Everything under one roof
Multifaceted The Homestead Collective poised to launch; Chuckwagon 719 celebrates a year in brick-and-mortar, absorbs Hammond's deli; a visit to Kung Fu Noodles & Dumplings + more food & drink news
The Homestead Collective will open its doors at 9633 Prominent Point on May 18, coincidentally the same day as incoming Executive Chef Joseph Bonavita’s 32nd birthday. The project — encompassing Till, Garden of the Gods Café, Campfire Pizza, Dad’s Donuts, Red Leaf Coffee and Sprig (opening later in summer) — holds a similar ambition as the original Till enterprise in the space. (Yes, this building has had more makeovers than that one glam girl you follow on Instagram.)
Till originally opened in mid-2016, after a reported $13 million buildout of 18,000-ish square feet. By February, 2020, a month before the Covid pandemic shut down restaurants for on site dining for a stint, the spot had already pivoted to become a gaming-focused venue named North Side Social. It struggled, and following a revival in 2021 it eventually went dark, too. Along came The Pinery North — an extension of parent company Altitude Hospitality Group’s The Pinery at the Hill. And in recent years the property had been up for sale, even under contract.
Then, owner Mitch Yellen decided he wasn’t done with his vision for the building. Earlier this year, he told the Gazette, “I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. … When the sale fell through, I saw it as a sign. I really do believe in God’s inspiration, and I am no quitter; I’m a fighter. I really wanted to do something special, something elevated in this building.”
Which brings us back to The Homestead Collective, Chef Joseph Bonavita and a woodblock cart full of pink-tinged game-meats and colorful salads displayed beautifully in front of us. Let’s further unpack what’s ahead.
The concepts:
Till, Garden of the Gods Café and Dad’s Donuts are known quantities, each with existing downtown locations along South Tejon Street. Red Leaf Organic Coffee is a Washington-based company, which effectively makes this a franchise location, and the only guest concept. Campfire Pizza is already serving out of The Homestead Collective, but only offering takeout and delivery presently.
In addition to a robust menu sampling from Till, Chef Bonavita makes me a classic Margarita pizza. For all house pies, Campfire coats their house sourdough in white sesame seeds — a nod to Krispy Pizza in The Bronx, he tells me — which adds a nice toasted sesame flavor to the crust. It’s an airy and delightfully chewy bite, rich with housemade Mozzarella slices and tart from the Maldon sea salt-enhanced San Marzano tomato sauce. Campfire also makes a few oven-baked sandwiches with the dough. (Random fun fact: Bonavita hired the mom and pop team who operated the respected Carefree Bar and Grill after they closed down in March. So you may recognize friendly faces behind the line.)
The chef and his vision:
Bonavita, who’s originally from Long Island and graduated from Chicago’s Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, has spent the last decade of his career in South Florida. He elects not to name-drop where he worked but confirms he did also stage at Per Se, Le Bernadin and Alinea (all Michelin 3-stars) in the past. He’s more excited to talk about his passion for bowhunting; he has more than 25,000 followers on his chefbowhunts Instagram page.
That outdoorsman spirit informs much of his menu selections, which include antelope, quail, bison, rainbow trout, duck, striped bass and elk in addition to lamb, Iberico pork and American wagyu beef. He’s proud to source from Texas’ Broken Arrow Ranch, which specializes in field-harvested game meats. He notes their mobile meat processing units with USDA inspectors on site, saying they’re the only true, 100-percent wild meat company allowed to be sold in restaurants. “Most elk you see in restaurants is corn fed and doesn’t taste very good. Ours is tender and delicious,” he says. (From my sampling, I concur. He plates his elk peppercorn crusted, with a rich Diane Sauce next to local mushrooms and arugula.)
While that’s a more buttoned-up, traditional setup, as is a starkly delicious bison tartare starter I try, his antelope by contrast becomes sliders with a truffle remoulade, caramelized onions and house pickles. (That one I did not sample.) He also plates me his lavish 8-ounce bison filet (sourced from Wyoming), ancho crusted and highlighted by a black truffle butter. And I rather enjoy bites of a steak frites dish composed with a 10-ounce flatiron steak with horseradish butter, Au Poivre sauce and porcini mushroom seasoned shoestring fries. All it needs is a beer accompaniment.
