Do fear the Reaper
Dave's Hot Chicken opens, Blue Star's (eventual) return, going for Gold + more food & drink news
Colorado Springs now has a Dave’s Hot Chicken location. I’m told it’s the 158th location for the franchise as a whole, which is wild given it wasn’t even a thing until mid 2017.
There’s a backstory on that I won’t detail here — that you can briefly read about above the soda machine at the 1286 Interquest Pkwy. location (directly adjacent to SCHEELS) — but just know that it supposedly started with $900 and folding tables and a fryer in an East Hollywood parking lot. Obviously, the company’s game is hot chicken, à la Nashville hot chicken but with their own proprietary spin. Seriously, I asked and could glean no details about their spice blend, which comes in seven variations ranging from “no spice” and “light mild” to “extra hot” and “Reaper.”
The menu’s astonishingly simple, with chicken tender options #1-#4 and some sides (fries, kale and cabbage slaw, mac n’ cheese), fountain drinks, and a few milkshake flavors with either Oreo or M&Ms topping. That’s it. When you see the word “slider” it means a chicken tender across a potato bun (the size of an average hamburger) and when it says “tender” it places the chicken piece atop a generic piece of white bread (as if Texas barbecue style). Crinkle-cut fries are lightly dusted in the house spices and they go nicely with a tart Dave’s sauce that also features the unknown (to me) blend.
The chicken’s good, steamy-moist on the inside and not crunchy on the outside, just crisp and dry from the heavy seasoning dusting. At the lower heat levels you can taste a nice earthy chile smolder and at the “hot” level I try (one below “extra hot”) that same spice amps up with the addition of something more potent and biting, somewhere in the heat-index realm of strong cayenne I’d say. But when I do the playfully silly thing and literally sign the waiver (on a receipt, which I get a copy of too) to try the “Reaper” hot — well, that’s when shit gets 100% pain-train bananas across my tongue. And sinuses. And eyes (‘cuz I accidentally touch ‘em). It’s funny (once) but in no way enjoyable really and I don’t advise you do it unless you find daredevil food challenges very fulfilling or just good TikTok fodder.
I posted a reel on my Side Dish instagram if you want to see me shed tears and get my eyes washed out with a bottle of water on the sidewalk out front. (No idea how/why Insta glitched and gave me extra eyeballs in one frame, but it did and that alone’s worth laughing at.) I invited local marketers Meagan Thomas (Springs Native) and Bailey Ashida (Visit COS) to suffer along with me, and they graciously (or stupidly, depending on how you look at it) did.
Anyway, here’s a little more of what I learned about Dave’s and more so local franchisee Jay Hafemeister, who I first met more than a decade ago:
• Hafemeister’s family has operated franchises in Colorado for 45 years. His father started with the Wienerschnitzel brand, then a subsidiary of that named The Original Hamburger Stand. Next came Hardee’s and finally Carl’s Jr, who they’ve been with for the past 25 years; they currently own and operate all 12 locations inside El Paso County.
• Jay became interested in Dave’s Hot Chicken through friends in Oregon who bought into the franchise earlier. He took his dad up to Denver to get a taste and convince him it should be the family’s next purchase. He later flew out to California to meet the founders briefly while onboarding as a new location. “The simple, small menu is exactly what we love about the brand,” he says.
• The corporate office sent a team of graffiti artists known as Splatter Haus out from California to paint up the C. Springs location’s interior and exterior; the job took four guys four days total. All the work is freehand and admittedly it looks pretty badass. They did their research and even made a Little London reference.
• The chicken utilized by Dave’s is halal meat, sourced from Wayne Farms. Jay says the process daily to prep it is “heavy” as everything’s made to-order. They do pre-brine (and de-brine) and spice and corn starch-coat the chicken before flouring and frying it.
• Inquire about the Hot Box Roulette.
