The fruit flavors of springtime
A trio of new openings sweetens the season; Miguel's Mexican Bar & Grill doubles its locations; a viral latte drink lands at The French Kitchen + more food & drink news and events
If you’ve been keeping up with recent Side Dish newsletters (as I know you have — gold stars for all) then you’ll already know about the forthcoming openings of new locations for Josh & John’s, Lolley’s Ice Cream and Cinchona Coffee.
All three held soft openings on April 15 — the two ice cream spots concurrently, coincidentally — which sent me on a bountiful (read: overindulgent) journey around town that day. Here’s some outtakes, before we get into more news this week:
Beware the Frostbite!
Josh & John’s opens its first drive-thru on April 17, at 11 a.m., at 870 Garden of the Gods Road. It has taken over the former Dutch Bros Coffee kiosk, as that brand has moved one lot away to occupy the former Sonic Drive-In. As I noted here in early February, this marks the seventh location for 40-year-old J&J’s. “I am intrigued by the challenge of offering super-premium ice cream in a format that typically isn’t done,” owner John Krakauer told Side Dish at the time of that announcement. When I saw him yesterday at the preview, he was all smiles, especially when his friend, Mayor Yemi Mobolade showed up with his family for ice cream.
A highlight at the drive-thru is a new lineup of specialty shakes, exclusive to this location. We went for the Snow Drift (cookie butter S’mores), Bomb Cyclone (mocha espresso) and Frostbite (black raspberry Oreo). Though I’m always fond of a coffee ice cream and the easy joy of a creamy cookie slurry, I concur with Lauren’s daughter that the black raspberry and Oreo combo steals the show, wonderful in the balance and harmony between the flavors. Try it first.
And from J&J’s menu of flagship flavors (like Purple Mountain Majesty, our longtime favorite) and seasonals by the scoop, we try the Rice Crispy Treat, Banana Pudding, Dirty Chai and Lemon Coconut Curry. All are delicious and on-point, with the latter two earning the most of my affection; I love the savory spice influence especially. The tastings made me nostalgic for my two prior seasonal collaborations with J&J’s. I may or may not be waiting excitedly by my phone for their next call.
A Monument Moose walks into downtown …
It’s not the setup for a joke. Rather, Monument Moose is one of Lolley’s Ice Cream’s most popular seasonal flavors up at their Tri-Lakes store, made with their Chocolate Decadence base flavor, plus fudge, peanut butter and caramel. It was created as part of Lolley’s annual Ice Cream Madness contest, where fans suggest flavor creations; the store picks their favorite eight and makes them; and those finalists face-off in bracketed rounds as customers up-vote their favorites.
At our soft preview we revisit the fantastic Monument Moose and also try this year’s winning flavor: honey raspberry cornbread. Wow! Co-owner Dustin Sapp likens it to a memorable, elote-inspired ice cream he and his wife and co-owner Shelley had in Mexico. It’s part of the six-flavor Spring lineup, which includes three vegan flavors — the lemon berry shortcake with coconut ice cream, blueberry-strawberry compote and homemade vegan shortcake crumble wins me over. Recall that everything Lolley’s serves is gluten-free; it’s a dedicated celiac-safe kitchen.
Other of our favorite flavors to dive into if this is your first (Monument) moose rodeo: sweet cream espresso (oh my!); Graham Slam; vegan cocoa coconut (trust me); and snickerdoodle dough. Expect around 20 flavors on at a given time, with five or six being seasonal specialties. Also you can turn any flavor into an affogato, as Lolley’s also offers espresso and coffee service. I order a classic vanilla bean affogato to conclude my sugar binge, and it’s pure joy in a cup.
One more distinguishing factor to them (versus Josh & John’s a block away, since everyone’s clued into that), is they also sell an array of house-baked, gluten-free goodies like cookies, brownies, macarons and bundt cakes. “We’re more than just an ice cream shop,” Dustin says. “We’re more like a dessert cafe.” (In my recent interview with the Sapps, I professed equal love for both businesses.)
