special $2 Axe and the Oak whiskey barrel-aged nitro draft lattes on the 19th. Oh, and don’t forget the old school latte art throwdown on the 17th. “Last time we hosted we had 50 competitors and more than a hundred spectators” she says.
Also on the 17th, they’ll drop a very limited 10-year-anniversary Tiki Blend featuring two natural-process Colombian coffees described by the roastery as “boozy, fruity and sweet.” They gifted me an early sample to take home and play with, and I was glad to discover a kinship with Snyder as we both are huge Colombian coffee fans who regularly drink the Colombian decaf (as we’ve both become more caffeine sensitive in recent years). He agrees that it cups alongside regular coffees with equal quality that even trained baristas can’t pick it out from a blind-taste lineup. But back to the Tiki, I prep a pourover at home later and I’m so impressed I immediately begin messaging Snyder with fond feedback. Just blooming the grind in my home equipment unleashes a beautiful, fruity aroma across my kitchen. First sips speak to the “boozy” descriptor with almost a hint of wood age and a faint nuttiness. It’s remarkably smooth. I add the tiniest dash of half-and-half and it accentuates a bittersweet, rich milk chocolate edge that makes sips feel lavish. This blend absolutely lives up to the pressure of honoring 10 years in style.
[*Side Dish special: Upgrade from a free subscription to a yearly paid ($50; saving $10 off the $5 monthly rate, annualized) and I’ll make you a Tiki Blend pourover at my house. (Limit 5.) Or upgrade from a basic paid subscription to a “Schniper Superfan” for the same deal, and I may just send you home with some beans, too. DM me on my Instagram page with the words “Hold Fast” so I know you’re upgrading.*]
While in the cafe, I ask Harrison to catch me up on the many local entities with whom Hold Fast does business, and on the purveyor side, she opts to show versus tell, supplying us each with a fine chocolate chip cookie from The French Kitchen (their pastry provider). Next, Hold Fast’s Garden Sunrise bagel sandwich appears from the kitchen to spotlight The Springs Bagel Co., with a fried egg under a tomato slice and fan of cut avocado with house hot honey and chimichurri in a cute mini jar on the side. (Hold Fast acts as a bagel stand pickup spot for SBC.) Meanwhile, the baristas slide over samples of a fall seasonal vanilla-cardamom latte plus their single-origin Ethiopian and Indian coffees. The first is a stylistically bright, fruity affair and the second features a bean that undergoes carbonic maceration which “gives a unique funk” by Snyder’s description. In no time I’m vibrating with a caffeine buzz.
As far as who carries Hold Fast’s roasts in their shops, Harrison mentions Kairos Coffee, Good Neighbors and The Wild Goose and Garden of the Gods Market & Cafe. And she says they’re now working with Denver’s respected/awarded Tag Restaurant Group. That means everything from breakfast coffee at HashTAG to fuel for the espresso martini at Guard and Grace, “so our coffees could be someone’s first and last tastes of a day,” she says with a note of pride.
Hold Fast is making moves into the hospitality space, she says. They’ll help install equipment for clients (with the help of pal Vance Garrett at Congruent) as well as train their teams and regularly service the coffee stations. Particularly useful for potential hotel partners and office spaces, Hold Fast just launched their own (thankfully recyclable) Keurig-compatible pods, filled and packaged in-house for maximum freshness. Snyder takes me to the roastery for a sample and I’m totally impressed at the quality. “We’ve blind-tasted our baristas several times and they can’t tell the difference between the pods and our regular drip coffee,” he says. Suggesting that folks may want to travel home with some for the holidays (presuming their families stock lame, big-box blends), Snyder says “it’s nice to still offer a specialty experience with the pods, where we can participate in the ethics of craft coffee culture — better treatment and supporting generational family farms — but in a convenient way.” For his part, he says what makes this 10-year anniversary special is “to be consistently doing something we believe in for this long.”
Lucy I’m Home to return to mobile service only
Lucy I’m Home launched as a food truck in early 2015 and quickly earned a loyal following for its “stunningly good” Cuban food. They expanded into a brick-and-mortar shop at 390 N. Circle Drive at the turn of 2020, with proprietor Hector Diaz telling me at the time “this was supposed to just be a little hobby when I opened.”
