Food

Feedback: Spring 2024

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Feedback: Spring 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Casa Bonita Musings

$40 million? We could build a new health clinic for outpatient care, with a welcoming building, a diagnostic testing laboratory, an X-ray department, a pharmacy, plenty of examination rooms with bright lights for the doctors, physicians assistants, nurses and patients, conference rooms and staff offices, a comfortable sunshine-filled waiting room, plus all of the equipment needed, large and small, down to the last bottle of rubbing alcohol and canister of fluffy white cotton balls, for $40 million. Just sayin’.

Nancy McCurdy (Mktg’90)
Denver

The current edition of the Coloradan features an article about Trey Parker (DistSt’18) and Matt Stone’s (FilmSt, Math’93) acquisition, renovation and relaunch of Casa Bonita. The article states Mr. Stone as having earned degrees in math and art. This is not accurate: Mr. Stone earned degrees in math (BA) and a BFA in film studies (currently “cinema studies & moving image arts”). We proudly list Mr. Stone as one of our alumni, and would really like to see a correction in your online issue and in your next print issue. The readers of the Coloradan should have accurate news and information about the institution that they so much love and support, and the individual departments should be acknowledged properly.

Ernesto R Acevedo-Muñoz
Professor, Chair, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts Boulder

[Editor’s Note: We have updated Matt Stone’s degree information to reflect his film studies degree.]

Our readers also sounded off on social media about the 2023 Casa Bonita renovation:

They did a really great job with the restoration. The food is worth the price, and the entertainment is top-notch.

Eric Anhold (PolSci’00)
Via Facebook

Yay for Matt and Trey and saving Casa Bonita! Always enjoyed it as a kid.

Susan Schlatter (Psych’93)
Via Facebook

Fantastic alumni story.

Chris Rockne (MechEngr’07; MS’07)
Via Facebook

During my four years at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ (1990–94), I recall on several occasions walking past the fine arts building on the way to the UMC from my dorm at Cheyenne Arapaho. I’d see the students on the grass, and I arrogantly thought to myself — “what a bunch of suckers studying art.” Not long after graduating, I learned that two of those actual “suckers” were the geniuses behind the show I was then obsessed with: South Park. I got such a kick out of realizing how stupid I was back then, and I still tell that story to anyone who foolishly tries to reduce someone’s path. Shout out to ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ fine arts. And shout out to Matt and Trey for repping the Buffs as good as anyone ever did.

@themiket
Via Instagram

This is so awesome for me — a reminder of fond trips to Casa as a family when I was young, and then even sweetened as I remember reading Matt and Trey’s cartoons when I was at Boulder during the same time.

@carterasc5
Via Instagram

A Gift from Betty Woodman

I worked for Betty Woodman [Origins, Fall 2023], and she gave me a very large teapot at my wedding reception that she attended. I have a photo of her at my reception which would have been about 1970.

Marie McCreery (A&S’67)
Niwot, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ

From Casa Bonita to Star Trek

Lovely job — thank you. I really enjoyed your stories on the remodeling and new ownership of Casa Bonita, and on the science advisor for Star Trek.

Sabrina Sideris (Engl, Hist’00)
Niwot, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ

The Tiny Hill Diner

It was with something of a shock I opened the fall issue of the Coloradan and saw the photograph of the little diner that sat just across Pennsylvania Street opposite The Sink. For years I have interrogated friends and acquaintances, even Boulder history writers, in search of someone else who remembers this diner. At some point, it simply vanished. I had begun to think of it as a will o’ the wisp.

But here is the Twilight Zone part: Contrary to the account in the Coloradan, I could not have eaten there prior to the summer of ’63, which was when I came to Boulder, and I remember it being the Buff Top Hat Diner.

Now if I can only find someone else who remembers Bennet’s Brick Oven.

Earl Noe (Jour’66)
Boulder

Are We Ready for Self-Driving Cars?

