Beer here
Shri Ganesh on the redemption path; new local app tracks "Hoppenings" and brewery releases; beer banter with Mash Mechanix Brewing Co.; fall flavors in Fountain + more food & drink news and events
Shri Ganesh celebrated its 10-year anniversary earlier this year, and owner Raj Adhikari reached out to me with an invite to come dine and check out what’s new (in the many years since I’d last caught up with him when I was working at the CS Indy).
After accepting Adhikari’s invitation and enjoying a vibrant lunch sampling, which I’ll get to below, I stumbled upon KRDO’s Restaurant Roundup segment, realizing Shri Ganesh had recently been the unfortunate feature of a restaurant health inspections list, having to shut down temporarily to address several food safety concerns before passing a re-inspection to reopen. The report allowed Adhikari to respond, and he emphasized he’d never received a failing grade prior, saying all staff members would soon have food safety certifications, and that “we are fixing everything 100 percent.”
PR and damage-control wise, that’s about all a restaurant can do to recover from a poor report card: take responsibility and vow to do better. (I have heard from several in the industry who feel the news segment is unfair and damaging, despite being based on timely Health Department data.) And, now that I’ve put all the pieces together, I suppose restaurants can also reach out to other media in an attempt to create new narratives. Not that I want to make a habit of effectively re-inspecting Restaurant Roundup’s food fodder — I don’t — but in this case I believe I would have accepted Adhikari’s invite either way. It had been since pre-Covid that I’d chatted with him, as I said, and my memories of Shri Ganesh’s early days were fond enough to have genuine curiosity for how it’s aged.
With fresh eyes, we (Ryan Hannigan and I) appreciated the bright and tidy space upon entry. Adhikari directed me to a display of retail items that Shri Ganesh sells (at spots like Ace Hardware and Asian Pacific Market) under its private label: Raj Hot Sauce, pickled lime and chile jars, and a smooth ginger lemonade that’s neither too zingy-biting nor sweet, but nicely balanced. He also packages masala, korma and butter sauces, and wished to emphasize his catering services. On the way to our table, we peruse a shelf of various imported Indian and Nepali beers he’s proud to source.
While awaiting our order, I talk to a regular customer seated in a booth behind us, and glean his quick story. He tells me he and his sons have visited Shri Ganesh every couple weeks for the last couple years even though there’s other Indian food available closer to his home. “There’s better flavor here,” he says. “And they really dial in their spices with their heat levels well.” He goes hot, and one kid likes his dishes extra hot. They use Raj’s hot sauce with their smoked wings at home. (We do later try it and its tart and vinegary with distinct back notes of Indian spices. It’s good.) “They’re super fast, too,” he adds. “And for the portions the prices are great.”
As I write this, I’m starting to wonder if this guy was planted for my arrival (Raj, what have you done?!), but soon we were dining on our own spread and we verified for ourselves what the dude was saying. We ordered across four heat levels and tasted an evening ratcheting up, appreciating that flavors remained intact throughout despite how spicy bites got; there was no hollow burn just for machismo sake. Sauces were velvety, colorful and deeply rich, and our plates were surprisingly photogenic. (In the days of old, our art department at the Indy would gripe that our photos of Indian food around town often looked too much like puréed baby food, laying out dark and muddy and unappetizing on news print. They weren’t wrong.)
Adhikari wanted us to try some of the newer menu items like a popular Nepali Kabab tandoori plate that he created. He’s also a chef, and still has a hand in daily restaurant prep, though he mostly spends his time in front-of-house during service. (He’s also partnered in Little Nepal’s two locations, though he has no hand in its operations.) That Nepali Kabab features chicken marinated in sour cream, soy and vinegar, with garlic and ginger and an array of spices. They sauté a tomato sauce in-pan to-order with onions, chiles and more of the marinating ingredients to reinforce those flavors, adding the meat directly from the clay oven.
That dish proves my favorite bite amidst our spread, followed up by the Chicken Tikka Korma, whose coconut cream sauce hits the same pleasure center as butter chicken, perhaps the most commonly ordered Indian plate in America. We break form slightly with an order of butter shrimp, the fieriest of our dishes at an extra hot spice level which still proves mostly tolerable for me; it barely registers for Ryan the hot sauce masochist (my name for him, nothing he’s commonly called in public).