I’ve known Diaz pretty well since mid 2016, when I wrote what became a regional award-winning story about he and his sister’s emigration from Cuba to the U.S. as child refugees via the historic Operation Pedro Pan. It’s one my favorite features I’ve written (and quite possibly the most poignant piece of journalism I’ve ever produced according to feedback I’ve received over the years). So I’d be honored if you click that link and check it out or download the story below. I’m positive you’ll learn about a moment in history that you knew little about; I’ve shed a tear or two almost every time I’ve revisited the story over the years. (Wow this blurb got serious quick. Ahem.) And when you next see Hector you’re gonna want to hug the guy.
Anyway, the latest news from Diaz and family (as his kids handle day-to-day operations) is that they plan to close the shop on Circle Drive at the end of November and return to service only from the truck. Diaz says they’re seeking a new commissary kitchen for prep, so they’ll likely take most of December off and aim to return full-force in the new year.
That said, they’ll still available to be booked for private events and catering, and once they get situated they plan to offer somewhat regular hours for pickup and delivery (from wherever they are at a given time) via an ordering platform that will be synced to their new website-in-progress. So follow Lucy’s Facebook for now for updates.
Meanwhile, I asked Diaz what informed their decision to shutter shop and he cited some financial considerations such as increased utilities and rent and a failure to come to new terms with the location’s landlords. But there were also some lifestyle considerations for the family and extra hassles that came with the peripheral costs and considerations of adding more employees. “Life was easy when we just had the truck,” he says. “We had the option to pick and choose locations and events. If someone was ill we didn’t have to scramble to make sure we were open. It’s less stress for us all…
“Everyone who starts a food truck thinks that brick-and-mortar is the next step. But it’s not always what it’s cut out to be,” he adds. “It’s okay to just be a food truck is kind of the lesson we’ve learned.”
Time to talk turkey
Do you see what lengths I go to for you, dear readers? I balance precariously on step stools to photograph our monthly collaborative recipes with Gather Food Studio and Ranch Foods Direct. It’s labor-intensive, dangerous work — but hey, you’re worth it. We’re inviting you to join us around the table this month by making this outstanding Citrus Herb Thanksgiving Turkey recipe designed by Gather Co-owner/Chef Cortney Smith. Ranch Foods Direct begins their sale of sustainably raised turkeys from Gunthorp Farms on November 20; you can pre-order in market now. There, you’ll also find a special two-in-one spice kit that features a brine blend and a turkey rub made fresh by Gather just for the holiday. Plan early and visit either Ranch Foods Direct retail market to start stocking your shopping cart.
Bites and bits
• Monse Hines of Monse’s Taste of El Salvador and Sivar announced earlier this week on Facebook that she has taken over ownership of Saigon Cafe. The menu is 90-percent gluten free and the post notes “modern Vietnamese food.” I had requested an interview some months ago when I first got wind of the purchase but Hines wasn’t ready to spill details then, and I wasn’t contacted prior to this public announcement. So I’ll update with more details once I’ve gathered them.
• Diavolo Pueblo Hot Chicken (with whom I co-presented a pop up a few months ago at Bingo Burger) has added a new Mothercluckin’ Wafflewich to its menu at Fuel & Iron Food Hall. What it is: “a Belgian waffle, crispy chicken with your choice of heat, smoked chile butter, thick-cut bacon, pimento cheese, maple-buttermilk sauce and candied pecans.”
• Ice Guys Homemade Ice Cream grand opened in Old Colorado City on Nov. 4
• The French Kitchen offered a thorough defense of its baguette prices via its Facebook page recently in response to a negative online review. (Bravo!)
• Last month I went down for a week with COVID — that sucked. It made me think of this story I put together two years ago. In case you missed it: Three local chefs tell us how much it F_cking sucks to battle a loss of taste and smell with COVID.
• Colorado Springs will soon see its first 7 Brew Coffee location at 3870 Maizeland Road. The Arkansas-launched franchise now has more than 150 locations nationwide. One of those is a new spot that recently opened in Montrose, Colorado.
A random story and reader run-in
I happened to bump into a Side Dish subscriber who I’d never met at Bread & Butter last weekend while I was chatting with Co-owner Stacy Poore about their Thanksgiving meal kits (which can be ordered up to Nov. 19). His name is Josh Segura and he’d already caught my attention by engaging with this newsletter content regularly on social media — it was nice to put a face to a name. Anyway, on my walk home from the store, I stooped down to pick up a beer can that some asshat tossed on the street, to recycle it back home. In doing so I accidentally dropped my entire mug of Mountain Brews coffee that I’d purchased in B&B’s parking lot — the lid exploding off of my Yeti travel mug with one big gush. I lamented that this was a cruel karma visited upon me considering I was trying to do a public good. My girlfriend, trying to cheer up my momentarily spoiled mood, said something about maybe the coffee unceremoniously dumped out would act as a sacrifice for another good thing ahead, like I would get a new paid subscriber for Side Dish soon. As odd as it is to connect those things, weirdly she turned out to be prescient, as by the time I made it back to my house, Segura had upgraded to a paid subscription, writing the personal note: "It was great to meet you today and learn more about your values and your vision. I'm happy to get the chance to support you as you help us sort through everything our community has to offer (always more than I realize) and in turn, support the places and people we love. I'm excited to see what else is coming down the line!” … How cool is that? What a good dude. What a small world and fortuitous run-in. (Still, it sucks to spill good coffee. Le sigh.)
