Welcome to Nibbles, a new weekly newsletter by me, John Lehndorff. Look for me every Tuesday around lunchtime as I fill your inbox with a platter of Boulder food and restaurant news and events, local flavors and practical cooking tips.

Please help spread the word about this free, one-of-a-kind community culinary resource. Friends and family can sign up here. 

Today’s weekly feed offers an insider’s itinerary of local culinary attractions designed to captivate visitors during the holiday season. Plus: news about the sale of a popular Boulder brewery, Longmont’s burger-driven traffic challenges and a pumpkin pie recipe from 1896.

With Boulder County cooks faced with serving a feast on Thursday, I will be available to solve last-minute cooking and serving questions when I host a special Thanksgiving Day edition of Radio Nibbles, 8:30-9 a.m. Nov. 27, on KGNU, 88.5 FM and streaming at kgnu.org. Call 303-442-4242.

Send comments and information about Boulder County restaurants, food classes, events, tastings and tours to nibbles@boulderreportinglab.org.

— John Lehndorff

P.S.: If you enjoy Nibbles and BRL’s local reporting, I hope you’ll consider giving to BRL’s year-end campaign and making high-quality, truly local news part of your year-end giving. Every dollar matters  — and your support truly helps keep this work going.

If you live here, they will come. 

For longtime Boulder County residents, the winter holiday gauntlet from Thanksgiving Day into February is widely accepted as a prime annual hosting season. 

“They” are all your friends, extended family, and random acquaintances on Colorado business trips or “dropping by” on the way to ski in Vail and Aspen.

We dearly love our visitors, but they need to be entertained. Honestly, we must devise diversions that get them out of our house – and our hair – for a few hours.

How do I find something to do that will please them all?

Luckily, everybody eats and dines, and they love talking about food and drink. Each person has cravings that can be satisfied, including hosts. Guests give us an excuse to indulge, too.

The following itinerary includes my favorite one-of-a-kind tasty diversions in Boulder and beyond (keep reading for Longmont and even a few Fort Collins favorites). These are the places and events I recommend to my friends, family, readers and listeners.

Be aware: Make those reservations now! You’re not the only one expecting winter guests.

A buffet of Boulder’s top food distractions

Depending on the tastes of your visitors, Boulder boasts a big menu of culinary charms, including:

Sniffing the immersive mint room on the Celestial Seasonings factory tour. 

Sipping properly made tea and enjoying bites at the magnificently crafted Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.

Munching with a postcard Colorado view, ranging from brunch on the porch at Chautauqua Dining Hall and fine dining on a mountainside at the Flagstaff House Restaurant to rooftop Corrida and the panoramic hilltop view and cider at Acreage in Lafayette.

Bucket-list dining at Boulder’s many nationally acclaimed eateries, including Cozobi Fonda Fina, BASTA, Frasca Food and Wine, Black Cat Farmstead, Blackbelly, Zoe Ma Ma and Ginger Pig. 

Shopping for cookbooks, utensils, fine foods and ingredients at Boulder’s tastiest retail icons: The Peppercorn, the Boulder Bookstore and McGuckin Hardware. 

Taking an immersive taste trip back in time at the freshly opened Boulder Eats exhibit. The Museum of Boulder is celebrating 150 years of local food, cooking, farming and restaurants. This hunger-inducing experience calls for momo, burgers, tacos or matzoh ball soup afterward at a Downtown Bouder eatery. 

Culinary artifacts on display at the Boulder Eats exhibit at the Museum of Boulder. Credit: John Lehndorff

Uber-ing to tasting rooms to enjoy Chocolate Rye Porter at Asher Brewing Co., an exquisite 2023 Hawkridge Malbec at BookCliff Vineyards, award-winning American single malts at Boulder Spirits, and honey-based sips at Redstone Meadery. More.

Plus: Sample scented oxygen at Tonic Alchemy Lounge and try relaxing South Pacific kava drinks at The Root Kava Co. 

Taking time out for a classy afternoon of tea, scones and conversation at the Gingerbread Tea at St Julien Hotel & Spa Nov. 30, Dec. 7, 14 and 21, and the Holiday Afternoon Tea through Jan. 3 under the stunning stained-glass ceiling on the Mezzanine at the Hotel Boulderado.

Learning to chiffonade, spatchcock and say ‘Yes, chef!’ at group cooking classes at Boulder’s Food Lab and Longmont’s Journey Culinary. 

Shopping for tasty stocking stuffers at Boulder’s coolest under-the-radar shops. Grab bean-to-artisan bar chocolate (and see it being made) at Moksha Chocolate. Sip an ale from next-door VisionQuest Brewery while grabbing wine-, beer- and kombucha-making supplies at Boulder Fermentation Supply. Find international treats from France (Le Frigo) and Mexico (Panaderia Sabor a Mexico, 2839 28th St.).

Making chocolate Moksha in Boulder. Credit: John Lehndorff

Longmont appetizes with high chai, endless cheese, a butter bar and spicy lebkuchen

Only 15 minutes from Boulder, Longmont hosts an under-the-radar cache of distinctive flavor destinations.

