Food for Thought: Molly Martin Dishes on Dining in Denver and More

Every year, the Colorado Restaurant Association serves up Industry Spotlight Awards, honoring people who've made major contributions to the dining scene — whether as bartenders, chefs, owners or even journalists. This year's winners will be honored at an event on November 8, and here's a tidbit to whet your appetite: Westword Food & Drink Editor Molly Martin will be given the Outstanding Media Professionals award.

To mark the occasion, Westword Editor-in-Chief Patricia Calhoun, who won the CRA's first media award a decade ago (Mark Antonation took the honor in 2018), then was elevated to the CRA Hall of Fame in 2019, sat down with Molly to chat about food memories, culinary fads and the ever-evolving industry.

Patricia Calhoun: What does winning this award mean to you?

Molly Martin: This award specifically honors people who are allies and supporters of the industry, which makes it really special for me. Since I took on the role of Westword's food and drink editor about two and a half years ago, my driving goal has been to help uplift the city's hospitality scene as it has come back from the pandemic. Every day, I get to talk to people in the industry who have shown incredible perseverance, creativity and strength, and I take pride in helping to share those stories. Being recognized by the CRA for that effort is a reminder that the work we do as food journalists is an essential part of making sure Denver's culinary scene continues to thrive and grow.

What is your first food memory?

Food has always been a big part of my life — my mom pretty much always worked in various food-service and hospitality roles, and when I was a toddler, my parents bought a bed-and-breakfast in southern Vermont where my dad did all the cooking. I lived there until I was twelve, and my earliest food memories are basically a blur of pancakes, maple syrup and creemees (aka soft-serve ice cream).

I was, admittedly, a very picky eater as a child — I always say it was my small way of trying to rebel against my otherwise non-disciplinarian, food-loving parents — but one dish I still think about often is blueberry soup.

Every summer, we'd visit a local farm and pick loads of blueberries, most of which we froze to use in pancakes throughout the year. On hot summer days, my dad would use them to make a cold, creamy blueberry soup, which he served as an afternoon snack at the inn. He passed away when I was thirteen, and no one else seems to remember the recipe. I've tried a few times to re-create it, but have never gotten it quite right. Maybe the secret ingredient is those Vermont berries?

What was your first restaurant job?

I was taking breakfast orders — and reservations — by age five at the inn, and after my parents moved us to Gainesville, Florida, when I was in middle school, I had a short-lived (three-day) stint at a Burger King. But my first real restaurant job was at TGI Friday's.

I was a teen mom — I had my daughter when I was seventeen, and at nineteen, I got a job as a host at the chain restaurant. I definitely didn't take it seriously; I wore knee-high black socks with various red-and-black outfits and spent most of my time hiding out in the kitchen, eating breadsticks dipped in honey mustard and flirting with the cooks.

One day I showed up to work and my manager, who was moving back home to Denver in a couple of weeks, told me he'd run into a problem: The girl who had agreed to move with him and his wife in order to be their live-in nanny had changed her mind and backed out. I immediately volunteered.

Growing up in Vermont, Colorado was the place where all the cool older kids moved after they graduated, so I'd taken to telling people I planned to move there one day, too.

Two weeks later, I packed my two-year-old daughter and all the belongings I could fit into my Ford Explorer and drove from Florida to my new home — which actually turned out to be in Parker, but that's a story for another day. I was a terrible nanny, and that original plan didn't last very long, but I've lived in Colorado ever since — nearly twenty years now.
What was your first Denver restaurant experience?

Being a broke young mom who was working and going to school to finish my degree, I didn't eat out much when I moved to Colorado. But when I did, it was with my former partner, who was born and raised in Denver and had an obsession with something I'd never heard of before: green chile.

After trying to get me on board with it several times, we were at breakfast at Sam's No. 3 in Aurora when he ordered the Tex-Mex Chili — half red and half green. I asked for a bite. Then took another. Then he made me order my own.