In reference to the Fall 2023 article “Is the World Ready for Self-Driving Cars?,” an image by Sam Gross from page 21 of Everyone’s a Critic: The Ultimate Cartoon Book edited by Bon Eckstein.

Ernst Anton Kemper (ChemEngr’59)
Lakewood, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ

Coloradan Shenanigans

I’d like to share my recent experience regarding the alumni magazine. My son Page (CivEngr’05; MS’15) and I are both ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ graduates, so we’re both on your list to receive the Coloradan. However, for many years his copy has come to my address. I asked him to notify you of this but he couldn’t be bothered. So, every time it comes, I hand off his copy, usually in a batch of articles I’ve curated for him from magazines and newspapers. When I hand him one of these envelopes, he goes through it, surreptitiously or blatantly, and when he finds the Coloradan he sneaks it back into my stuff, under the windshield wiper or slipped through a cracked-open window of my car. We’ve played this game a looong time.

But this Christmas he took it to the next level. When I visited, he told me to sit down and close my eyes. When he said I could look, there was the cover of the Fall 2023 Coloradan on a shower curtain. Of course, it was his copy, with his name and my address. We laughed and laughed, after which I was left wondering, “How do I top this?”

Clearly, the only way to go one better is to have you print the shower curtain pic in your next issue, and to update his listing to his address!

Without silliness, we are all doomed.

Nancy Ball Weil (Russ’77)
Denver

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ’s First Female Olympians

I’d like to offer a fact check and possible correction on page 65 of the Fall Coloradan.

According to my research, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ ski coach Bob Beattie took over the U.S. ski team in 1962. He created a de facto national training center at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ and most of the men and women lived in Boulder and went to ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ. Some were down the road at DU and some not in college, and at least one was too young and went to high school in Boulder. ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ this time of year they would take “incompletes” in their classes and head to Europe to race, then come back and continue classes in the spring. They also trained at Eldora and on St. Mary’s Glacier. In the spring of 1963, that ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ/U.S. program became the core of the 1964 Olympic team. Again Boulder was the epicenter, and most of the team that went to the Innsbruck Games were full or part-time ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ students. So, this leads me to believe the note in the Coloradan about Sandy Hildner (A&S’67) [“THEN,” Fall 2023] might not be accurate.

I was on the B team in 1976, did some pro skiing, then helped with the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ skiing program working for then-head coach Tim Hinderman. Later I worked for filmmaker Warren Miller and have been involved in the ski industry in various ways ever since. This includes occasional writing gigs.

David Butterfield (Hum’81)
Ketchum, Idaho

[Editor’s Note: Further research shows that while Sandy Hildner was among ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ’s first female Olympians, she was not necessarily the first. We regret the reporting error.]

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Photos courtesy Nancy Ball Weil (shower curtain); Marie McCreery (Woodman photo); Casa Bonita
Illustration by Sam Gross from Everyone's a Critic by Bob Eckstein © 2019; Used with permission from Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco.

Casa Bonita, automatic cars and nostalgic memories.

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From South Park to Sopaipillas

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

From South Park to Sopaipillas Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/06/2023 - 00:00

Allyson Reedy

Trey Parker, right, and Matt Stone, left, relaunched Casa Bonita
with Dana Rodriguez, center

Unlikely: Meeting in a ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder film class and creating a cartoon about foul-mouthed children that would turn Trey Parker (DistSt’18) and Matt Stone (FilmSt, Math’93) into household names.

Unlikelier: Taking that South Park money and dumping it into a bright pink, 49-year-old Lakewood strip mall restaurant, thus adding “restaurateurs” to Parker and Stone’s already lengthy resumes.

But that’s what the duo did in the summer of 2021, when they bought Casa Bonita for $3.1 million and proceeded to pour $40 million into renovating the iconic Mexican restaurant.

If the words “Casa Bonita” conjure up images of cliff divers and sopaipilla flags, then you either a) grew up in ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ celebrating birthday parties in Black Bart’s Cave, or b) watched Cartman frolic through the “Disneyland of Mexican restaurants” in an uber-popular 2003 South Park episode.