Watch and learn — Schnip’s Pick of the Month
Okay, you’re still feeling intimidated by Gather Food Studio’s Callicrate chuck roast Carbonnade (Flemish beef stew) recipe that we’re spotlighting as the October Schnip’s Pick of the month. I get it. (Actually I’m just being polite, I don’t really. Ahem.) Well, thankfully the folks at Ranch Foods Direct have made this handy video of the whole recipe being assembled by their house chef Nate Watts. They have everything on hand, including the Pikes Peak Brewing Co. Gold Belgian-style Golden Strong Ale and Gather Green Dream Seasoning that you can purchase at RFD’s retail markets (where Side Dish subscribers get 5-percent off their retail market purchase). They even have a Callicrate beef bone broth that’s optional to sub in for the recipe’s beef consommé that chef Dave Cook uses (and teaches students how to make) at Gather. Customize as you see fit, people, just do as Dave (and Nate) says and always read that recipe twice!
Blue Star on the horizon — Gold Star acquired
If you’ve lived here a while, you know how influential to the Springs food scene that the Blue Star — which launched in 1995 — was back in the day(s) at 1645 S. Tejon St., across from Blue Star founder Joseph Coleman’s Ivywild School ventures that remain vibrant today.
The Blue Star’s been dormant since 2017 (and once-hoppin’ Nosh never returned either after shuttering that year) but the big news is that may not be the case much longer. I ran into Coleman at the preview of Dave’s Hot Chicken earlier this week and stole a moment of his time to catch up on all the Blue Star Group haps that we could fit into a few minutes in the parking lot. We discussed some 30,000-foot topics about the broader industry (especially post-pandemic) and hard lessons learned by Coleman during his ambitious decades in the industry. I can say one-on-one (at least with me) he’s remarkably transparent about his moments of failure. But he’s quick to explain how he’s adapted since. I told him I need to find funding soon for a second season of State of Plate (hint-hint, any devoted readers with ties to purses) so that I can have him on to really dive deep; I truly think it would be a fascinating and illuminating episode.
Anyway, here’s the bit you’re waiting for me to get to. Coleman did confirm for me that he’s looking at reopening the Blue Star sometime in 2024, in its old spot, when he finds more investors/funding. The update from lessons learned: He only plans to open in around 2,500 square-feet of the former 6,000 square-foot space so that his kitchen can have a singular focus (versus the old bar half and dining room halves). He says he burned out too many chefs with weekly-changing menus that fell into inconsistency. This go-around (likely headed by former Blue Star Chef Will Merwin, who more recently launched Stellina for Coleman) “it will be the greatest hits” says Coleman.
I don’t entirely know what that means yet, because our conversation ended abruptly when we both needed to get to next appointments. But he did say “It’s everything I’ve learned about the old Blue Star and why the new one will be better.”
Meanwhile, I’m told Stellina’s new supper club nights (that I prior mentioned in Side Dish) have been selling out rather quickly.
And the Blue Star Group made one more big announcement this week (pursuant to the second part of my headline above): They acquired the popular food truck Gold Star Pies, which will later this month become Gold Star Bakery inside of Ivywild School. (My former colleague/reviewer at the Indy called Gold Star Pies “a full body experience” in 2017.) Gold Star owner Heather Briggs and her sister (and baker) Tessa Flowers say they’ll remain actively involved in the business despite the sale to Blue Star Group.
“The brand got too big for the engine that was in it and Blue Star has a big engine,” says Briggs in a press release. “The Blue Star has a great, professional team and I feel good about their ability to take what we built and keep serving our community in a good way. … It’s a win, win for everyone.”
The release goes on to say popular pie flavors will continue and even be “available to purchase with optional cocktail pairings at the neighboring bar, Principal’s Office, a collaboration Briggs dabbled with during COVID and is ‘excited to build up more.’” Also look for new cookies, brownies, gluten-sensitive options and more. Swing by during the week of Oct. 16 during a “preview week” where you may be treated to test samples, says the release. An official grand opening is set for Nov. 1.
