Eats along the Highways

I have to admit that 'commuting' between the operations of Decadence Gourmet here in CO and our expansion into VA has been getting a little 'tiring', I think I drove over 60,000 miles between the two in the last 12 months.

One of the brights spots in these drives is finding new places, well, at least new to me, along the route I drive. This last trip, I decided to let Guy Fieri's show, Diner's Drive-In's and Dives, show me the way!

I have been a huge fan of shows like this, Man Vs. Food and the like and would always rather spend my money at local, mom & pop kind of places than at the numerous chains that seem to be everywhere. So, hit the computer, picked a few cities that I knew I was driving through, decided that a little 'veer' off the Interstates is not a bad thing and hit the road.

One of my favorite spots that I had found before, Taco Punk in Louisville, had closed so I wanted to find a new stop in Kentucky and after checking out Guy's recommendations in KY, decided to check out Wallace Station in Versailles.

Being a fan of one of Kentucky's other products, I knew where Versailles was, having driven down to Bourbon Country before, only about 20 minutes off I-64, and pulled in a little before lunch.

Took one look at the menu and while it all looked great, one thing stood out, an Inside-Out Hot Brown! As the Hot Brown Sandwich is somewhat of a staple of Kentucky food, had to try this variation, it was totally awesome! Turkey, Ham, Bacon, Tomato and a White Cheddar Mornay Sauce, what's not to like. I was real glad I arrived when I did as when I got there, only half the tables were occupied, but by the time my food was ready (and that was not long at all), there was a line almost out the door, the place was packed and people were waiting for tables to open up.

I picked up a copy of the local weekly paper to read and there was an article about the owner/chef, Ouita Michel. Not exactly what you would expect at a small, rural deli. Nominated 5 times for the James Beard Foundation Best Chef in the Southeast, Chef Michel, originally from Kentucky, had honed her skills at the Culinary Institute of America, moved to New York, but knew that her place was back home.

Yeah, you can find these kinds of hidden gems along the road.. if you just look!

Now, I also knew that I was going to be driving through Topeka, KS the next day and as that is kind of the last 'city' before I hit the plains of KS and the last leg of my drive up and over the Rockies, figured it was time to get off the interstate again and once again, Guy did not let me down.

Smack in the middle of Topeka, not far from the downtown area is BoBo's Drive In.

Voted one of the 8 Wonder of Kansas Cuisine, Bobo's has been around since 1948 and serves what we call 'Drive-In' food. You can still order from your car, maybe 6 small tables inside and a horseshoe shaped counter, where I found a seat. Had their Spanish Burger, onion rings and root beer.

No, Bobo's will never get a Michelin Star, but ya know what.. good food is good food!

Life on The Road

For the past year and 1/2, I have been on the road, at least half the time!

As many of you know, we expanded our business, Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes, into Virginia last Spring and I have been bouncing back between VA and CO since then. Two months there, two months in CO, 3 months there, then back again and so on.

For many years, I thought that life of the road was 'all that', but as I get older/smarter/worn-out, I do miss the days where I did not spend as much time on the road. Heck, I have put over 50,000 miles on my truck since this endeavour started!

Don't get me wrong, I love VA, it is great, but Western Colorado is my home and where I feel I belong so we are now looking for people and investors to run the VA and the rest of the expansions.

One of the things that sustains me is discovering new foods, new food places and being able to morph that into what we cook. Example being our newest product, a Colorado-Style Southern Chow Chow.. (think Southern Chow-Chow meets HEAT!). A great combination of a traditional Southern Food meeting Southwest Heat!

And I really do love Road Food! I do look at Diner's Drive-in's and Dives, Man vs Food and other sites to seek out new places and, for the most part, they are really, really good!

But the road is getting weary!

As we start to wrap up 2014, things are looking really good and 2015 looks like we will be lowing the doors off, so until I find the right people and investors...

Keep on Keeping On!

Cooking with HEAT!

Yes, we love to cook with HEAT!

All kinds of heat... Ghost Peppers, Habanero's, Scorpions, Fresno's, Serrano's, Thai Chiles, Jalapeno's (even though we treat those like breath mints now) and most recently, the new Carolina Reaper Peppers, which come on at 1,500,000 units on the Scoville scale, (50% hotter than the Ghost Peppers), we love cooking with these!

There is just something about food with heat! It opens up the senses, it makes you feel alive!

Now, we will not out out food that is just hot, it has to have flavor.. or why even do it!

For the past year, we have been doing our 'Pop-up/Flash' restaurants (En Fuego) around the Grand Valley of Western Colorado, at Peach Street Distillers in Palisade and at The VFW Post in Grand Junction, trying to put out some of the tastiest and hottest food possible! We are doing these for a few reasons, first and foremost.. We love to cook with HEAT! and secondly, we have been developing the menu for the restaurant that we want to open in 2015.

We have incorporated Heat in everything that we put out, ranging from 'Flamin Burgers' (Ground Angus, Ground Bacon, Ghost Pepper Sauce, fried in Ghost Pepper oil and more), Atomic Wings (made with Carolina Reaper Peppers, we actually made people wear gloves and sign releases!), Ghost Pepper fries served with a Trinidad Scorpion Sauce, we even made Habanero Mango Popsicles, among many, many other offerings.

Yeah, we have developed a nice following!

The next Pop-Up is at VFW Post 1247 at 14th & Ute in Grand Junction on November 11th, from 5 - 7 pm. (Become a fan of ours on Facebook, where we announce such things!).

We will continue to cook with HEAT, continue to push the pallettes to extremes and have some fun!