If you want to go big-big, grab dining mates for a 32-ounce wagyu tomahawk steak turned “classic steakhouse” Mexican-style with fire-roasted salsa, green onions and corn tortillas. Or be more modest with a wagyu double bacon smashburger. (I didn’t sample either of those, but I learned the beef comes from Black Hawk Farms out of Kentucky.) Or go even lighter with a nice fish dish, like the grill-charred Colorado striped bass with tarragon soubise sauce, pistachio gremolata and roasted beets.
From his past work, Bonavita says he’s tapping longtime relationships for most of his vendors, with intentions to print menus four to six times a year, which will retain about 60- to 70-percent of a core menu with the rest as seasonal specials. This north-side Till will feature different platings and portions from downtown’s location, he says, with more menu items. Garden of the Gods Café similarly will offer some north-location-only dishes like a wagyu brisket French dip.
He’s smoking meats in-house for dishes like a Lebanese-style lamb shoulder with pomegranate molasses and warm shaved fennel. (It’s deeply smokey with sweet counterpoint.) And his crew’s making pasta for dishes like a Bonavita family-recipe rigatoni with guanciale ragout, veal meatballs, fresh ricotta and crispy basil. It’s super hearty, reflecting his Sicilian roots. “My personality is to feed ya’,” he says.
Elaborating on that, he says “my style is contemporary American cuisine with a global influence. It’s ingredient focused, treated simply. I buy the best ingredients I can and let the products stand for themselves.” From a number of jobs he was considering, he chose to come to the Springs due to “Mitch’s vision.” He says Yellen has given him free rein to push boundaries, that they mutually want to make this place a culinary destination. The Homestead Collective has thus far been five months in the making since Bonavita’s original visit in late December.
We digress to talk about his Michelin restaurant stages and his inside knowledge of their considerations from connected friends. The talk of destination dining evokes Michelin’s highest rating, but he and Yellen of course would salivate for any accolade. “Do I want to get a star some day? Heck yeah!” he says. “But my goal is just to be a place for people in this city to enjoy themselves. If we get awards, we get awards, but that’s not my focus.” Building-wide, he says the largest consideration is that anyone can come in at any price point and find something for them. From a single pastry to a whole pizza or an elaborate fine dining experience. Hence the name “Collective.”
On that note, they haven’t forgotten about kids. Bonavita tasked his Chef de Cuisine Josh Snyder to create homemade dino chicken nuggets to fit their everything-made-in-house ethos. Snyder, who comes in part from a sushi background in Denver as well as private cheffing, with 20 total years experience, hit the ball out of the park with the assignment. I surprise myself after a single bite that I can’t stop eating, and end up devouring the whole crispy/crunch yum-yum with honey-mustard dips shamelessly. Adults are going to want to order these, which makes him jokingly roll his eyes when I quip that. “They’re very labor intensive,” he says, noting a five-step process that includes dual rounds of freezing before a final breading. So, not just child’s play.
The baking and pastry:
While on the topic of the house sourdough for Campfire pizzas, I chat with Trista Heileman, operations manager for Dad’s Donuts and pastry chef for Till and Garden of the Gods Café. You might recall from past Side Dish reporting that she was one of the original partners and the head baker for Provision Bread & Bakery when it opened. She also worked at Nightingale Bread and ran her own popup micro bakery project named Mae Goods.
Heileman’s now responsible for said pizza doughs; sweet pastries for Garden of the Gods Café like brioche cinnamon rolls and house pop tarts; sourdough breads (like a deli rye) for the cafe sandwiches; and around 5,000 croissant donuts weekly for the downtown Dad’s Donuts location. Soon, she’ll aim to match that par for The Homestead Collective’s location. And sometime in June a third location will open at 1254 Interquest Parkway (in the old Zoup! location), which they anticipate will require even more inventory. And, once Till opens on the 18th, her team will provide scallion milk bread buns for table bread and a lineup of fine desserts (portioned to be shared between two or three people) plus house ice creams.
