Craving Colorado 2024

THE BROADMOOR

An American Masterpiece

EXCEPTIONAL DINING & RETAIL

• An Abundance of Restaurants, Cafés and Lounges on Property

• 20 Unique Retail Outlets

AUTHENTIC, ALL-INCLUSIVE WILDERNESS PROPERTIES

• Cloud Camp

• The Ranch at Emerald Valley

• Orvis-Endorsed Fly Fishing Camp

BOUNDLESS ADVENTURE

• The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway

• The Broadmoor Seven Falls

• The Broadmoor Soaring Adventure

• Falconry Academy at The Broadmoor

• Hiking

• Mountain Biking

• Horseback Riding

• Fly Fishing

• On-Site Bowling Alley

AWARD-WINNING AMENITIES

• 5-Star Spa and Fitness Center

• 2 Championship Golf Courses

• 3 Pools, including Seasonal Infinity Pool

• 5 Tennis Courts

• 3 Pickleball Courts

INSIDE

QUEEN OF ASPEN

Mawa McQueen’s remarkable rise to stardom in the mountains.

PAGE 13

TASTE OF HOME

Erasmo Casiano enjoys successful return to Latin American roots.

PAGE 22

POWER OF PRESTIGE

Michelin Guide shines spotlight on several Colorado restaurants.

PAGE 25

RECOGNITION

Craving Colorado

2023

FIRST PLACE

Best Special Section Society for Features Journalism

elevatedeats

HEAD OF CLASS

The Broadmoor retains lofty standards thanks to global reach.

PAGE 41

STAFF

MATTER OF FACTS

New generation of chefs challenging the stigma linked to MSG.

PAGE 49

Designers — Nichole Montanez, Samantha Thomas

Editor — Nathan Van Dyne

Photographers — Jerilee Bennett, Timothy Hurst, Christian Murdock, Parker Seibold, Stephen Swofford

Reporters — Seth Boster, Daliah Singer, Carlotta Olson

CRAVING COLORADO / 2023

TIE

By Seth Boster

It’s hard to miss Mawa McQueen around Aspen — she’s a local celebrity, after all — and yet we struggled to find her.

In an unassuming business center across from the airport, we drove between a gas station and a liquor store, between a mechanic and a contractor’s office, between an insurance agency and a photo studio, before turning around and finally spotting Mawa’s Kitchen on an upper level.

The door was around back. We entered to find the smiling chef and owner of the restaurant that quickly has risen to fame.

The obscure location almost sank the business, McQueen told us. That was before a James Beard nomination in 2022, followed by another prestigious culinary honor a year later: Mawa’s Kitchen was included in Michelin’s first-ever guide to Colorado.

And so however hidden the restaurant, the word is out on McQueen’s fresh, vibrant, worldly cuisine. It’s inspired by her native Africa and fellow immigrants she grew up around in a poor district of Paris.

McQueen told us she had recently returned to France to inspire youth there: “I said to them, ‘Who created the American dream? Immigrants created the American dream.’”

Mawa’s Kitchen owner and chef Mawa McQueen. Christian Murdock

And largely, they’ve shaped Colorado’s food scene.

McQueen’s is but one story that has inspired us on our ongoing mission to capture the culinary character of this state. We call the series of stories Craving Colorado.

A reccuring theme: people and flavors from places far beyond Colorado. It’s a fitting theme for this magazine celebrating the state industry.

It’s indeed a theme from the Michelin guide. While listing Mawa’s Kitchen with 29 other recommended eateries and awarding nine others a Big Gourmand for quality and affordability, inspectors found five restaurants worthy of a star, the highest honor known worldwide.

One of those stars went to Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder. Here Michelin inspectors found a surprising source of inspiration — “hyper-specific,” they wrote of the food from the little-known region

of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy.

Another star went to Denver’s Brutø, which grew from Chef Michael Diaz de Leon’s Mexican heritage. Last year, just a couple of months after the Michelin award, Diaz de Leon posted on Instagram a heartfelt thank you and a surprise announcement.

“I find myself in a place of starvation for exploration, growth and connection with the world,” he wrote. “It’s time for me to experience other cultures, approaches and practices that the world has to offer and teach me.”

He concluded: “Manifestation: The world is my restaurant.”

That could speak to Colorado’s broader industry.

Take The Broadmoor as a microcosm. Colorado Springs’ renowned hotel and foodie paradise has a long history of bringing in chefs from around the globe — from the first executive chef in 1917 to the

head chefs we see today.

One of them is Rita Perez, who grew up in Mexico City. Asked about what separated The Broadmoor’s cuisine, she thought of immigrants such as herself leading kitchens across the resort’s several restaurants.

“When you’re cooking, it’s not just about the food,” she said. “It’s about feelings, it’s about how you are treating your ingredients, it’s about where those ingredients are coming from. It’s culture, plus all these things behind the dish.”

It was the flavors of Asia — starting with the flavors of the Chinese family who hosted her as an exchange student — that inspired Natascha Hess’ restaurant. We met the owner of Denver’s Michelin-recognized Ginger Pig last year while she was preparing a Boulder expansion; she was planning bánh

Dishes from The Ginger Pig in Denver include: (clockwise, from top) Pra Ram Tofu (Thai peanut tofu), Char Sui (Chinese BBQ pork shoulder) and Kkanpunggi (Korean fried chicken). Parker Seibold

mì sandwiches inspired by a recent tour of Vietnam.

We also met the “Ma Ma” behind Zoe Ma Ma, Anna Zoe. The Chinese street food has been a favorite in Boulder since 2010, when Edwin Zoe opened the restaurant for his mother. And, unexpectedly, for college kids around town.

“We had Chinese students that would come here to eat every weekend,” Edwin Zoe recalled. “One student started crying. He said, ‘I’m homesick because the food reminds me of home.’ I always felt very strongly that food has so much power.”

The power to build lives.

The lives of two Italian brothers were uncertain when they arrived to America by boat in 1910. Giuseppe and Vito Gagliano made their way to Pueblo, where they went on to open a grocery of foods imported from Italy.

More than 100 years later, Gagliano’s Italian Market & Deli is a Pueblo institution. The seasoning Vince Gagliano uses for sausage is

the same seasoning from his great uncles’ days.

Vince described running the business as an honor. “You should honor the people that came before you and made it easy,” he said.

So Jared Kaplan has done at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant on Denver’s south side.

“My grandfather was my best friend,” Kaplan told us.

His grandfather was Paul Weiner, a Jewish man who fled Vienna in 1939 to escape the Nazis. He settled in Denver alongside another refugee, Lola, who became his wife.

They would go on to open a deli — a place of Reubens piled high and the matzo ball soup, challah, latke, kishke, kugel and other traditional foods of their childhood.

Three generations later, the traditions continue. The Bagel Deli is usually packed.

Said the Weiners’ daughter, Rhoda, looking across the busy dining room: “My dad would just be shaking his head, going, ‘Would you look at this?’”

Look closely around Colorado Springs, one of the city’s top chefs

has advised.

Sure, there’s The Broadmoor and downtown restaurants that get the attention, Chef Brother Luck said. But look around the outskirts, he insisted — parts of town Best of the Springs voters have pinpointed for mom-and-pop eateries serving everything from Korean and Indian to Jamaican, Japanese, German and beyond.

“You need to go to South Academy. Go to Fountain, go to Widefield,” Luck said. “You’re gonna find some culture. You’re gonna find history. You’re gonna find stories.”

So we found at Mawa’s Kitchen, however hidden from Aspen’s fancy, touristy core.

This business center across from the airport could be “more of a local place,” McQueen said. “That’s what we’re aiming for.”

Amid the gas station and the mechanic and the contractor’s office and the insurance agency, McQueen envisioned a Mexican restaurant, an Asian restaurant, a Middle Eastern restaurant — anything and everything, she said with eager hope. “I’m recruiting!”

continued from page 7

Edwin Zoe and his mother, Anna Zoe, at Zoe Ma Ma in Boulder. Chancey Bush

Drive around Colorado Springs, and you’ll see those proud “NATIVE” decals. But most of us came from somewhere else, and some of us from very, very far away.

You’ll get that impression driving around too — particularly when you look around the food scene. It is a scene shaped by people from all over the world, by the flavors they brought with them to the foot of Pikes Peak. They are honored every year in The Gazette’s Best of the Springs. This magazine will showcase some of the international restaurants perennially picked around town:

On the menu ITALIAN

• Paravicini’s Italian Bistro: TV show host Guy Fieri of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” once found himself here raving about the veal giuseppe — among unique specialties at the west side favorite.

• Roman Villa: It’s more than pizza that’s kept generations of customers coming back to the tiny joint since 1959.

• Red Gravy Italian Bistro: The downtown restaurant aims to set itself apart with a bright, spacious atmosphere and fresh tastes.

On the menu

JAPANESE

• AI Sushi & Grill: This is where locals go for an array of rolls or for special occasions over a fiery hibachi grill.

• Sushi Ato: Sushi lovers on the north side belly up to the 35-foot bar, admiring the restaurant’s traditionally trained sushi chefs said to combine 95 years of experience.

• Jun Japanese: Trusted for three decades, with a scene that includes sunken tables that add to the authentic experience at the Centennial Boulevard location.

SETH BOSTER

Handmade

By Daliah Singer

Denver chef discovers

New passion in making creative knife handles

Duy Pham didn’t want to spend $600. Seven years ago, the now-omakase chef at Hana Matsuri Glendale looked at his knives and realized it was time to replace the handles.

“Expensive Japanese knives are supposed to last a lifetime,” Pham explains, but “they emphasize and put all the work into the knife blade. The handle is an afterthought.”

When he brought his collection to local knife makers and discovered the potential bill, Pham made a decision: He would learn to make his own knife handles.

DIY projects being what they are, the chef wound up spending more money — about $1,000 on materials from The Home Depot — but discovered a new passion in the process. Though he compares his early attempts to “bad kindergarten paintings,” his skill improved with practice.