Know before you go: Lolley’s is located at 216 N. Tejon St., next to T-byrd’s Tacos & Tequila. Doors soft open Friday, and expect a grand opening celebration announced for sometime in early May.
Capture all the chinchillas!
So, chinchillas are what Cinchona Coffee calls their reward points on Cash App (whereas Josh & John’s are called “punches” à la their old school physical vouchers). I learned this when at the preview on Wednesday, paying for a couple of boutique Third Wave Chocolate bars, a cappuccino and blueberry matcha cheong tea.
As I told you in Side Dish a few weeks ago, Cinchona owner and barista Andrew Shepherd Combs is moving from popup service inside Provision Bread & Bakery to a storefront over, at 2 S. Wahsatch Ave., to finaly open his own cafe. Look for it to open to the public at 6 a.m. on April 20 (huh-huh, 4/20 bro!).
He’s on a limited menu for the preview and there’s more furnishing of the space to come, but he and a co-tenant named Sentai (who sells skateboard decks and streetwear) at least have signs hung out front. It’s official.
My cappuccino is superb, because that’s how Combs rolls. We’ve had the blueberry matcha many times before and will get it many times again. Its color in the glass is hypnotic and it’s nicely sweet balanced with the bitter green tea. “We serve a stupidly good matcha standard in our drinks,” Combs wrote on Cinchona’s Instagram page at one point, partly in explanation of the pricing around his products. They aren’t cheap because neither are his meticulously sourced ingredients.
Anyway, before I left, we made sure to take another photo with Combs’ foot on the counter, just to playfully troll an online commenter who’d griped about his shoes being on the counter when I photographed him a few weeks ago in the construction site. (You know, dear commenter, that countertop will be wiped clean… we give up.)
Miguel’s doubling locations in the coming weeks
Miguel’s Mexican Bar & Grill is underway with an ambitious expansion that will see two new locations coming online imminently.
First, the former Salsa on the Rock at 802 Village Center Drive in Rockrimmon has been transformed into Miguel’s next spot, and it might be open by the time you read this (or within days). Following that within a month or so, expect what was Tsing Tao House at 3604 Hartsel Drive, near Woodmen Road, to open as the fourth Miguel’s.
The outfit, launched on Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard over two decades ago (originally named Carlos Miguel’s due to a prior business partner), added a second location on S. Eighth Street in 2020. I reached out to co-owner Miguel Martin to chat about the dual openings and learn more about the sudden growth.
He tells me that he and his current business partner Manuel Pacheco, who’s also the chef, became friends many years ago in California while working together in the restaurant industry. “We came out of continental steakhouses, big catering houses,” he says, “and we learned a lot from the great chefs we were working with out there.”
When they later reunited in Colorado, they constructed a menu that reflects broad Mexican cuisines, from Mexico City to Jalisco and Veracruz: “tacos, tamales, steaks, seafood, a little bit of everything,” he says, adding that the menu focuses on fresh items, executability and authenticity. (The menu will be the same at all four locations.)
I ask him what his bestsellers are, and he points to their molcajete bowl (with steak, shrimp, carnitas and chicken), pollo boracho in habanero sauce, and their Baja fish tacos served with jicama and fixings.
He notes that “times are tough,” so Miguel’s offers a daily lunch item at $10.99 to address affordability. And there’s a meal deal for two, for $30, which offers an appetizer, entrée and dessert to share.
He and Pacheco also launched Aspen American Bar and Grill off of Lake Avenue a few years ago, before turning around and selling it in mid 2025 to Srini Boddeda, who added an Indian menu atop the American bistro items.
I’m curious if they’re eyeing more expansion after these next two Miguel’s stores come online, and Martin says “I don’t know if we will do more of them, and if we do, it’s going to be a while.”
“How does it feel to be doubling your business after all these years,” I ask him.
“It’s nuts,” he begins. “I’m not sure if it’s exciting or suicide.” He continues after a pause: “We aren’t doing anything magical. We’re just doing things right.”