Lastly among our samplings, the goat bhuna exemplifies the fried cooking technique with garlic, chiles, onion and tomatoes to concentrate seasonings in a dark tomato-based sauce that partially rehydrates the meat. And the Pav Bhaji, an appetizer we start with, captures a Mumbai street food favorite, which reminds me of Sloppy Joes. Except that it’s vegetarian, made with a curry vegetable purée that includes potatoes and peas cooked in a tomato gravy. You load that onto bread rolls (we go open face) and garnish with fresh white onion and squeezes of citrus for punch.
Though we’ve obviously been treated with special attention, we finish our meal (which looks like dividing to-go boxes) quite contented. Whether Shri Ganesh delivers this level of quality for all its guests or not, it’s clear Adhikari brings a good game to the table when necessary. It would only benefit him to be consistent. He insists he is.
“I’m always present,” he says. “I make sure every dish is prepared carefully. Even though I have chefs, I’m always involved. I make sure people have good service. My wife and two kids work here and so does my father-in-law. We have so many regular customers.”
It’s those customers I imagine who’ll be most forgiving about the failed food inspection kerfuffle, if they even paid attention. For anyone else wanting to give the spot a chance, Adhikari says a particularly good time to enjoy Shri Ganesh is for Thursday night dinner buffets, which will relaunch (for the first time since the Covid era) in early October, in conjunction with belly dancing performances. Happy hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays.
What’s Hoppening?
Everyone knows that good things and big ideas happen over pints of beers. In the case of friends Gerry Reyes and Brandon Heid, the good thing actually started over a bad idea for a mobile app.
“I was trying to think of a way to tell your friends that you were going to a brewery at a certain time, and you’d be able to track each others locations, like to see if someone was running late,” explains Heid, a techie who works in IT development.
Thankfully, Reyes, who’s a pediatric occupational therapist by day, talked Heid out of the potentially creepy Big Brother factor of that. The two instead co-created what’s now an app of brewery listings that curates weekly beer releases and events around town. “We both love beer, and we go to so many breweries,” says Reyes. “We know how hard it can be to find all that info.” (Side story: I actually do know very intimately how difficult the task of scraping listings is, from my earliest years at the CS Indy as the Listings Editor — lame-ass title, I know. It’s dry, partially brainless work, other than having to track down flaky people sometimes and encourage page updates, etc.)
Their free app, named Hoppenings, launched on Labor Day, and they’re already up to 250 users. It took them about three months to develop it, working every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at Mash Mechanix, drinking beers with their laptops in action.
I ask about what looks to be a volunteer project, and if they have intent to monetize the app. Indeed, they do, down the road. They describe a strategy of ads once the audience grows larger. And something they’re tentatively calling a Hop Club Partnership with breweries to be able to offer deals to paid-level users. For something like $4.99 a month, those users would get BOGO vouchers from a dozen-plus breweries, recouping their fee many times over if they’re active on the scene.
Reyes and Heid also envision “leveraging augmented reality and creating scavenger hunts” at breweries around town via Hoppenings. Using Pokémon as an example, they describe using your phone to find a three-headed dog at Cerberus or ghost goat at Goat Patch for a Halloween-timed hunt. And perhaps more usefully day-to-day, they might pair beer selections with food options as recommendations that would appear.
Meanwhile, the two used AI to stylize their own photography and create the cover images for each brewery in Hoppenings’ scroll. But they’re painstakingly entering all the listings data in manually (over beers, of course) — that is until they stand up a web portal for breweries to do their own dirty work. In time, they also want to expand Hoppings to other cities along the Front Range, helping better connect other craft beer makers to their markets.
“We’re all about supporting local breweries and events that bring people together over great beer,” they say.
That key word “local” partly explains why BJ’s, Rock Bottom and even Colorado Mountain Brewery are absent from the app. They’re favoring independent establishments over chains and eschewing places that operate more as restaurants than breweries, as well as paying attention to community engagement like frequency of events. “We have a scorecard,” says Reyes. “We measure all aspects.”
I ask why BierWerks and Paradox Beer Co. are missing when destinations as far as Fountain, Monument, Black Forest and Peyton are present. An eventual expansion of their boundary Westward is likely as they grow they app, they say, but they placed boundaries on more proximate places to C. Springs itself for now. (We didn’t do that at the Indy when we drew boundaries, so my stickler brain glitches over their map-making — but hey, not my app.)
Oh, and last curious question: Why are Uprise Taphouse and Trails End Taproom (and Seven’s Gate Taproom for that matter) on the app when they aren’t actual breweries?