“I would buy factory handles and dissect them,” Pham says. “Each had a different construction, different blueprint.”

He started sharing his best creations, which he made for himself and his colleagues, on Instagram. One of the world’s foremost Japanese knife collectors came across his page and asked Pham to rehandle some of his utensils. Other customers followed suit, sending inquiries from around the world.

They were drawn not only to Pham’s attention to detail but to his creativity. While he started working with wood, Pham soon learned that material held onto bacteria, a nono in kitchens, so he moved onto stabilized wood (which is nonporous and food-safe), carbon fiber, titanium, stainless steel and more inventive and rare materials such as reddish-hued Koa wood, mother of pearl and animal castoffs including antlers and teeth.

“A handle is a way to express individuality,” Pham says. It was a new outlet for the chef and a much-needed change for a career approaching burnout.

Pham has a well-established history in the restaurant industry, starting with summer shifts at age 15 when he hoped to save money to pursue a degree in architecture. Instead, he made a name for himself working at now-shuttered Denver restaurants such as Normandy, Opal and Tante Louise, where he was named executive chef at 22.

Prior to his role at Hana Matsuri, in 2019 he helped open For[a]ged in downtown Denver’s Dairy Block. Pham worked as executive chef and brought his budding knife skills

with him: His craftsmanship was displayed in a glass case behind the upstairs raw bar.

In time, Pham’s commitment to the ancient trade grew more serious. He wanted to make the blades too and connected with the Idaho-based Carter Cutlery Journeyman Program led by Murray Carter — a master bladesmith who apprenticed in Japan and worked in the country as a village bladesmith for 18 years.

Pham spent a full week with Carter, working and learning 8-10 hours a day.

“He’s very industrious and somewhat of a visionary,” Carter says of Pham. “He definitely has what the Japanese would call biteki kankaku, a sense of beauty, someone who has an eye for beauty.”

Pham’s curious hobby had developed into a true craft. He converted the garage at his rental home into a workshop, filling it with a power hammer, drill press, table saw and more. His reputation grew. And while he wasn’t making much money from the side hustle, he found joy in it.

But the pressure of working full-time as an executive chef and committing his free hours to knife-making eventually caught up to Pham. He decided to step away from For[a] ged in mid-2023, leaving behind his inventory of knives. He moved houses and found the new garage too dark for his work, so he was forced into a break from his creative outlet.

A year ago, Pham joined the third Hana Matsuri in Colorado as part-owner and launched an omakase program unique to the Japanese fusion and sushi restaurant’s Glendale location.

Now that he’s settled again, he plans to restart his knife-making this summer.

“I want to fall in love with the whole process again,” he says.

Pham considers himself a novice when it comes to bladesmithing, and he won’t be selling his own knives for a while. But he’ll be back to making handles and wood covers, crafting gifts for loved ones and building an inventory before likely expanding to farmers’ markets.

The chef, who turns 50 this year, now views knife-making as his retirement plan, something to keep him occupied and fulfilled when he’s no longer working the line in a busy restaurant.

“I can’t stay still,” Pham says. “I always have to continue to learn.”

Left: Denver chef Duy Pham poses with one of his knives at Hana Matsuri Glendale.

Stephen Swofford

Right: A Japanese knife at Hana Matsuri Glendale. Stephen Swofford

On the menu

MEXICAN

• Crystal Park Cantina: In the hills of Manitou Springs, freshness and vibes make the difference here. And the margaritas.

• Monica’s Taco Shop: Yes, many do go for the tacos at the trio of locations. And many more go for the burritos.

• Arlene’s Beans Mexican Take-out: Voters have praised the Monument mom-and-pop eatery for burritos, enchiladas and tamales.

SETH BOSTER

On the menu

IRISH

• Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub & Restaurant: A downtown staple for 25-plus years, with authentic, live music to go with that corned beef and cabbage.

• Alchemy, Not Just A Pub: It’s not Old Colorado City without this cozy nook, where locals and tourists come together for a pint of craft beer and grub that isn’t your typical Irish.

• Abby’s Irish Pub: A favorite on the Springs’ north side, serving all of the classics from fish and chips to shepherd’s pie.

PROUDLY SERVING COLORADO

SETH BOSTER

AFRICA TO

By Seth Boster

Chef Mawa’s incredible rise to stardom in the mountains

ASPEN

Mawa’s Kitchen owner and chef Mawa McQueen. Christian Murdock

ASPEN • For the seasonal, rotating menu at Mawa’s Kitchen, beets were a curious choice.

Beets recall the childhood home of the chef and owner, Mawa McQueen, who is quick to banish whatever glitzy picture of Paris people have in mind when she tells them she grew up there.

For her, her mom and other kids who emigrated from Africa, “it was the ghetto,” McQueen says. “Or call it low-income housing if you want to be polite.”

It was a two-bedroom apartment for 12 people, she recalls. And for whatever meal McQueen could scrape together for siblings and half-siblings while her mother and stepfather were away working, it often included beets.

“In France, we always ate beets. I hate beets,” McQueen says. “The only way I eat beets is if it doesn’t taste like beets.”

This summer’s beets at Mawa’s Kitchen have been roasted and disguised by whipped feta, toasted pistachios, herbs and an Indian curry vinaigrette — just one sample of innovative, globe-trotting dishes here recognized by the highest honors of the culinary world.

McQueen grew up in a neighborhood of immigrants, where flavors spanned the continents. She honors those neighbors at Mawa’s Kitchen.

The peanut stew called Mafe is straight from her native West Africa, as is the lamb tagine. Jerk salmon and chicken recall the Caribbean, while shrimp skewers are coated in a Middle Eastern spice. Oxtail, commonly associated with Jamaica, is prepared in the French bourguignon style. Other fusions have trended Latin and Mediterranean.

A recent appetizer featured mango, burrata and toasted hazelnut — symbolizing the simple, healthy, nutrient-rich tenets of McQueen’s cooking. “I have to Africanize it,” she says.

The beets symbolize the unlikely story of the woman in the kitchen — those despised root vegetables turned delicious.

McQueen’s story is one of astonishing transformation. It’s a story that begins in a cramped African abode and weaves around to

Berbere grilled shrimp features a pineapple shrimp skewer with madras curry sauce. Christian Murdock

Colorado’s high cuisine kingdom of Aspen, where that little girl once without shoes, a bed, a toilet or much of anything else is now known as The Queen.

Twenty years after she arrived in America, McQueen was nominated for Best Chef of the West in 2022. A year later, Colorado’s inaugural Michelin Guide included Mawa’s Kitchen.

Onlookers see a rags-to-riches tale. But McQueen thinks of herself as the underdog still, pointing to lingering factors that almost sank her business before the James Beard call.

“This is Aspen still. It’s still the seasonality,” says McQueen, who always has gotten by with a megawatt smile, quick wit and a no-excuses attitude as straight as her talk. “And I still have the (worst) location.”

Mawa’s Kitchen remains somewhat hard to find. It’s away from Aspen’s walkable, bougie core, on the outskirts in a business center across from the airport. The restaurant remains where it

continued on page 16

Roasted cauliflower with muhammaara, candied walnuts, za’atar and extra-virgin olive oil. Christian Murdock

started in 2014, tucked behind a gas station, amid mechanics, plumbers, other handy shops and nondescript offices.

To pay bills, McQueen once cleaned an office next door. Now she owns the space for her expanded restaurant — indeed another rags-to-riches hint, to go with the crepe stand she owns in town along with a granola company.

But no, McQueen says: “I’m still trying to make it. I haven’t made it yet. I haven’t scratched the surface of what I’m supposed to be.”

Call it unstoppable ambition. That’s the name of her book, which is equal parts memoir and self-help.

Importantly, “Unstoppable Ambition” is printed in French. McQueen has since returned to her former homeland to promote the book and send a message to impoverished youth — to the kids like her in that

Parisian ghetto.

“I said to them, ‘Who created the American dream? Immigrants created the American dream.’”

This is the dream McQueen went on to dream coming out of Africa’s Ivory Coast. There, she thought of herself as a “bastard child,” she says.

She was born in 1974 to a Christian mother and a Muslim father. The man was absent much of her first 10 years.

“While I look like my mom, I have a name that is all my father: Mawa,” she writes in her book. “Growing up, that name made me an outsider. And I hated my name so much.”

She was made to believe her name — and the religion it represented — were ugly. At 9, when she was bussed to live with her father, she was terrified.

However, she found life with his tribe to be much more comfortable.

“Suddenly, I ate three meals

a day,” reads her book. “I had clothes, a proper bed (which I shared with my grandmother and namesake), a community that claimed me ...”

Just as suddenly, it was all taken away.

McQueen’s mother moved her to Paris, to live with siblings and half-siblings of another man. They would live outside the city, around the commune of Trappes.

“Like you could get trapped there,” McQueen says. “Back in the day, it was very dangerous.”

Her book recounts her anger. Anger at her mother for leaving her to cook and tend to the kids, for taking her away from her father. Anger at the man for him not reaching out.

Later, when she was 23, McQueen recounts journeying back to his deathbed. At the sight of her, she recounts tears filling his eyes.

She continues in the book: “That was the first crack in the wall of victimhood and anger

I had built around myself. ... Without that wall of blame, I could see so much more clearly. I wasn’t unloved or being punished. Instead, there were factors I had never been able to see — aspects of our culture, generational trauma and so much more — that had shaped my life.”

McQueen was wiser by then. In Trappes, she gained inspiration for what not to be, and from influential outsiders she gained something else; she credits a school headmaster, seeing her potential, for guiding her to culinary school. There she encountered another invisible factor that threatened to shape her. Racism sought to keep her out of white, male-dominated kitchens.

“When I got out (of culinary school), nothing. Nobody would hire me,” she says. “They’re like, ‘Yes, you can do the dishes.’”