Try the globally viral Raspberry Danish Latte at The French Kitchen
Confession: I got a little meddlesome this week and texted The French Kitchen owner (my friend and a Side Dish Dozen alum) Blandine Mazéran, saying “Maybe you should put C. Springs on the map for this,” with a link to an article from The Guardian.
You should read it for the full story, but the takeaway for you lazies who won’t click it is that a coffee shop in Northfield, Minnesota named Little Joy created a Raspberry Danish Latte last month. Then they shared the recipe online, encouraging other shops to copy their idea, and even created a map to highlight places serving it. The drink’s gone international since, to “every continent except Antarctica.” At a glance, I see hundreds (maybe thousands?) of places pinpointed.
But zoom in on Colorado and guess who’s absent from the list? Smallorado Springs — yup. I expected to spy cities like Denver and Boulder on the map, but not Salida, Del Norte and even Beulah. Among those making the latte are industry-respected craft outfits like Harbinger Coffee in Fort Collins, so it’s been plenty legitimized.
Instead of waiting to see who might discover the drink in C. Springs, I tipped off TFK, thinking that as a boulangerie and pâtisserie with coffee service it would make sense thematically that they serve a pastry-inspired latte. Plus, when sidedishsidekick’s daughter Ella gave Blandine the idea for making the viral, Olympics-inspired Paris Chocolate Muffin in mid 2024, she jumped on it. (That item lives on every Valentine’s Day now at TFK as the “chocolate love muffin.”)
So now, take a look at TFK’s alluring Raspberry Danish Latte rendition, concocted by Barista Alex Wilson and Chef Nathan Potter:
As of April 16 you can try the Raspberry Danish Latte at TFK for $6.75 — or make it a “berry bundle” with a raspberry chocolatine (already existent on their menu) for $11. In May, that bundle will include a blackberry Queenet option. And you should have until June’s end to get the viral drink before TFK’s next Taste of the Season refresh.
“Our team gets excited when we get tips like this,” Blandine tells me at my tasting and photography session earlier this week. They had just been sitting down to plan out the seasonal drink menu when I texted, so my timing was coincidentally good.
As for the drink, the global attention tells you that it’s damn delightful. For my tastes, I love the vanilla cream cheese foam’s texture and natural (though sugar-enhanced) sweetness of the raspberries in the bottommost layer, below a double shot of espresso and milk. The fresh raspberry garnish also feels special and lends more eye appeal.
Whether this drink will live on past this initial hype, like the Dubai chocolate craze has continued in the marketplace, we shall see. But for now, it’s sure cool to see the creative collaboration around a recipe given freely to the world. Little Joy’s store manager told The Guardian that they knew most people wouldn’t attempt the DIY drink at home, and obviously wouldn’t drive to Minnesota for it, so encouraging other businesses to make it made sense. “Which is why we’re inviting any coffee shop to steal this drink and put it on their own menu. Not you, Starbucks,” she said.
Bites & Bits
• Bella’s Bagels returned home from BagelFest West in Los Angeles (held April 12) as the winner in the Schmear of the Year category. Their Pueblo Green Chile Cream Cheese — what else would you rep our great state with? — earned the top honor over a lemon meringue flavor (the runner up, from Encinitas, Calif.) and garlic flavor (third place, out of Koreatown, L.A.). “Colorado heat has been delivered,” co-owner Jason Stele said in a proud Facebook post. What’s more: Stele and crew got a surprise, congratulatory visit from Governor Jared Polis on April 15:
• The Grilled Cheese Food Truck announced that it has expanded into a new, much larger food bus after four years in business. In addition to signature sandwiches and seasonal specials (like a summertime Peach Valley with Brie, peach slices, mint and honey) they offer gluten-free and vegan options and recently began serving doggy ice cream for your pets for $1.50.