I ask Heileman her general style, and she says she draws inspiration from her past experience, with an emphasis on seasonal and local items where and when possible. “I’m not going to make a plain cheesecake or brownie sundae,” she says. “I’m going to create something more creative that you won’t find elsewhere in town.”
The service and bar:
“We will provide service that no one can match in Colorado Springs,” says GM Aaron Radman, who’s coming from 32 years in the hospitality industry, most recently at California’s Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa. He’s a longtime wrestling coach, which informs his entire approach to managing people. “The best teams happen when everyone’s involved, so I build my restaurants like I’ve built my teams,” he says. “We build people up. … What’s most important is service from the heart.”
He likes to foster a passion for the industry and calls hospitality a “lost art” — especially coming out of the pandemic. “Our bare minimum is above and beyond … but without being pompous or arrogant. We’ll be elegant, but approachable.”
At the bar — with a backdrop of a new hydroponics operation featuring a dozen vertical towers for growing herbs and tomatoes — expect 10 craft drafts (many national, some statewide, and one local, being Bristol’s Beehive), and as many bottles on the beer side. For wines, consulting sommelier Trystan Brown (who impressed me years ago at Vine & Wheel, located in back of Till downtown) created an international menu that spans from affordable wines by the glass to $500 bottles. Radman says Brown’s task was “good wines with great pricing.” He shares with me his extensive staff training sheets, which go over everything from pronunciation to origin, grape composure and tasting profiles.
He says the cocktail menu was largely a team effort, though it includes a variation of a drink he’s been making since 2001. Here, it’s named the Peak Martini, and it features fresh pineapple-infused Mythology Colorado vodka, Stoli vanilla and Malibu rum. As we chat, he points to a large vessel on the back counter where the pineapples age in suspension. It’s not far enough along for me to preview an accurate sample. Shucks.
I see that there’s a Maple Manhattan and Smoked Old Fashioned listed and I ask about nerdy allocated whiskies and such for neat pours. He says existing relationships have funneled a decent selection his way. He mentions one particularly pricey bottle of Macallan 25 valued at over $2,000. He says they won’t be overly formal here, but will have some fun. He demonstrates by pulling out a cocktail bubble gun with a berry scented smoke that tops a lavender-lemon-gin drink. It pops and fruity cotton candy aroma fills the air. Showtime over, it’s go time, and Radman disappears into a staff training. The Homestead Collective has work yet to do before the doors reopen.
Circling the (Chuck)wagons at the mark of a milestone (and in the wake of another pivot)
Hammond's Pastrami and Smoked Delicatessen announced on May 6 that they had moved out of their space at Trails End Taproom earlier this week, alleging that their lease agreement had been terminated. The following Day Trails End posted a note that in-part said “Hammonds surprised us with their decision to move out.”
Clearly for all to see, there’s a disagreement on what went down and how. I spoke to both parties for background, and indeed gleaned different stories. Due to Hammond’s and parent business Chuckwagon 719 being a Side Dish Dozen 2025 sponsor, I’m recusing myself from further reporting on the dispute.
*Let’s do a momentary digression here and explain why: It’s obvious conflict of interest and wouldn’t be journalistically appropriate. When I created the Side Dish Dozen as part of Side Dish’s financial model, I committed to being transparent with my readers and conveying that sponsors don’t dictate content editorially, but would be treated differently in terms of weekly advertising and profile-style feature stories. I hadn’t anticipated a situation quite like this, so in this case, I feel it’s best (and likely legally sound) to entirely avoid the details of the matter. Should I be perceived to not maintain a neutral tone and matter-of-fact reporting, appearing that I was favoring my sponsor’s side, it would be a loss of faith with my subscribers and stain on my integrity. Not worth it. Not for all the barbecue and beer in the city.