Want some recipes with HEAT? drop us an email!

Last GJ Free Press Column

The Time Has Come…

All good things must come to an end and the time has come to end this column in the Free Press.

One of the things that I have always been fond of saying is that if you do not evolve, you become extinct and evolve we must!

For almost six years, I have pontificated about food and life in the Grand Valley and beyond and it has been a blast, but times and things change so this will be my last column in the paper. For our dedicated fans, you can still follow us on our blog.

Almost six years…. Over 200 columns, rants, raves and musings!

In this time, we have found many fans, some of which have written and emailed us, stopped by the many events we have done throughout the Valley and expressed their fondness for the column and for that, we thank you. The staff at the Free Press has been great, and I also want to single out Josh Nichols, who back in January of 2009, allowed me the space to write, thanks Josh!

We have seen many changes throughout the Valley in our time in the paper, people come, people go, but the one thing I have learned, is that we truly have some great foodies here! From the folks in the restaurants, bars, brewpubs and cafes to the people in the streets; good food and good eatin’ prevail!

It has been a privilege and a pleasure writing this column and for that… I thank you!

So I am going to end this column the way it began… from our first column…

‘It was somewhere around the edge of the dessert, in the Grand Valley, when the food began to take hold…”

You can still follow us on Pinterest; Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes and Decadence Cheesecakes Cooking Thoughts..

You can keep following the adventures of Decadence on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Decadence-Gourmet-Cheesecakes/171538834903 ,on Twitter (www.twitter.com/decadenceGJ) and on Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/circ2000/decadence-cheesecakes-cooking-thoughts/).

Lee is the founder and owner of Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes and Catering. He can be reached at decadencecheesecakes@mindspring.com, through their website at www.decadencecheesecakes.com, on Facebook or by calling 256-4688!

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As stated, we will still be writing, about food, travels (and food) and life (and food!)...but mostly here, in cyberspace!

 

Peaches, Wines and Festivals!

YES.. After their winter hibernation, the Valley is releasing one of its most precious bounties… Our peaches and grapes! (yes, we know that we grow a heck of a lot more things than just peaches and grapes, but tis the season!)

People nationwide know of our fabulous Palisade Peaches and our wines are growing in popularity every year and what better way to showcase these than with two of the valley’s premier festivals, The Palisade Peach Festival, August 14^th – 17^th, with the main festival at Riverbend Park in Palisade on Saturday, August 15^th & 16^th (and other events throughout the entire extended weekend) and the Colorado Mountain Winefest weekend, Sept 19^th through the 21^st, with the main festival on Saturday, Sept. 20^th, again at Riverbend Park in Palisade.

There are many events for both festivals throughout Palisade and the Grand Valley and for more information, check out their websites.

Now, as many of you know, I spend a lot of time on the road, mostly in Virginia, expanding our cheesecake business and have the opportunity to work some other great events, but I always make my schedule to allow time to make sure than I am back in town for these two Festivals as I am very proud to live here and these truly are two of the Showcase events in Western Colorado.

So, Summers here and the time is right for Cooking in the Yard! (ok, it is supposed to be ‘Dancing in the Street.. took some literacy license with that one, ehh?)

The ‘Website of the Week’ is Recipebridge.com. (http://www.recipebridge.com) Great site, search for over 2,000,000 recipes.. Our ‘Recipe of the Week’, Pork Tenderloin with Fresh Peach Salsa and Wine Scented Rice (nice combination for a recipe with The Palisade Peach Festival and Colorado Mountain Winefest theme, ehh?), is also from that site.

Pork Tenderloin With Fresh Peach Salsa and Wine-Scented Rice (from Recipebridge.com) Total Time - 45 minutes (Active Time - 30 minutes) COOKING SEQUENCE Preheat oven, prepare rice and begin to cook - 10 minutes Prepare pork and begin to bake - 10 minutes Prepare salsa for pork; complete both and serve - 25 minutes MAKES 4 SERVINGS

	Pork Tenderloin With Fresh Peach Salsa
	Ingredients: 1 pork tenderloin (about 1 lb) 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped 1 jalapeño pepper 2 peaches (or nectarines) 2 medium tomatoes 3/4 cup fresh pre-diced onions 1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar Steps Preheat oven to 400°F. Preheat large sauté pan on medium-high 2–3 minutes. Season pork with salt and pepper (wash hands). Place 1 tablespoon oil in pan, then add pork; cook and turn 4–5 minutes or until well browned. Transfer pork to shallow baking pan; bake 15–22 minutes or until pork is 145°F. (Let pork stand 5–10 minutes before slicing.) Prepare salsa while pork bakes. Chop cilantro and place in medium bowl. Cut jalapeño pepper in half (remove seeds); chop pepper finely and add to cilantro. Cut peaches into small pieces; add to peppers. Cut tomatoes into small pieces; add to peaches. Add onions; gently stir in vinegar and remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Slice pork; serve with salsa.

	Wine-Scented Rice
	Ingredients: 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 1/2 cups basmati or jasmine rice 3/4 cup fresh pre-diced onions 2 3/4 cups white wine/herb chicken broth Prep Chop cilantro; set aside. Steps Preheat medium saucepan on medium-high 2–3 minutes. Place oil in pan, then add rice and onions; cook and stir 1–2 minutes or until rice is toasted and onions begin to soften. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Cover and cook 1 minute, stirring often. Reduce heat to lowest setting; cook 22 minutes (do not stir or remove lid during cooking). Fluff rice with fork; stir in cilantro and serve. (Makes 6 servings.)