“It was a hot debate for a while,” Heid says, adding that we might see Pub Dog Colorado listed soon, too. The decision, beyond being beer-centric and having solid tap lists, gets back to being event-driven and active in the community, they say.
Meet the guys, download the app
Attend Cerberus Brewing Co.’s Oktoberfest this Saturday, Sept. 20 and find the guys from Hoppenings at a guest table. They’ll be on site from around 1-4 p.m., with a gift card raffle as part of the day’s festivities.
Six questions with Leif Anderson, co-owner at Mash Mechanix Brewing Co.
For anyone unfamiliar, who is Mash Mechanix?
Mash Mechanix Brewing Company opened in March 2021 and is co-owned by myself, Ryan Close and Kevin Olsen. From the beginning we wanted to be a hub for the community, and our motto has been “A beer for everyone, all the time.” That philosophy reflects not just our tap list, but also the kind of environment we aim to create — one where everyone feels welcome, whether they’re here for a craft beer, a hard seltzer, a non-alcoholic option or great food.
Given the abundance of local breweries, how did you find your place and get rooted?
From day one, our goal was to anchor ourselves in the downtown community. Beyond beer we’ve built connections through car shows, trivia nights, our Mash Dashers run club and charity-focused events. For many of our customers, Mash has become more than a taproom. It’s a place to connect and belong.
Downtown has been waiting for the new residences to come online and many finally have. Have you noticed any impact yet?
The growth downtown has been huge. With Catalyst Campus nearby and the new Fiona apartments right across the street, we’ve definitely noticed more people using Mash as a “third space.” Customers are working from the brewery during the day, then staying to enjoy the social side of things in the evening. It’s been rewarding to see the space evolve that way. We are excited for the future as more new residents discover all that downtown has to offer.
What are the current challenges facing beer makers, as you’ve experienced them?
We keep an eye on national trends but always focus on what makes sense for our customers. The craft beer industry faces the same challenges as other small business, such as competing with larger retailers and a shift in consumer habits. One shift we’ve really noticed is that younger generations aren’t drinking alcohol as much. That’s led us to broaden our offerings so there’s something for everyone. We have crafted some great mocktails and are offer many non-alcoholic options.
How did your relationship with Stage Stop Cantina come to be?
Stage Stop Cantina came into the picture thanks to a customer who made the introduction. From the start it felt like a natural fit. Their concept and energy matched what we wanted in a food partner. Over time it’s grown into a true partnership, and we’re grateful to have them as our permanent kitchen. The creativity and the use of quality ingredients really shows in the amazing dishes they create. [See my prior review of Stage Stop in Side Dish, here.]
What didn’t I ask that you’d like to say?
At the end of the day, Mash Mechanix is built on three guiding values: community, inclusiveness and experience. That’s what drives every decision we make, from the beer we brew to the events we host. As a neighborhood hub we strive to provide the best experience possible and give back as best we can to a community that supports us.
Catch two upcoming Mash Mechanix events:
• Oktoberfest Taproom Takeover with Trails & Open Space. Sept. 20, 5-10 p.m. Legacy Loop community bike ride, Oktoberfest bier release, stein holding contest and more. $1 from each pint sold benefits TOSC.
• Creek Week Clean Up 2025. Sept. 27, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Volunteer and clean with Mash Mechanix along Shooks Run Trail nearby, then return to the brewery and get two free pints plus barbecue. (Also support the watershed by purchasing a pint of Reel Refreshin’ IPA, a collaborative brew by Fountain Creek Brewshed Alliance members, from which $1 from each pint sold benefits clean water initiatives. Available at several member breweries.)
Fall flavors
By Lauren Hug
“Oh wow! That's GOOD!” That’s what came flying out of my mouth after my first sip of an iced tea latte from the recently grand opened Honey, Tea & Me Chapter 2 on Main Street in Fountain. I had popped in and asked owner Shawndel Sievert what she recommended and she directed me to a fabulous Rose London Fog concoction.
Sievert definitely knows her tea — all 200 options. This is the second location of her tea shop (the first is in Black Forest). In the Fountain spot, a few small tables with honey bee print table cloths and good-sized honey dispensers welcome tea-sippers to sweeten drinks to their liking and linger over a cuppa and a light tea food menu. Shoppers can also buy canisters of tea for brewing at home, as well as teacups, teapots and home brewing equipment.
Not only does Honey, Tea, & Me have tons of teas and signature tea lattes to choose from, but they also sell a wide variety of housemade flavored honey, including creamed, hot and even a salted caramel version. The base honey comes from Johnston Honey Farm, one of the oldest honey producers in Colorado, founded in 1908.
