Eat the apple
Evergreen's mousse cakes grow to online sensation; Lebowski's expanding to second location; estate tasting at The Colorado Farm Brewery; Colorado Craft's spring cocktails take flight + a Side Dish app
Sometimes when I interview people, they tell me things that there’s no way for me to easily verify. So if it sounds plausible enough, I go with it. The “they say” element of attribution at least implies something’s being asserted versus factually stated.
So it’s rare that I first-hand witness, down to a detail, everything someone’s told me. But that’s exactly what happens at Evergreen Restaurant.
Owner Crystal Kiernan told me during a sit-down interview that Evergreen’s mousse cakes, initially popularized by the restaurant’s prior owners, have recently gone viral on TikTok — thanks to fans, not any marketing effort on her part. She says people are destination driving from around the state, drawn in by these vibrantly colored cakes that resemble their respective flavors.
A bright green apple cake resembles the real fruit, for example, as do banana and raspberry cakes. A mango cake, dipped yellow and sprayed with red and green colors to mimic ripening, could be mistaken for the real thing at a glance. It’s all impressive pastry prowess.
The online hype has forced her team to recently double production to meet demand, which has the small cafe selling out daily. “The phone rings all night,” says Kiernan. “When we open, people call to ask what’s in the pastry case.” The fact that the mousse cakes are first-come-first-serve creates a bit of frantic energy around acquiring one, or more. “We have people who’ll buy a whole box, with one of each flavor.”
Okay, so that’s what was told to me. Then I drop by around opening time a week later to photograph pastry chefs Katherine Castro and her sister Lizzy Estrada as they’re dipping and painting the cakes — the final step of a three-day process to bring each one to life. Here’s what I witness:
It starts before I reach the door, as I see a young woman and kid at a patio table happily devouring blueberry and lemon mousse cakes. A few minutes later while I’m snapping pics behind the scenes, I hear the phone ring and a staffer pick it up. After a pause to check inventory, he begins rattling off every flavor stocked at the moment. Not more than five minutes after that, I see a few people file in the front door and begin scanning the front pastry case excitedly. I chat with them, learning they’re down from Johnstown (near Loveland and Greeley, often a 2.5-hour drive), and they heard about the mousse cakes on … wait for it … TikTok. They depart with a full box.
“Well I’ll be damned, Crystal was right!” I exclaim. (No I don’t, but you can imagine it.) I mean, not that I actually doubted one of my Side Dish Dozen members, but like I said, it’s uncanny to witness it all happen, to a tee. As if the whole thing were staged for my benefit. (It wasn’t. Nobody drives from damn Johnstown just for little old me.)
Needless to say, if you’re intrigued by now, you should stop in to try a cake or few yourself. Other flavors include pistachio, hazelnut (with caramel crunch), coffee bean (with crème brûlée), coconut, strawberry and seasonal specials like tomato and pumpkin flavors. The fruit flavors feature homemade fruit jams, and all the mousse cakes are gluten-free (before anyone has to ask).
Returning to my prior chat with Kiernan, she’d attributed the mousse cakes to “keeping me alive here” in her first six months, which spanned the slower winter period that’s tough for everyone in the industry. But also Evergreen’s beef stroganoff has proved to be an enduring top-seller, with its own loyal fanbase. It’s not made with the typical egg noodles, but instead features a beef filet and goat cheese mashed potatoes with a rich sauce made with steak trimmings. The menu suggests a Cabernet Sauvignon to stand up to the dish. It all sounds infallible; I need to try it soon.
Anyway, when I ask her what else she wants people to know about Evergreen, she says “they should know that nothing’s changed, but it’s continued to get better and better.”
To the Eastern European-styled menu, they’ve recently added fresh fish specials, created by Chef Dylan Higgins. I chat with him too when I’m there, gleaning his path to this kitchen. He tells me he got his start in the dish pit at Doug’s Breakfast Lunch, later working for 1231 Craft Kitchen (who used to be co-located with FH Beerworks before both closed) and then Burnt Toast and Avenue 19 food hall. He’d risen to an executive sous chef title by then, taking that experience to a country club in Florida before moving back here.
Kiernan calls Higgins “creative” and says “he’s proven to me that he knows what he’s capable of.” She says they have great rapport, as she can be a reliable soundboard and taster for him given her own private cheffing and catering background.