Instead, I’ll say that Trails End owner Kevin Weese told me that he plans to return to his original menu that the outfit served both in Monument and their prior Old Colorado City location. It includes flatbread pizzas and a couple appetizers. He’s also seeking a new guest restaurant partner in the space, he says.
Meanwhile, Hammond’s has joined the Chuckwagon 719 space for now, and is open this week, Thursday through Sunday. From their post: “We will keep things going until our new permanent home is ready. We have some BIG things on the forefront.”
What’s that big news?
Well, that I can’t tell you yet, as it’s in development and many details are yet to be pinned down. (But yes, it will be big if it happens.) What I do know is from my sit-down with Hammond’s/Chuckwagon 719 co-owners Deidre and Jared Hammond earlier in the week (prior to the Trails End departure happening.) We had met to touch base on new programming at Chuckwagon ahead of their one-year anniversary in brick-and-mortar at 6453 Omaha Blvd., having originally launched as a food truck in April, 2023. (Catch up on their whole, rapid business progression here if you’re needing a primer.)
On April 29, the business announced they’d be releasing new “elevated bbq dishes at The Chuckwagon” (because they couldn’t think of a better word despite not loving the word “elevated” Jared later jokes with me). The new items — additions to the existing, extensive barbecue menu — would be weekly specials, such as smoker braised beef short ribs served with garlic mash, or smoked prime rib. While meeting with them, I was treated to a sample of their bourbon-glazed, smoked Red Bird chicken quarters plated with a loaded baked potato (one of the biggest I’ve ever eaten, for what that’s worth) and lightly sweet, beurre monté sauced carrots. It’s an awesome bite all around, extremely reasonably priced ($16 that day) and it easily fed two of us.
I asked the Hammonds — who are already neck-deep in business innovation with their finer-dining Seared Steer Steakhouse concept, on hiatus for now — why they’re releasing these new daytime specials at home base.
“Since we’ve opened, I’ve always wanted to do it, but we’ve been so slammed it hasn’t been possible to do on the front service line,” says Jared. (They command a daily line out the door and down the sidewalk, closing each afternoon whenever they sell out of product. It’s one of the very-Texas things they do.) They recently did some evaluation and realized they could better utilize their rear kitchen to create these more composed dishes in addition to the sliced-in-front-of-the-customer barbecue platters created up front. “Every dish we do is based around quick pickup” he explains. “Now that we have our systems dialed in, we can experiment more.”
Deidre takes a moment to brag on her husband and how he’s “dove into the culinary side of everything.” She notes how he did R&D to incorporate tallow into all their sauces, also using house-made veal stock. They made “Tallow be thy name” their motto at The Seared Steer, and Jared jokingly concedes, “yeah, I put it in everything.” After a pause, he adds, “well, everything but the banana pudding.”
Jared says he’s working on sourcing lamb soon and he wants to make a short rib ravioli and break into pasta plates, citing how his dad is Italian and his mom Texan; hence the inspiration. Despite their wild success, he says “I still wake up every day and pray we are gonna have customers. And they keep showing up.”
I press him that he’s being superlative, and he says, “no joke, sometimes in the middle of the night, I’ll think ‘what if they stop coming.’”
In talking with him I realize that as with fame, suddenly there’s a responsibility and a pressure to maintain the success, even if just internally applied. His secret worry actually smacks quite human (for a tough-looking dude shaded by a big cowboy hat). As we talk, departing customers keep ringing a bell on the wall next to a sign that says “If you think we did well, please ring the bell.” The whole staff look up from whatever task they’re mid-stride on and yell “thank you!” They don’t do it begrudgingly, but with sincerity.
Elsewhere, the gesture would be a hollow corporate mandate imposed on piteous staff — like the time I had to call a chain restaurant for the CS Indy Best Of issues and this teenager answered: “thanks for calling [random hellish chain spot], home of the [whatever burger, can’t recall], it’s a great day in Colorado, what’s shakin’ bacon?” I immediately forgot whatever it was I was going to ask, and after a dramatic pause, just said, “uh, I’m sorry.” … But here (see how I pick back up my story line) — here the Hammonds legitimately love this ritual.