But if you’re a Casa Bonita noob and wondering why cliff divers are involved and who Black Bart is, just know that this is not your run-of-the-mill restaurant. Casa Bonita is a special place, one where cliff divers plunge off a 30-foot waterfall; where, inexplicably, someone runs around the 56,000-square-foot behemoth of a restaurant in a gorilla suit; and where, yes, sopaipillas are summoned by flags at each table.

It all started in Oklahoma City in 1968, where Casa Bonita’s kitschy “eatertainment” model was so popular with families hungry for a kid-friendly restaurant that outposts popped up in other states, including in ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ in 1974. While its sister restaurants shuttered over the decades, the Lakewood Casa Bonita remained the last standing… barely.

Long the butt of a running joke about nearly inedible food — not to mention tucked away in a suburban West Colfax strip mall — Casa Bonita wasn’t exactly thriving going into the COVID-19 pandemic. With diners reluctant or unable to visit restaurants in person, Casa Bonita’s woes mounted. In April 2021, longtime owner Summit Family Restaurants filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

What happened next was what Coloradans and South Park fans hoped for, but what seemed too preposterous — that someone, in this case Parker and Stone, would swoop in and save the gloriously campy Casa Bonita, preserving it for generations to come.

“Only people as rich and silly as Trey and I would do this,” Stone said in an interview with Denver’s 5280 magazine published in July. “This is definitely an indulgence. We want to do it for the state of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ. The businesspeople would say ‘no’ to something like this — and they did.”

When the sale became official in summer 2021, Parker and Stone promised to “change nothing and improve everything.” But would they Hollywood it out? Would they price out the neighborhood and families that kept the restaurant afloat for so long? Would they finally do something about the food? Would they destroy Black Bart’s Cave?!

It took two years, but in June we finally got our answers. That’s when Casa Bonita reopened to the public. Kind of.

To score the toughest reservation in town, you have to sign up for the restaurant’s email list, where they randomly selected lucky diners to come in for the soft opening. (As of press time, this is still the only way to get into Casa Bonita.) While the prolonged soft opening has annoyed some, it makes sense. This is a restaurant that can seat 700 people at a time, after all, so going from zero to 700, especially for first-time restaurant owners, is a challenge.

As people have trickled in, though, the verdict on the Parker and Stone-owned Casa Bonita 2.0 has become clear to restaurant reviewers, food influencers and the public — the beloved Mexican restaurant is the same, only better.

“This is definitely an indulgence. We want to do it for the state of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ. The businesspeople would say ‘no’ to something like this — and they did.”

The plunge pool is pristine (and safer, thanks to removing ledges that divers previously had to skillfully avoid), the furniture isn’t caked with years of sopaipilla crumbs and Black Bart’s Cave doesn’t smell. The whole place looks and feels exactly the same — just shinier and cleaner.

One thing that isn’t the same: the food. Parker and Stone knew that this was the one area that really did need to change, so they wisely tapped James Beard award-nominated chef Dana Rodriguez to helm the kitchen. Interestingly, Rodriguez applied to Casa Bonita when she moved to Denver from Mexico City in 1998. They never got back to her.

Now the kitchen staff cooks everything from scratch in the rebuilt kitchen, from tortillas for enchiladas to slow-simmered pork for carnitas tacos. The food is good, meaning no more jokes about eating before heading to Casa Bonita.

It’s all very unlikely — that Casa Bonita could exist for nearly five decades, that two hometown boys-gone-Hollywood would come back to sink their fortunes into it, and that these two ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder film students would hit it big in the first place with swearing cartoon kids. But that’s the kind of restaurant Casa Bonita is, and the kind of guys Parker and Stone are.

Maybe it’s not so unlikely of a coupling after all.

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Photos courtesy Casa Bonita and David Williams/New York Times

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone reopened the Casa Bonita restaurant after a major renovation.