It was basically green chile for beginners (and remains one of my favorite dishes today), but soon we became regulars at La Fogata's East Quincy Avenue location because it was a short walk from our apartment. That's really where I came to understand the magic of Den-Mex and the joys of green chile-smothered Mexican hamburgers and crispy chile rellenos made with egg roll wrappers.
What are your go-to restaurants today?

It's tough having go-to's in this job, but I still manage to frequent La Fogata and Sam's No 3. I often hit up Misfit Snack Bar at Middleman for $6 happy hour Old Fashioneds and whatever the kitchen is serving, or Charlie Brown's for BOGO vodka tonics and various fried foods when I'm in need of a real debrief session with friends. I've eaten countless carnitas burritos at El Taco de Mexico. The prime rib French dip at Poppie's is a regular craving, as are the drunken noodles at Thai Pot Cafe and steak nights at Columbine. I recently moved to the Congress Park neighborhood, where the sesame chicken and garlic broccoli from Peter's Chinese have quickly become favorites. The question I get most often is, "What's your favorite restaurant?" My current go-to answer is, if you haven't been to Spuntino, Hop Alley or Point Easy, you should put those on your short list.

What's your splurge restaurant?

Right now, Stone Cellar Bistro in Arvada. You don't have to splurge to eat there, but the first time I went, we ordered nearly the entire menu, and it was one hell of a meal. Dishes rotate often, so I'd love to go back for another all-in feast.
Where do you take out-of-towners?

This, of course, changes all the time. But the last out-of-towner who visited had a habit of talking shit about Denver's restaurant scene, so I obviously made it my personal mission to prove him wrong. We did green chile-smothered burritos at El Taco de Mexico for breakfast, dinner at Annette, and a final meal at A5. He admitted that he was wrong before he left for the airport.

What is the most overdone dish in Denver?

This isn't Denver-specific, but can we please move on from Brussels sprouts with [insert sweet and sticky sauce]? Yes, they're good, but do we really still need an iteration of them on every single menu? There are so many other veggies that are ready for their shining moment!

What was your most disappointing meal?

Recently, at Holey Moley, the indoor putt-putt place that replaced Urban Putt in the old Spaghetti Factory space. Not that I had high expectations for the food, but it's serving a birria pizza that manages to be offensive to both birria and pizza.

What restaurant do you miss most?

Tom's Home Cookin' in Five Points, which closed in December 2015. The last time I ate there was October of that year. Because it was only open for lunch and I lived and worked pretty far away, I could rarely make it there. So, that year on my birthday, I took a vacation day at work and showed up as soon as it opened. I ordered three complete meals — meatloaf and two orders of fried chicken, plus pretty much every side they had. Then I took it home and had a personal soul-food buffet that I still dream about.

What are the big trends at local restaurants?

Prices are still rising, and service fees are more common than ever. But on the upside, the metro area has gotten a slew of new dumpling options, the local baking scene continues to get better and better (have you tried the croissant cube from Black Box Bakery or the jambon beurre from Get Right's?), and the emphasis on local sourcing and sustainability continues to spread. Expect that to continue now that Id Est Hospitality's zero-waste mantra earned its eateries Brutø and the Wolf's Tailor's both a traditional Michelin star and a green star.
What do you think about Michelin?

It's a valuable resource that will attract more national and global attention — and more culinary talent — to our local scene, but it's not the be all and end all for people looking for a great meal in Colorado.

The fact that destination marketing organizations like Visit Denver pay to have certain areas of the state covered explains why some deserving places were left out — simply because of geography — but I don't think that discounts the work the actual inspectors do in choosing which restaurants are included. Their picks for the first Colorado guide are generally on point and leave a lot of room for future growth.

But every single one of the 44 restaurants that were honored currently are or have been on Westword's annual list of the 100 restaurants we can't live without. Our list covers the entire metro area and includes everything from Beckon (which got a star) to more casual, lower-price point favorites like El Taco de Mexico and Hits the Spot. Places like those aren't likely to land in the Michelin mix but are totally worthy of the attention of hungry diners. Bottom line: Michelin stars are meaningful, but for the most comprehensive coverage of the dining scene all year long, look to your local journalists. (Alert: Watch for our next 100 restaurants list in early December.)

