From BBQ to Broncos, Twenty Tastiest Events on the Culinary Calendar

It's a bad week to be a pig in Colorado, but a great week to be a food fan. From The Lobby in Denver to Frisco to Snowmass, pigs will be roasting all around the state. But that's not all that will be cooking in the area. You can also get a taste of LoDo or the Broncos, listen to celebrity cooks, grab a free smoothie and much more. Here's a taste of what's on the culinary calendar this week.

Monday, June 15 

Author, Food Network celebrity and culinary adventurer Simon Majumdar will discuss his foodie forays and sign copies of his book Fed, White and Blue: Finding America With My Fork tonight at 7 p.m. at the Tattered Cover on Colfax Avenue. Find more information at tatteredcover.com or call 303-322-7727.

Frasca Food and Wine welcomes the  Bellus label with guest Jordan Salcito at its Monday Night Wine Dinner Series. The evening is $50 for four courses, not including optional wine pairings that range from $45 to $50 per person. For reservations or more information, call Frasca at 303-442-6966.

The Seasoned Chef Cooking School gets sweet with a class dedicated to desserts from the garden: Beyond Carrot Cake! Unique Desserts from Root Down. Chef Samm Sherman, pastry chef at Linger and Root Down, will show you how to make tasty treats with ingredients you can find in your back yard like carrots, corn, strawberries, tomatoes, celery and more. Tuition for the class, which runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m., is $69; you can learn more and register here.

Tuesday, June 16  

LoDo Bites will feature a culinary walking tour of more than twenty Lower Downtown restaurants today. Each participating restaurant will provide small bites and drink specials; a few will also offer tasty desserts. Take a bite out of this historic downtown neighborhood from 5 to 9 p.m. today. Tickets are $35; grab yours at lodo.org.

Get a Taste of the Broncos at 6:30 p.m. today at Sports Authority Field, at a tailgate-style event that benefits Food Bank of the Rockies. Chef Troy Guard of the TAG restaurant group will lead an all-star team of chefs from more than thirty local restaurants as they cook up delicious dishes with Denver Broncos cheerleaders, alumni and mascot Miles acting as "sous chefs."  The taste, which is modeled after the annual Taste of the NFL Party with a Purpose that occurs every year at the Super Bowl to benefit Feeding America, will also host guests like Peyton Manning, Von Miller, Aqib Talib and more, as well as a first-ever on-field performance by the Colorado Symphony and plenty of top-notch food and drinks. Tickets are $200; get yours at denverbroncos.com. 

The Denver Five will be at Lola at 6 p.m. tonight for a special seafood dinner.Chef Kevin Grossi will welcome Aniedra Nichols of Elway's Cherry Creek, John Depierro of Bones, Noah French of Sugarmill and Enrique Socarras of Suehiro Old Town (and soon Reverie), to his kitchen, where the five will cook a collaborative meal. Tickets for the dinner are $50; purchase yours and learn more here. 

Chef Kevin Morrison, chef/owner of Pinche Tacos, Tequila, Whiskey, will be the guest instructor at this month's installment of Work Options for Women's Cooking Class Series. Morrison will be teaching at Cafe Options from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. The class is $75; save your spot here. 

Stem Ciders is teaming up with the Chocolate Crisis Center to offer a chocolate and cider pairing from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight. Four ciders will be paired with four flavors of Belgian chocolates for $20; for more information check out the events Facebook page.

Wednesday, June 17

La Sandia will throw a rooftop pig roast from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today to celebrate the newly remodeled patio. Chef/owner Richard Sandoval will be signing copies of his book New Latin Flavors, and there will also be Arte Tequila drinks, passed appetizers and a guacamole bar. For more information, contact La Sandia at 303-586-5511. 

Elway's in Cherry Creek will kick of its Taste and Tunes concert series today with live music from Funkiphino. Music will be rocking the backyard patio from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. every Wednesday for the next two months; for more information on the summer lineup, head to elways.com. 

Nuance Chocolate and Feisty Spirits will host a five-round pairing of organic nonconformist whiskeys and bean to bar chocolates at the Feisty Spirits Distillery in Fort Collins today from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets for the tasting are $25; get yours here. 

Thursday, June 18  


Zolo Southwestern Grill will host locally-based Suerte Tequila for a four-course dinner, with creative cocktail pairings made with Suerte. The dinner starts at 6 p.m. and reservations are $75; call 303-449-0444.

The Denver Zoo will hosts its 26th Annual Do at the Zoo benefit gala featuring dishes from sixty of Denver’s top restaurants; there will also be live music, dancing and close-up animal encounters. The Do runs from 7 to 10 p.m. tonight; tickets are $175 going fast. Snag yours here.

Opus will host a five-course Leopold Bros. cocktail dinner starting at 6 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $89; call 303-355-5853.

At Stout Street Social's June Brewery Night this evening, you can enjoy complimentary beers from Epic Brewing Company — including Hopulent, Wit Beer and Hop Syndrome Lager — with free food pairings. The brewers will be on-site to chat about the beer program. For more information, contact Stout Street at 720-214-9100.   

Friday, June 19 


Outdoor cooking will be taken to its most elevated form as Aspen Snowmass hosts the Cochon Heritage Fire starting at 4 p.m. today, making its debut as part of the Food & Wine Classic Weekend. The event will showcase the culinary talents of over 55 top local and national chefs, as well as farmers and butchers working together to spotlight traditional outdoor cooking techniques. Over 3,000 pounds of heritage breed animals, such as cow, pig, lamb and goat, as well as duck, chicken, lobster, oysters and heirloom vegetables, will be spit-roasted or cooked over live wood fires. Tickets for the event are $105 and available at cochon555.com; find out more here. 

Here in Denver, The Lobby will be roasting some pig from 6:30 to 10 p.m. tonight. The second installment in its Adult Daycare series will feature CAUTION: Brewing Company and a buffet-style feast. Tickets for the roast are $40; get yours at imbibe-events.com.

It's a bad day to be a pig but a great day for meat lovers. Main Street in Frisco will be the scene for the Colorado BBQ Challenge, with seventy teams competing  for a variety of awards. The gates will open at 11 a.m. and things will be cooking until 9 p.m. In addition to all the barbecue you can eat, there will be pig races, live music, chef demonstrations and more. The competition will continue into Saturday. For more information, visit townoffrisco.com.

Best-selling Indian cookbook author Anupy Singla will host a hands-on cooking demonstration at Le Creuset from 3 to 4 p.m. today. Attendees will learn how to make healthy, authentic recipes from Anupy’s latest cookbook, Indian for Everyone. For more information, contact Le Creuset at 720-287-2181.  

As a part of National Flip Flop Day, all Tropical Smoothie Café locations will be offering a free 24 ounce Jetty Punch smoothie to anyone wearing flip-flops from 2 to 7 p.m. The chain will also be collecting donations for Camp Sunshine, an organization that provides support and hope to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. For more information on Camp Sunshine, click here.   

 
For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings — and if you have information for a culinary event you'd like included in our online calendar, send it to [email protected].

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