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Fall 2023

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100 Years of The Sink

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

100 Years of The Sink Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/06/2023 - 00:00

Lisa Friedrich Truesdale (Ling'86)

Assuming ownership of a longtime college hangout sounds like a tricky proposition, especially if you’re just barely out of college yourself. Yet Mark Heinritz, his brothers Chris and Jim, and their friend Cameron Stainton — all in their mid-20s in 1992 — felt up to the challenge of running The Sink, the venerable Hill institution just steps from the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ campus.

“Growing up in Connecticut, we appreciated history, and we understood The Sink’s role in Boulder,” he said. “Though it wasn’t until we were meeting people every day, whom it meant so much to, that we knew we could be stewards, taking care of the millions of memories that live here.”

The Sink is Boulder’s oldest restaurant, celebrating 100 years in 2023. After 30 years, Heinritz and his partners are forever part of its history, making their own mark on it while also tracing the footsteps of the many owners who came before them.

Growing Up with The Sink

I was singing the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ fight song before I was singing nursery rhymes.

Caryl Segawa (A&S’67) will always cherish her memories of The Sink. She grew up there — literally, since she was only four when her parents, John and Pauli Pudlik, bought the place in 1949. For years, she’d walk there after school, chow down on her favorite grilled cheese, then maybe take a nap under the desk in the office.

Just as Sink regulars were known as “Sink Rats,” she was the “Sink Brat,” and it wasn’t until years later that she realized how lucky she’d been to experience such a unique childhood.

“I was singing the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ fight song before I was singing nursery rhymes,” said Segawa, whose father and Uncle Ed played football at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ in the ’30s and ’40s. “And all those students looking out for me … It was heaven for a little girl.”

Kevin Fitzgerald’s (EPOBio’73; MBio’78; PhD’82) Sink experience was just as unique — and it began on just his second day at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ, in 1969.

“I was approached and asked if I wanted to be a bouncer,” he said. “I was told I’d get $1.69 an hour and a free burger each shift, and that I’d meet more girls than Frank Sinatra.”

The Hill was a “truly magical place” at the time, he said, and The Sink drew a mixed crowd of fraternity and sorority members and “long-haired hippies,” all taking advantage of the nickel-beer specials and 35-cent burgers.

“We had political things going on, like Vietnam and Nixon, and all these social issues, like women’s rights,” he said.

Somer’s Sunken Gardens

It was amazing to finally get to go in after hours and see the remnants of a life that was so mysterious to me.

The Sink opened in 1923 as Somer’s Sunken Gardens, in the former Sigma Nu fraternity house. Named for the sunken fountain in the middle of the dining room — from which diners could apparently choose their own trout for dinner — it was nicknamed “The Sink.” After the Pudliks took over, they decided the nickname should be the official name instead. Then they made another very important change: Though Boulder was still “dry” at the time, 3.2 beer wasn’t considered to be alcohol. So the Pudliks began pouring brews — and the students came pouring in, too.

In 1956, they sold the business to Joe Beimford and Floyd Marks. In 1960, Herbie and Gilda Kauvar — Marks’ sister — took over the business, and kept the menu, which featured the now-famous Sink Burger and its signature hickory Sink Sauce.

What Rick Kauvar (EPOBio’75) remembers most about those early days when his parents took over the business was that the beer sales made it an 18-and-older establishment.

“I was eight, and I had to sit out in the car and watch all the college kids going in and out all those years,” he said. “It was amazing to finally get to go in after hours and see the remnants of a life that was so mysterious to me.”

Once they were old enough, Kauver and his brother Jim (Mktg’79) spent afternoons and evenings working there, which Jim said he’ll always remember as “an important part of our family’s history.”

Upon taking over the restaurant, Herbie and Gilda hired artist Llloyd Kavich (who also redid the walls in 1989) to redo some of the classic, circa-1950s artwork with an “age of Aquarius” theme. Most importantly, they continued fostering an atmosphere of community and a place for students to gather, with nonstop music blaring from the jukebox.