What do you think of Yelp?

A restaurant owner once described Yelp to me as a "co-dependent abusive relationship." Most people in the industry hate it, but it's not going anywhere.

"Restaurant reviews" used to be the realm of professional critics, who would follow a set of guidelines to fairly assess a restaurant, usually with the goal of holding chefs and owners to a certain standard while also acting as consumer advocates. They'd dine anonymously, visit multiple times, and wait an appropriate amount of time after a new spot opened before passing judgment. 

Yelp, as South Park famously mocked back in 2015, made everyone a critic. Suddenly, your neighbor Craig felt entitled to give the local taco place one star because they didn't have flour tortillas.

The platform has some upsides. It can clue in owners and staff to habitual problems. If used with an understanding that the reviews themselves are not all created equally, it is one of several resources people can use to find certain dishes or put together a dining game plan when visiting another city. When the pandemic shut down indoor dining, leaving a positive Yelp review became one of the recommended ways to support your favorite local eateries.

But Yelp stars rarely tell the whole story. Westword doesn't currently have a critic — it's a role that went on pause when the pandemic hit. And while we've talked about the logistics of bringing it back, our food coverage, like that of many other publications, is now more focused on highlighting the places we love and telling their stories instead of joining the masses already complaining about a sticky table or bad parking. We will, of course, call out shortcomings when necessary, but if you really want to read a full-on takedown of a place for entertainment, just scroll through Yelp.
What are your favorite things to cook at home?

I think I'm a pretty solid home cook, though I'm definitely not a baker — I don't have the patience for exact measurements or following recipes. Instead, I love to get creative, so I rarely cook the same thing the same way twice.

I tend to rotate through general staples seasonally. In the fall, there's always at least one big batch of green chile and a lot of soups — I love my immersion blender. In the winter, there's a lot of heavier baked pastas coming out of my kitchen, including my annual Christmas tradition: lasagna bolognese with fresh-made pasta and béchamel. In the spring and summer, it's all about using as much seasonal produce as possible. "Big salad night" is a regular thing in my house, and I love making homemade dressings. I'll try my hand at pretty much any dish from any cuisine, but my most tried-and-true ingredient staples are simple: salt, black pepper, Aleppo chile flakes and fresh lemons.
Who's the most exciting chef in Denver?

It's not just one chef, but a group of them. Denver's culinary scene has long been more collaborative than competitive, and that's still true today. Some of the most exciting food in the city right now highlights the talent of several Asian American chefs who are sharing their culture through their own lenses — and who are also friends and supporters of one another.

There's Penelope Wong, owner of the Yuan Wonton food truck, which recently opened its own shared brick-and-mortar space along with another former food-truck team, Long Nguyen and Shauna Seaman of Pho King Rapidos. They introduced Thuy by PKR in the space, and on Thursday nights, Thuy serves a collaborative dinner with Yuan Wonton.

Kenneth and Doris Wan started Meta Asian Kitchen at Avanti but will soon introduce their first brick-and-mortar, MAKfam, in Baker. It will pay homage to the traditional, family-style Cantonese food that the Wans grew up with.

One of the year's buzziest openings happened in June, when Ni Nguyen and his wife, Anna, opened Sắp Sửa. It has lived up to the hype of being one of Bon Appétit's most anticipated new additions of the year, with a menu that reimagines traditional Vietnamese dishes.

What would you like to see in Denver's dining scene?

More risk-taking. There's nothing inherently wrong with farm-to-table, seasonal restaurants decked out with houseplants and a menu that definitely includes oysters, burrata, steak tartare and Brussels sprouts (of course), but I'm hungry for more people to stray from the norm. A prime example is chef Bo Porytko, whose Eastern European restaurant Molotov is a refreshingly fun and quirky take on fine dining, down to the collection of cuckoo clocks that hang above the chef's counter.

This piece was originally published in the annual Food & Drink guide inserted in the October 12 issue of Westword.