McQueen turned to work as

Mawa McQueen prepares a dish in her kitchen. Christian Murdock

an au pair in London, tending to the children and home of a white woman. The woman loved “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

“I saw a white woman being fascinated by a fat Black woman on TV,” McQueen says. “This is how my brain processed it ... like, nobody’s fascinated by us!”

Who is that, she asked her boss. “And she said, ‘It’s one of the most powerful women in America.’ ... That was it for me. I was going to America.”

She would go on a green card in 2002, landing a summer job at White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport, Maine. During winters, she waited tables at The Little Nell in Aspen.

One Christmas, a regular asked McQueen to serve at her house party. That sprung a catering business; McQueen grew a list of customers across mansions and private jets. The success sprung a full-service restaurant.

But soon, Mawa’s Kitchen seemed doomed. “It was hell,” McQueen says.

In the out-of-sight business center, tables sat empty. McQueen kept doing more — more meals, a bar, a separate and ill-fated business venture, cleaning the office next door — only to find shrinking profits and climbing debts.

McQueen and her husband tried cutting costs and working more to seemingly no avail. “It was painful, painful, painful,” she says.

The couple crafted an exit strategy. “And then I get the call,” McQueen says.

The call informing her of the James Beard nomination.

“I run to my husband,” McQueen says. “I’m like, ‘Honey, the white boys think I’m good!’” She laughs while recognizing the serious matter of such honors often passing women such as her.

Mawa’s Kitchen and her Crepe Shack are the only Black-owned eateries in Aspen. The reputation is complicated for McQueen, as are the awards

that have highlighted her representation in town.

“I don’t want to be known as the only Black place in Aspen. I want to be known as a great chef,” she says. “Just like I don’t want to be given an award because I’m Black. I want an award because I deserve it, and I worked my butt off.”

But yes, she has brought culture to Aspen, and for that

she is proud. That was, after all, the big idea with Mawa’s Kitchen.

“I was like, ‘Aspen needs culture!’” McQueen says. “These kids think everybody should eat caviar and steak and sushi.”

Try the beets, she might suggest.

Not just any beets, but her beets — the past meeting a sweet, savory present.

Roasted beets with whipped feta, toasted pistachio, fine herbs and madras curry vinaigrette. Christian Murdock

Steeped in tradition

By Seth Boster

Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse features a wide variety of teas. Parker Seibold

BOULDER • A teahouse here can leave an impression similar to the mountains, Rory Martinelli says.

Just as he admires the finer points of the Flatirons and surrounding terrain, so he admires the colorful, intricate patterns painted across the walls and ceiling of Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. He has been around the business most of his life, since his parents started it 26 years ago.

“When you’re looking at this kind of artwork, you can tell the level of the artist by how fine those details are,” Martinelli says, admiring it all during a lunch rush.

The teahouse, by its description, offers “an extraordinary setting that is unlike any other in our hemisphere.” It is an ornate, manmade landmark to match Boulder’s natural ones — an equally captivating sight here between a rose garden and a melodious creek. It is the

result of more than 40 artistic hands that went to work halfway across the world in the late 1980s.

From Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the mountainous country between China and Afghanistan, came the pieces to be reassembled in Boulder. The pieces “offer a glimpse into the lavish Persian Empire,” reads a brochure. At the center is a sun-splashed fountain — mimicking reflecting pools of traditional teahouses.

It’s an atmosphere that Martinelli’s family has fostered over the teahouse’s quarter century. Martinelli’s father, Lenny, is the owner and executive chef of a local restaurant group that grew from Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, established in 1998.

As the cities on either side of the globe were arranging the structure, Lenny “looked at it and said, ‘That would be a cool restaurant,’” his son says. Boulder officials agreed to the pitch. It

would be a restaurant to showcase the kind of cuisine that inspired Lenny’s culinary track: cuisine from around the world.

So it is at the teahouse, where plov represents something you’d eat in Tajikistan: rice, beef, vegetables and spices. The menu bounces from a Mediterranean salad to a Slavic salad; from Mexican chilaquiles to Asian curry; from Austrian crepes to Korean pan-fried noodles; from an Italian panino to a Moroccan steak sandwich and much more.

The tea menu is a far-flung tour as well. It’s a tour of the senses: bold and sweet, floral and fruity, nutty and piney. The black and green teas might be familiar, the yellow and white teas less so, and even less so rooibos tea (“redbush” from South Africa) and pu’er tea (a fermenting tradition from China’s Yunnan Province).

“It’s all following along with that theme of cultural exchange,” Martinelli says.

Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse came from Tajikistan in 1998. Parker Seibold

A diner and a dream

By Seth Boster

Greek immigrant’s remarkable tale lives on nearly a century later

Sam’s No. 3 in Denver. Stephen Swofford

DENVER

• One spring morning in 1936, after years of trying to track him down, federal agents finally delivered an illegal immigrant to a courtroom.

He was a Greek man named Efstathios Armatas. For more than a decade, he’d gone by Sam Andrews. That’s how the judge that day knew him: Sam of Sam’s No. 3 and other beloved diners that spotted downtown.

“The judge looks up and says, ‘Sam, what are you doing here?’” says Sam’s son, Spero Armatas. “And he says, ‘Well, Judge, I have a story to tell you.’”

It was a story of a boy who came to America in 1910 to work on the railroad, to live in a boxcar and send money back home to his poor village; of a boy who was made a man by the war that brought him back to Greece; of a man desperate to return to America despite immigration laws against him. In 1924, the story goes, Armatas jumped ship near the New York Harbor and swam toward a new destiny.

The near future would see him pouring red chili, flipping burgers and hot dogs, and working day and night for adoring customers in Denver. That included the judge who faced him that morning in 1936.

“The judge told the FBI guys, ‘You guys can leave, I’m gonna release Sam into my custody,’” Spero says. “After that, you couldn’t find a better American than my dad.”

And today, many around town say you can’t find a better American diner than

Sam’s No. 3.

Yes, nearly 100 years later, the name lives on.

That’s thanks to Spero, 84, whose sons lovingly call him the “unsilent partner” in the business. The three boys — Sam, Alex and Patrick — run the restaurant downtown, close to their grandfather’s original spot, along with the Sam’s No. 3 in Glendale.

Much has changed from Sam Armatas’ original shop, including the preference from red to green chili. The brothers report the two locations pouring 24 gallons a day — popularly atop huge breakfast burritos. Also popular: the bloody marys, representing the modern brunch concept Sam

Armatas likely never imagined.

“And yes, that original little menu turned into this 16-page hot mess,” reads the history on today’s menu.

One flips between omelets, pancakes, burgers, hot dogs, soups, salads, chicken, gyros and other Greek and Mexican specialties. “Something for everyone,” the brothers like to say. Emphasis on “everyone.”

Anyone and everyone could be found across the 19 stools of the original Sam’s, Spero remembers. He remembers ladies of the night and gangsters. “And people from the city and county, bankers would come in, attorneys would come in. All walks of life would come in.”

As they still do today.

The

Back to his roots

By Daliah Singer

Grilled Beets over Yucatan Tomato & Pepita Spread, Goat Cheese and Pinche Salsa Macha. Casey Wilson

It took 20 years, but Erasmo Casiano is finally cooking his own food.

The chef, known fondly as Ras, is of Mexican descent. But he has spent most of his career making upscale Italian, Southern and American cuisine.

That changed amid pandemic closures that forced business owners to get creative to stay afloat. Casiano and business partner Diego Coconati hosted a pop-up dinner with a Latin American menu — and began to rethink what they were doing in the kitchen.

“Why are we not appreciating our culture as much as we value French cuisine, Italian ... ?” Casiano recalled wondering. “Why are we not appreciating rice and beans for what they are? Arroz congri (a black beans and rice recipe from Cuba) is a beautiful dish that takes a lot of time to make; it takes more time to make than making a pasta dough, pizza dough. There are a lot of nuances in flavors, in timing.”

The food world’s elite seem to agree: In March 2022, the business partners opened Lucina Eatery & Bar in Denver. This year, they were named James Beard semifinalists in the best chef: mountain category.

Casiano became hooked on kitchens as a teenager. Born and raised in the Dallas area, he began his food career scooping ice cream. He relished the feeling of making people smile. That sense of achievement remained even as he transitioned to the burger and fries station.

“I really enjoyed the process of making something for somebody,” he said. “It sparked my joy of cooking.”

Casiano quickly built a name for himself, working his way to sous chef level at fine dining eateries in Texas. Eventually, in 2009, he made his way to

Colorado chef finds success with Latin American cuisine

Colorado.

It wasn’t an easy adjustment. For the first two weeks, he slept in his car; it became his mobile home on and off for a period, as did restaurant colleagues’ couches. Slowly, he built himself up, working in the kitchens at CRÚ Food & Wine Bar, Cafe Colore and North Italia.

Then Casiano was diagnosed with a degenerative disc disease. At times, he couldn’t walk. (He’s had four back surgeries; the most recent was a multilevel spinal fusion in 2018.)

So he transitioned again, this time to teaching at the now-shuttered Kitchen Table Cooking School. A chance meeting with Coconati set Casiano on the path to his next life. The business partners first opened their own culinary school, Create Kitchen & Bar, at the Stanley Marketplace. During the pandemic, they shifted to virtual cooka-longs and, when things started to open back up, small group dinners.

For one event, Casiano and Coconati, who was born in Argentina and raised in Puerto Rico, designed a menu that was entirely Latin American. The response was effusive. Empanadas, mofongo, paella, mojo-marinated pork with arroz congri — diners wanted to know where they could find these dishes around town. Casiano directed them to an array of food trucks, but the spark of a restaurant idea had been lit.

The pair (along with co-owner Michelle Nguyen) eventually opened

Lucina. It was initially planned as an Italian, pizza–focused spot, but the support from customers and friends changed the vision. “I’ve been cooking professionally for 28 years. Five years ago, I finally felt comfortable ... being able to show those dishes that I grew up with,” Coconati said.

