Purity culture (like, in a food way)
NaRai Thai expands north with White Lotus Cafe; Evergreen has a new owner; The French Kitchen launches full French flour bread array; what the hell are tiger nuts? + more food & drink news and events
Hopefully nobody dies in the end.
Whoa! That’s a shocking, morbid cold open this week. But hey, it’s Halloween. So boo.
In case you didn’t put it together from the above photo, I’m referencing The White Lotus TV series, which has nothing at all to do with this new Thai-inspired restaurant other than coincidentally the last season of the show was set in Thailand.
White Lotus Cafe, soft-opening Nov. 2 in the former Notes Eatery and Buttermilk space at 13141 Bass Pro Dr., comes to us via Jasmine Andrew, who operates NaRai Thai Restaurant on Rockrimmon and NaRai Siam Cuisine on Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard. The first dates back to 2008, and the second to 2014.
You might recall that Andrew already expanded north once before, in 2019 with Mangosteen Thai Street Food on Spectrum Loop. But the pandemic was largely to blame for its demise within a couple of years. When I sat down with her this week at White Lotus to scope the space and glean the new concept, I was anticipating that she’d say she’d been wanting to get back open with a third spot further north — that maybe White Lotus was part of a redemption story.
Not the case, it turns out. Andrew graciously tells me the long version of how this came to be, as something of a happy accident, but also a testament to her not being the type of person who can sit still for long without getting bored. By way of example, she mentions her recent trips to Thailand, and family wanting to take her sight-seeing. But instead, she was happier to enroll herself in cooking classes to sharpen her skills and learn new crafts. She ended up taking five days worth of baking/pastry workshops and a couple days of coffee-service tutorials.
As for coming into this building — which she purchased in July from JW Roth of nearby VENU, i.e. Ford Amphitheater, Phil Long Music Hall and Bourbon Brothers Smokehouse & Tavern — it was the result of being courted by some of her existing NaRai customers who are business brokers and real estate developers. She’s been doing a significant interior renovation and redesign since.
The short version of the story is that she’d also already been pondering offering breakfast items at NaRai, possibly even transitioning one of the spaces’ focus to it. The creation of White Lotus Cafe scratches that itch instead — with breakfast item service until 2 p.m. inside of daily 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours. (Sundays 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
Much of White Lotus’ menu will be composed of bestsellers at the two NaRai locations in terms of lunch and dinner offerings from the familiar Thai pantry. But Andrew has created 15 distinct new items (listed as such on menus). Breakfast is split into a dozen total Asian items and domestic egg dishes plus an odd German sausage plate and Japanese soufflé pancake dish. “There’s a lot of fusion here,” Andrew says, likening that to Thailand, where high tourist traffic introduces international items on restaurant menus alongside the Thai food. (We laugh about how “authentic Thai” is actually the same smorgasbord we see here.)
Another dozen-plus “tapas” items are available early and late-day, and there’s a limited soup and salad menu section. Mains break out into “fusion specials” that include five new plates; a seafood section that includes a new lime-garlic sea bass that Andrew recommends as a go-for; wok stir fries and fried noodles; Thai fried rice and Thai curries, including a new roasted duck red curry. The menu features a handy allergen chart with symbols next to eat dish.
The kitchen’s not up and running during my visit, but Andrew graciously presents a preview sample of a new stuffed chicken wing in development. It’s based off the flavors of Thai larb salad, seasoned with cilantro, onion, lime juice and ample salt. Mine’s corn starch breaded but that’s changing to tempura flour and we agree a beer will pair beautifully with it. Four taps host Sapporo, Kirin, Firestone Walker Blonde and Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA.
Coffee service will be a big component of White Lotus Cafe as well, and a central bar countertop (a beautiful, jade-colored stone) features a legit La Marzocco espresso machine. Andrew’s sourcing beans through nearby Mission Coffee Roasters. A small pastry display case has been built into part of the U-shaped bar, facing the main entryway. She plans to bake everything from croissants (partly for croissant sandwiches) and cookies to personal-sized mini cheesecakes and a signature pandan chiffon cake with a coconut filling.
She notes that her father and brothers all had/have bakeries in Thailand and she grew up spending time in them and baking at home. “I tried to stay away,” she jokes. “But it’s in my blood.” Now that she’s starting coffee and breakfast service, she says she intends to make all of her own products versus buying anything premade, which doesn’t feel special.
“These are my creations,” she says with pride. “I want my customers to have a unique experience here.”
Evergreen has a new owner
Just a little over a year after opening in the former La’au’s spot on the Colorado College campus, Evergreen has changed hands.
