Grill season
Go Next Level or Beast Mode with your July 4th burgers + lots more food & drink news
We got great feedback from last month’s initial Schnip’s Pick of the month at Ranch Foods Direct: the Callicrate tri-tip roast with Gather Food Studio’s Memphis-Style Mustard Rub. So for the month of July, Ranch Foods Direct is continuing its Side Dish with Schniper sponsorship (yay!), this time with a Schnip’s Pick of their 80/20 ground beef with Fourth of July grilling particularly in mind.
Chef David Cook at Gather has created a central burger recipe — named the Next Level OCC Burger — for the 80/20, but also a fun variant recipe for adventurous eaters, that utilizes RFD’s specialty ground beef with beef heart and liver incorporated into the grind. It’s a product I’ve bought to cook with several times, and I find it totally approachable, with the offal flavors well incorporated into the general palate of the beef trimmings. But Cook’s burger seasoning and toppings do work to further balance the bite, with vinegary caramelized onion acidity adding a touch of sweetness while cutting the fat, and blue cheese funk taming the organ-meat tang. He’s calling that the Beast Mode Burger.
So as not to bog down the top of this newsletter with the recipes, I’ve instead posted both (and also additional recipe for Gather’s phenomenal onion marmalade) at the bottom of the newsletter for easy access when it comes to grilling time. Cheers! Happy 4th!
Provision opens downtown
You’ll probably recall my mid April preview of Provision Bread & Bakery, which has now officially opened (as of June 29) at 4 S. Wahsatch Ave. Co-owner Brandon DelGrosso, of Switchback Coffee Roasters and Lakeside Dawgs & Cones (←scroll half way down that link), was on hand with co-owner/head baker Trista Heileman for another mini preview on June 23, just ahead of a quiet, soft-opening week. This time, the ovens were up and running and I was able to snag small samples of some featured pastries and sandwiches. Roundly: everything was delightful as the staff continued to dial-in the new equipment and procedures.
In no particular order, I tried: the morning bun; an almond croissant; a croissant sandwich with turkey, havarti and arugula; a ham and butter baguette; mixed berry, rhubarb and cherry Danishes (all three with cream cheese); pain au chocolat; a blueberry muffin; a savory pull apart bread with dill, green onion and cheese; and an “escargot” pastry made with roasted onions, kale and Grana Padano. As well, sheet trays of focaccia and bread boules were available along with various baguette sizes and country-style pan loaves.
As for drinks, Provision is serving Switchback’s drip coffees and some teas, not espresso drinks, as per its quick-service, grab-and-go model. Through Saturday, July 1, for the opening launch, Provision will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Moving forward for now, it will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays.
Small bites
Here’s a few random items I’ve enjoyed in recent weeks while out and about:
While in Pueblo to visit Fuel & Iron food hall again, I got a sweet treat for the drive home from Solar Roast Coffee & Ice Cream: the creamy, coffee-rich Helios Espresso Shake. As I originally reported more than a decade ago when the company launched their business, Helios 4 was the name of their solar concentrator (an array of 800 IKEA bathroom mirrors focused onto a single spot) they were using to roast coffee literally with just the sun’s energy. There were earlier Helios 1, 2 and 3 experiments, too. Anyway, much of the ice cream you’ll find on the menu here is from the historic Nick’s Dairy Creme brand, which Solar Roast bought during the pandemic in 2020 and incorporated into theirs, with some tweaks to modernize it.
I dropped into The Sourdough Boulangerie while on the east side and came home with bread loaves but also the bakery’s popular Garden Snail vegan savory pastry. Baker/Owner Shawn Saunders tells me it was created five years ago by one of his staffers, but hasn’t always been available since that time. A revival of late has been well received by customers and Saunders says he’s now staffed properly to be able to add the snails to his regular lineup. Another update: He’s roughly a month out from opening a second storefront at his Omaha Boulevard facility off Powers Boulevard. It will enable more production that will effectively double the business’ output. He says he’s stocking six farmers markets this summer in addition to his wholesale clients and retail market partners like Ranch Foods Direct. Of course the most product variety you’ll find is by visiting him at home base. Those snails, by the way, are a nice bite warmed, with lots of vegetal flavor and simple, classic seasoning complementing the cinnamon roll-like dough.