The mural–decorated restaurant is named after Casiano’s mother, Santa Lucina. It’s designed to be “a culinary education,” he said. He wants everyone to have their senses piqued enough to “keep asking questions: where is this from and why am I just now tasting it?” Many of the dishes are based on family recipes and memories. The churrasco y papas, for example, is derived from a meal that Coconati’s mom made regularly.

This summer, Casiano further expanded Denverites’ palates as Xiquita opened in August. Focused on the gastronomic melting pot that is Mexico City, the eatery was named to Bon Appétit’s list of must-visit restaurants before it had served its first patron.

The menu, developed alongside chef Rene Gonzalez Mendez, is built around the three sisters, or tres hermanas, of agriculture: corn, squash and beans.

“It’s that natural progression over the past 20-something years of being in kitchens,” Casiano said. “Why have I not been paying attention to my own cultures? ... I want people to really understand it’s not necessarily about the food, but it’s a story that it’s telling.”

Chef Erasmo Casiano. Casey Wilson

On the menu

KOREAN

• Tong Tong Korean Restaurant: As much as it tries to hide in an unassuming strip mall off South Academy Boulevard, more and more people find the bulgogi and kalbi worthy of high praise.

• San Chang House Korean Restaurant: Enjoy a menu ranging from familiar chicken teriyaki and dumplings to less familiar beef rib soup and stirfried rice cake.

• Korean Garden: Customers come back for the generous portions and the sizzling, upbeat dine-in experience.

SETH BOSTER

On the menu

THAI

• Thai Mint Restaurant: Eatery features signature soups, curries and stir-fried dishes to go with everybody’s favorite pad Thai.

• NaRai Thai Restaurant: The name is for a Thai king of yore — the kind of royalty this cuisine aims to please.

• Thai Basil: From the long menu, the north-side eatery lists some of the most popular, including pad Thai, panang curry and satay chicken.

SETH BOSTER

By Seth Boster

STAMPED WITH approval

Michelin Guide takes note of several Colorado restaurants

A plate at The Wolf’s Tailor in Denver.

Courtesy photo

Colorado joined prestigious culinary ranks last year when the Michelin Guide picked restaurants to add to its worldwide list of recommendations.

They were restaurants in Denver, Boulder and the state’s central mountains — additions to a French-rooted tradition long trusted by travelers with serious appetites.

Michelin Guide’s anonymous inspectors fanned out to find the finest flavors for various recognitions.

Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder. Casey Wilson

Brutø in Denver. Jeff Fierberg

Brutø in Denver. Jeff Fierberg

ONE STAR

Beckon, Denver: Michelin’s greatest honor is yet one more temptation for people trying to snag a ticket to this intimate, 18-seat experience in RiNo. The food alternates with the seasons and creative whims of Chef Duncan Holmes.

Bosq, Aspen: Michelin’s inspectors are the latest to be mesmerized by the concept that counts on wild foraging, fermenting and local farms. They noted butter from nearby cows, handpicked spruce tips and fish grilled over juniper wood.

Brutø, Denver: Here the approach blends the modern (grains milled in-house) and old school (cooking on a hearth) to achieve an unforgettable take on Mexican. Inspectors praised the lamb and gave bonus points for the zero-waste ethos.

Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder: It’s become a destination on Pearl Street thanks to Chef Ian Palazzola’s niche cuisine. Wrote inspectors: “Focused and distinct, the menu might showcase a lesser-known part of Italy, but the ingredients are clearly Coloradan.”

The Wolf’s Tailor, Denver: The name is odd and bold, and that might aptly describe the multi-course menu found in the Sunnyside neighborhood. Inspectors credited the “genre-defying style” that dances between Nordic, Italian and East Asian, and gave a nod also to the organic and recycled ingredients.

BIB GOURMAND (GOOD QUALITY, GOOD VALUE)

AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, Denver: Michelin inspectors loved the “classic momand-pop spot” on the city’s south side, serving “a feast of properly smoked meat” and custard-stuffed cornbread.

Ash’Kara, Denver: In the Highland neighborhood, the Israeli specialities were raved as “thoughtful” and “full-flavored” and “made with high-quality ingredients and a bit of extra style.”

Basta, Boulder: This nook opened in 2010 with a single wood-fired oven and a mission to plate some of Boulder’s best Italian food. Mission accomplished, according to inspectors.

The Ginger Pig, Denver: Chef-owner Natascha Hess has come a long way from food truck to brick-and-mortar in the Berkeley neighborhood, gaining acclaim for curries, noodle bowls, Korean fried chicken and Hong Kong French toast.

Glo Noodle House, Denver: Inspectors came by a Ramen surprise in what they called a “run-of-the-mill strip mall” along 38th Avenue. Not to be missed: the sweet and savory skewer of marinated tofu, miso peach jam and almond-and-sesame candy crumble.

Hop Alley, Denver: The sleek Chinese joint is a bona fide hit across RiNo’s ever-expanding foodie playground. Inspectors savored modern twists of old classics.

La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal, Denver: At this hideout a few blocks from Coors Field, inspectors noted tasty, colorful broths and pork done just right. The restaurant honors the traditional ways of pozole and the drink that pairs best with the soup; the mezcal list goes on and on.

Mister Oso, Denver: The Latin American eatery adds yet another Michelin mark to RiNo. Mister Oso’s tacos and ceviches also can be found in Wash Park. Tavernetta, Denver: Tavernetta aims to bring “la dolce vita” to 16th Street. According to the Michelin notes, life is sweeter with the crostini primavera — a colorful, creamy spread over fresh sourdough.

Ash’Kara in Denver. Creative Group

Hop Alley in Denver. Adam Bove

OTHER SELECTED RESTAURANTS

• Guard and Grace, Denver: A steakhouse emphasizing wood fire and “avant-garde pairings”

• A5 Steakhouse, Denver: Downtown splurge for surf and turf

• Hey Kiddo, Denver: Upscale American that stays as playful as the name

• Potager Restaurant & Wine Bar, Denver: Father-daughter duo is behind this farm-to-table favorite

• Noisette Restaurant and Bakery, Denver: French fine dining in the Highland neighborhood

• Barolo Grill, Denver: The tastes of Northern Italy paired with exceptional wines

• Q House, Denver: Chinese shareables including smoked wagyu brisket lo mein and crab & bacon fried rice

• Restaurant Olivia, Denver: Colorful, innovative pastas in the Wash Park neighborhood

• Fruition Restaurant, Denver: Cuisine aiming to honor Colorado’s farms and ranches

• Smok, Denver: By its own account: “an easy-going barbecue vibe with high expectations of a fine-dining chef”

• Mercantile Dining & Provision, Denver: The same brains behind Fruition with an elevated focus on comfort

• Safta, Denver: Find the expected (hummus, babaganoush) and unexpected (duck matzo ball soup, duck leg confit)

• Marco’s Coal-Fired, Denver: Neapolitan pizza served just blocks from the ball park

• Temaki Den, Denver: A go-to for sushi in RiNo, blending tradition with modern twists

• Dio Mio, Denver: Boasting high-end pasta in a fast-casual space

• Stella’s Cucina, Boulder: Artistic, musical atmosphere that engages the senses along with ornate, Italian dishes

• Boulder Dushanbe Tea House, Boulder: One-of-akind building with a menu to match the Eastern architecture

• Oak at Fourteenth, Boulder: A head-turner on Pearl Street with decadent American fare

• Santo, Boulder: New Mexican eats inspired by the chef’s home of Taos

• Bramble & Hare, Boulder: Bistro concept, including atypical charcuterie of lamb, pork and chicken

• Blackbelly, Boulder: Burgers, steaks and more, with meats butchered on-site

• Zoe Ma Ma, Boulder: Chinese street food easy to grab off Pearl Street

• Prospect, Aspen: Inside historic Hotel Jerome, multicourse dinners take one on Colorado-themed ventures

• Element 47, Aspen: Part of The Little Nell, it’s the socalled “finest spot to wine, dine and unwind”

• Mawa’s Kitchen, Aspen: Menu packed with worldly fusion by African chef and owner

• Wyld, Avon: Sophisticated, thoughtful plates that delight inside The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch

• Mirabelle at Beaver Creek, Avon: A greenhouse abuts the restaurant, symbolizing the pledge to fresh ingredients

• Splendido at the Chateau, Avon: A live piano serenades tables of elegant cuisine

• Osaki’s Sushi & Japanese Cuisine, Vail: Serving the best of Japan, from snow crab to “foie gras of the sea”

• Sweet Basil, Vail: Octopus al pastor tacos and a short rib Reuben among a sampling of surprises at last glance

La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal in Denver. Nemo, Twist and Tailor

Mister Oso in Denver. Eric Donzella

On the menu

GERMAN

• Edelweiss German Restaurant: One is transported to Europe by the decor, schnitzels and musicians in lederhosens.

• Uwe’s German Restaurant: It’s all about authentic comfort food in the middle of Knob Hill neighborhood.

• Wimberger’s Old World Bakery & Delicatessen: Loyal patrons know to skip the supermarket for these breads and pastries made with love.

SETH BOSTER

CRAVEABLE CHICKEN FINGER MEALS™

On the menu

VIETNAMESE

• Pho-nomenal Vietnamese Restaurant: The name says it all, according to fans whose cravings are met here off Powers Boulevard.

• Saigon Cafe: The sleek, downtown eatery abides by what it calls the “fundamentals” of Vietnamese cooking: “Freshness of food, harmony of textures, modern expression and flavorful uses of herbs and vegetables.”

• Pho & Grill Vietnamese Cuisine: While some go for Pho-nomenal, some opt for the pho, spring rolls and other staples at this shop a few miles down the road.

SETH BOSTER

CIDER CRAZE

By Seth Boster

A colorful array of ciders at Fenceline Cider’s western Colorado taproom in Mancos.

Along with hopes and dreams, some of Colorado’s pioneers carried apple seeds.