Upcoming events
• Nov. 9-12: COS Vegan Restaurant Week continues.
• Nov. 11: Seeing Double Release Party at Distillery 291: 291 All Rye Colorado Whiskey Batch #2 and 291 HR Colorado Bourbon Whiskey "High Rye" Batch 2023 Release Day. Noon-6 p.m. Cigar pairing sessions at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Food truck + live music.
• Nov. 11: Gabe’s Pop Up Disco Party at Green Line Grill. 9 p.m. to midnight. Burgers, beers and beats; 21-and-up; free.
• Nov. 13: Bar Battle Round 5 at Tipperary Cocktail Parlor. Bartenders from District Elleven and The Archives will compete. 6-8 p.m.; free entry and samples. I’m co-judging and -presenting. You should be there. Springs Magazine agrees. [*Schnip event.]
• Nov. 16: Sip with Schnip at The Carter Payne. 6-8 p.m.; free. Come have a drink with me (first drink free to paid subscribers) and enjoy dinner on your own or at our community table. Tell me about your favorite local eatery or chastise me for one of my past reviews you disagree with. I’m good with either. Plus, we have a special guest this month: Yes Wines, a Colorado distributor of small production natural wines, ciders and boutique spirits. They’ll be sampling some very interesting pét-nat ciders. [*Schnip event.]
• Nov 16: Seasonal Supper Soirée at The Well with Shovel Ready. 6-8 p.m.; $65.
• Nov. 16: In Vino Veritas wine dinner at The Margarita at PineCreek. Tickets at The Wine Seller or call 719-488-3019. (Relatedly, The Marg is serving a Thanksgiving feast on Nov. 23; seats are $62 and reservations are required.)
• Nov. 17: The Perfect Day of Food wine dinner with Coaltrain at Homa. $85.
• Nov. 18: Peaks & Pours Bourbon Festival at The Meanwhile Block. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. $30-$100.
• Nov. 21: Passport to Sardinia wine dinner at Pizzeria Rustica (benefitting The Place). $79; reserve with Coaltrain at 719-475-9700.
Parting shot
My older brother Adam — the guy on the right above with the self-satisfied smile — is a badass. Representing the Pelham Police Department, he defeated the Pelham Fire Department in the Pelham High School Multicultural Club’s 2023 Chili Cook-off. The potluck event and friendly competition was organized for ESL parents and community members to share foods representing their country of origin or tradition.
My brother tells me his not-so-secret key ingredient was pequin peppers, wisely recommended by one of his Hispanic friends. (Otherwise his recipe was composed with ground beef, green peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, paprika and salt.) Adam has always been a good home cook and did prep food professionally for a stint in his youth, working at a health food store in our hometown of Birmingham. He makes a legendary vegetarian black bean burrito that was popular at that shop back then, and he’s also improved upon some of our family’s recipes like matzo ball soup and Alabama Southern-fried wild squirrel and possum fall stew. (OK, I totally made that last one up, just to see if you’re still paying attention or if I lost you way back at the visual’s of my bro’s shit-eating grin.)
Coincidentally: I’m co-judging the 2nd annual Chili Cook Off & Holiday Fundraiser on Nov. 12, hosted by Salad or Bust at the Ivywild School, from 1-4 p.m. Green, red and vegan chile variants will be served and amateur chefs can sign up to compete with the pros, including chefs and reps from Picnic Basket, Prime 25, Green Line Grill, Patty Jewett, The Warehouse, Burrowing Owl, Chiba Bar, The Joint and several others. Entry is $15.
So ..crazy story, I have been drinking the most amazing coffee for the last 2 weeks, but for the life of me I could not remember where I purchased it. I store my beans once opened in a vacuum jar that I normally cut the label off and put in so I can remember, but not this time.. This article provided the Eureka moment.. Holdfast!!! It was my first time buying their beans, and now I have another reason to visit this weekend during their celebration.