“We never get tired of it,” says Deidre. “People have requested more bells because when the line gets too long they can’t make their way over to ring it.”
“That’s actually our third bell,” Jared adds. “They ring them so much they break. We keep the broken ones.” I ask if they plan to line all those up somewhere as a display some day, and with a pure Texas twang he says “yup.”
“We’re just unbelievably grateful for this community and this city,” he says. He looks over his shoulder, past the bell, to the front door and sidewalk, and says “people stand out there in blizzards for our barbecue.”
Join us for an impromptu Pastrami Pop-up & Side Dish Nosh at Chuckwagon 719 this Saturday. (It’s like our monthly Sip with Schnip, which returns in June, but with barbecue and sandwiches instead!)
Kung fu biting
Two trusted food-and-drink-savvy friends (I suppose I could have just said “foodie” there, but I’ve never grown to like the word) reached out to me recently with early praise for month-old Kung Fu Noodles and Dumplings. I noted the spot’s opening, in the former Wuhoo’s Asian Bistro space, with limited info at the time, here.
One pal praised a beef noodle soup his wife ordered as well as the Spicy Youpo Noodles, saying “this is some legit Chinese — not your orange chicken American stuff.” That’s all I needed to hear to motivate me to get there for my own early look. I stopped in this past weekend, and we too were impressed.
We ordered: scallion pancakes, xiao long bao, lotus buns, Zhajiang Noodles, Chongqing Spicy Noodles and the recommended Spicy Youpo Noodles. In very broad brushstrokes, the pancakes and buns are textural treats with respective chewy and pillowy starchiness while the dumplings are less soupy than expected but good with a bright house dipping sauce.
The oily noodle dishes each delight in unique ways. The raw veggie-heavy, salad-y and comparably mild Zhajiang Noodles feature ground pork with a tart-sweet soybean paste sauce. Both the Chongqing Spicy Noodles and Spicy Youpo Noodles bring the heat, but distinctly.
The Chongqing, a thin noodle dish as compared to the other two wide wheat noodles, also gets ground pork but with a notable cilantro presence, tasting more like coriander in the finish with the hot house chile paste. The Spicy Youpo Noodles come with scallions for a sharper oniony bite and methinks also receive mala seasoning (based off our recent dining at MAKfam), which features Sichuan peppercorns that lightly numb the mouth as they sear the palate.
We take bites between them in quick succession and the chile pastes are otherwise fairly similar, so it’s possible it’s on both or I’ve mixed my notes up. Either way, both are worth your attention, and my foodie friends (there, I brought myself to say the word) weren’t wrong to shout this place out. We’re happy too with our first visit, agreeing with the authenticity angle that distinguishes Kung Fu from places that serve American-style Chinese items. (Nope, no General Tso’s chicken here, friends.)
Bites & Bits
• Metric Brewing announced last week that, “by no choice of our own,” it will no longer be able to operate at its current location where it’s been situated for seven years. Metric will continue to release new beers over the next month, they say, with a final note to “stay tuned, as we hope our story is not over.”
• Springs Magazine recently reported on a new beer spot in Falcon, named Ascent Brewery. The grand opening will be on May 24. The article notes “a spacious 2,900-square-foot patio designed for long afternoons and wide-open views.” Give it a read to learn more about the owners, who are reported to have visited 400 breweries nationwide by RV travel as part of their research for this project.
• The Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center, Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC and Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado gave out their annual batch of Small Business Awards on May 5, honoring people who have “made a remarkable impact in their industry and community.” Among winners related to the hospitality industry, Chantal Lucas of Luchals Soulful Seafood won Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and Donavan Kennedy of Hillside Gardens (which hosts a coffee shop and killer, food-and-drink fueled Summer Concert Series, plus wine programming and more), won Small Business Person of the Year.