Outgoing owners Alex Saprin and Lera Saprina were eyeing a spot in Denver, but have decided to focus instead on a venture in New York City in the coming months — aiming to create a wholesale baking operation. Their beautiful pastries, including mousse cakes made to look like real mini pumpkins or lemons or roses, gained them a following at Evergreen, and will continue to be served here. All recipes have been handed over in the sale. And the menu will largely remain the same for now.
That’s according to incoming owner Crystal Kiernan, who I sat down with earlier this week at Evergreen. “Everyone loves the food,” she says. “I want to keep the spirit and style of Eastern European cuisine.” She’s retained all the staff, and plans to be directly involved in daily operations, managing the business in the front of the house, but also jumping back to prep and jump in as needed.
Kiernan, who resided in the Springs from 1999 to 2012, has been living in Scottsdale, Arizona most recently. She was operating a private chef business, doing in-home and catering work. She’s also had her own line of cheesecakes based off her grandmother’s recipe from Texas, including a baklava flavor she’s already been making for Evergreen. “They’re made with cream cheese and sour cream, with a graham cracker crust,” she says, noting “they’re light and citrusy.”
Over the past year, Kiernan says she visited Evergreen several times as a customer when in town visiting family who live here. “The food is phenomenal for Colorado Springs,” she says. “This place is cute. It has a different vibe. It’s an elevated place to dine. The food scene is changing here, and I want to be a part of that.”
In June, she responded to a call for servers needed, and decided to effectively stage at Evergreen for the month to try it on for size. She came to learn that the owners were shopping it for sale. She calls Evergreen “the right fit,” saying she’s always dreamed of having her own restaurant, and it’s nice to be back near family. With her son just graduating high school, she can take on this “empty nester project,” encouraged by her husband, who works in digital marketing. Alex and Lera will also offer consulting support for the next year from afar.
Since Kiernan insists the menu will stay the same down to desserts, coffees, teas, flagship cocktails (like a rosemary-smoked Negroni) and Goat Patch beers, I ask if anything at all will change? She only mentions minor seasonal adjustments, such as new cocktails next month, and the plan to launch a lunch menu in January. She also wants to start offering fresh fish specials, sourcing items overnight through purveyor What Chefs Want’s Boat Direct program. (So, menu additions, not subtractions.)
One other element she alludes to is activating the expansive patio in winter via some heated structures (think: those bubble tents that were popularized during the pandemic). She envisions separate chef’s table-like “experiences” outside, like prix fixe, wine-paired menus that add capacity beyond the small dining room inside.
“When ownership changes, it can scare people,” she acknowledges. “But it can be exciting. I want people to know that the wonderful food will stay the same, and to come in and try Evergreen if you haven’t already.”
Current hours are 5-9 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, with brunch service from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sundays. Kiernan plans to add similar Saturday brunch hours in December, and launch lunch in January from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesdays-Fridays. She also teases possible “sports experiences” in the outdoor tents on Colorado College hockey nights. She’ll also be accepting students’ Gold Cards in the new year and acting as a preferred vendor (subcontractor) under CC food service provider Bon Appétit Catering.
YouTube personality/international baking consultant helps The French Kitchen up its bread game
From my past reporting on The French Kitchen, a Side Dish Dozen ’24 alum, you might recall that I’ve depicted TFK owner Blandine Mazéran as never satisfied — in a good way. She has meticulous standards for quality products, and has for-years imported many items for her retail shop, cafe and cooking school. Simply put: she won’t settle for less-than.
“I have also always cared for your health, not putting ‘crap’ in our food,” she wrote in an Oct. 25 Facebook post. “Now that we’re going 100% French flours, we are taking an even bigger step towards providing you the best of the best, as flours in France are processed a lot differently than in the USA.”
That’s a polite way to allude to EU standards that disallow (or restrict) substances used in America. I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole talking about all the deficiencies in our domestic food system while making Europe sound perfect. (It’s not, but it’s demonstrably better at many turns.) As it pertains to baking, it’s widely known that French processing methods do yield lower gluten content in their flours, which affects how pastries and breads behave, resulting in airier, lighter and less-dense goods. Some people with gluten sensitivities claim they can eat European wheat items without reactions, but that’s another digression I care not to pursue.
Back to TFK, Mazéran tells me she’s always wanted to move to all-French flours since launching her business, but in the past she hadn’t found affordable points of sourcing to make it feasible. But thanks to an international baking consultant she and her team worked with last week, she’s been able to identify purveyors she can now utilize to go full-French with flours. (She’s currently at 95 percent.) The most surprising thing, considering current tariffs imposed on the EU: “We won’t have to raise prices at all,” she says, citing the power of volume purchasing.