Together they’ve added new plates to the lunch menu and brunch menu, which now runs Saturdays and Sundays weekly. A new Lobster Benedict is quickly catching on, says Kiernan, noting a refreshed spring menu that includes fresh cocktail creations. Join us this Sunday to dip a toe (er, um tongue) and check it out. Details below:
Patio Brunch Bash Sip with Schnip at Evergreen Restaurant
Join us on our pup-friendly patio from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., May 17. Get $5 Goat Patch beers, bottomless mimosas, live music, and a Breakfast Burger Special with egg, bacon, onion jam and Hollandaise on a Provision-baked croissant. Plus a one-day-only special Side Dish Mousse Cake, made with espresso from Kangaroo Coffee!
We’re seeking beta testers for our new Side Dish app!
So I’ve been keeping a secret from all you subscribers for the past year — which explains why you haven’t seen any Side Dish (formerly Tap&Table) podcasts from Ryan Hannigan and me lately.
Ryan has been busy teaching himself iOS app development so that we can launch a Side Dish exclusive discovery and discounts app, aptly named Side Dishcounts. Ideally, we’d like to have the app in the your hands by summer, but we could use a little help from the community to find bugs and help guide the last stages of development across the finish line. Beta testers will be instrumental in helping us QA test coupon redemptions and some basic Dishcount functions central to the app experience. After we nail that down, we will ask our Beta testers to test drive some social components and other features aiming to activate the foodie community.
Sign up here to lend us a hand, and plan to attend my April 26 Patio Brunch Bash Sip with Schnip at Evergreen Restaurant for an initial trial run with Ryan and me. For the time being, the app is only available for iOS, but once we launch, we hope to have an Android version available in the future.
Lebowski’s Taproom expanding into former Till and Homestead Collective spot
You’ve seen the movie. Many times.
And you’ve surely had Lebowski's Kool-Luah Coffee Liqueur by now.
Now, Lebowski’s Taproom — originally opened in August 2023 at 3240 Centennial Blvd. — is expanding to a second, much-larger location. It will occupy the former Till Kitchen and Homestead Collective space at 9633 Prominent Point. (Yes, the one that supposedly sold and triggered the closure of Dad’s Donuts last month.)
In a chat with Lebowski’s owner David Kowalski this week, he says he has purchased the majority share of the building, while former owner Mitch Yellen of Altitude Hospitality Group retains an interest, but will have no control over operations. Kowalski says it’s possible at some future date Dad’s could make a reappearance on site as part of a subleased bakery component to the building’s North side. Meanwhile, there’s plans for a separate, subleased coffee shop — yet to be named.
Lebowski’s will occupy the central kitchen and dining room/bar, which Kowalski calls the “big brother of our current Westside iteration.” It offers roughly double his current dining room capacity on Centennial. The decor will be identical in terms of paint colors, table and chair style and, of course, Big Lebowski paraphernalia. And the menu will be the same, too.
“It’s been successful on the West side,” says Kowalski, “so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.” That said, once they get rooted, come fall time or so, he plans to activate the pizza oven they’re inheriting.
As for the large banquet space on the South end, Kowalski says he’s in discussions with “some distillery partners” who might wish to use it as a shared tasting room, which could still be utilized for catered events. He also teases the likelihood of walling off another space near the existing bar (possibly by fall) to create a small speakeasy, not tied to the Lebowski’s theme but to his wife Monica’s heritage. “Something unique” is all he’s willing to say for now.
Expect gaming in the front area, including cornhole and pickleball. Wider event programming will include trivia and bingo nights, sports watching parties and more. “This new location allows us to take everything people love about Lebowski’s and expand it in a meaningful way,” says Monica in a press release.
David says he would love to be soft opening on May 11 to hit a symbolic mark of 1,000 days since the first location launched. If that happens, May 18 would be an actual opening date, which he realizes is “an aggressive target.” So stay tuned to their social media for updates.
Side Dish and Colorado Public Radio team up to taste The Colorado Farm Brewery, a one-of-a-kind brewhouse
When I tell you that there’s no place quite like Alamosa’s The Colorado Farm Brewery, I’m not being superlative. Why? Because it’s one of the only estate breweries in existence. Co-owner and brewmaster Josh Cody, during our interview and tasting, says he’s not even sure how many estate breweries there are internationally, but he knows it’s a few at best. (I’m unable to locate any others online via a basic search.)
What defines an estate brewery is beer made with all on-site ingredients: water, barley, hops and yeast. Located in the fertile San Luis Valley, The Colorado Farm Brewery has all the elements: they grow their own hops and grains; sprout and dry them (via their other business the Colorado Malting Company); utilize the water from the aquifer below their land; and they captured yeast from the air inside Cody’s grandmother’s kitchen on the farm (which they regularly have cultivated for them).