“Only happy songs were allowed,” said Fitzgerald.

In the mid-’70s, though, the bubble burst. The Hill, a hub of “flower power” counterculture activity in Boulder, began drawing people interested in living alternative lifestyles. New businesses opened up to cater to their needs and wants, offering things like vintage clothes, bell bottoms, leather vests and incense.

“It made it impossible for students to really keep enjoying The Sink the way they had for all those years,” said Rick. “My dad had to make a change or he would have lost it completely.”

Alongside the neighborhood changes, business began to decline as shoppers gravitated toward the new stores and new types of restaurants. As sales lagged at The Sink, Herbie switched tactics and opened Herbie’s Deli with faster counter service and sandwiches. He kept the Sink Burger on the menu, but covered up the iconic art with pine boards. He thought The Sink would be forever forgotten, but he was wrong. For years, Rick and Jim urged their dad to bring it back, and much to the delight of Sink Rats everywhere (including Fitzgerald), they finally did in 1989, uncovering the artwork and adding a full bar.

The Sink Today

Though Heinritz admits they had “a lot to work with,” they’ve also made a few changes in the past 30 years.

When we bought it, he said to me, 'You'd have to be a real idiot to screw this up.'

“We kept the menu we inherited and let it morph over time, like adding ugly crust pizza, formulated in my own kitchen,” he said. They also introduced the now-famous Buddha Basil Pie — famous enough, in fact, to attract the likes of Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (2010), President Obama (2012) and Anthony Bourdain (2013), all of whom signed the classic “wall of fame.” There’s also Robert Redford (A&S ex’58; HonDocHum’87), The Sink’s most famous employee, who worked there as a janitor in 1955. He makes sure to visit whenever he’s in town and was even put to work once.

Though The Sink hasn’t changed much visually over the years, it has a decidedly different vibe today than in the ’70s. It used to come to life at 10 p.m. — now that’s closing time, and it’s not the same type of crowd.

“As Boulder evolved away from being a party school and liquor laws tightened, we started leaning into the culinary side of it, wanting to build a reputation built around food and community,” explained Heinritz.

Still, the restaurant’s connections to ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ remain unbreakable. “We get students and faculty coming in before and after football games, during the Conference on World Affairs and other big events.” Heinritz said. “But we also see business people and young families. When I meet someone who has never been in, who thinks they’re too old, I say, ‘Just come in and give it a try,’ and they’re always surprised.”

As for the Heinritz brothers’ success in keeping The Sink’s legacy alive, Mark Heinritz gives some of the credit to Herbie.

“When we bought it, he said to me, ‘You’d have to be a real idiot to screw this up.’ That became our guiding light.”

The Sink Through the Years

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Photos courtesy The Sink; Yellow Scene Magazine (pizza, bottom middle)

Boulder's oldest and most storied restaurant is a century old.

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Spring 2023

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Boulder Farmers Market Musings

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Boulder Farmers Market Musings Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/07/2022 - 00:00

Amanda McCraken

Hazel Dell, Abbondanza and Aspen Moon…

They may sound like mystical places in a children’s book, but they are the farms who take part in central Boulder’s weekly story. The farmers are the story’s characters, nourishing and transforming their customers by connecting them to their roots through local food.

“The farmers are an access point to this energy of agriculture because they have this connection with the soil and natural cycles,” said Brian Coppom, former executive director of the Boulder Farmers Market who now works for the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Department of Agriculture. “We no longer really have those connections, but we get to participate in them.”

The Boulder Farmers Market started in 1975 when a couple of farmers gathered on the lawn in front of the courthouse when Pearl Street was still a through street. Twelve years later, farmers expanded and set up booths on 13th Street where, currently, over 150 vendors attract 10,000 people on a single day at peak season.