You’ll find Honey, Tea, & Me directly next door to Sliced Bagels & More, where I also nabbed a drink during a work meeting. Sliced offers drink menus that change with the seasons. I couldn't resist the All About Fall Chai, a crave-worthy pumpkin, dark chocolate, marshmallow cold foam drink that has everything I love about fall (plus dark chocolate!) in one cup.
Bites & Bits
• The Colorado Restaurant Association announced finalists for this year’s HOSPYS Hospitality Awards, to be given out Nov. 10 in Denver. Public voting — one vote per person, so this isn’t a popularity contest; it’s a legit awards procedure — ends Oct. 31. Colorado Springs is represented in one of the HOSPYS’ 11 categories: Operator of the Year. Side Dish Dozen member Doug Hammond, owner of Kangaroo Coffee, is nominated alongside proprietors of Denver’s Little Man Ice Cream and Aurora/Denver’s Olive & Finch Collective (which Lauren wrote about here). Category criteria includes significantly contributing “to the positive image of the Colorado hospitality industry through excellence in operations, hospitality, community connection, and team leadership.” Last year, Side Dish Dozen member Eric Brenner of Red Gravy was nominated in the Chef of the Year category. Other nominees this year that we’ve recently written about: Xiquita, Champagne Tiger and Beijing Noodle.
• Michelin announced its 2025 Colorado restaurant winners earlier this week. Westword has the breakdown. And Colorado has its first Two Star eatery: The Wolf’s Tailor, which also holds a Green Star. Several spots maintained their One Star or Bib Gourmand status, and newbies were added to the Recommended ratings. Related: A friend asked me why nobody in Colorado Springs had been awarded, so I forwarded along my 2023 story on how C. Springs refused to pay to play. So for now, and until Visit COS decides to pony up, if it ever does, we don’t know if anyone holds the excellence to make the list. But several local chefs and industry people have thoughts and feelz, from my past convos with them.
• Congratulations to Red Gravy’s Chef Eric Brenner (a Side Dish Dozen supporter), who was the recipient of the 2025 Downtown Star Award in the Individual category! (Poor Richard’s took home the award this year in the Organization category — kudos!) There was no passing of the torch-type ceremony, but symbolically it’s awesome to see Brenner win, speaking as the 2024 Downtown Star Award winner myself. When I tracked Brenner down for a photo together after the ceremony, he joked, “How’d you get there before me?” Hey — no comment. (I know people, who know people, who know me. Or something like that. Tee-hee.) But I’ve left the seat warm for you, chef. Now get back to work doing great community service behind the scenes. And please keep the sweater on, it makes a great chef’s coat. (There was a Mr. Rogers theme to the awards ceremony.)
• The Best Coffee & Lounge, which only opened in the former Wild Goose space on May 29, is already expanding its brand. They announced this week that they’ll be opening a second location on Sept. 20 at 115 S. 25th St., on the backside of Monse's Taste of El Salvador, also operated by owners Monse and Tim Hines. The couple had told Side Dish about these plans back in June, saying they envisioned quick coffee service, spillover space and a spot to order and pick up to-go food to alleviate foot traffic at the main entrance on the building’s other side. Still to come from the tiny restaurant group: the eventual reopening of Mountain Shadows.
• Santana’s Vegan Grill recently moved to 5609 N. Academy Blvd. from their prior location at 3220 Austin Bluffs Pkwy.
• “Good news for chicken lovers!” reports Fox21. (Oh man, I dream of writing a lead like that someday.) “Colorado Springs’ first El Pollo Loco has announced its opening date.” Said date is Oct. 1, and the brand joins a row of other chains along E. Fillmore Street., occupying a former KFC space. Whataburger was one of the other more recent additions to the corporate concentration along the stretch. Strong local brands do remain though, including Boonzaaijer’s Dutch Bakery, Colorado Coffee Merchants, Omelette Parlor and Ranch Foods Direct.
• Via Springs Magazine, Grand View at Garden of the Gods Resort and Club is offering brunch with a llama, through October. (If you aren’t busy doing yoga with goat, coffee with a cat, etc.)
Side Dish Dozen happenings
Bristol Brewing Company: Our free Movies Under the Stars series continues, with The Hangover this Saturday the 20th at 7:30 p.m. (heads up for families–that one’s rated R) and then The Princess Bride on the 27th. BYO chair and enjoy popcorn and old school movie theater candy at rock bottom prices, and of course, beer!