• New Denizen wrote about 8 new restaurants you should know about (in the Denver area) in her Substack newsletter this week. They span cuisines styles from Venezuelan and Vietnamese, and include a Japanese-inspired hi-fi listening bar in Fort Collins and a 5,000 square-foot, German-style beer garden located in a historic school building. (Makes me think about the Ivywild School conversion, of course, and the Lincoln Center locally as well. New Denizen is reminded of a spot in Portland she calls “the most epic school-turned-bar-restaurant-entertainment hall in the country.”)
Side Dish Dozen happenings
Stellina Pizza Cafe: We’re turning five! Join us for our stellar five-course birthday menu through May 18: $70 per couple gets you salads, an app, a pasta and a pizza plus dessert. (That’s a lot of food — we know!) Add a carafe of our awesome house sangria for $25. And don’t forget our year-round Two for Tuesday deal where you get two pizzas (or a pizza and a salad) for just $22.
Kangaroo Coffee: Done with the cold and the snow? So are we! Drive thru, stop in or order delivery and enjoy a Cherry Blossom Cold Brew or a Strawberry Dragonfruit Lychee Roofresher and embrace Spring (again)!
Goat Patch Brewing: Bleating Heart Night: NAMI of Colorado Springs, 5-9 p.m., May 13. Tie-Dye Party, noon to 2 p.m., May 18. A Taste of Grazing Goat Beer Dinner, 5:30-8 p.m., May 19 at our Northgate location. Live gypsy rock music at Pikes Peak Brewing with The Constant Tourists, 2-5 p.m., May 11.
Edelweiss: Our Mother’s Day menu includes prime rib plates and barramuni in pesto sauce over saffron rice. See the menu here. We’ll also have strolling musicians, and moms get a free strawberry dessert. Also reserve now for graduation groups.
Odyssey Gastropub: Come for Mother's Day Brunch on May 11 and find a specialty brunch menu and a free "mom"osa for all of the moms. We will also be going live with a Spring/Summer menu refresh on May 15!
Wobbly Olive: Our new spring food menu has arrived! Every weekday happy hour at both locations is 4-6 p.m.; all cocktails and beers are half off, plus $5 house wines. Allusion Speakeasy: The new Shrek theme is now live at both locations; reservations strongly suggested.
Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar: Reserve early for Mother’s Day Brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., May 11. Brunch cocktails include cucumber-infused bloody marys, mimosas and our fantastic espresso martini. Featured bites include an Oscar Omelette and smoked salmon melt.
Upcoming events
* Mother’s Day brunches abound this week. Hopefully you made a reso early; if not try your luck last minute or plan for a special dinner out instead. (She’ll never know. Unless she’s reading this. Gulp.)
May 10: Mrs. Roper Romp Bijou Block Party with Vintage & Vinyl at Salad or Bust/Cocktails After Dusk. Noon to 5 p.m.
May 10: Hammond’s Pastrami Pop-up & Side Dish Nosh at Chuckwagon 719. Noon until sellout.
May 12: Fight Night at Cocktails After Dusk — Allie Johnstone (District Elleven) vs. Shayne Baldwin (The Archives). 6-8 p.m.; $25 includes three cocktails.
May 14: Taste of Tri-Lakes Cares at Spruce Mountain Events in Larkspur. 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. $50-$60 gets unlimited tastings from 15 area eateries.
May 18: Monthly Paella on the Patio nights at TAPAteria kick off.
Parting shot(s)
I always love seeing my Side Dish Dozen members collaborating around town. This past weekend, Chef Brother Luck did a DJ set at bird tree cafe as part of T-byrd’s Tacos & Tequila’s Cinco de Mayo celebration weekend.
We stopped by for a bite (a BLT and the ridiculously rich Rick & Morty sandwich — yes please) and listened to about an hour of the music. It was a gorgeous, sunny day before the rain arrived mid week and the patio was packed out on both sides. Inside the cafe, I watched guests (including cute little old ladies) dancing in their seats. For a moment, sipping a superb cappuccino and savoring the last bite of my sandwich, as I bobbed my head to the music, I had one of those bumper-sticker-defying moments where I thought to myself, “wow, Colorado Springs isn’t so lame after all!” (Yeah, we can be pretty cool when we’re at our best. 🤘)