As a Boulder local for 19 years, I frequently visit the market. A walk through the market is like strolling through an art gallery: Rubin purple basil, edible Szechuan button flowers, golden amaranth seeds and lion’s mane mushrooms. It’s a feast for the eyes — nourishing the senses and priming the creative juices. What I love most are the diverse offerings made from local produce: spicy pickled beets, Anaheim pepper hot sauce and my favorite — strawberry jam ice cream.

These unique products ignite creativity in market customers, said Heather Morton Burtness, who grew up on Morton’s Orchards, one of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ’s first organic farms, and now continues the family business with her husband and three daughters.

“[Customers] are learning about food preservation and seeking out interesting recipes using local ingredients in new ways.”

It has always been a producers-only market — meaning farmers and ranchers can only sell produce they have grown on their own land. This approach creates an integrity and authenticity that cultivates a sense of safety in the community, allowing for more vulnerability, said Coppom.

The market is where I went on first dates to break the ice. It’s where I took ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ international students who had never stepped foot on a farm. It’s where I brought my daughter on her second birthday to touch the pelts of animals she’d only ever seen in story books. The market is our connection to Boulder’s past, present and future.

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Photo courtesy Boulder County Farmers Market

The Boulder Farmers Market started in 1975. Currently, over 150 vendors attract 10,000 people on a single day at peak season.

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Fall 2022

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Buff-Hosted Podcast Wins a James Beard Media Award

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Buff-Hosted Podcast Wins a James Beard Media Award Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/07/2022 - 00:00

Jessi Green

Patrick Fort (Jour’14) is co-host of the Washington, D.C.-area podcast Dish City, which focuses on the connection between the district’s food and the history and culture of the people who make it. His career in audio journalism began at the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Independent before reporting on D.C.’s dining scene. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he and Dish City changed course, offering up a third season focused on delivery. One of the episodes — “How American Chinese Food Became Delivery Food” — was recognized this year with a James Beard Media Award.

What’s your favorite part of telling a story?

In audio storytelling, I think you get a really accurate sense for who people are. You get to hear people as they think, as they react, and I love being able to capture that on “tape.”

Tell us about the creation of Dish City. Did you always know you were interested in reporting on food? Were you surprised by the connection between food and history?

Not at all! I started school thinking I’d study music, but I decided I wasn’t good enough at making music to do that. Instead, I thought I could write about music. This led to my first full-time job as an arts and culture reporter in Aspen (which included writing about food).

From the very start, Dish City was never a show about food itself. It was a show about places and people and how we experience where we live through food. In our very first episode, my co-host and I talked about Ben’s Chili Bowl, a restaurant with history dating back to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s. This place is a D.C. icon in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, and here was a new, similar restaurant opening nearby. We wanted to investigate this intersection of history and race at a geographically significant place in the District.

Can you talk about putting together the James Beard Award-winning episode and how it felt to be recognized?

It was pretty surreal! This episode is a great representation of what Dish City is — not really about food, lots about history and culture. American Chinese food became synonymous with delivery in the 20th century due, in part, to inventive business owners finding ways to survive as they faced xenophobia and anti-Asian racism. We published the episode at a time in the pandemic when getting food brought to your home was a big deal, and also when there was, again, a rise in anti-Asian racism.

Is there a Boulder specialty that you miss from your time at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ?

An easy question! I think all the time about the chile verde plate from Efrain’s.

What was the best part of your ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder experience?

The best part of my ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder experience was my time at the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Independent. I was given the opportunity to make podcasts for the paper, which was the jumping-off point for my entire career. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for that experience.

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Photos courtesy Patrick Fort

Patrick Fort is co-host of the Washington, D.C.-area podcast Dish City, which focuses on the connection between the district’s food and the history and culture of the people who make it.

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Homemade, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Style

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Homemade, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Style Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 02/01/2020 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

As steam and spices intermixed in the air of the Village Commons dining hall, first-year students giggled as they stretched gooey cheese with spatulas.

In mid-November, 15 students prepared Spanish tapas on individual skillets, spreading sautéed spinach, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella atop homemade polenta. Some created a berry version for dessert.