T-Byrd’s Tacos & Tequila: Our $12.99 lunch special features chips & salsa, two tacos, rice, beans and a fountain drink; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Now you can make any taco a bowl or burrito. Happy hours are 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and all day Sunday.
Elephant Thai: Visit us here or at our sister outfit Chaang Thai to enjoy our Northern-style Khao Soi Noodle house special. For your protein, you can choose between traditional chicken drumsticks or pork cutlet or slow-cooked beef. The dish is also vegan-adaptable with a panko tofu option.
Rasta Pasta: As featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, we’re the Springs’ only Italian-Jamaican fusion spot, where Old World and Caribbean flavors marry beautifully. Our salads and desserts are gluten free, and any pasta dish can be made GF too. We’re also vegan/vegetarian friendly, and pastas are made to-order from mindfully sourced ingredients.
Red Gravy: Enjoy the beautiful new block on Tejon Street from our patio. Happy hours are 4-6 p.m., weekdays. Come for our fabulous Filthy Dirty Martini, a vodka drink spiked with balsamic and garnished with gorgonzola-stuffed olives. We offer walk-in seating at our front bar and rear bar in Blue at Red Gravy.
Eleven18 Event Space: Now booking holiday parties and large-party special events. Keep an eye out for our next pop-up dinner series. Four by Brother Luck: Join us from 3-5 p.m., Tuesdays-Sundays for happy hours, which includes $10 cocktails, $5 beers and $7 wines. Our beloved Bacon Jam Burger is only $12 during HH too, alongside nearly a dozen more specially discounted bites.
The Chuckwagon 719: We run noon to sellout, Wednesdays-Sundays. Our smoked brisket burgers are only $7.50. Other regular items include whole smoked chickens, burnt ends, pastrami, and housemade desserts like blueberry cobbler. All weekend we serve smoked ribeyes, and Sundays are special for smoked salmon. Texas proud.
Upcoming events
Sept. 19-21: Pueblo Chile & Frijole Festival.
Sept. 20: Korean Festival Colorado at Acacia Park. Traditional food and street snacks, K-pop performances, cultural games, local artists and vendors. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; free.
Sept. 20: Bines and Brews Beer Fest in Monument. Noon to 4 p.m.
Sept. 20: Autumn Festival at Palmer Lake’s Three Farm Girls. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Local artisans, live music and family activities. Free.
Sept. 20: Oktoberfest at Red Leg Brewing. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sept. 21: Ehret Winery and Selin Cellars wine dinner at Evergreen. Multiple seatings; five courses, $78.
Sept. 21: Paella on the Patio continues at Tapateria. Three seatings between noon and 5 p.m.; $45 includes a drink.
Sept. 23: Passport to Slovenia community wine dinner at Pizzeria Rustica. 6 p.m.; five-course, $89. Call Coaltrain at 719-475-9700 to reserve.
Sept. 23-26: Bottle sale at My Cellar Wine Bar. “Steep discounts” and “highly rated, carefully curated wines.”
Sept. 25: Tails, Tunes & Tastes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. 6-9:30 p.m. $64.75-$74.75; unlimited small plates and two drinks.
Sept. 27: Blues on the Mesa at Gold Hill Mesa. A full day of music supported by a number of local food and drink outfits.
Sept. 27: Itlog After Dark Baon Supper Club dinner at Good Neighbors Meeting House. 6 p.m.; $90, five courses plus welcome cocktail.
Sept. 27-28: Harvest Festival at The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey.
Sept. 27-28: Black Forest Brewing Co.’s 8th Annual Oktoberfest. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sept. 30: Pikes Peak Oktoberfest at Hillside Gardens. 5-9 p.m.
Parting shot(s)
Our Elephant Thai Sip with Schnip on Wednesday evening was a big hit, with a full house and wait at the door at the height of the evening. The special Kaeng hang le Northern Thai curry sold out and Thai-style cocktails were particularly well received. Thanks to all the subscribers and supporters who showed up. Owner Suwanna Meyer said it was the busiest night of service they’ve ever had.
It didn’t help that third-party delivery orders never stopped, so the kitchen was juggling the pickup traffic and dining room crowd. I got a chance to bust out my old industry skills and run food, clear tables and co-manage the seating flow. It made me momentarily nostalgic for my bygone days as a server and FOH manager. Then I remembered all the reasons why I have it pretty good on this side of the table.