The Luminous Tea House hosts High Chai, an Indian variation on British afternoon tea. The menu includes curry chickpea sandwiches, samosa chaat tarts and gajar halwa (carrot pudding). Reservations.

First-time foodie visitors are blown away by the wonderland of cheese and charcuterie in the expansive refrigerated shop inside Cheese Importers. The landmark also offers a French-accented food and gift market.

Butter lovers finally get their moment at Colorado’s only butter bar. Bella La Crema crafts and cultures full-fat butter from scratch. Sample diverse flavors, including French Countryside, blending butter with herbes de Provence, lavender and roasted garlic sea salt.

Longmont is home to an array of singular breweries and distilleries. The Saturday-only Brewhop Trolley makes visiting them all a breeze. Reservations.

Hidden in Longmont is Leckerlee, a nationally known bakery that produces German-style lebkuchen (pronounced LEYB-koo-kuhn). It’s worth visiting simply to be infused by the heady perfume of these glazed gingerbread cookies packed with nuts, candied fruits and spices. 

More than 150 local farms, ranches, food artisans and gift-makers will be on-hand at the hugely popular Winter Market hosted by the Boulder Farmers Market Dec. 6 and 7 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. It’s a great way to sample local farm-to-table culture.

Lebkuchen cookies made by Longmont’s Leckerlee bakery. Credit: Leckerlee

Three craveable reasons to flee to Fort Collins

  1. MouCo Cheese Company, maker of award-winning soft-ripened cheeses and squeaky cheese curds, offers group tasting tours on Tuesdays.
  1. Ginger and Baker is a superior bakery, market, cooking school and restaurant in a renovated landmark building. Their coconut cream pie alone is worth the drive.
  1. Colorado Candy offers hands-on classes in crafting classic ribbon candy. Reservations.

Local beverage supergroup absorbs Boulder’s Upslope

Boulder Reporting Lab contributor Gabe Toth reports that one of Boulder’s largest breweries has been absorbed by Colorado’s rapidly growing Wilding Brands:

“Upslope was founded in 2008 and joins Denver’s Station 26 and craft-beer landmark Great Divide Brewing in Wilding’s 2025 shopping spree. The company also includes Denver Beer Company, Stem Ciders, Funkwerks, and other Colorado brands.

Upslope’s two Boulder tasting rooms will remain open, but production will move to Denver.”

Opening

In-N-Out Burger is open at 735 Harvest Moon Drive in Longmont. In response, the City of Longmont issued this official traffic alert: “Do you need a bulk amount of toilet paper or a hot dog from Costco? To avoid the anticipated traffic from the opening of the new In-N-Out location, please use South Martin Dr to access Costco.”

Closing

Colorado’s one remaining outpost of the “Forrest Gump”-themed Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. has closed at 1437 California St.

Recipe of the Week

A pumpkin pie from Boulder’s Niche Market bakery. Credit: Meals on Wheels of Boulder

In 1896, the Daily Camera published the following “receipt” or recipe for pumpkin pie. The directions assume that cooks already knew how to prepare pumpkin, make a crust and then bake a pie in a wood-fired stove. 

“Thanksgiving Pie – Take four cups of this strained pumpkin, add four cups of rich milk, a teaspoonful of salt, two of ginger, one of nutmeg and one of mace, a small cup of sugar and four or five eggs according to their size.” 

“Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it’s a start.” – Anthony Bourdain, chef and author of “Kitchen Confidential”

Want more Boulder bites?

As grocery stores take over wine, Boulder’s Hazel’s pivots with food, coffee and nonalcoholic drinks

The longtime Boulder retailer is expanding into groceries and specialty drinks as Prop 125 opens wine sales to grocery stores and upends Colorado’s liquor market. Continue reading…

Nibbles: Meet Lafayette’s ‘cheesecake whisperer’ serving 160 flavors and plenty of hugs

Also this week: Wondervu Café’s mountain-view comfort food, brewery medals, restaurant updates and where to find the freshest fall produce. Continue reading…

John Lehndorff is Boulder Reporting Lab’s food editor. A Massachusetts native, he has lived in Boulder since 1976 and has written about food and culture here for nearly five decades. His Nibbles column has run since 1985, and he also serves as Food Editor of Colorado Avid Golfer magazine and Exhibit Historian for the Museum of Boulder’s upcoming Boulder Eats exhibit. A former restaurant cook, caterer and cooking teacher, he has been Food and Features Editor of the Daily Camera, Senior Editor at the Aurora Sentinel, and Dining Critic for the Rocky Mountain News. His writing has appeared in Westword, Yellow Scene, the Washington Post and USA Today. Nationally recognized as a pie expert, he is the former Executive Director of the American Pie Council and longtime Chief Judge at the National Pie Championships. He has hosted Radio Nibbles on KGNU-FM for more than 30 years and co-hosts Kitchen Table Talk.