A 16 at Pizzeria Locale- a culinary excursion to Napoli, via A 16 San Francisco, in Boulder, CO

Pizzeria Locale is my neighborhood pizzeria. I live one block away and take great pleasure in their contemporary Napolitano style pizza. Their pizzaiolo, Jordan Wallace, studied the art of pizza in Napoli, and I dare say he’s one of the best pizzaioli in the US, especially if we’re talking about pizzaioli who serve the wet, uncut Napoli style pizza.

When Locale announced their first guest pizzaiolo event with Chris Thompson of A 16, San Francisco, I cleared some space in my calendar.  The A 16 dinner was three courses for $18 per person, which, by the way, is the most reasonably priced meal I’ve had in a long time.  As with any visit to Pizzeria Locale, we started out with some spritzers. I enjoyed the IPA (Indian Pale Americano) spritz which, like a traditional Americano cocktail, features Campari, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, soda water, and some of their house made hops bitters. My friend Matt, a total gourmand who had not yet been to the pizzeria, enjoyed a Rabarbaro Zucca spritz- a simple spritz of dark amaro and soda water. I’m also constantly craving Locale’s arancini, so we ordered four perfectly crispy balls of risotto to go with our spritzers.

And let’s not forget to mention the lovely couple across from us that evening: Lacey and Paul of DiNalo Glassware. You’ll see some fine glass straws in my drinks in this post and from now on- Once you sip a cocktail from a DiNalo straw…

First came our insalata with escarole, pickled and roasted grapes, caciocavallo, and saba.

I never even read the menu, so my first bite of salad with the grapes was quite a pleasant surprise. Why didn’t I read the menu? It was a bit hectic… There were so many pizza fans dining out that evening, that I walked in to a bustling pizzeria full of friends, associates, and Locale staff, all eager to say hi, chit chat… and then once I brought out the glass straws… talk about a conversation piece.  They’re pretty in Locale’s water glasses-

Anyway, arancini, check. Insalata, check. Next in line was Le Pizze- either a bianca with mozzarella di bufala, radicchio di treviso, prosciutto cotto, garlic, oregano, and parmesan, or una rossa with provola di bufala, cavolo nero kale, tomato, red onion, parmesan, and chili flakes. How is one to choose? Well, between the four of us we ordered two of each. Simple.

There are few things that I enjoy more than eating pizza with a knife and fork, by the way.  That’s just one small reason I’m such a huge fan of this place. But, I got to see a side of Locale I’d not known before- They were so crowded when we arrived that they set up the Caffè with a four-top and a two-top. It was a more private dining experience being in the cozy private room (known as Frasca’s caffè during the day), yet we were attended to as you’d expect within the Frasca family of establishments.

Let’s see, dear reader… what else happened? We enjoyed a bottle of southern Italian red wine with the meal (it doesn’t matter which bottle, it was quite drinkable with pizza and friends), and before dessert, I left the private dining room to say hi to some people and snap photos. Next thing I knew, manager Chris Donato was bringing my friends on a mini private food tour to check out the kitchen and get a behind the scenes view of the pizzeria. I jumped on board, of course. I love getting near the 1000 degree Stefano Ferrara pizza oven. That right there is something worth writing home about.

We returned to our table and found some dolce there- we had a chocolate budino with sea salt and olive oil, which I had actually been looking forward to all day since Locale posted a photo of it on their Facebook page earlier that morning.  We also sipped, in the Italian tradition, a little amaro while guest Chef Chris Thompson was at our table talking about pizza, pizzerias, being a guest chef at Locale… and all kinds of food topics, such as glass straws, that we were able to squeeze into the few minutes he had to say hello.

Writing this makes me want to go to Pizzeria Locale for dinner tonight, as I truly believe that any day is a perfect day for a Locale pizza. But, more to the point- I’m looking forward to future guest chef evenings at Locale. It’s a great way to bring a little bit of the rest of the world into our perfect little Boulder bubble while sharing great pizza.

Bramble & Hare, a Farmhouse Kitchen and Pub

A farmhouse kitchen and pub… I dig the sound of that and I loved the food I tried during the industry soft opening on July 1. New restaurants need to ease in to their rhythm, but for a first night of service, you’d be surprised to discover Bramble & Hare hadn’t been around for quite some time. Everything was on point, and our waiter- the esteemed Tyler Nemkov, former executive chef of Mateo Restaurant Provencal and part-time chef of Black Cat Bistro– delectably described all 14 items on the menu in a way that made me want one of everything.

 In good company, of course, we started out with the cocktail menu. I ordered A Welcomed Pause.