I practically get teary-eyed every time I visit and look up at a sign in their taproom that reads: “All our beer is born from • grain from the field behind you • yeast from the air around you • hops grown on site • water from beneath you.” There’s a power to reading the words in situ, pausing to absorb the poignancy. (A technicality: while all the beers have some of those four elements, only a few on tap at a given time incorporate all four for the true estate quantification. And some made will use outside ingredients, such as a Harvest Peach and Pineapple Helles we sample.)
Anyway, now that you understand the brewery’s unicorn status and my love for and obsession with it, I want you to give Colorado Public Radio editor Hayley Sanchez’s short writeup a read — and at the top of the page you’ll find a “Listen Now” button to click. That takes you to a 20-minute segment she produced from her brewhouse tour with Cody and my tasting through six Colorado Farm Brewery beers with him. In between sips, he shares lots more information about the farm and his family’s history in the valley. (The tour takes up the first four minutes of the segment, and my chat and tasting runs from that four minute mark onward.)
Craft before flight
I recently caught up with the Colorado Craft/The Archives crew during a media event held at their new Colorado Springs Airport kiosk — which launched back in January, around the Tejon Street Social’s eighth anniversary.
“We take a lot of pride in being the first thing people see when they arrive here and the last thing they see on the way out,” says co-owner and bartender Dylan Currier. He designed the kiosk’s cocktail list, saying “it’s curated for what’s best for the airport, so we still hope people will join us downtown to get the full experience of what we offer.” And now’s a good time to do that, as they recently dropped a new spring/summer menu, which includes N/A options.
Currier talks me through the drink list, saying their BYOB Bloody, with options to customize your spirit, mix and garnishes, is the airport’s bestseller so far. The drink he’s most proud of though is the Nomikai, a nod to C. Springs’ sister city Fujiyoshida, Japan. “We get views of Pikes Peak here, and they get views of Mt. Fuji there,” he says. The drink’s made with Suntory Toki Japanese whisky, Colorado bitters, maraschino liqueur and Leopold Bros absinthe. “If you like and old fashioned, you’ll love this.”
Putting the focus back on downtown, I ask for descriptions of a few drinks he’s excited about from the new cocktail list there. He offers:
• Violet Divide: Leopold Bros blackberry liqueur, elderflower, Strongwater tonic, Family Jones vodka, and “a little saline, to take some of the bitterness out of the tonic”
• Nigh Quarry: “This is our version of an espresso martini,” made with Marble Distilling’s Moonlight Expresso, Montanya Oro Rum, Licor 43 and Bitter & Glitter “for an elegant sparkle”
• Mesa Blanca: Coconut fat washed tequila blanco, lemon, Génépi herbal liqueur, agave and saline
Bites & Bits
• The Blue Moose Tavern in Green Mountain Falls posted last week on Facebook to announce their impending closure, saying “Our landlord has terminated our lease and needs us to be out by the end of the month.” The business says they’re seeking to relocate somewhere; that they’re planning a Big Blowout Bash April 25; and that “we will have business as usual until then.”
• The Brit Pub has started a new Bite Club Wednesdays with weekly-changing, three-course menus for $25/person. The most recent offering: Moroccan-spiced bell pepper hummus with veggies and naan; braised lamb shepherds pie with madeira jus; and cheesecake topped with pumpkin mousse, candied pecan and toasted marshmallow. If you still haven’t check out their Sunday Roast (11 a.m. until sell out), make time to do so. I finally made it down this past weekend (thanks to urging from Lauren and her bestie Lauren; so, the Laurens) and we tried the prime rib roast, leg of lamb and sage- and apricot-stuffed pork belly — and oh my! Superb cookery by Chef Phil Griffin and crew. Each protein option ($22-$32) comes with beef fat-roasted potatoes, honey- and thyme- glazed parsnips, carrot purée, cauliflower cheese, cabbage, gravy and Yorkshire pudding. I think this photo speaks for itself it terms of portions and quality:
• Armillary Brewing Co. is underway with launching at 4810 Old Farm Drive (not far from the Barnes Road and Austin Bluffs Parkway intersection). One beer on the opening menu appears to be a blueberry tart. I’ve made contact with the brewery and aim to have more info soon.
• “Two Denver Coffee Shops Ranked Among the Best in the World” reports Westword.
• “Gray's Coors Tavern takes the top honors in this year's popular vote” for 2026 Top Slopper in Pueblo, reports KRCC. The spot last took home the award in 2023. You have until April 27 to partake in the Pueblo Slopper Tour.