Going for Gold (the beer, not the bakery)
When Chef Cook (yes, writing those two words back-to-back always cracks me up — sorry Dave) told me he wanted to make a Beef Carbonnade for this month and I saw that his recipe called for a can of Belgian beer, I immediately reached out to my content partner Ryan over at Focus on the Beer to help me recall what breweries locally were regularly brewing one — bonus if they were bottling/canning it. He immediately clued me into Pikes Peak Brewing Co.’s Gold Belgian-style Golden Strong Ale, a year-round flagship brew. (Duh, I should have remembered that.) Any opportunities we get to buy local versus outside our direct territory, we take it.
So I phoned up PPB’s Founder and Head Brewer Chris Wright to invite him to the collaboration as a co-sponsor. I’ve known him professionally since the spring of 2010, when I first interviewed him ahead of his eventual 2011 opening in Monument. After a brief chat, he was on board. Since we hadn’t caught up in some time (easily since pre-pandemic), I took the opportunity to touch base with him on what’s new and I also wanted to explore the history of the Gold Belgian-style ale as our featured recipe beer. Excerpted from our chat, here’s what I learned:
• What’s new? Earlier this year, Pikes Peak Brewing started smoking meats on Fridays and Saturdays at their Monument taproom/brewpub. Chris’ wife Judi is the pitmaster he says, smoking on a Yoder setup with a blend of woods depending on what’s cooking. Pulled pork sandwiches are a regular, popular item and she does specials like bbq chicken and a smoked mac n’ cheese. Interesting tidbit: roughly 20-25 percent of PPB’s sales come from its food; so think of it as more of a brewpub than a common taproom.
• Also earlier this year, Pikes Peak Brewing turned over operations of its satellite Lager House location downtown to COATI’s operators. Wright transparently says it was a business decision related to it underperforming for him. But the silver lining is the spot continues to feature PPB beers as per his agreement and relationship with COATI.
• In the face of ongoing post-pandemic concerns — to include changing consumer habits, more competition, beer in grocery stores now, etc. — Wright has targeted wholesale growth by releasing three new brands this year. “It’s a lot of experimentation and we’re trying to innovate,” he says. So, joining the year-round lineup now are a blackberry vanilla sour; a tri-IPA mixed pack featuring the Elephant Rock American IPA, Ocean of Clouds hazy IPA and new Mountain Fog double hazy IPA; and finally the Gold Light, a lighter version of our featured Gold Belgian ale at only 5-percent ABV versus 8.7-percent.
• And about that history of the Gold: Wright says when he first opened in 2011 he did a market survey and noticed nobody around him was making a Belgian blond. “So I said let me try that, it’s a style I like and there wasn’t competition for it.” He says it was a strong seller in his early opening days when folks would ask for “the lightest beer.” He’d reply: ‘lightest in color, flavor or alcohol?’ … They’d try it and love it. I’d warn them that it doesn’t taste like a nearly 9-percent beer, so not to over-imbibe. … It quickly became popular. People like the high ABV and light color and sweeter finish.” He started canning it in 2013, and it sold even better in cans than it had been selling on draft. It remains his bestseller today, at more than 20-percent above the Elephant Rock IPA, his #2 beer.
A coffee for the moment
I count myself among big coffee nerds locally and I’m a fan of our scene, which ranks as good as any big city for the most part. (Did you know we have a locally raised person who finished as the runner-up in the World Barista Championship in 2015?) I try to make my way around the city to support all the shops, but I’m guilty in my private time and for business meetings of going where’s close to my house, so I often end up downtown. The Well has been a go-to meeting spot and I often chat with Gift Horse Cafe manager (and local DJ) Joe Slivik. He’d hooked me recently with his Three’s a Pair special (that you can find pictured not too far back on my Side Dish Instagram page). He recently told me he was excited to release his fall-time seasonal special, a spiced coffee; so I made it by to purchase one.
Slivik counts a decade working in the industry, and he tells me “I think this is my favorite drink I’ve ever made.” (Yeah, that’s superlative.) So what exactly is it? It’s a coffee infusion on a Yama cold brew tower. He puts ice water in the top chamber to drip through and fresh-ground coffee in the middle chamber with cinnamon, clove, coriander and star anise. The water drips through over an 8-hour period and he expresses a full orange into the batch. For the drink, he steams vanilla syrup into oat milk and pours that over the coffee concentrate, then garnishes it with candied orange powder and Korintje cinnamon (a sweeter variety).