• Online scuttlebutt earlier this week had it that Capriotti’s had closed all its C. Springs locations. I saw other Springs media personalities report it (as if fact-checked). Then I stopped by the E. Cheyenne Road location April 15 to find a sign in the window saying “This Location is Temporarily Closed.” Which is how Google stated it as well when I searched. (Are you with me? Key word: “temporarily.”) Capriotti’s corporate website only showed that our local spots were “Not Accepting Online Orders. And Capriotti’s Cheyenne Road Facebook page continued to put up daily posts as if it was open — seemingly stuck on autopilot from a scheduler somewhere. Though literally as I write this around noon on April 16, that page’s hours have been updated to say “Permanently Closed.”
• The Gazette reported on the April 1 opening of a second Mountain Mike’s Pizza location in the area, at 8099 Carmela Grove, near Woodmen and Marksheffel roads. The first location at 123 Spectrum Loop opened in January 2025, and is owned by a separate franchisee according to the article, which notes more than 320 locations of the 48-year-old chain across the U.S.
• Fox21 noted the permanent closure of Biaggi’s this week at 1805 Briargate Parkway after more than 23 years at the location. The article cited “extensive damage to the building” which has had it closed for business since fall 2025, with hopes to reopen.
• Continuing her reporting on the Noma fallout, local chef Hannah Cupples has posted two more pieces in her Old School Mentality Gets 86’d series. One is a conversation with key figure Jason Ignacio White, and the other is takeaways from her trip in late March to Philadelphia, where she attended the Chef Assembly. She found the experience frustrating, “because the topic of abuse and exploitation in the service industry was not only ignored… it was mocked,” she writes. Click in to give it a read, and subscribe free (or paid).
• “The Mexican version of Boston Market.” That’s how New Denizen describes Chicken Riot, a new Cherry Creek spot from the guys behind Riot BBQ (formerly the beleaguered AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q). This month’s roundup of 5 new restaurants & bars you should know about (around Denver) also features the amazing Poulette Bakeshop, which I recently tried thanks to a gift pastry box from a chef friend. “Honestly, if you haven’t made the drive down to Parker to try Poulette by now, I’m not sure we can be friends,” writes New Denizen (real name Laura).
Side Dish Dozen happenings
Blackhat Distillery: Experience Blackhat Distillery, where American Agave Spirits meet disciplined craft and elevated Colorado hospitality. Through May’s end, readers can secure access to our guided tours at 50% off and our intimate Distiller’s Vault experience at 25% off. Advance resos required. Tours are booked online, and Vault experiences are arranged directly with our distiller.
Four by Brother Luck: Reserve early for Mother’s Day brunch! Come see us for our newly expanded and revamped happy hours, 3-6 p.m., Tuesdays-Sundays. Book a five- or seven-course private Chef’s Table with us (wine pairing optional) for any occasion.
Red Gravy: Try the undefeated Pastarama champ, our Short Rib Ravioli! Facing a new contender: Four-Cheese Manicotti: pasta filled with Ricotta, Parmesan and basil and baked with marinara, Mozzarella & Provel cheeses. Topped with Fried Spinach.
Elephant Thai & Chaang Thai: Stop in for new menu additions: a Vegan Appetizer Sampler; Sweet Chile Sriracha Tempura Shrimp; Nam Jim Jaew lime leaf-lemongrass pork with sticky rice (gluten-free) and Chef Suwanna’s homemade coconut ice cream.
T-Byrd’s Tacos & Tequila: Happy hours are 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and all day Sunday. Taco Tuesdays feature $3.50 tacos all day and $5 Margaritas. Our $12.99 lunch special gets you chips & salsa, two tacos, rice, beans and a fountain drink; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. District Elleven: new Tapa Tuesdays!
Bristol Brewing Company: Have you had our Hefe? It’s a fresh and flavorful toast to spring at the Bristol Pub, along with our Blood Orange Beehive, Chocolate Lab, and the return of Yellow Kite Pilsner, all on tap now. See you in the Schoolyard!
Hoppenings of the week
Beer Events
Plants & Pints with Phelan Gardens at Red Leg Brewing: April 18, noon. An earth day celebration. Purchase a pint and get a free starter veggie plant. Enjoy a pop up sale featuring annuals, perennials, herbs and house plants.
