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My eyes were opened when I was invited for dinner at All Roads, Boulder’s main emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Plus, our Boulder County Farmers Markets recipe this week is a crowd-pleaser: freshly baked cornbread with local honey butter.
And: a chicken fried steak moment, Earth Day food events, and restaurant opening and moving news. For those who celebrate, April 23 is National Picnic Day … unless it snows.
Send your comments to nibbles@boulderreportinglab.org.
– John Lehndorff
After the cafeteria door opened at the All Roads shelter, I got my tray of dinner and a drink and sat at one of the long picnic tables. A long line forms at the serving line, a mix of people with backpacks and tattoos, like any group of students or workers, anxious to eat and move on.
Chris McCount smiles as he joins me with his quiet six-year-old dog, Callie.
We dig into macaroni with meat sauce, roasted vegetables, salad, garlic bread and cake.
“The food here is OK, but this is good! I can tell somebody else cooked it. There are fresh vegetables,” McCount says.
“This is safe, a sanctuary compared to some other places that just give us peanut butter or bologna sandwiches.”
McCount had been asked by the shelter staff if he wanted to chat with me.
“This is the first time I’ve been homeless. It’s a humbling experience. I’ve been in Boulder about three weeks.” He talks about his marital, financial and health issues.
“I spend a lot of time at a dog park. Callie lets me know if I’m having a seizure.”
“Right now, I’m trying to save enough to move to Missouri. I want to learn how to weld and get my own place,” McCount says.
The cafeteria’s posted dining rules include no “to-go” orders, no seconds and a 20-minute recommended dining time so everyone can get in.
I wish him well and shake hands as he walks off with his tray. I’m left thinking about how I avert my eyes to avoid people holding cardboard signs at intersections and outside stores.
I’ve written about hunger and food insecurity for decades, but this was my first time reporting on meals at a shelter, after hearing about the Chefs at the Shelter program.
According to Lindsey Sharp, the shelter’s assistant director of development, the facility is under-recognized as a major provider of meals in Boulder.
“This is such a foodie community that we wanted to draw attention to this kitchen, which is serving breakfast and dinner every day, and lunch when we’re open for day services. That’s about 150,000 meals a year, and 90% of the food is donated,” Sharp says.
The Chefs at the Shelter program was conceived as a way to bring some variety to the menu and to focus public attention.
“We wondered whether chefs would be willing to help here. Every restaurant we approached said ‘yes.’ The grand plan is to eventually do a cookbook,” she says.
About once a month, a Boulder restaurant chef will prepare a meal using only the donated food that happens to be in the shelter’s pantry that week, a mission-driven variation on the popular cooking series, “Chopped.”
‘This is not a show-off meal’
Chris Cunningham, executive chef at The Sink for 11 years, kicked off the series on April 13. “I’ve worked in kitchens for 30 years, and my mom was a chef. It’s a no-brainer to use my skills to serve the community,” Cunningham says.
“This is not a show-off meal. I wanted to cook something good that everyone would like. It can’t be too different or spicy.”
Cunningham’s menu included cheese-topped baked penne pasta in meat and tomato sauce, roasted vegetables, a salad tossed with blueberry lemon vinaigrette, Parmesan-garlic toast, and cake donated by supermarkets.
As the All Roads kitchen manager, Shannon Miehaus and a tiny staff oversee a crew of more than 300 active community volunteers who assist with the carrot peeling and such.
“It’s really important for the chefs and the community to see what it takes to operate this kitchen and feed people year-round,” Miehaus says.
“There’s a misconception that the accommodations here are too nice and the food is too good. These people do not want to be here. They deserve dignity and respect. I know I’m helping people who are here to find services, housing and jobs,” she says.
The Chefs at the Shelter series will continue with chefs from Blackbelly, The Buff, Cafe Aion, Centro, Chautauqua Dining Hall, Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, Jax Fish House, River & Woods, The Post, T/aco and the West End Tavern.
While the dinners are not open to the public, you can volunteer or contribute to the shelter.
When that chicken fried craving strikes
Maybe it’s my Austrian schnitzel heritage, but once or twice a year I develop a serious hankering that can only be satisfied with chicken fried steak.
(For the uninitiated, “chicken fried” or “country fried” steak refers to thinly pounded beef that is fried in a crumb coating like fried chicken.)
My go-to spot when the need arises is Louisville’s Home Cookin’ Cafe, an eatery that respects the full range of traditional breakfast/brunch dishes. The cafe starts with a crunch-coated steak smothered in nicely creamy gravy. The platter features over-easy eggs on hash browns with buttered rye toast. A menu variation is The Stacker: chopped chicken fried steak on house potatoes topped with two eggs and gravy.
Considering the fat grams, carb and caloric toll of all that wonderful comfort, it’s good that a meal like that is a rare experience.
Where to find walking tacos, soup dumplings, bagels and the Dark Horse
Socios has opened at 829 Main Street in Longmont with a menu that includes “walking tacos” filled with meats including birria. Bring your own bag of tortilla chips and the eatery will top it with meat, cheese, veggies and sauces for a giant faux Frito “pie.”
One of my favorite little Boulder eateries, the Flower Pepper, recently relocated to the Hilltop Building food court at 1310 College Avenue. The family-run Chinese eatery offers craveable classics like Taiwanese braised beef noodles, xiao long bao soup dumplings, and Peking duck rolls.
A social media post last week announced news that had been long rumored: Boulder’s recently shuttered Dark Horse bar is expected to reopen at 988 W Dillon Road in Louisville. The site is a former Outback Steakhouse near the I-36 intersection, which most recently housed DJ’s Watering Hole, an eatery that featured both Indian food and barbecue.
Take a knife class, please!
If you take no other cooking class ever, attend a Knife Skills Workshop like the one offered April 22 at Food Lab in Boulder. Knowing how to use and sharpen cooking knives will upgrade the speed, pleasure and safety of your food life every day afterward. Register here.
Boulder’s Resource Central hosts an Earth Day and Rock & Reuse celebration April 25, including a sale on used vegetable gardening tools and equipment.
Connection Dinner: A Farm to Table Experience & Community Gathering April 25 at Lafayette’s Friends Farm is a family-style communal meal with the farmers featuring Jenerous Foods GF bread with pinto bean dip and serrano chile oil; stir-fry vegetables and Jacob Springs meats; and rhubarb jam tart with lilac whipped cream. Tickets here.
(Get your upcoming food event, festival or class listed free on Boulder Reporting Lab using the self-submission form here.)
Market Meals: Cornbread with local honey butter
Everybody’s favorite — scratch-made skillet cornbread — is the third recipe in our Market Meals series. This weekly collaboration between Boulder Reporting Lab and Boulder County Farmers Markets spotlights fresh, local ingredients. Skip the boxed cornbread mix and make the real thing in minutes.
“There was milk and toast and honey
And a bowl of oranges too
And the light poured in like butterscotch
And stuck to all my senses.” – From the song “Chelsea Morning” by Joni Mitchell
Want more Boulder bites?
Sanitas Brewing closed. Its co-founder is opening a new Boulder brewery in the same space.
Pattern Break Brewing takes over with an experimental approach to brewing, a broader drink menu and a redesigned taproom experience. Continue reading…
Check out recent editions of Nibbles:
☕ Boulder’s bike-through coffee spot now has biscuits and a national following