There was Arthur Gypsum of Greeley, credited with an apple orchard in the early 1870s that helped the northern Front Range become known as “the fruit basket of the West.” The state was said to be one of America’s top apple producers, thanks also to William Pabor. He’s thought to be one of the first to plant apple trees in the Grand Valley, going on to establish the town of Fruita.

Today, that valley’s reputation is for peaches and grapes at the heart of an admirable wine industry. As for apples, they went by the wayside amid Colorado’s harsh climate and economic trends that shifted elsewhere. Now the apple is back in a big, bold way.

This century has seen cider enter Colorado’s boozy mainstream.

Yes, craft beer and wine still rule. But increasingly drinkers have turned to some two dozen cideries that have sprouted around every corner of the state — pouring cool, crisp, sweet and fragrant concoctions honoring that storied fruit.

Here’s a look at some favorite makers:

• Big B’s Delicious Orchards: ”Play and explore” is the motto of Big B’s, which traces its western Colorado roots to 1973, long before the hard cider craze. The beverage is now the big draw at the 30 acres in Hotchkiss. Families eat at the cafe, pick fruit from the trees, dance to live

Colorado’s long history with the apple continues

music and crash at the campground.

• Colorado Cider Co.: It’s one of the most important names in the state industry, rising in 2011 in Denver to widely whet Colorado’s cider appetite. The company has overseen thousands of acres on the Western Slope where a bunch of apple varieties have grown — growing like the ambitions behind blends found in Lakewood and Fort Collins taprooms. Those taprooms operate in partnership with Locust Cider.

• Fenceline Cider: ”Fenceline” refers to the apples that historically grew wild along the fences of rural America thanks to birds that dropped seeds — including here along the rural outskirts of Mancos. Fenceline has created cider from those wild apples, said to be “truly one-of-a-kind, ripe with the tannins and acidity we seek.” They are enjoyed at the Mancos River-side taproom.

• Haykin Family Cider: The Aurora tasting room is bright and airy, not so unlike the bubbly ciders here that have been likened to sparkling wine. But make no mistake with grapes; Haykin is serious about bringing the best out of apples. That explains the awards that have racked up since the venue’s 2018 start.

• Stem Ciders: While brewery hopping is common in Denver’s

RiNo neighborhood, friends are wise to take a detour to Stem’s corner. They are especially wise to venture to the Lafayette restaurant called Acreage. It’s the gorgeous representation of Stem’s success with ciders that have played with coffee, pear, hibiscus and more — all enjoyed with a mountain view from Acreage’s scenic hilltop.

• St. Vrain Cidery: The Longmont taproom claims to be Colorado’s largest committed to ciders, boasting 36 varieties from state crafters. What started in 2015 with a conversation about the lack of cider options around town turned into an ultimate celebration of the drink. It’s a proud place of tried-and-true concepts and experiments on the verge.

• Talbott’s Cider Co.: A farming family doesn’t survive six generations without adapting to the times. The sixth generation, of course, has added cider to the vast array of products raised here in Palisade. The menu recently showed a green chili-inspired cider. And, yes, of course there’s a Palisade peach cider.

• Wild Cider: Where the apple once reigned in northern Colorado, it is now the star of a “cider garden.” Firestone patrons gather in this land-and-sky space for truly wild takes on cider. Seasonal varieties have mixed in orange cranberry, mango, spiced apple pie and lemon basil.

Pizza, please

By Seth Boster

8 FINE SPOTS TO VISIT IN COLORADO

In Colorado, pizza makes sense. This is a tourist state, and what tourist doesn’t want pizza? This is an outdoorsy state, and after a long day in the mountains, what’s better than pizza? Coloradans know what’s better: pizza and beer — a match made in the craft beer heaven that is the Centennial State.

Pizza is everywhere, of course. But some pizzerias have risen above the rest to become household names around the state.

High Mountain Pies. Jerilee Bennett

Beau Jo’s, multiple locations

We all know Chicago-style and New York-style. Colorado-style? That’s the claim of Beau Jo’s. The crust rises and rolls like the mountains, popularly dipped in honey. Lesser known but also beloved: the thin crust “prairie pies.” Since the 1970s origins in Idaho Springs, locations have expanded to Evergreen, Fort Collins, Steamboat Springs and the Denver area.

Blue Pan, Denver

Take it from the Food Network’s Guy Fieri: “It’s dynamite.” It’s Detroit-style pizza done right, started by Michigan natives and named for the shallow auto mechanic pan said to have launched the legendary pie. Fittingly, the four corners resemble Colorado on a map. And, true to Colorado, one specialty is called the Prospector, incorporating green chiles with sausage, chopped garlic and sauteed mushrooms.

Fat Sully’s, Colorado Springs and Denver

It’s not your average New York-style pizza. There is nothing average about a 26-inch pizza. If you’re struggling to picture that, consider other pizzerias on this list offer larges of 14-18 inches. If you’ve lived around Denver long enough, you already know. If it’s just you — minus the small army needed to take down the 26 inches — you’ve probably ordered a “big ass slice,” as it’s listed.

High Mountain Pies, Leadville

Curious things happen in the small, blue house-turned-destination restaurant. First: a doughy, homemade crust that would seem difficult to achieve at these elevations (Leadville sits above 10,000 feet). Second: the Crocodile. That’s the name of the pizza slathered in barbecue sauce and cream cheese, topped with shrimp, bacon and jalapeno. And, yes, it’s among the most popular of the very curious go-tos here.

The Hot Tomato, Fruita

Mountain biking brought Jen Zeuner and Anne Keller to western Colorado’s canyon country. They missed the pizza of their home New York. So they brought it to Fruita in 2005, building an institution almost as synonymous with the little town as the singletrack. Like the surrounding trails, you pick the flavor: something classic or funky, such as the seasonal option topped with nearby Palisade peaches.

Secret Stash, Crested Butte

There’s a clear Eastern culture around Crested Butte, what with the Tibetan prayer flags, the backdrop peak appearing fit for Nepal and several mom-and-pop eateries, including the brewpub serving Himalayan. The massively popular pizzeria takes on the theme as well. Our favorite is the Thai pizza, though the Notorious F.I.G. has won awards: figs, blue cheese, prosciutto, asiago, mozzarella and truffle oil.

Slice 420, Colorado Springs

We prefaced this list with the mention of “household names.” Across Colorado, Slice 420 is not that — but it seems on its way. The joint burst onto the Springs’ pizza scene in 2017 and has opened a second location. Fresh ingredients are well showcased with the Sofia, a harmony of hard cheeses, pepperoni, caramelized onions, hot cherry peppers, basil and piped ricotta over an olive oil-garlic base.

Woody’s Wood-Fired Pizza, Golden

The line often stretches out the door to Washington Avenue. Waves of visitors join local families who have made Woody’s a favorite gathering place since 1993. The family-owned restaurant has grown since starting with a modest, wood-fired pizza oven. The honey-semolina dough recipe continues, along with the soup and salad bar.

The Hot Tomato. Christian Murdock

Slice 420. Jeff Kearney

By Daliah Singer

PERFECT LANDINGS

Familiar names join DIA lineup

There’s plenty to complain about when traveling through Denver International Airport — the never-ending construction of the Great Hall and long security lines come to mind — but there’s one thing we can all celebrate: the food.

In recent years, DIA has become a billboard for local eateries, bars and coffee shops. And more delicious stopovers are on the way. Here are the 13 spots we’re most excited about. They might just make flight delays a little more bearable.

Concourse A

The A gates grew a lot more exciting in 2022 when Mercantile Dining & Provision opened, joining Denver Central Market in bringing a downtown feel to the outlying airport. That vibe is being nurtured further with the forthcoming additions of Tocabe, a popular American Indian restaurant known for its fry bread tacos; Uncle, where there’s always a line for house-made ramens; and fresh baked goods and refined American plates from The Bindery.

The suburbs are getting some representation too: The Bagel Deli & Restaurant, which has been serving Jewish classics in the Hampden neighborhood since 1967, is also debuting on the west side of the concourse.

Drinks aren’t being overlooked. Take a load off at Williams & Graham. The Highland speakeasy is all about well-crafted, inventive cocktails. It’s sure to provide a welcome break from the quick pint that travelers usually grab while on the move.

Concourse B

A caffeine hot spot with two locations in Cherry Creek, Aviano Coffee is bringing its artisanal blends and modern-comfortable vibe to B-West (a second site is opening in C-East).

B gate travelers looking for a more substantial bite can soon visit El Chingon Bistro for a Mexico City–inspired menu and Mizu Sushi-Izakaya for fresh fish and creative takes on classic Japanese eats.

They join Salt & Grinder and Tacos Tequila Whiskey, both of which opened this year.

Concourse C

You might be thinking: Concourse C already has Little Man Ice Cream — what more does it need? The answer: crave-worthy Latin eats from Señor Bear, scratch-made pastas and wood-fired pizzas from Bar Dough, and soup dumplings from ChoLon.

Of course, more caffeine is always welcome on travel days, and Dazbog Coffee is cementing its presence among the airport’s farthest gates.

Peter Scott Barta

Peter Scott Barta

Alex Pauli

INDIAN

• Little Nepal: Since the eatery opened in 2007, local diners haven’t been able to get enough — as evidenced by two locations and the lunch buffet.

• Urban Tandoor Indian Lounge: The promise is using “the freshest ingredients to create flavorful, aromatic dishes that you won’t find anywhere else.”

• Turmeric Indian Cuisine: The restaurant boasts samosas, naan, tikka masala and curries galore.

MIDDLE EASTERN/GREEK

• Heart of Jerusalem Cafe: In 2007, Hussein Abukhdeir brought the tastes of his family’s homeland to town in a fast, affordable way. The babaganoush, falafel and gyros are beloved at three locations.

• Jake & Telly’s Greek Taverna: Stop by this Old Colorado City mainstay that honors the Greek foods of the founder’s grandparents.

• Caspian Cafe: Discover the bright, fresh flavors of the Mediterranean in an upscale setting.

