What’s the excitement over chicken fingers?
I don’t exactly follow a Paleo diet; sugar, dairy and gluten make up about 90 percent of what I eat. That said, I’m curious about Just BE Kitchen, which opened on April 25 and is focused on making this style of food taste, well, good.
Chef Carrie Baird — formerly of Brazen, Euclid Hall and Rioja — has created a menu of healthy items for people suffering from food allergies (and those who choose to eat like they are). Its take on pizza — the Meatzza — subs a sausage base for the traditional dough (good substitution!) and the Breakfast Burrito uses an almond flour tortilla in place of a regular, devil flour one.
Just BE also features gluten-free baked goods, like muffins, macarons and chocolate chip cookies, as well as Bulletproof Coffee, which is blended with healthy oil and organic butter.
Adding a stick of butter to something normally butter-free? Maybe this Paleo thing isn’t so bad after all.
Just BE Kitchen: 2364 15th St., Denver, justbekitchen.com, Sun.-Sat. 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
BBB When it comes to bagels, are you Team New York or Team Montreal? Not sure what Montreal-style bagels even are? Woodgrain Bagels, a new Montreal-style bagel shop in Boulder, would be happy to show you.
Montreal bagels are boiled in honey water and baked in a wood-fired oven, which gives them a smidge of sweetness and a crispy crust. Woodgrain’s are true to form, and the plain bagel with whipped smoked maple cream cheese was pretty darn good.
Besides bagels and spreads, the menu consists of a few breakfast items, sandwiches and, because it’s 2017, avocado toast. The Huevos Rancheros Benedict ($9.75) with chipotle hollandaise and portabella Banh Mi ($9.25) would be worth a trip back.
Because this is a Canadian-inspired shop, they have poutine on the breakfast menu. So there’s also that.
Woodgrain Bagels: 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, WoodgrainBagels.com, Mon.-Sat. 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
BBB So this is embarrassing. It’s my job to tell you all about the cool new restaurant openings and what’s good to eat, but I need some help on this one. Raising Cane’s: Can anyone help me out as to why people are so excited about chicken fingers?
It appears to be a fried chicken chain out of Louisiana that’s opening up its first Denver metro locations this summer. Normally a chain moving here wouldn’t pique my interest too much, but this place has some serious fans — called “caniacs” (yes, really) — so what am I missing? Is this the greatestever fried chicken chain? Or just another run-of-themill, KFC-style fast food eatery?
Since the first Denverarea location doesn’t open until late June in Highlands Ranch and the second in August in Parker, I can’t go out and try it myself. So, seriously, what’s the big deal?
Raising Cane’s: 1108 Sgt. Jon Stiles Dr., Highlands Ranch (open June 27) & 18200 Cottonwood Dr., Parker (open Aug. 1), RaisingCanes.com BBB Cattivella, Elise Wiggins’ wood-fired Italian restaurant, is now open in the
Eastbridge development of the Stapleton neighborhood.
A couple of months ago, we got a sneak peek at Cattivella’s menu, and it was glorious. Cheesy and carby (with some salty meatiness thrown in for good measure), it’s everything you want out of an Italian restaurant and all you’d expect from Wiggins, who helmed Panzano for years.
Don’t miss the Focaccia di Recco appetizer, a savory pie filled with prosciutto and creamy crescenza cheese. This is a last-meal-worthy dish in itself, but if you chase it with one of the pizzas or pastas, we think you’ll leave pretty happy. And really, all we want is for you to be happy.
Cattivella: 10195 E. 29th Dr., Denver, 303-645-3779, cattivelladenver.com, Mon.-Wed. 4-10 p.m., Thu.-Fri. 4-11 p.m., Sat. 8:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun. 8:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
BBB If Hawaii and Japan had a torrid affair, their culinary love child would be poké. Combining cubes of raw fish with delicious Hawaiian seasonings is something we need more of in our lives, so we’re psyched that the trend is picking up in Denver and that Sushi Cup has opened next to Max’s Wine Dive on 7th Avenue.
Despite the “sushi” name, this restaurant will be serving poké bowls and burritos — layers of rice, marinated raw fish, fresh veggies and chopped nori — in addition to sushi rolls.
“We aren’t like all the other poké-trend popup restaurants looking to open fast, have high sales and sell the business right away,” owner Andrew Castillo said. “My menu will not only feature a diverse range of options, but it will bring the quality and service of a sushi restaurant.”
By the way, poké is pronounced po-kay — kind of like Jackée from TV’s “Sister Sister” and “227” (oh, come on, you watched) — and Sushi Cup isn’t messing around with mispronunciations.
Sushi Cup: 208 E. 7th Ave., Denver, 303-8328008, Sushi-Cup.com, Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat. 12-9 p.m., Sun. 12-7 p.m.
BBB Pastries are good. Storebought pastries? Not always so good. Chef Alex Seidel and Matt Vawter of Mercantile and Fruition and Keegan Gerhard and Lisa Bailey of D Bar are looking to change that.
The chefs got together and decided to solve the world’s problems one chocolate croissant at a time by launching Füdmill, a wholesale, artisan pastry company that will supply local restaurants and Whole Foods markets with better-tasting baked goods.
“I felt like Alex had the same mind-set for food as we had for pastry,” Gerhard said of this phyllo dough dream team. “We have the same passion for quality, and for six or seven years we’ve been talking about doing something together, but we weren’t sure what it would be.”
When Seidel opened Mercantile and Gerhard the new D Bar, they were both in the same position — they needed more space. So about a year ago they got an off-site commissary bakery and created Füdmill — the name being a nod to all the chefs’ German heritage.
They spent that first year refining their procedures and making sure they could provide the same level of quality to a wider audience as they demand of the pastries sold at their restaurants (Füdmill goods are already available at Fruition, Mercantile and D Bar). Turns out, they could.
A dozen fresh desserts, including muffins, scones and croissants, are now available at a handful of Denver-area Whole Foods stores for about $3 to $5 apiece.
“The idea of serving pastries stemmed from how we approach savory food at the restaurant — we want to provide our community with an unparalleled experience,” Seidel told us. “We’re always striving to get better and create a better product for the community.”
Since we know you want to eat like Seidel and Gerhard, we asked them about their favorite items from the new pastry line.
Seidel chose the croissants: “What’s different about our croissant is that we use an actual starter for the leavening agent. We’ve been developing it at Fruition for six or seven years. They are made in a completely different way than most European-trained chefs make croissants.”
Gerhard picked the kouign-amann: “It’s not all sugar in the caramel. With five percent sea salt, you can taste the dough and not get overwhelmed by the caramel on the outside.”
Go get yourself a Whole Foods croissant and kouign-amann and you’ll pretty much be guaranteed some fancy food awards and your own Food Network show. Or maybe just a couple good pastries. Either way.