The consultant she hired, Fabrice Cottez of Boulangerie Pas A Pas, is somewhat of a big deal, with more than 450,000 YouTube subscribers. He spent five days at TFK, “improving processes and creating new products for us,” says Mazéran, describing the nitty gritty details of playing with breads’ height, shape, taste and texture.
Longtime TFK baker Sebastien Mullebrouck left recently to work at another bakery, which left Cottez training up Bakery Manager Taylor Finnicum and Sous Chef Jeremy Hasty. Mazéran partook in the education too, saying Cottez developed different flour blends for the six new breads being offered: a multigrain, whole wheat, sourdough, Rustic, signature baguette and something called the Deluxe, which is the Rustic with added bits of walnuts, cranberries, raisins and apricots.
She shows me an info sheet for staff training, describing T55, T65, T80 and T130 rye flours, including how each affects aspects like crumb, moister, aroma and “character.” Because of sourdough techniques, the information highlights better digestibility, flavor and “long-lasting freshness” sans preservatives. (Loaves range in cost from $1 mini baguettes to $4 signature baguettes and $7 and $8 speciality breads like the Rustic and Deluxe.) The new breads are available in-market and for wholesale clients.
We sit and taste through the new lineup, going over further details, like the composition of the three-flour multigrain: with sprouted millet, flax, sunflower, pumpkin and chia seeds. Though there’s likely a little power of suggestion involved, it tastes healthy. The whole wheat has a particularly nice textural chew to it. And the Rustic, which Mazéran calls “country bread” back home, has an upfront honey-like aroma, quickly becoming my favorite of the batch, along with the Deluxe version of it.
All this inspires me to end this writeup with a rare (for me) superlative: I don’t think Colorado Springs’ bread and pastry scene has ever been as strong as it is today.
Chewing on these awesome new TFK breads, I think about all the relatively new (and some very new) additions to town, plus the legacy stalwart places. There’s oldies like Wimberger’s Old World Bakery, Boonzaaijer’s Dutch Bakery, and La Baguette. Then the steady Sourdough Boulangerie, infallible Nightingale Bread, punchy Provision Bread & Bakery and lovable La Concha Bakery. And just this week we finally got a taste of what Totem (Bake Bake) can do. All that’s failing to mention some of the mom-and-pop international places like La Sinaloense and Nana’s. There’s also decent cottage industry ventures, and superlative in-hotel spots like The Broadmoor (their central bakery and Café Julie’s).
With price point in-mind, there’s truly something for everyone. (To employ the dreck cliché). And now that includes the finickiest Francophile, thanks to Cottez and TFK.
What the hell are tiger nuts? (A random retail spotlight)
You know I don’t often write about retail products, but occasionally a press release comes my way with an offer for samples. If I find them interesting enough, I’ll say yes. (It’s rare; many products just aren’t unique. To be clear, I’m not paid and not endorsing something, just sharing info and my experience.)
The latest example of this comes via a company named Struesli (Newtown, Connecticut-based if you care), who, according to said press release, produce a “versatile, organic, granola superfood that makes fiber fun.” (Sounds at-first like a product for people having trouble pooping, but stick with me, it’s not that. Well, at least not how they pitched it, or how I’m viewing it. Ahem.)
That brings us to the above headline, and what tiger nuts actually are. (Get your mind out of the gutter: no big cats at zoos or in the wild have been harmed.) From that link: “Tiger nuts are in the same family as other nutrient-dense root vegetables, including cassava, ginger root, Jerusalem artichokes, and sweet potatoes… about the size of a chickpea, but they are wrinkly and have a slightly sweet natural flavor to them.”
Plot twist: I actually already knew this, as I picked up a bag of them, sourced from Spain, from Natural Grocers months ago. I had never seen them, was curious and saw the many listed health benefits and said “what the hell”? I love trying new food items, especially the latest marketed superfoods. (Yeah, I’m a sucker.) I’ve since enjoyed snacking on them, finding them best soaked overnight to soften the hard shell.
Anyway, back to the main narrative, and Struesli: The company has incorporated them into granola, replacing the common central ingredient of oats. They’ve done the work to soften the tiger nuts and grind them smaller, so you won’t crack a tooth. The granolas are all organic and have no added sweeteners; there’s only a gram or two of natural sugar from the tiger nuts per ¼ cup, making them actually quite savory on their own. The company markets them as a welcome, crunchy garnish on everything from oatmeal, smoothie bowls and yogurt to salads, soups and mains, as well as ideal for incorporating into baked goods like muffins, cookies and bars.