Potato Pancakes and beer-braised pork loin with sides and beers. Craving a patio dinner one recent evening, we ducked down to legacy outfit Edelweiss, which has one of the best outdoor seating areas to be found in the city. We sip a nice, light, faintly fruity Konig Ludwig Weissbier and mildly roasty-bready Warsteiner Dunkel. Yes, of course they pair perfectly with the authentic German fare. We do the build-your-own-potato-pancakes appetizer as an entrée course, relishing the smoked trout and salmon with garnishes of caviar, capers and sharp red onions. All those strong flavors can be tamed a bit and complemented by a dollop of crème fraîche. Speaking as someone who grew up on good potato latkes, I’ll also commend the crisp fry job on the pancakes, which aren’t oil-laden, but ideally textured. For our other dish, we opt for the Spiessbraten: beer-braised, caramelized onion-stuffed pork loin with starchy spätzle and and vinegary red cabbage. It’s a herbaceous, hugely flavorful pork presentation and the dish doesn’t feel too heavy for a summer’s night. We’re reminded once again how consistently great Edelweiss is.
Happenings
• As noted in Focus on the Beer, catch the 2nd annual Field of Drinks Beer Festival from noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 1 at Metcalfe Park (618 E. Ohio Ave., Fountain). Nab tickets here. It’s set to host 20 Southern Colorado breweries plus wine and cider makers. The event will also have food trucks, live music and yard games.
• The Manitou Springs Ice Cream Social and Pie Baking Contest will be held at 5:30 p.m., Monday, July 3 at Soda Springs Park. Live music starts at 7 p.m. Pie samples will be $3; ice cream scoops $2. Read all the rules for entering your best pie into the contest at the above link; it’s free to do so.
• The CS Indy recently compiled a roundup of farmers markets in the area. One of the newest is the Backyard Market’s Park Union Market from 4-8 p.m., Thursdays at 124 W. Cimarron St. (The Meanwhile Block; between the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum and Weidner Field). You can find more info on it, as well as a list of current vendors, here.
• The folks behind the Scratch Mobile Kitchen recently announced they’ll be opening a brick-and-mortar enterprise named Heirloom Bar & Grill. It’ll be at 8029 N. Academy Blvd. (the former Arabian Nights Cafe location) and feature favorite Scratch dishes plus new plates. Follow their social media for updates.
• And the people who operate Carefree Bar and Grill plan to open Circle Back Tap sometime this fall at 1106 N. Circle Drive, in the spot formerly known as Bernie’s Place. Carefree Bar and Grill, as I wrote in my prior review, is proudly Indigenous-owned. Owner Cynthia Bickal hails from Black River Falls, Wisconsin and is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation.
Parting shot(s)
You may recall my late April reporting on the arrival of Big Table to Colorado Springs. The culinary industry-outreach organization held its first Big Table Industry Dinner on June 26 at The Club at Flying Horse. I attended along with some other early supporters, including representatives from the City, County and Downtown Partnership, as well as culinary community members and faces from dinner sponsor Ent Credit Union. Flying Horse’s culinary team — Executive Chef Joe Rodriguez, Sous Chef Sadie Hjelmstad and Banquet Chef Mike Sims — served seven creative, interesting courses (paired with DAOU Vineyards wines) to our 48-person assembly.
The purpose of these dinners? “Since 2009, Big Table has been hosting unique pop-up dinners using our actual BIG table with a goal to create community around the table and serve those in the hospitality industry… These dinners create community for those working in the industry and act as a springboard to care for friends and colleagues in need.” A video shown to us prior to dinner highlighted the many vulnerable people working inside the culinary/hospitality industry, noting the highest poverty rate of any large U.S. workforce.
I asked Spokane-based Executive Director Kevin Finch how things were going lately, since the Springs launch and in general. He noted that the Springs team has already doubled its staff, recently hiring a female-care coordinator and office and events planner. He says they’ve already been busy with client referrals and received strong support from underwriters.
On a less-happy note, he said he’s heard from all of Big Table’s chapters that there’s been a backsliding since the pandemic era on treatment of industry workers by the public. He said diners/patrons rallied during the early days of Covid to support restaurants, and tips were high and kindness extended far. But more recently, old, bad habits have returned and his teams have heard many stories of people being generally abusive (or at least cold, for lack of a better term) to industry staffers. He could only speculate as to why, but it was disappointing to hear. We all might laugh later at a good “Karen” story, but when you ponder it from the worker’s POV at the time, there’s nothing amusing about needlessly being a punching bag for someone’s bad day. Cheers to Big Table for being there with support available.
Burger recipes