Magic: The Gathering Night at Lost Friend Brewing: April 18, 5 p.m. Join us every other Saturday for Magic nights Bring your own decks and enjoy a fun, relaxed, free night of games with players of all skill levels. 10% off your bar tab while playing.
Pints & Poses (Beer Yoga) at Urban Animal Brewing (Star Ranch): April 19, 10:45 a.m. Every 1st & 3rd Sunday. Calm pups welcome. $18 gets you an hour of stretchy, breathy goodness + a pint.
Beer Releases
Plume Domination West Coast IPA at Cerberus Brewing: A bold, hoppy brew with proceeds benefiting the SOCO Interagency Wildland Fire Team.
La Matts Blue Lager at WestFax Springs: A crisp, clean Canadian-style crusher collaboration rooted in longtime friendship, with a nod to shared Upstate NY roots.
Curated by Brandon Heid and Gerry Reyes. For full listings of beer-related events and releases download the free Hoppenings app on Apple on Google.
Join us for a patio brunch bash, Sunday, April 26, 10-2
Upcoming events
April 18: Pikes Peak Library District Foundation’s annual Night at the Library at Library 21c. 6-8 p.m; $150 benefits PPLD. Featuring 20 local food and drink vendors serving snacks inspired by classic and modern storybook themes.
April 21: Adictivo Tequila Dinner at TAPAteria. 6 p.m.; $99 for five paired courses.
April 23: A Night with Hendrick’s Gin in The Aviator at Hotel Polaris. 4 and 5:30 p.m. tastings, $10.
April 25: 19th annual Spring Wine Extravaganza at Cañon City’s Winery at Holy Cross Abbey. 1-4 p.m.; $50 includes wine, food and live music.
April 25: Small Brew Saturday at Local Relic. Noon to 4 p.m., snacks available.
April 26: Patio Brunch Bash Sip with Schnip at Evergreen Restaurant. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. $5 Goat Patch beers, bottomless mimosas, live music, pup-friendly patio plus a Breakfast Burger Special with egg, bacon, onion jam and Hollandaise on a Provision-baked croissant. And a one-day-only special Side Dish Mousse Cake, made with espresso from Kangaroo Coffee!
April 26: Third Annual Rooftop Invitational cocktail competition at Lumen8 Rooftop Social. 6 p.m. Eight teams, single elimination rounds with surprise challenge ingredients. Spectate and sip the creations.
April 27: Corrido Tequila Dinner at Ephemera. Seatings between 5:30 and 7:30; $105 for four paired courses.
April 28: Passport To Castello Banfi wine dinner at Pizzeria Rustica. 6 p.m.; $89 for five paired courses, call 719-475-9700 to reserve.
April 29: Colorado Pint Day. Starting at 11 a.m., hit participating local breweries to snag the 2025 limited edition Colorado Brewer’s Guild glass free with a pint purchase.
Parting shot(s)
This week was jammed packed with tastings for me. (Tough gig, I know.) Here’s some shots with the industry folks I met up with:
1) Chef Nate at The French Kitchen to taste the Raspberry Danish Latte. Note how it looks like the characters in the mural behind me are watching me drink in the first photo, and how I share a similar pose and expression to the mural character in the second photo. A total accident in composition, I promise… unless Chloé at TFK is an even more masterful marketing hand than I realized.
2) I’ve enjoyed getting to know Josh & John’s founder John Krakauer more over the past couple years of our seasonal Side Dish flavor collaborations. I have a blast bantering with him, and the bonus (of course) is that there always seems to be ice cream around and in-hand when we talk. Even if he has just sweetened me up with the good, cold stuff, I’m always happy to see him and the awesome J&J’s crew members who have really woven themselves into the community.
3) What a joy it was to finally meet Lolley’s Ice Cream owners Shelley and Dustin Sapp in person, having only talked to them by phone prior (even though I’ve eaten ice cream at their Monument shop many times). They and their staff graciously tasted me through almost their whole current menu — kudos for the actual silverware (mini spoons) that prevents disposable waste! Welcome to the Springs! (From Monument.)
Excited to try Lolley’s downtown tomorrow!