SETH

BOSTER

JUST ADD love

Japanese bakery holds special connection for mother, daughter

By Seth Boster

BROOMFIELD • Maki Fairbanks finally got to sit down at her bakery, but now she rises to address a discrepancy in a cake order. Something about the icing. Not a big deal, the customer insists. But Fairbanks is ashamed, a cursed perfectionist. Her daughter stops her. “I got it,” assures Elissa, 25.

Fairbanks smiles and looks on, ever the proud mother here at The Enchanted Oven.

The name comes from a nickname Elissa had in Japan. “E-chan” is the pronunciation, Fairbanks explains, roughly translating to “dear one,” as

baby Elissa was to her mother and grandmother in their native country.

As Fairbanks contemplated what to call the business that opened in 2019, “enchanted” sounded similar to the nickname.

“And, to me, this is Elissa’s oven,” Fairbanks says.

Elissa was the inspiration for the goodies that fly out of the store today. You’d be wise to arrive before noon.

The particular cakes and pastries have become favorites for a particular customer base. It is an Asian base thrilled to

The Enchanted Oven. Timothy Hurst

find the delights of their faraway home here in Colorado — the likes of strawberry vanilla cake, jiggly cheesecake and milk bread — and a growing base of Americans discovering tastes not as decadent as they’ve come to expect in their desserts.

Fairbanks comes in the middle of the night to start baking. The process is a science of time, low temperatures and certain measurements, and there are only so many hours. This explains the inventory that might lack late in the afternoon.

She has a hard time putting out products that aren’t quite right. The custard bun, for example. It represents the subtle flavor and softness that are hallmarks to Japanese baking, “like a fluffy cloud,” Fairbanks says.

The custard bun also represents her foray into baking. As Fairbanks worked as a translator traveling between Japan and Colorado, taking her little girl along, Elissa came to love those custard buns. She couldn’t find them back in America, so her mom went to work.

What started as a way to spoil her daughter became a passion to spoil others; friends and friends of friends started ordering ornate cakes they saw pictured on Facebook. And in the middle of a divorce, “it was very therapeu-

tic,” Fairbanks says. “It gave me time to be away from the chaos that was going on.”

Then The Enchanted Oven came along. Mother and daughter were back in the kitchen, back to making those

custard buns.

There were long days and hard nights. But they laugh thinking about it now.

“I feel like baking brought us really close together,” Elissa says.

The Enchanted Oven founder and baker Maki Fairbanks, left, with her daughter, Elissa. Timothy Hurst

SHOP One-stop

By Seth Boster

AURORA • Doug McMurrain is raising a village.

Seven long years after he first came to the abandoned Kmart here along East Colfax Avenue, customers have finally started to fill the parking lot.

‘Village’ of Hispanic food, culture close to completion in Colorado

What started in 2017 with clearing trash — “seriously, like 40 bags of trash,” McMurrain said — is now close to the fully realized, 100,000-square-foot space that he indeed calls “a village”

La Plaza Colorado mimics a Hispanic neighborhood, complete with all the goods and services you’d imagine — and also the big fountain and pool in the middle of commerce.

“Handmade in Mexico,” McMurrain said beside the water this summer.

In La Plaza’s first summer open, vendors were found selling clothes and accessories, along with toys, candy, art and souvenirs. Kids ran around the playground in the back, conveniently beside an ice cream stand. By the adjacent arcade and concert stage, McMurrain pointed to a wall, where he planned a massive screen to show soccer games, boxing matches and other sports. El Matador Bar is conveniently around the corner.

A nail salon here, a barbershop there, a law office in another stall across the way. “Got a tattoo parlor coming in here,” McMurrain said. He also was expecting a bank, medical clinic and med spa.

And then the two “anchors” of La Plaza: the Hispanic grocery to fill one side of the building, and 24 food pop-ups to fill the center.

In the meantime, food trucks have been posted outside. Come fall, McMurrain expects everyone to be inside.

“We will have the largest Hispanic food hall in the United States right here in Aurora,” he said.

He’s excited about his own food, smashburgers and pizzas with unusual toppings true to La Plaza’s theme: birria, al pastor and grasshoppers. The expected and unexpected — that’s the idea for the food here.

There will be tacos, of course, while Latin-style sushi also is planned. Another vendor

looks to serve spicy wings, while another looks to cook chicken in a traditional way out back.

“Salvadorian food, Colombian food, Honduran food, Venezuelan food,” McMurrain said. “We’ll have many regions of Mexico represented here.”

The ultimate goal: “To make this the capital for the Hispanic community in the state of Colorado.”

McMurrain saw Atlanta’s Plaza Fiesta become that for Georgia.

Amid a career developing Walmarts, Targets and The Home Depots around the country, McMurrain rolled out that Latin-themed mall in 2000.

“We paid $10.5 million,” he said. Six years later, he said he sold it for $56 million. In 2022, Plaza Fiesta reportedly sold for $86 million.

McMurrain sees the profitability of La Plaza Colorado. The “Colorado” in the name is strategic.

“Denver will be our hub,” he said, “but my goal is to take this model and replicate it in other major markets in the United States.”

Markets with the customer base and talent pool. Markets such as Aurora, where about 30% of the population is Hispanic, according to census data. (Colorado’s population as a whole is closer to 22%.)

The community was there to meet Atlanta’s Plaza Fiesta, McMurrain recalled, just as he sees the community here in Aurora. He recalled the words of a master’s thesis that came out of his former marketplace: “Whatever Latin American country a person has come from, they could feel as if they were home at Plaza Fiesta.”

And without the costs of their own brick and mortar, cooks and creators had a lower-cost entry to business, McMurrain observed. “This is business incubation at its core,” he said.

Yes, with La Plaza Colorado, profitability was top of mind. But so were those sentiments of home and livelihoods — something that could not be said for his big box stores.

“More rewarding than all 13 Walmarts put together,” McMurrain said. “It’s real, you know?”

La Plaza Colorado in Aurora. Stephen Swofford

On the menu

FRENCH

• La Baguette: Patrons swear by the French onion soup, which pairs well with artisan bread at this Old Colorado City eatery.

• Marigold Cafe & Bakery: One of the finer go-to restaurants in town, featuring simple, elegant entrees and irresistible desserts.

• The French Kitchen: People don’t just taste the difference of French food at this cafe, market and bakery. They learn it from regular classes.

SETH BOSTER

On the menu

JAMAICAN

• Rasta Pasta: An unlikely concept has stood the test of time in Colorado Springs — Caribbean-inspired pastas to the constant tune of reggae.

• High Grade Foods Jamaican Restaurant & Bar: Chef/owner Everton Cameron serves classics from his homeland including braised oxtails, curry lamb and much more.

• Dainty’s Jamaican Kitchen: The name fits the building easy to miss downtown. But the flavors are anything but dainty.

SETH BOSTER

Broadmoor’s culinary success due largely to chefs from afar

International influence

By Seth Boster

Executive pastry chef Franck Labasse adjusts the chocolate Eiffel Tower he made for Cafe Julie’s at The Broadmoor. Christian Murdock

Inside The Broadmoor, atop a case of shiny chocolates and ornate pastries, there often is perched a tray of cylindrical sweets unfamiliar to the American eye.

This is canelé.

However small, the delicacy sends a big message about the fine dining scene at the historic resort in Colorado Springs: It is a scene shaped by immigrants.

Shaped by people such as Franck Labasse. He’s The Broadmoor’s executive pastry chef behind the desserts found in Cafe Julie’s, including the canelé.

It is a divine bite, crunchy on the caramelized outside, moist in the custard center with subtle hints of rum and vanilla. It is how Labasse’s grandmother made it back in France, from his small childhood village.

“From 5 years old, I was doing the pastry with my grandmother,” Labasse says. “I knew that was my goal for my life. That was it.”

Rita Perez, chef de cuisine

Franck Labasse, Executive pastry chef

Rocio Neyra Palmer, chef de cuisine

It was on to French pastry school, on to Paris, on to New York and Las Vegas, where Labasse honed his skills under some of the nation’s finest chefs. And then on to The Broadmoor a couple of years ago — on to the macarons, croissants, cakes, tarts and breads that circulate around the resort’s many restaurants, cafes and lounges.

They are but some of the foods crafted by people who come from afar to help deliver The Broadmoor’s proud Forbes fivestar and AAA five-diamond distinctions — distinctions held longer than those of any other resort in the world.

It is a tradition of excellence dating to Louis Stratta. The Italian arrived in 1917 to be the hotel’s first executive chef. The one today, Justin Miller, followed in the footsteps of Austrian-born Siegfried Eisenberger.

“We’ve always had that diverse staffing model here; it’s just kind of in our DNA,” Miller says. “And I think it’s what makes us really great at what we do.”

Kitchens have been largely staffed by culinary students traveling on J-1 visas. Daily across The Broadmoor’s kitchens, something of a cultural exchange ensues between pupils and mentors.

“One day you have a kid from South Africa, one day you might have a kid from Indonesia, El Salvador,” says Rita Perez, a Broadmoor chef who has watched flavorful collaborations since 2019. “It’s very interesting to see how the same ingredient transforms different things and gets everybody excited. It gives our food more character I would say.”

Perez is now chef de cuisine of Restaurant 1858 at Seven Falls. The dinner menu recently included a pork porterhouse served with red pipian, the creamy sauce Perez’s grandmother made back in Mexico City.

Raised there by a busy, hardworking single mother, Perez often found herself in her aunt’s and grandma’s kitchens. She found herself walking the streets of farm stands and momand-pop grab-and-gos tucked amid award-winning sit-downs.

“All these colors and ingredients and smells and everything

The crew in the pastry kitchen at The Broadmoor. Christian Murdock

around,” Perez says. “That was something that really inspired me to follow this career.”

She’s brought other inspirations to 1858’s menu. This summer, grilled trout has been marinated in adobo and topped with pineapple. “It reminds me of al pastor tacos,” Perez says. Elsewhere, in the bright and airy space of Summit, ceviche recalls flavors of Peru.

