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In this week’s Nibbles, we explore Boulder’s surprisingly beefy underbelly, where locals are feasting on bone broth, tallow fries, bone marrow and cultured butter. Plus: The brothl opens in NoBo, and we share a recipe for pastry-crusted local tomato pie, while Mark Twain celebrates the joy of watermelon.
— John Lehndorff
What is the first food that comes to mind when you think about Boulder? Most of us would probably answer “tofu,” “herbal tea” or “granola.” Based on a recent survey of the local culinary landscape, we might have to change that answer to “beef.” A carnivorous movement centered on bone broth, beef tallow, bone marrow and butter is bubbling beneath Boulder’s natural-foods surface.
On the first Friday of August, a surprisingly large crowd of locals roamed the streets of North Boulder. Some stopped at art galleries while others visited shops and cafes. Meanwhile, a curious group of devotees lined up in front of the Guardian Storage facility at 5000 Broadway.
These were the first customers at the brothl, Boulder’s first bone broth bar, housed in the storage facility’s tiny former front office. They toasted owner Kirstine Raynor with cups of Boulder Broth. Raynor says she simmers bones for 72 hours with bone marrow, organic vegetables and herbs to craft her rich-tasting Turmeric Beef Bone Broth. Many customers leave carrying bags of frozen bone broth.
Old-fashioned beef lovers will tell you that they, along with the herds of cattle still grazing on Boulder’s open space, never went anywhere. This new beef boom, however, is focused on cows raised using regenerative practices, often grass-fed and raised without hormones. The new ethos emphasizes using the whole animal, not just the tenderloin steaks.
Bone broth seems to be the menu item of the year in Boulder. Beef and chicken bone broths are available at Skratch Labs Table, Wonder Press, Just Be Kitchen and Wild Pastures Burger Co.
Beef bone marrow is also having a moment. It enriches the Wagyu beef tartare at Hapa Sushi. Teocalli Cocina blends beef short rib and grilled bone marrow in its chile-accented Birria de Res.
High-quality tallow, otherwise known as beef fat, is widely available locally. Boulder-born C Burger offers tallow-fried potatoes and onion rings. Sweet doughnuts are fried in 100% tallow at Longmont’s Amazin Glazed Donuts. At Wayne’s Smoke Shack in Superior, Texas barbecue platters come with addictive house-baked rolls made with “grass-fed beef butter.” Also available: handmade tallow soap.
Fans of locally produced beef fat don’t have to go far to find a source. Tallow for home use is available from Grama Grass & Livestock and at Blackbelly Market. Bone marrow bones and Black Angus beef tallow are available at Longmont’s Cordobes Food. Also in Longmont, Fatworks bottles Wagyu tallow, Iberico pork lard and goat milk ghee, and sells tallow face cream.
Serious meat eaters can also enjoy raw beef in the form of steak tartare and beef carpaccio at Boulder restaurants ranging from Corrida to the Flagstaff House Restaurant.
Besides hosting Colorado’s first bone broth bar, Boulder County is home to the state’s only butter bar. At Longmont’s Bella La Crema, local cream is cultured, churned and flavored.
There is no evidence that Boulder’s bovine resurgence is associated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s newly released Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The new food pyramid turns the old one upside down, featuring a steak, a wedge of cheese and a new emphasis on animal-sourced protein, even as the guidelines continue to recommend limiting saturated fat.
Tallow makes Wild Pastures’ fries tastier
Most of the time, French fries are just a carb vehicle for conveying salt, ketchup and other sauces to your mouth.
It was obvious from the first crispy fry I sampled that Boulder’s Wild Pastures Burger Co. takes pommes frites very seriously. Made from fresh, skin-on organic taters and delivered sizzling from a vat of beef fat, these fries simply taste better than your typical restaurant version. Not beefier, per se, but definitely more savory.
When McDonald’s first opened, the fast-food chain was famous for its crispy, craveable French fries. The secret ingredient was tallow. Today, the vast majority of fast-food spuds are prepared in bland vegetable and seed oils.
Wild Pastures, which has a second location in Timnath, says it sources ingredients from regeneratively focused and environmentally responsible farms and ranches.
My only advice to Wild Pastures is to employ the classic restaurant technique of double-frying the potatoes to make them extra crispy.
Welcome Decent Bagel, bid adieu to Doug’s Day Diner
Nederland-born Decent Bagel has opened a second location at 5863 Arapahoe Ave. in East Boulder.
We’ll miss the thick-cut bacon and house-made English muffins served at Doug’s Day Diner, 2574 Baseline Road. The eatery will close Aug. 14.
Coming soon: PopUp Bagels at 1247 Pleasant St.
Get the beef basics at butchery demo, ranch tour
Learn more about the beef you enjoy at Bites with Butchers on Aug. 21 at Blackbelly Market. Butchers Ethan Perry and Kelly Kawachi will break down a beef shoulder. Attendees can sample the various cuts alongside beverages. All proceeds from meat sales will benefit the Food Bank of the Rockies. Tickets here.
Learn about regenerative livestock practices on Aug. 18 during a Boulder County Farmers Market tour of Longmont’s Grama Grass & Livestock. Tickets here.
(Get your upcoming food event, festival or class listed free on Boulder Reporting Lab using the self-submission form here.)
Market Meals: Tomato pie (and we don’t mean pizza)
Layer fresh tomato slices in a pastry crust with this easy weeknight tomato pie recipe from Boulder County Farmers Markets. Plus: Ideas for a tomato-centric seasonal supper.
For dessert, serve Palisade peaches with whipped cream. To make a couple of cups of whipped cream, chill a Mason jar in the freezer, then fill it with 1 to 2 cups of cold heavy or whipping cream, about 4 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Have someone, perhaps a frenzied 6-year-old, vigorously shake the jar until the cream starts to whip. Check it after two to five minutes and give the jar a few more shakes if the cream is still loose.
Reader request: What is your favorite Boulder hospitality moment?
In honor of Labor Day, I’m inviting Nibbles readers who have worked in Boulder County eateries to share their favorite short tales of serving food and drink. Send them to nibbles@boulderreportinglab.org. I’ll share some in a late August Nibbles newsletter.
“I know the crackling sound (a ripe watermelon) makes when the carving knife enters its end, and I can see the split fly along in front of the blade as the knife cleaves its way to the other end. … I know how a boy looks, behind a yard long slice of that melon, and I know how he feels for I have been there.” – Mark Twain
Want more Boulder bites?
34 Boulder County farm stands worth a summer road trip
Where to find fresh produce, eggs, flowers, meat, honey and other locally made goods, often straight from the people who produced them. Continue reading…
Check out recent editions of Nibbles:
🥟 The remarkable journey behind Susan’s Samosas
🍅 Tomato season is here: Boulder readers share their favorite ways to enjoy it
🇹🇭 True Thai flavors sing at Bee’s new Lafayette home
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