🥡 Get excited for this new summer food series
BY PEYTON GARCIA | @CITYCASTDENVER
DENVER FOOD NEWS 🍽️
Hello, my fellow Denver foodies! It’s been a while since I’ve done a food news roundup, so let’s dig right in.
Last Friday was Earth Day, and our conversation about sustainability continues! If you’re looking for a way to go greener in the kitchen, check out this 5280 piece about how to cut back on food waste at home. (Think: second-guessing that sell-by date or using all of the bird!)
If you’re a food festival junkie like me, you’ll probably also be excited for this new Denver summer series, Street Food Social. It’s a recurring pop-up event that’s meant to get more people to try new things from local chefs. Co-founder Brad Lewis says it will be “like taking a food hall and putting it outside.” Street Food Social plans to pop up all summer long at three different Denver locations. Find the schedule and learn more 👉 here.
In exciting news for Boulder, its city council is supportive of extending the citywide outdoor dining program for another five years, the Denver Post reports. Turns out Boulder diners really like the expanded patios and makeshift igloos that were initially constructed for social distancing protocols. But more than that, the goal is to continue to help restaurants bounce back from the pandemic. Mayor Michael Hancock has also promised to permanently expand Denver’s outdoor dining program once the current, temporary program ends in October — more on that here.
Adrian Miller, aka “the Soul Food Scholar,” has been named a 2022 James Beard Award nominee for his latest book, “Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue,” Westword reports. He already won a James Beard award in 2014 for his debut, “Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.” We spoke with Miller last year about “Black Smoke”— check out that episode here.
For the odd and edgy, get excited for Hell or High Water, “a haunted gay pirate ship-themed tiki bar,” as Westword food editor Molly Martin describes it. The bar is slated to debut later this year in the mezzanine of the soon-to-open, Pueblo-inspired Fuel & Iron restaurant. There are plans to include eccentric animatronic art, a five-foot penis totem, and a house ghost named Lydia.
That’s all that’s on the menu today! Respond to this email with your own local food and restaurant tips 📧 and stay hungry, Denver! ✌️
“COLORADO-STYLE PIZZA” 🍕
“When they talk about Colorado-style pizza, they talk about that really, really thick crust that they refer to infuriatingly as ‘a topping containment system,’ as if other pizzas have trouble keeping the toppings on them. Which they don’t. That’s just not real.” — Paul
The Inconvenient Truth About ‘Colorado-Style’ Pizza
Two years ago, producer Paul Karolyi and his wife, Megan, reviewed local iconic pizza joint Beau Jo’s for their show, the Denver Pizza Podcast. (Spoiler alert: they weren’t impressed.) But the experience turned into an obsession for Paul who had to get to the bottom of why Beau Jo’s was considered the only “Colorado-style pizza” around. Now that Beau Jo’s is opening a new location in Lone Tree, Bree thought it would be a good time to ask Paul about his strong feelings about the institution, and discuss his in-depth pizza investigation into the phenomenon of putting honey on the crust and how Beau Jo’s trademarked the term “Colorado-style pizza.”
Paul and Megan’s full pizza investigation: Range & Slope: The Honey Trap
Psst! Did you know City Cast is a network? We’re already in five other major cities, AND we’re getting ready for takeoff in Boise, DC, Philadelphia, Portland, and Madison! Love what you get here? Tell your friends that they can get awesome, can’t-miss content about their cities, too! Plus, check out all the new positions we’re hiring for.
MORE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
🌊 Berkeley flood update: According to Colorado law, Denver Water is not financially responsible for the damage caused by a water main break that flooded a Berkeley neighborhood street last weekend, damaging several homes and cars. But even though it doesn’t have to pay, Denver Water says it will. The organization will foot the bill if residents use a specific restoration company. It will also pay up to $8,000 to cover uninsured property. [9News]
🚩 Cherry Creek schools in hot water again: Several parents with students in the Cherry Creek School District have come forward with complaints that district officials took no action when their children alleged sexual assault and harrassment. [Denver7]
- 🔎 This isn’t the first time CCSD has drawn scrutiny recently. We spoke with local reporter David Migoya last month about his investigation into claims from district employees alleging a work culture filled with discrimination, racism, and sexual misconduct. Listen to that episode: “Is the Acclaimed Cherry Creek School District Hiding a Toxic Workplace?”
🚗 “Safe parking” comes to Lakewood: Lakewood has joined several other metro cities — including Arvada, Aurora, Denver, and Golden — in establishing “safe outdoor parking sites.” Private property owners can apply for a permit that will allow them to offer people living in their vehicles a safe place to park overnight. Lakewood United Methodist Church has applied for the city’s first permit. [Denverite]
LOCAL CHATTER: MORE ON GOING GREEN ♻️
You all are a green bunch! In Tuesday’s newsletter I shared reader-submitted advice on how to get started — or get better — at recycling and composting when you live in the city, and the suggestions are still rolling in.
Reader Rae says: “I’m surprised this entire recycling/composting section didn’t even mention Ridwell! Pricing is similar to city composting and they pick up at your door.”
Reader Katherine adds, “Or better yet, the Happy Beetle (a Colorado-based company for the same [services as Ridwell]).”
Listener Natalie says, “There’s a great organization called Eco-Cycle whose main goal is to go out and educate residents on how to recycle properly.”
If your recycling bin is filling up too fast, listener Holly let us know, “You can request a second recycling bin [from the city]! Just call 311 or go to pocketgov.”