I haven’t had time to do all that much with the granolas yet, but in tasting them naked (again, get your mind out of the gutter: not me naked, but them plain) it’s easy to envision all the applications and variety in which the three flavors could punch things up. I’ve tried them with coconut/almond milk and my homemade kefir and blueberries to treat it more like a cereal and it was great. Nice to not have added sugars, too.
What I dig about the Original and Savory+Seed flavors is a finishing pop of sea salt that enhances other flavors. The OG benefits from coconut flakes and otherwise mixes tiger nuts, pecans, walnuts, hemp hearts and chia seeds. The Savory features tiger nuts with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, flax meal, hemp hearts and chia seeds. And my favorite, Cacao + Coffee, places the tiger nuts with pecans, walnuts, hemp hearts, coconut flakes, cacao nibs and ground coffee.
You can snack on all of them dry, too, and feel all self-righteously happy about being healthy vs. reaching for some junk-food. Which brings us to how you procure them. They aren’t in any markets locally ‘cuz they’re sold in bougie spots like Erewhon, home of the $20 smoothie, as we personally witnessed in Pasadena recently. So, you’re gonna have to order from the company’s Amazon page for now, where they cost between $1.25 to $1.50 an ounce (so $14 for a 9-ounce bag). Not cheap, but high quality and delicious flavor, with wide potential usage. (They’re also gluten-free, if you need.)
Bites & Bits
• Poor Richard’s offered free meals and drinks last week to “all federal employees and their families who have been furloughed, dismissed or are working without pay.” We took note of other businesses doing similar outreach with deals and discounts, and SideDishSideKick (Lauren Hug) posted on our Culinary Colorado Springs Facebook group to invite others to share shoutouts for the community. Spots like Heart of Jerusalem and Bella’s Bagels were among those mentioned. Clink the link to see more or add names to the list if you know of any.
• In a short, 10-minute segment posted on YouTube, Top Chef Brother Luck asks “Is Colorado Springs Ready for a Michelin Star?” Many of us are still wondering who would step up and pay to have Colorado Springs even considered. Luck, a Side Dish Dozen member, had said back in 2023 that he felt “‘pay to play’ is wrong” and that he didn’t think “any of these platforms should justify our value. The staff and customer experience will always tell you the truth of where you’re really at. None of us are perfect so why chase the unattainable?”
• Front Range Barbeque is hosting a Last Day of Business celebration with live music and a complimentary buffet (from noon to 6 p.m.) on Nov. 2. Their Facebook event post explains that after 25 years they’re due for renovations, but they do plan to “reopen in the future with a refreshed space… don’t worry, we’re not losing any of that Front Range charm you know and love!” They also note that donations are welcome to support our incredible staff as they transition to new opportunities.”
Upcoming events
Oct. 30: Spirits of the Night Tequila and Food Tasting at the Fine Arts Center. 6 p.m.; $65, five spirits with small bites.
Oct. 31: Pumpkin Fest at Venetucci Farms. 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Games, hay rides, beer garden and more; $10.
Oct. 31: Rebel Rebel soft opening. 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., with live DJ at midnight.
Oct. 31: Halloween After Dusk Lair of Death at Cocktails After Dusk. 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Oct. 31: Other Halloween parties and events galore. Check local listings and get out there. Just a few more: Thalassophobia Dinner at Base Camp Restaurant. The Seven’s Gate Halloween Bash. And Nightmare on Avenue 19.
Nov. 8: Wine Tasting Extravaganza at My Cellar Wine Bar. 2-4 p.m.; $35-$45 includes unlimited tastings of nearly 40 wines plus charcuterie and bottle discounts.
Nov. 12: Sip with Schnip Holiday Tasting at Edelweiss. 5-8 p.m. Free food samples; special drink stations and specials, live music, good company.
Nov. 12: Straight from the Barrel: An Evening with Buffalo Trace Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley at Hotel Polaris. 6 p.m.; $199. Featuring special allocated whisky pours paired with a multi-course meal.
Parting shot(s)
Check out what you missed at our Rare Barrel Community Dinner last week at Bristol Brewing, via this image gallery by Ryan Hannigan.
And once again I’m reminding you to mark your calendars for our special Side Dish collaboration fall series release with Josh & John’s. All four flavors at all J&J’s locations as of Nov. 7: Edelweiss Black Forest Cherry Cake; Loyal Coffee Pumpkin Oatmeal Latte; Bristol Brewing Company Venetucci Pumpkin Ale and Gold Star Bakery Salted Maple Pie.
Hey look — I presented at 1 Million Cups this week!
And you have until end-of-day Oct. 31 to vote for Doug in the HOSPYS!
