Denver chefs are donating their time and skills for good causes at several upcoming events.
On Sunday, January 24, the Squeaky Bean (at 1500 Wynkoop Street) is hosting the third annual Dining Out for Earth to benefit Rock the Earth, an organization dedicated to protecting natural resources. This year’s dinner is a celebration of local, sustainable food, with six courses from Chris MacGillivray of the Bean, Amos Watts and Justin Brunson of Old Major, Troy Guard of TAG, Tom Coohill of Coohills and Charlie Ayers, Rock the Earth Advisory Board member and chef at Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto, California. Tickets can be purchased for $110 each ($160 after January 20) on the Rock the Earth website; the price includes beverages from Great Divide Brewing, Infinite Monkey Theorem and Roundhouse Spirits.
We don’t know if the Broncos are going to Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco yet, but we know who is. Troy Guard, who’s busy this month opening a second TAG Burger Bar at 3759 Lipan Street, has been active with Taste of the NFL for the past several years and will represent Denver at the NFL’s Party with a Purpose on the night before the big game. The event raises money to help end childhood hunger and has a Colorado connection: Food Bank of the Rockies is one of 36 organizations nationwide that benefits from Taste of the NFL’s fundraising efforts. If you happen to be heading to the Bay Area the weekend of February 6, tickets are available at tasteofthenfl.com (for a cool $700 each).
March 10 seems like a long way off, but you’ll want to mark your calendars and purchase tickets now to the 33rd annual Great Chefs of the West, because seats go fast. This year’s event takes place at the Denver Marriott Tech Center (at 4900 South Syracuse Street) and features cocktails, entertainment and, most important, food from Bar Dough, Beast + Bottle, ChoLon, City, O’ City, Fruition, Mercantile Dining & Provision, Oceanaire, Old Major, Osaka Ramen, The Rib House, Root Down and WaterCourse Foods — plus many others. Great Chefs of the West raises money for the National Kidney Foundation; this year’s chef chair is Josh Rathbun, sous chef of Mercantile Dining & Provision, who received a kidney transplant from his cousin after being diagnosed with acute chronic kidney disease in 2013. Tickets ($200 each) are available at kidney.org. This isn’t just a great fundraising event, it’s also a competition between chefs, so the food promises to be exciting.