It was a break from the daily lecture grind, but a lesson all the same.

Since 2013, weekly ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ cooking classes — Ralphie’s Cooking Basics — have aimed to teach students the fundamentals of meal preparing.

“We recognize the need for students to learn critical life skills, and Ralphie’s Cooking Basics offers an outlet for students to interact with an executive campus chef and learn unique and easy cooking skills,” said Maggie Shelton, a ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ student involvement coordinator.

The free small-group classes run weekly throughout the fall and spring semesters. Participants are based on a first-come, first-served basis. Some students make lasting friendships during a class, said Shelton.

“It fosters community,” she said.

Five Cooking Lessons in Fall 2019:

Lasagna
Quinoa veggie bowls with homemade pesto
Chicken parmesean
Pad thai
Pizza

Photos by Glenn Asakawa; Courtesy Maggie Shelton

Since 2013, weekly ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ cooking classes — Ralphie’s Cooking Basics — have aimed to teach students the fundamentals of meal preparing.

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Hill Eats

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Hill Eats Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 02/01/2020 - 00:00

Look: Eateries

The restaurant lineup on The Hill changes nearly as fast as the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ seasons. While several well-known chains have come and gone in recent years (Qdoba, Five Guys, Del Taco), many Boulder icons (The Sink) and newer staples (The Corner) serve on. Whether it’s a Cosmo’s cheese slice dunked in spicy ranch, a Half Fast Godfather sub or the early-bird breakfast at Dot’s Diner, the grub on The Hill plays a part in many ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ stories. What was your Hill go-to? Write us at editor@colorado.edu.

Photos by Matt Tyrie

The restaurant lineup on The Hill changes nearly as fast as the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ seasons.

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Winter 2020

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10 Tacos Within Walking Distance of Campus

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 19:02:34 +0000

10 Tacos Within Walking Distance of Campus Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/03/2019 - 13:02

Joshua Nelson

It doesn't have to be Tuesday for you to enjoy these spots!

T/Aco (pronounced T-aco) is the place to go to watch them handmake your tortillas.
Wanna try something new? Roxie's Tacos blends the flavors of India and Mexico in their unique tacos.
If your band is playing at the Fox Theater, Illegal Pete's will give you a free meal.
Admit it, sometimes you still crave fast food. Luckily, the Taco Bell Cantina across from campus is a bit classier than the average Taco Bell.
Bartaco is known for their wide variety, and the tacos are only $3.5 each.
The murals inside of Taco Junky will blow your socks off.
Tacos just an excuse for tequila? Then check out Tahona Tequila Bistro with over 100 varieties behind the bar.
The food at Rincon Del Sol is about as authentic as it comes.
Zolo Grill is perfect if you need your taco fix, but still want to impress your date by taking them to a nice resturant.
At Santiago's the tacos are just a vehicle for their amazing award-winning chile. Try your tacos smothered.

Photo courtesy @Bartacolife/Twitter.

Ten of the best tacos in town

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Living Like Julia Child

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Living Like Julia Child Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/01/2019 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Not much has changed at Julia Child's summer home in France, thanks to Craig Held (Psych'74) and family, who preserve the famed chef's epicurean legacy at their cooking school and vacation rental.

In the kitchen of La Pitchoune, the French Airbnb run by Craig Held (Psych’74) and his family, a fragrance of herbs, meats and simmering wines recalls the aromas that routinely scented the space beginning in the mid-1960s.

Photo by Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

For nearly three decades, the stucco cottage was the summer home of American chef and cookbook author Julia Child and her husband, Paul. Today, Craig Held, wife Tina and daughter Makenna preserve the Childs’ epicurean legacy in the hilly French countryside by operating the property as a cooking school and vacation rental.

“Makenna imitated Julia as a child,” said Craig, a retired business executive who acquired La Pitchoune in 2016 at Makenna’s urging. “Now she’s 6'1", wears the same size 12 shoe as Julia [who was 6'2"] and went to Smith College like she did.”

