(Brother) Luck of the Irish
Folklore and The Tipperary open + more food & drink news
For our lead news item this week, we have the highly anticipated opening of Folklore, which replaces Lucky Dumpling. If you missed the backstory on this venture, catch up with this brief article I posted on March 1. The reason I say that it’s highly anticipated is that I know it from online metrics: When I shared my blog that same day to my Culinary Colorado Springs Facebook Group (which you should definitely join if you aren’t already a member), it received more engagement among our almost 9,000 members and beyond than any post to-date. Like, multiples more.
That definitely has a lot to do with Folklore being the next chapter in celebrity chef Brother Luck’s career. But it’s worth factoring in the influence of Folklore co-owners Sean and Inez Fitzgerald (picture above) via their popular local establishments Wobbly Olive and Allusion Speakeasy. Wobbly deserves credit for introducing the Powers Boulevard corridor to finer dining back in 2014, while Allusion’s the hip bar that reinvents itself quarterly with different themes, like Star Wars or Harry Potter. (For one more week as of this posting you can catch Allusion in Wonderland.)
Anyway, by joining forces here, Luck and the Fitzgeralds are covering all the bases between back and front of the houses. Luck and his crew are of course in charge of the food selection (pictured above: Scotch Eggs Benedict, the lamb stew pot pie and fish & chips), while the Fitzgeralds have designed separate cocktail lists for Folklore and its ancillary fine cocktail lounge named The Tipperary. (Again, read this to get up to speed on that, if you didn’t click in above.)
We dropped by a couple of days before the soft opening on March 23 for a preview. We ordered a few dishes recommended to us by the staff-in-training, and received some cocktail samples from Inez, who co-designed the $11 cocktail menu specific to Folklore, as the Tipperary’s drinks cost at-least a few bucks more and are more sophisticated, for lack of a better term. (Drinks pictured above: The Five Points Sour on the top row, which is Proper 12 Irish Apple Whiskey with sage-infused maple, lemon, bitters, egg white and a port float; and on the 2nd row, left side, the Southie, with gin, Midori, mint and lemon; and the Selkie, with Irish whiskey, strawberry cordial, absinthe and lemon.)
As Inez served us, she explained that by contrast to the Tipperary, “at Folklore’s bar we aren’t taking bartending too seriously; we’re having fun.” Which partly explains a drink they named the Irish Trash Can, made with peach vodka, rum and Blue Curacao, which gets served with a can of Red Bull in the glass to constantly refill it as you sip. Inez says there’s an inside joke to the name, related to Sean being pretty wasted once at a chain establishment’s bar and loudly critiquing for those in earshot his opinion that the drinks served were “trash …trash… trash!” (I’m laughing as I picture it.)
One Tipperary cocktail pictured above, in the tall-stem Nick and Nora glass, is named the Tipperary, and it’s potent, made with Irish whiskey, Green Chartreuse, sweet Italian vermouth and aromatic bitters. It’s one of the “forgotten classics” that Sean says they researched (and made riffs off of, for an opposing menu page), and my sip evoked an eggnog association, not for a heavy creaminess, as there is none, but instead because of a notable baking spice finish to the flavor.
The Tipperary’s bar, according to manager/bartender George Dillon (known from his Axe and the Oak days), currently stocks 22 Irish whiskies, with more on the way soon. The Tipperary opened the day after we visited, so I haven’t yet sampled anything else from it.
In brief, I can say all the food we tried was beautifully executed and quite pleasing. The fish and chips had a nice, non-greasy jacket over the walleye (points for the zingy house tartar) and the wedge-cut spuds were well browned, with a soft, warm core, seasoned with a faint garlic herb essence. The lamb stew pot pie in a word: hearty. Ok a few more words: flaky puff pastry topper is a textural treat. The recomposed Scotch Eggs Benedict (note I did not say “deconstructed,” as the owners playfully threatened my life during our prior interview, when I momentarily did) tastes as good as it looks in the above gallery photo, with a lamb sausage croquette resting against the poached eggs on toast doused with mustard vinaigrette.