What’s in A Welcomed Pause? I can’t recall. Bourbon or Rye…  I didn’t snap a photo of the cocktail menu, but that’s OK for a couple reasons: 1. The cocktail program, overseen by Dev Ranjan (Sommelier of The Black Cat Bistro and Beverage Director for Black Cat and Bramble & Hare), is clearly one of the best in town. It’s so good, I’m excited to announce Bramble & Hare will be a new stop on my Boulder cocktail tours.

After clinking glasses and saying cheers, we moved on to food. Tyler recommended we order one of everything on the menu. But, we limited it to 5 plates and a dessert.

A quick note on the menu: It’s the coolest menu in town, and definitely one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. You get a mini pencil so you can write the quantity of each plate you desire to explore- it’s a sushi-style-menu.  Also, the top is hand perforated so you can tear it off and keep that “portion for your records.”

A plate of seared greens arrived first. I could eat these every day. I have three words that highlight this dish: crispy fried garlic.

Next came a beet stuffed steamed bun and a doughnut with duck liver mousse. I didn’t try the duck liver mousse… Not a big fan of liver… But the steamed bun is quite a unique vegetarian option. I’m hoping they play around with all kinds of steamed buns.

Since I was dining with Molly Browne, my Cheese Tasting Tour guide, we tried Bramble & Hare’s grilled cheese sandwich. Let me just say it was the best grilled cheese ever and I’d go there any day for a grilled cheese rather than make it on my own… It was THAT good. This particular night they used a cheese called Les Freres, a European style farmstead cheese.

We also shared the chilled roasted turnips with were served with broccoli florets.

Dessert was definitely in order, so we indulged in a sour cherry pie.

Chef/Owner/Farmer Eric Skokan has definitely introduced Boulder to a new style of restaurant and we’re very fortunate. On his Black Cat Farm, Eric raises the animals and grows many of the vegetables served at both of his restaurants, so this is definitely farm to table.  But, the price point for each plate is really reasonable (in some cases quite low), which encourages ordering multiple small plates and sharing- a style of dining I prefer.

I’m looking forward to returning to Bramble & Hare. Looks like I have a new favorite spot in town.

Bramble & Hare

1970 13th Street, Boulder CO

303-444-9110

Open 7 days a week. Lunch. Dinner. Late night (til 2 am).

The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse- Not Just Great Food and Fine Tea… Fine Tea Cocktails, Too!

Boulder is so blessed to have the gorgeous and intricately carved Dushanbe Teahouse right along Boulder Creek in our downtown park. Locals and visitors flock to this majestic space to admire the craftsmanship of the building- it’s design, hand-carved cedar pillars, ornate art- and the history of this completely hand-made gift from our sister city, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

I’ve always loved the Teahouse and admire its beauty every time I pass by. The food, oversaw by Executive Chef Lenny Martinelli, is fantastic. Sara Stewart Martinelli’s tea program featuring a selection of over 100 premium loose teas makes the daily Traditional Afternoon Tea service an experience not to be missed. But now, I might be so inclined to visit a little more often for a cocktail.

Cocktails? What does a teahouse know about cocktails? Well, it seems they know quite a bit about crafting cocktails with tea.

Here’s one of my favorites: the Boulder Tangerine Bourbon Sour

Kasi Tenborg, the cocktail creator for the Teahouse, makes tea-simple-syrups to use in some unique libations. The Boulder Tangerine Bourbon Sour has a housemade tangerine and tea simple syrup, which is a concoction I had never heard of before. All I know is this cocktail was refreshing on a hot afternoon and I plan to return to sample more of these tea cocktails. Lucky for me, the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse is now a featured stop on some of my cocktail tours with Local Table Tours, so I expect to sample them all… in good time, of course.

Boulder Tangerine Bourbon Sour

• 1.5 oz Maker’s Mark
• 1 oz sour mix
• 1 oz Tangerine Tea Simple Syrup

Cheers!

Boulder’s Best Root Beer Float

Oak at Fourteenth isn’t just serving some of the best lunch and dinner in town– Their dessert menu is pretty tempting and well worth a glance.  I’m a new-found fan of their root beer float that my esteemed tour guide Heather and I split after enjoying a fantastically delicious meal at OAK for her birthday.

Neither Heather nor I felt like ordering dessert, but our waitress brought us a root beer float with a candle to say Happy Birthday, so how could we resist…  Now, here’s the cool part- they serve the ice cream, brownies, and pretzel bites in a glass and bring the root beer in a small caraffe on the side to pour your float at the table. I like that detail very much.

Everything is made in-house except the pretzel bites, which add a nice crunch to the vanilla ice cream, brownie bites, and root beer. Sip it with a straw, dig into it with a spoon- The last sip is slurp-worthy, so if the restaurant is bustling and loud, you just might get away with some impolite slurping.

OAK at Fourteenth

1400 Pearl Street, Boulder CO