Located about 10 miles north of Cannes, France, La Pitchoune (which translates as “little thing”) is available seven months a year for up to six adults in three rooms, starting at $970 a night. During the remaining months — April, May, June, September and October — it becomes the Courageous Cooking School. Guests receive six days of live-in cooking lessons and excursions led by Makenna, who is a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef.

The Helds bought the property in 2015, after Makenna, then 30 and teaching skiing in Beaver Creek, Colo., saw a story in The New York Times about the house and felt an immediate draw to it — especially to the kitchen.

“My greatest fear?” said Makenna. “Someone would gut the kitchen and demolish the legacy Julia had left behind.…I knew that someone who wanted to keep the house somewhat, if not completely intact, had to buy it. I wanted to be that somebody.”

“Change is rampant in this part of Provence. But inside the kitchen of La Pitchoune, it felt as if little had changed.”

Besides a model of a Julia Child kitchen in the Smithsonian, La Pitchoune is the last original Julia Child kitchen, said Craig. The extra-tall countertops remain, as do the pegboards Paul installed on the walls with his hand-tracings of the utensils Julia hung there.

The Childs built the home around 1963 on the three-acre property of Julia’s friend and Mastering the Art of French Cooking co-author Simone Beck. Julia gave the home back to the Beck family in 1992, when Paul became ill. He died in 1994, Julia in 2004.

A student of Beck’s owned the home next and ran a cooking school there. She listed it in 2015 for $880,000. After the Helds acquired it, they decided to run the 1,500-square-foot dwelling as a family business.

“Airbnb was the platform that seemed most appropriate for us at the time,” said Craig, adding that the online property rental firm was eager to promote the family’s unique listing, which describes the home as “a foodie paradise in Provence.”

La Pitchoune quickly drew interest from food writers at The New York Times, Vogue, Food & Wine and Condé Nast Traveler.

“Change is rampant in this part of Provence,” wrote Julia Moskin, a Times food writer who spent a week cooking at the house. “But inside the kitchen of La Pitchoune, it felt as if little had changed.”

Two years in, the Helds’ recipe for La Pitchoune appears to be a hit.

The home offers fresh opportunities for Craig, who helped coach the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ ski team under Olympian Bill Marolt (Bus’67). For most of his career, Craig worked as an executive at Pepsi, Taco Bell and Paramount Farms. Just 10 days before Makenna called him about La Pitchoune, he’d left his job as executive vice president of XetaWave, a software-defined radio company in Louisville, Colo.

Now, when he’s in France with Tina on one of their three annual trips, his focus is on providing guests with cozy comforts: “We welcome guests with charcuterie, wine and a fully stocked Julia Child kitchen,” including all pots, pans, knives and baking dishes, he said.

Two years in, the Helds’ recipe for La Pitchoune appears to be a hit.

“You will have moments throughout where it seems surreal and unimaginable that you are cooking in Julia Child's kitchen, in her house,” wrote one Airbnb reviewer. “It was a week in paradise.”

Comment on this story? Email editor@colorado.edu.

Photos by Beth Kirby

Want to cook in Julia Child's summer home in the hilly French countryside? Craig Held and family can make it happen.

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10 Boulder Restaurants Featured on TV

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 22:24:43 +0000

10 Boulder Restaurants Featured on TV Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/23/2018 - 16:24

Aimee Anderson

The Sink

The Sink (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives)
Aloy Thai Cuisine (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives)
Foolish Craig’s Café (Diner’s Drive-Ins, and Dives)
Frasca Food and Wine (The Best Thing I Ever Ate)
The Buff Restaurant (Man v. Food)
West End Tavern (Man v. Food)
Zoe Ma Ma (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives)
Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives)
Village Coffee Shop (Cheap Eats)
Shamane’s Bake Shoppe (Cheap Eats)

Boulderites love their local restaurants. Here are a few that also have grabbed national attention.

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