Chef de cuisine Rocio Neyra Palmer grew up in Lima. She grew up at a time of political tumult and terror, a time of curfews and rations. “Where you could get maybe one pound of sugar or two cans of meat,” Neyra Palmer says. “We made it work somehow.”

Uncles and aunts and cousins would share ingredients and bring their own dishes to frequent family gatherings. Neyra Palmer delighted in these gatherings and other celebrations — occasions in which food was front and center.

She wasn’t much for hugging, nor did she care for dancing and singing. “I’m a very weird Latin American,” she says

with a laugh. “But I had to make my people happy. And to show them that, I say, ‘What do you want to eat?’”

This has been her pleasure at The Broadmoor since 2008 — seeing guests savor tastes of her home.

Neyra Palmer found a new home at the hotel; she met her husband here and continues to bond with people just like her. They are chefs from very different places. And yet, their approaches are quite similar.

“I’m not the only one here who cooks and thinks of their family,” Neyra Palmer says.

Perez is another. She’ll be surrounded in the kitchen by students like she once was — young people from around the world here to learn the finest culinary ways at one of the finest resorts out there.

Perez doesn’t let them forget where they came from.

“It’s something I tell my cooks every time,” she says. “The dish you’re serving right now is for the person you love the most.”

NATIVE

Indigenous cuisine is what’s on the menu at Tocabe mission

By Seth Boster

DENVER • When thinking of a restaurant to showcase Indigenous cuisine, it was hard for Ben Jacobs to know where to start.

He considered traditions of his Osage Nation, while also considering countless other traditions within nearly 575 federally recognized American Indian tribes and villages, among others not recognized.

“It’s interesting,” Jacobs says. “I always say we’re the oldest cultures on the continent but

in many ways have the youngest cuisine because it’s not clearly defined.”

He thought of the broadly recognized three sisters: corn, bean and squash. He thought of the once-mighty animal that roamed the West, the bison that tribes hunted before white men nearly wiped them out.

Jacobs thought of his grandmother’s fry bread. He thought of that proud woman rolling dough ball after dough ball before the chewy, crispy-edged

Indian taco at Tocabe

Timothy Hurst

bread reached the family’s table.

Tocabe started in 2008 with fry bread — a rather controversial decision, Jacobs knew. He’s a student of Native history; it was the focus of his thesis at the University of Denver. He knew fry bread was rooted in forced relocation and slim government rations. To some, it is a symbol of perseverance. To others, a symbol of pain.

“Some people are 100% for it, some people are 100% against it, and then there’s people in between,” Jacobs says. “So, yeah, it’s a very difficult conversation. But that is the Native community. Most things are a very difficult conversation.”

And that is another purpose of Tocabe — to be a place where those conversations can be had.

Go ahead, Jacobs encourages: Ask about the colorful, unfamiliar ingredients you see in the assembly line. Your choices for a “base” are fry bread, fresh out of the kitchen, or corn chips, rice, quinoa or lettuce. Protein is your next decision — bison, beef, chicken or vegan beans — followed by several vegetables and sauces.

Overwhelmed? Go with the suggested combo for an Indian taco: fry bread under a pile of shredded bison, chili

beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, Ancho chipotle and the specialty Osage hominy salsa — a chilled, sweet and savory blend of cranberries, red onions and jalapeños.

Or perhaps you’d prefer the “Tocabe Favorite:” the bison ribs, which come with a berry-based barbecue sauce. One

note about the ribs: They might take awhile. The ribs are a reminder that, while Tocabe is fast and casual, quality is paramount.

The tenet above all: “Native first, local second,” Jacobs says. “It’s always more important for us to put our food budget back into Native communities first.”

Bison ribs and fry bread at Tocabe. Timothy Hurst

Through three generations, Jewish deli marches on

DENVER • Tom Craft walks into The Bagel Deli & Restaurant, where owner Jared Kaplan and others behind the counter are slicing meats to stack on rye while shouting at customers for orders.

“Whaddya need?” goes Kaplan’s common line.

PILED HIGH

By Seth Boster

Craft wants a — “I know, I know,” Kaplan says, cutting off the regular. Another Reuben piled high, half corned beef, half pastrami.

More importantly, “How’s your boy doing?” Kaplan asks.

Craft’s boy is just fine, though surely he would prefer to be here with his dad for another Bagel Deli run.

Craft has been coming for years.

The reason is simple.

“This is the best deli in Denver,” he

Owner Jared Kaplan at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant. Timothy Hurst

says.

The setting is as unassuming as the name itself, The Bagel Deli, which would be easy to miss were it not for the neon sign above the door.

The light has been seen shining at night, just as it did in the early years. It could very well represent light in darkness — light that was hard to find for a young couple escaping the Holocaust.

Paul and Lola Weiner, immigrants from Austria, arrived to Denver in 1939. They went on to open The Bagel Deli in 1967.

Today, their grandson Jared keeps a helpful guide out front. It’s a guide for non-Jewish customers, translating items to be found inside: A blintz is a crepe, it explains; a knish a stuffed pastry; challah a braided egg bread; latke like “a potato pancake”; lox meaning “Sunday’s breakfast of smoked salmon.”

Also listed is “meshugah,” Yiddish for “crazy,” which is what Paul Weiner would have called his family for once closing the deli to host a TV show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” And there’s “Bubbie,” meaning grandmother — another central figure inside.

Jared’s great-grandmother, Valerie Klurman, is seen in the picture frame behind the counter where many of her recipes are still prepared.

There’s the matzo ball soup, of course. There’s kishke (encased stuffing) and kugel (a noodle casserole). Prake (stuffed cabbage) and Bubbie’s mandel bread, which you might call biscotti.

Then there’s another key ingredient to authenticity: chutzpah (attitude). Jared embodies that. He’s the straighttalking, wise-cracking man in charge now, like his grandfather before him.

But beneath the attitude is tenderness. Jared can’t help but cry at the memory of Papa. He can’t help but cry reflecting on his role now — not only maintaining a business, but a legacy.

That’s Paul Weiner in picture frames on the dining room wall, back in his 10th Mountain Division days. The legendary Army unit was a chapter in a tragic story.

The story began quite the opposite; Paul was highly educated, from a wellto-do family in Vienna. His daughter, Rhoda, shows photos of the family’s high-end apartment and luxury store from back in the capital city.

“Then, of course, Hitler came,” Rhoda says.

In 1939, young Paul fled as part of a hurried, scattered exodus that broke up the family. He arrived in Denver with a girl he knew, Lola, and women

of her family.

Other relatives had been captured and sent to concentration camps. Paul and Lola would build a life together, a life forever changed by death and destruction.

Joining the Army was Paul’s attempt to fast-track U.S. citizenship. He came as an avid skier, suiting him well for the 10th Mountain Division. He came knowing several languages, serving him in Belgium, where he interrogated prisoners of war.

Life would be hard back home. It didn’t feel like home.

“It was a struggle coming to a new country,” Rhoda says. “We lived in a little 900-square-foot house with one bathroom. ... It was really through the generosity of the community, especially the Jewish community, that (my parents) survived.”

They had the synagogue. Lola was active there, cooking for the congregation in the traditional way. She and Paul learned the American way elsewhere. They ran the kitchen at Meadow Hills Golf Course until coming by a for-sale business to make their own in 1967.

The business was called The Bagel Deli. It was originally off 14th Avenue and Krameria Street, “a hub where Jewish people immigrated,” Rhoda remembers. “There was an instant clientele.”

There are more non-Jewish people now, explaining the food guide posted out front. Slow hours are few and far between.

Paul and Lola would be amazed, Rhoda thinks. Her dad died in 1994, followed by her mom. But Rhoda still sees them.

“They’re smiling on us,” she says. “My dad would just be shaking his head, going, ‘Would you look at this?’”

Look at Jared now. His was a long, winding road — from what he called his “black sheep” youth to unsteady years later, bouncing from jobs as a firefighter, a farmhand and a chef.

Papa knew something about tough times.

“My grandfather was my best friend,” Jared says, wiping tears. “He always told me I was gonna be OK.”

He would be OK thanks to what Papa created.

“I pull up here every day and know that I’m keeping his dream and my grandmother’s dream alive,” Jared says.

He sometimes leaves at night under the neon glow of that old sign. It’s a very old sign now.

“We don’t want to take it down and fix it,” Jared says, “because it still flashes every night.”

Dishes at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant include, from top, a Reuben sandwich, matzo ball soup and a Philly sandwich.