I take a sip and let all the spices wash over my palate, relishing in their depth as they fade into the finish coffee flavor. I say “It’s like a grown-up chai,” to him.
He replies: “It’s what a dirty chai wants to be.”
Congrats to me (maybe, well, I guess either way…)
So, this was in my inbox earlier this week: As you can read, I’ve been nominated for the Journalist of the Year Icon Award given out by the The American Advertising Federation AAF Colorado Springs.
Um, super cool! (That’s me downplaying and being shy — I mean, look how damn far down in my own newsletter I buried this news.) Quick, let’s deflect: I’m told one of my fellow nominees is my former colleague at the Indy and good friend Pam Zubeck. Yay Pam! She’s the best news reporter and journalist I know in this city and I’m honored to have worked along side her for more than a decade. Congrats to any other nominees as well. Good luck all of us.
Oh, and if you’re super astute and checking the date of the award ceremony, it’s on the same night as my next Sip with Schnip at The Carter Payne. Here’s my plan: attend my own event from 6-8 p.m. then slip over to the awards from a little after 8 to 9:30. Done.
Winter Warlock cometh
Focus on the Beer takes an interesting approach this week to reporting on the Oct. 6 Winter Warlock Release Party at Bristol Brewing Company. Ryan chats with with former Trinity Brewing owner Jason Yester, who in 2003 was a brewer at Bristol Brewing and helped create XXX Warlock (a beloved beer of Focus’ Ryan Hannigan). “For XXX Warlock, Bristol’s ultimate goal was to create the strongest beer ever brewed in Colorado … It took four days to brew it—an incredible amount of labor for a single batch” reads an excerpt from the writeup. Click the link and read it in-full.
Upcoming events:
• Oct. 7: The 6th annual Vegan MasterChef Challenge at Chef’s Kitchen. Few tickets remain as of this writing. Chefs Monika Celly, Aaron Posey and Alan Roettinger compete, with event proceeds benefitting TESSA. Full details at the above link. $65.
• Oct. 4-8: Loyal Coffee is underway with its 7th anniversary celebration this week. Specials include a Free Drink Day on Oct. 7. (Yes, all drinks at both locations will be totally free. Good luck in line, dudes.) The seasonal oatmeal cookie latte was released on Oct. 4 and Oct. 8 features breakfast tacos all morning.
• Oct. 8: Chef Katie Fisco celebrates Filipino-American Heritage Month with her pop up at Ephemera ($69-$9). “Baon, or ‘food for the journey’ will be a theme found in every plate and pairing.” Expect Filipino comfort food classics and more. “This is not a menu, it's an adventure across the world.”
• Oct. 8: the inaugural Autumn Harvest Festival at Kinship Landing. $25.
•Oct. 14: Peaks & Pours, “a whiskey gathering in Colorado Springs” at The Meanwhile Block. Proceeds benefit Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center. $30-$100.
• Oct. 15: Date Night - Insect Tasting with Ephemera Chef/Owner Ian Dedrickson and Ephemera Art Director Jasmine Dillavou; co-hosted by Novis Mortem Collective at Bosky Studio. $25.
• Oct. 16 - Bar Battle 4 at Tipperary Cocktail Parlor inside Folklore Irish Pub. Bartenders from 503W and District Elleven will compete. 6-8 p.m.; free entry and samples. [*Schnip event*]
• Oct. 19 - Sip with Schnip at The Carter Payne. 6-8 p.m.; free, come hang with me over dinner and drink. [*Schnip event*]
Parting shot
I confess I had a lot of fun while “working” at the Dave’s Hot Chicken preview this week. It’s nice to have professional colleague friends to do dumb stunts with — especially when they’re kind enough to assist you once you’ve temporarily blinded yourself. (Yup, I really did that.) Here’s the Instagram reel I put together if you didn’t click on it above, and a bonus video of me getting my eyes washed out for anyone who enjoys laughing at someone else’s pain. (Admit it, you do. I won’t judge.)