Monday mornings are tough, but this series isn't. Social Sightings is your quick look at recent food tidbits that we've spotted. It goes down as easy as your first cup of coffee, and should whet your appetite for the week ahead.
In its first few months, Lakewood's Kickin Chicken (home to a very good hot chicken sandwich) had a rock thrown through its windows not once, but twice. Now, those rocks are dubbed Bob and Oscar. "Instead of being a symbol of hate, I was adopted and became part of the Kickin Chicken family," reads Bob's plaque.
Instagram: @kickin.chicken
Our 2022 Best Hot Chicken winner, Music City Hot Chicken inside TRVE Brewing on Broadway, does more than just its signature sandwiches. Last week, it added a new item to the menu: gyro fries, loaded with tzatziki, gyro meat, feta, sriracha aioli, and a cucumber, tomato and onion relish.
Instagram: @mchcden
Annette, the Stanley Marketplace restaurant from James Beard-nominated chef Caroline Glover, teamed up with Our Mutual Friend on a new beer. Verbena Paradiso is a gose ale made with lemon verbena. It's available at both the brewery and restaurant — where you can also try it in Annette's new cocktail, the Bamm Bamm Radler, made with Fruity Pebble-infused rhum agricole and lime. "Basically a daiquiri in a beer," the restaurant says.
Instagram: @annette_scratchtotable
Speaking of Beard awards, Denver Soul Food Scholar Adrian Miller, who's nominated for his book Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, got an unexpected shoutout from the Transportation Security Administration when it reposted his tweet about having a carry-on full of barbecue, along with some pun-filled commentary. "Everything in this bag looks un-grill-ievable," TSA offered. "You’ll be happy to know all this is coal by us to go in any bag. Grate job here, leaving any BBQ sauce over 3.4oz in checked bags. Let’s be frank! We know a way to keep you from getting all fired up about packing mi-steaks. Flip on over to our friends at AskTSA. Their answers are always a job well done. You’ll find them grilling online 7 days a week."
Instagram: @soulfoodscholar