Photos by Timothy Hurst

24

FOOD FESTIVALS

for your calendar in ‘24

Aug. 29: Chicken Fight Fest: With more than 50 restaurants represented, competitions will determine the best fried chicken in town. Enjoy a wing eating contest, bourbon and spirits tasting, and live music. Elitch Gardens, Denver, chickenfightfest.com

Aug. 30-Sept. 1: Hogfest: Get up to the high country and live high on the hog with a spectrum of pork samples, premium whiskeys, single-malt scotches and barrel-aged spirits. Breckenridge, gobreck.com

Aug. 31: Oktoberfest: This Labor Day weekend, kick up your heels and raise a beer stein. This festival includes craft beers, bands and German fare. Keystone, keystonefestivals.com

Sept. 4-7: Denver Food + Wine Festival: Visit the Mile High City for four days of food seminars and grand tastings with a cocktail competition Sept. 5. Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus, Denver, denverfoodandwine.com

Sept. 7: Mt. Crested Butte Chili & Beer Festival: This is a gorgeous setting for a celebration of locally made chili and Colorado-brewed beer. Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Mt. Crested Butte, cbchamber.com/ chili-and-beer-festival

Sept. 7: Big Chili Cook-off Music & Arts Festival: Grab a spoon

entertainment, kids’ activities and vendors. Buchanan Park, Evergreen, bigchili.org

Sept. 7: San Luis Valley Potato Festival: Celebrate America’s favorite veggie with a spud run, chef demonstrations and a mashed potato dunk tank. Monte Vista, coloradopotato.org

Sept. 7: Chili and Beer Fest: This spicy, fun-filled day will be highlighted by some of the best chili recipes in the area. Community Park, Superior, superiorcolorado.gov

Sept. 14: Best of the West Wing Fest: It’s the third edition of this festival featuring local brews, live music and piles of chicken wings. Western Museum of Mining & Industry, Colorado Springs, bestofthewestwingfest.com

Sept. 14: Oktoberfest Celebration: There will be German food. There will be music. There will be beer. Oh, and there will be a Dachshund race. Town Center South, Highlands Ranch, tinyurl.com/2v2cpfs4

Sept. 15: Taste of Old Colorado City: Mark your calendar for a day of eating, drinking, shopping and entertainment with more than 20 restaurant and beverage vendors. Bancroft Park, Colorado Springs, shopoldcoloradocity.com

Sept. 17: Taste of Evergreen: Sample mouthwatering food from some of the mountain town’s best restaurants. Lake House, Evergreen, evergreenchamber.org/ taste-of-evergreen

Sept. 20-22: Pueblo Chile & Frijoles Festival: Created to promote the town’s rich agriculture, this three-day event offers cooking competitions and live entertainment. Pueblo, pueblochilefestival.com

Sept. 21: Blues, Brews & BBQ Festival: This weekend trip to the Wet Mountain Valley should include live music, craft beer, locally sourced food and perhaps some stunning autumn colors. Westcliffe, visitwetmountainvalley.com

Sept. 21-22: Sugar Beet Days: A home-

Summer is winding down, but thankfully food shines year-round in Colorado. From potatoes and apples to chili and cheese, here are 24 upcoming festivals with food at their core.

grown celebration that’s been around since 1981, with regional food, entertainment and shopping. Sterling, sugarbeetdays.com

Sept. 22: Loveland Chocolate & Cheese Fest: Loosen the belt, and induldge in a day of chocolate and cheese samplings, shopping and entertainment. The Ranch Events Complex, Loveland, cochocolatefests.com

Sept. 27-28: Oktobrewfest: Come for the brats and stay for the brews, bands and more. Lincoln Park, Greeley, greeleydowntown.com

Sept. 28: Mountain Chile Cha Cha: A spicy celebration of the Southwest green chile harvest with chile roasting, Mexican beer, a margarita contest and more. Pagosa Springs, visitpagosasprings.com

Oct. 4-5: Carbondale Potato Days: There’s plenty to see and do with a Tater Trot Fun Run, parade, BBQ and more. Carbondale, carbondale.com

Oct. 4-6: Cedaredge Applefest: More than 30,000 people typically attend this festival celebrating area fruit growers with food vendors and live music. Cedaredge, cedaredgeapplefest.com

Oct. 5-6: Cider Days: Come celebrate everything apple, including apple pressing, cider, apple goodies and fun activities. Lakewood, tinyurl.com/yck2yt2e

Oct. 12: Choctoberfest: A festival of chocolate ... see you there. Sample and buy the finest chocolates in the state. Arapahoe County Fairgrounds, Aurora, cochocolatefests.com

Nov. 9: Chili, Booze & Brews: Food and beverage competitions feature Colorado craft breweries, small-batch distillers and chefs from Denver restaurants. Denver, chiliboozeandbrews.com

Nov. 29-30: Creede Chocolate Festival: Forget about Black Friday shopping. Instead, go to the mountains for sweet samples of chocolate specialties created by local business owners and individuals. Creede, creede.com

CARLOTTA OLSON

the narrative CHANGING

By Daliah Singer

MAKfam owners Doris Yuen and chef Kenneth Wan. Parker Seibold

Is it time for MSG to make a comeback? A new generation of Colorado chefs says yes

oris Yuen was taught to avoid MSG as a kid.

“My parents always told me MSG is not good for me. It makes you really thirsty,” she said. She noticed the “No MSG” or “We don’t use MSG” signs at her favorite Chinese restaurants.

Then she grew up and discovered how commonplace MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is — not only in Chinese food but in snacks and pantry items such as ketchup, ranch dressing, chicken bouillon and even Doritos. When she met her now-husband, chef Kenneth Wan, he explained that MSG was as commonplace a restaurant seasoning as salt, pepper and garlic.

“That’s when I realized there’s a false narrative around MSG,” Yuen said. “No one would ever walk into an Italian restaurant or pizzeria and say, ‘Do you use MSG here?’”

In November, she and Wan opened their own Chinese restaurant, MAKfam, in Denver. There, the couple aren’t shy about sharing their use of MSG. It’s present in soy sauce, shrimp bouillon, mushrooms — ingredient after ingredient that they incorporate into family-inspired recipes.

“MSG is made through a fermentation process,” she said. “If we are fine eating yogurt and we’re fine drinking beer and using vinegar, why are we so afraid of MSG?”

Yuen and Wan are part of a new generation of restaurateurs and chefs who are posing that question publicly while working to destigmatize MSG.

Monosodium glutamate was discovered in 1908 by Japanese biochemist Kikunae Ikeda. He was trying to determine what infused dashi, a common Japanese stock, with a meaty flavor. The answer: glutamate. He isolated the compound from seaweed, bonded it with sodium and created MSG.

“MSG is umami (one of five basic tastes) in its purest form,” explained Tia M. Rains, vice president of customer engagement and strategic development for Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America. (Ajinomoto is the leading manufacturer of MSG and the only such manufacturer in the U.S.)

Today, MSG is more often made by fermenting starch, sugar cane or molasses, but the ingredient also is found naturally in products such as tomatoes, cheese and mushrooms. According to Rains, it contains about one-third of the amount of sodium as table salt.

In the U.S., MSG was added to soldiers’ rations during World War II to enhance flavor, and the ingredient became commonplace during the rise of processed food.

In 1968, as trust in those foods waned, Robert

Top: Pho with smoked brisket at Pho King Rapidos.

Bottom: Salt & Pepper Chicken & Rice Plate at Makfam.

Photos by Parker Seibold

Ho Man Kwok, a Chinese-American doctor, sent a letter to the New England Journal Medicine stating that he felt “numbness” and “general weakness and palpitation” after eating at Chinese restaurants; it was published under the headline “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome,” and MSG became the scapegoat.

“Chinese cuisine was still somewhat new to U.S. consumers at this point in history so the phrase — and the stigma — took hold,” Rains said.

Chinese restaurant owners began posting signs in their windows and notes on their menus proclaiming “No MSG.” And now-debunked studies blaming MSG for health issues were published.

In recent years, there’s been a push to reverse that narrative.

Ajinomoto launched a “Know MSG” campaign in 2020 to correct misconceptions about the seasoning. The Japanese company also led a successful effort to have Merriam-Webster clarify its definition of “Chinese restaurant syndrome.”

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration considers MSG to be “generally recognized as safe,” and it’s used in restaurants across the country.

Umami Burger opened in Los Angeles in 2009, and its original burger is layered with natural glutamates, from the sauteed shiitake mushrooms and the Parmesan crisp to the “umami dust” shaken on top. Virginia’s Lucky Danger includes MSG in all of its dishes. Calvin Eng, chef-owner of Bonnie’s, a much-lauded Cantonese-American eatery in New York City, has “MSG” tattooed on his arm — and seasons much of his food with MSG, as well as serving an MSG martini.

Closer to home, Yuen and Wan proudly serve a dirty martini–like MSGin. It blends Barr Hill Gin, Shaoxing wine, Chinese plum wine and, yes, MSG.

“I really wanted to make a statement when we opened MAKfam,” Yuen, who calls herself an American-born Chinese (ABC) kid, said. “I’m hoping by being vocal, by being proud, by doing events where we highlight the usage of MSG, by continuing to talk about it, people who come across MAKfam, it’ll trigger them to do their own research.

“It’s been so unfair for Chinese restaurants for so long having to run their business in fear and not run it authentically and truthful to themselves.”

That’s part of the reason why she chose to adorn one wall of the eatery with Brenda Chi’s “MSG Girl,” a play on the classic Morton Salt logo.

Long Nguyen, chef-owner of Pho King Rapidos, a “Vietnamese-ish” food stall inside Denver’s popular Avanti Food & Beverage, feels similarly empowered.

“When people ask us what’s in our ingredients, we’re open about it,” he said.

Pho King uses MSG (in the form of chicken powder) in its pho broth and fried chicken batter to infuse a deeper flavor.

Nguyen recalls watching his mom add MSG to her cooking when he was younger, just as she did salt. “It’s always been in our pantry,” he said.

Nguyen remains frustrated by the negative stigma and the pushback the restaurant sometimes receives. Potential customers have called or walked up to the counter to ask about the eatery’s use of MSG.

“Do other cuisines have to deal with this? No. But they get to benefit,” he added. “It’s unintentionally a racist thing. An unconscious prejudice.”

Nguyen makes a condiment called tingly crisps — Pho King’s version of chili oil. The original version had MSG, but when he decided to jar it, he had to remove the ingredient: MSG was on the list of banned ingredients at a major supermarket chain.

“I remember thinking that’s crazy,” Nguyen said. “It tastes good, but we have to take it out because if we want it to be in this supermarket, it can’t be in the ingredients.”

MSGin at MAKfam. Parker Seibold

Experience the vibrant flavors of Pueblo County! From June to October, our seasonal farm stands overflow with fresh, locally grown produce like sweet corn, melons, and pumpkins. Don’t miss the famous Pueblo Chile, celebrated for its fiery heat and rich flavor, thanks to the perfect growing conditions in Southeastern Colorado. Explore Pueblo’s culinary scene with its diverse array of breweries, restaurants, and food trucks, each offering unique, locally inspired dishes. Come taste the best of Pueblo and experience a food lover’s paradise!

Plan your taste bud’s favorite trip at visitpueblo.org/food-tour