Side Dish Dozen happenings
Gold Star Bakery: Celebrate Mother’s Day with our scratch-made cinnamon rolls and mixed sweet breads boxes. Preorder through May 4; pickup at Ivywild School May 8-9. Principal’s Office: Our Summer Term cocktail menu drops April 27! A fresh drink lineup that leans bright, crisp and just a little unpredictable.
Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar: We’re on a mission to make Sunday your new favorite day of the week. Party like a local and beat the Sunday scaries with $1 CrackerJax oysters, $20 beer buckets, $10 beer + shot combos and $4 High Noons. Yep, you read that right… Buck a Shuck Oysters every Sunday only at Jax!
Goat Patch Brewing: Our Summer Music Series kicks off May 3 at our Lincoln Center and Monument locations! Every Thursday we drop a new pizza special at Grazing Goat Kitchen at Northgate. Bleating Heart Night at all locations on April 28, 5-9 p.m., benefits Autism Vision of Colorado.
Allusion Speakeasy: Our new Star Wars theme has opened at both locations! Resos required. Check out the amazing lineup of drinks, in cool glassware as usual. We’ve also got you covered on N/A “light side libations” and all-age Padawan Brunches, April 25-26 and May 2-3.
Evergreen: Come try drinks from our new spring cocktail menu. And join us for lunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesdays-Fridays, and brunch, during those same hours, Saturdays-Sundays. Menu items include shakshuka, saganaki, pork belly paprikash, Chicken Kiev, and an array of flatbreads.
Edelweiss: Make reservations now for Mother’s Day — we fill up quick! Specials on a limited dinner menu include herb-rubbed prime rib with mashed potatoes and horseradish cream sauce, and Trout Almondine, pan seared with lemon-almond cream sauce. We’ll seat on the patio and have live music; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Kangaroo Coffee: If you still haven’t tried our newest signature beverage, our Coconut Lavender Chai, then stop by! Or get one delivered through Uber Eats or DoorDash. Also, in case you didn’t know, we make a huge commitment to sustainability and operate with a zero waste initiative.
Hoppenings of the week
Beer Events
Music Video Bingo at Fossil Craft Beer Co.: April 24 and every Friday night, 6 p.m.
Poker Night at Nano 108: April 24 and every Friday night, 6:30 p.m.
Big Table Beer Launch at Atrevida Beer Co: April 25, 3-9 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from the beer sales will go to support Big Table.
Colorado Pint Day at participating breweries: April 26, click the link for a map; collect the annual commemorative glass and support the Colorado Brewer’s Guild.
Beer Releases
XM133 Cold IPA at Wackadoo Brewing: check out this latest release as they broaden their IPA lineup for summer.
Beta Wave Toasted Coconut Caramel Stout at Westfax Springs: barrel aged and rich with notes of bourbon and dark chocolate; 14% ABV so watch out!
Bayou Belgo at Peaks N Pines Brewing: a Cajun-spiced Belgian pale ale with Southern charm and complex spice notes.
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.
Upcoming events
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 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.
May 2: One Table Asian Pop Up Market at COSCityHub. Noon to 6 p.m. Free. Shop -Asian-owned and Asian American and Pacific Islander-owned businesses.
May 2: Colorado Springs Tacos & Margs Crawl. 2-7 p.m., $23.99-$54.99.
May 2: Kentucky Derby Race Day. Look for one of the many themed celebrations across town. Off-hand, I’ve seen events at The Aviator at Hotel Polaris, and Lumen8.
May 2: 719 Food Truck Social Saturdays at Sunshine Studios. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Music, drinks, games and of course, food trucks.
May 3: Baon Supper Club Asin at Sunog (Salt and Burn) dinner at Good Neighbors. 6 p.m.; $125 includes six courses, welcome drink and take home treats.
May 5: Codigo Tequila Meet the Maker dinner in The Penrose Room at The Broadmoor. 6 p.m., $155; menu here.
May 5: Blind Wine Tasting at 105 W. Brewing Co. 5:30-7 p.m.; $35. Taste five different wines blindly of various price points. Can you pick the $100 bottle? Includes complimentary Bear'L Cellars glass and light snacks.
Parting shot(s)
After Cinchona Coffee’s opening celebration earlier this week I convinced Downtown Colorado Springs’ Kelsee Swenn — my Weenies & ‘tinis partner in hot dog crime — to put the giant ribbon-cutting scissors to further good use. She gave me a rather expert beard trimming, enjoying it so much that she got an idea for a new business (she already operates Good Intentions): “Kelsee’s Kut + Kolor Kombos, Colorado Springs’ first open air sidewalk salon. Fresh fades, fresh air, quality you can trust.”
Lebowski's Taproom needs indoor/outdoor duck bowling to keep with their theme in the bigger new space