Start with those. And trust me when I say to finish with the house Irish Coffee Cheesecake. I was hesitant it would cloy, as it probably would in most other places in town, but Luck has always had a strong pastry program and the booze notes show up in perfect balance inside the cake slice, garnished with a whipped cream dollop, tempered chocolate wedge and some Oreo cookie crumble. I’ll say this by way of a rating: My girlfriend doesn’t like cheesecake (nor the majority of cheeses, for that matter, confounding the rest of us fromage fans on the regular), but she really liked this one, and ate her half with gusto.
Recently in food & drink news:
• Chef Mark Henry rebranded Rooster’s House of Ramen, turning it into Kelley’s Spiedies. I ran into Henry at the Folklore preview and inquired how the changeover’s going so far; he said “really well” and noted the new menu addition of pretzels from Rocky Mountain Pretzel Co.
• Dos Santos spinoff Dos Dos recently opened across from Acacia Park. Here’s my full review.
• A farm in Divide is raising yaks. You can try it for yourself; ground meat’s available at Ranch Foods Direct.
• This one’s a question: Why did nobody tell me about boozy boba until now? Rephrased: Why isn’t anyone in the Springs yet serving this? (Am I wrong? Is anyone? Tell me if you know. Meanwhile, drive up to Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace to Chi Lin to try it. Photo below:
Lets get personal:
The below image is one I just took last week in my garden, as my ducks (I have five) started laying for the season. My Cayuga lays a black egg that’s just freakin’ metal!
During the season, the toner in her cloaca (I’m speaking metaphorically, relax, she doesn’t actually have an ink cartridge on board) starts lightening and the eggs take on more of a dark, then light gray color. Legend says that if you eat the first black egg on a dark moon and make a wish, or cast a curse, it will come true, or occur. (None of that’s true. I just made it up. Did you believe me even for a split second? Sucker.)
Huge, immense, really really big thanks:
A special shout out to the multi-talented Ryan Hannigan for designing my Side Dish with Schniper logo. (I’ll be damned, looks just like me! And yes, Chef Hannah, indeed the I in the logo is both a spoon and a necktie.) He’s well known locally for his Focus on the Beer blog and podcast and was a former coworker at the Colorado Springs Independent.
And — there’s a blip of food news to this blurb — Hannigan’s the guy behind the upcoming Wrap Rascals food truck. Stay tuned.
I also want to thank the many many people who’ve shared and signed up for this newsletter in these early days of Side Dish. If you’re reading this, that’s you!
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And of course I’m going to thank — from the deepest parts of my heart, the spots as dark as a Cayuga duck egg — all of you generous, wonderful people who’ve joined me as paid subscribers. Truly, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for all the kind feedback I’ve received in the past couple weeks (er, um, since the layoff), and especially for those of you who’ve made a financial commitment to support this work. (And I hope you enjoyed strolling through the plaza with this week’s in-depth review of Zocalo.)
We were told in the newsroom years ago to show more of our hand to the community, to educate them on what resources it takes to run a newspaper and fund real journalism. In that spirit, I’ll list a few costs that go into me producing this newsletter. There’s time — committing to this instead of other paid work, which includes researching, reporting, transcribing, writing, editing (both words and my photos) and final fact-checking. There’s more time — driving around the city, which includes mileage expense and wear and tear. And there’s the actual cost of meals — just as I did at the Indy, I pay my way for reviews at full price, with tax, gratuity and all that. (The only exception generally is media previews, where we gain access to samplings for our reporting; these days influencers tend to outnumber actual journalists which is just another sign of the times.)
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I’m kind of surprised about the glowing review. I went to Folklore last night with the ‘rents. I was surprised that on the first Saturday they are open the place did not feel very electric. While we were there fairly early in the evening, one would still hope to find plenty of people excited to be there to try the new place. Instead it was sparsely patronized and no one appeared to be particularly happy to be there. I found the food to be ok but definitely not great. We didn’t order any of the things you mention, so I’m open to trying again. I ordered the Rip Van Winkle and I could rip it up in a review if I was asked. I ate the whole thing, but mostly because I was hungry. The decor is like most places in the Springs: unfinished feeling, like it was an afterthought. The beer on tap was also a big disappointment. On the plus side, it’s probably better than Lucky Dumpling. I honestly wanted to like it, but I suspect many will be like me and walk away saying, “I think I’ll just stick with Jack Quinn’s.”