Look for the badge on all Edible tested and loved foodie experiences around the county!
Story by Scott Lewis and Renee Ror
Illustrations by Anita Frager
Take a seat at an East African coffee ceremony. Forage through the forest for wild foods. Dine at a farmers market supper club. Made for experience seekers, here is Edible’s annual bucket list of culinary adventures that welcome us to dig deep into the food- and drink-scape of local culture.
Zero Waste Dinners
You can find just about any type of dining experience on the Front Range, but there is nothing else out there quite like BRUTØ’s no-waste dinners. The Michelin-starred and Michelin Green Star restaurant has a constantly changing menu that honors ingredients from the earth that help restore soil, and uses every part of an ingredient — root to stem, nose to tail. Vegetable parts like beet peels and carrot tops are fully utilized; take the kale stalks in the dashi. The kitchen creates a pantry of vinegars, mirins and shrubs for preservation and fermentation. Leftover ingredients are repurposed, such as candying lime rinds. Most recently, BRUTØ launched STUDIØ — a workshop, R&D, and retail space, giving a firsthand look at the restaurant’s zero-waste efforts.
1801 Blake St. in Denver.
brutodenver.com
@brutodenver
The Bread Box
Heirloom wheat bakery and mill Moxie Bread Co. debuted the Heirloom Club, a subscription model that offers members a monthly box filled with season-specific breads, pastries, and hand-made provisions, along with tasting notes and stories about the grains and growers behind them. It’s a new Moxie experience that offers an additional way to stay connected to one of our go-to bakeries (as if we needed one more reason) and keeps the home well stocked. Each month’s offerings include signature flavors and members-only surprises, each box a reflection of Moxie’s commitment to celebrating and supporting the farmers, millers, and bakers who keep real bread, and real community, alive in Colorado.
Locations throughout Boulder County.
moxiebreadco.com
@moxiebreadco
Cheesemaking on the Goat Farm
The Art of Cheese, Colorado’s beloved artisan cheesemaking school, has teamed up with Boulder County creamery Dolly Mama’s Farmstead Goat Cheese, located on a magical working dairy goat farm nestled into the slope of a plateau just west of Longmont. There is a lot offered on this culinary campus: year-round cheesemaking classes that embrace hands-on instruction in making goat- and cow-milk cheeses, creamery and regenerative farm tours, cheese tastings, and plenty of snuggles with the goats who are at the heart of the farm’s operations. We just can’t get enough.
In Longmont.
theartofcheese.com and dollymamascheese.com
@theartofcheeselongmont @dollymamascheese
Seasonal Supper Time
Dining at the collective table that is Boulder County Farmers Markets’ Seasonal Supper Club—equal parts potluck, farm dinner, and community celebration—is a joy, and a place where community is built, one local bite at a time. Here, each dinner spotlights a local ingredient and challenges friends and strangers to bring their most creative dishes to this potluck-style event, while deepening connections to locally available, seasonal food. Gathered around the tables are area farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, and passionate food lovers, some sharing their expertise and stories, others just taking it in. No matter how one chooses to experience it, at its baseline, the club creates intimate connections between the food on the plate and the people who grow or make it.
In Boulder.
bcfm.org
@bcfm
Hands On at the Chocolate Factory
There are many sweet reasons to visit award-winning craft chocolate factory Moksha Chocolate, Boulder’s bean-to-bar chocolate company specializing in ethically sourced, single-origin craft chocolate, functional mushroom chocolate, and drinking cacao. For us, the reason is its bespoke tasting experiences. These thoughtful, informative tasting sessions and hands-on workshops are ideal for group celebrations and team events; each gathering offers a deeper dive into the world of chocolate while inspiring knowledgeable, meaningful relationships with what we consume.
2746 47th St. in Boulder.
mokshachocolate.com
@mokshachocolate
Perfect Pasta Classes
We love fresh pasta—like feed me pasta as my last meal love. At Sfoglina Denver, that obsession is more than satisfied: by teaching us how to keep the pasta coming at home. In intimate, ten-person max cooking classes, students learn to handcraft fresh pasta from scratch. The experience begins with light appetizers before moving into the heart of the workshop: shaping two different styles of pasta, one hand-formed and one stuffed. Blending focused demonstrations with hands-on practice, everyone gets time at the bench to refine technique while learning the mechanics of the dough. Once the pasta is shaped and cooked, everyone sits down to enjoy what was created, together. Guests leave not only having shared a memorable meal, but also with a box of fresh pasta, printed recipes, and a cookie for the road.
2839 44th Ave. #103 in Denver.
sfoglinadenver.com
@sfoglinadenver
Foraging Nature’s Pantry
Orion Aon of Forage Colorado leads intimate, educational foraging sessions focused on wild plants and mushrooms, through in-field classes and larger classroom-style presentations — low-impact journeys that everyone can enjoy. Choose from a variety of wild food experiences. Learn to safely identify various mushrooms, fruits, or plants, and discover the natural world around us. And with Orion’s robust library of easy-to-access information on Forage Colorado’s website, there is no shortage of location-specific foraging knowledge available for consumption.
In Fort Collins.
foragecolorado.com
@foragecolorado
African Coffee Ceremony
Participating in the rich tradition of an East African coffee ceremony at Whittier Café, Denver’s only African espresso bar, especially in today’s fast moving and sometimes isolating world, is nothing short of grounding. Every Sunday at the shop watch as green coffee beans are roasted over an open flame, brewed in the jebena clay pot, and served in a ritual that honors friendship, respect, and hospitality. More than simply preparing a drink, the ceremony brings people together in shared moments, commemorating community and tradition rooted in centuries of Eritrean culture.
1710 25th Ave. in Denver.
whittiercafe.com
@whittiercafe
Adopt an Apple Tree
There are many journeys to experience at Ya Ya Farm and Orchard, an eight-acre property home to more than 1,000 fruit trees. Visitors flock for the popular U-Pick seasons: apples, cherries, pears, and flowers. Of them all, our favorite way to experience the farm is their understated Adopt an Apple Tree program, where participants “adopt” a dedicated tree, receive details about its location, and are notified when the fruit is ready for harvest. Adoption funds support the farmers’ care of each tree, from pruning and fertilizing to watering and harvesting, creating a bond to the land and its bounty.
In Longmont.
yayafarmandorchard.com
@ya_ya_farm_and_orchard_
Hidden Omakase
Enjoying an omakase meal at a bagel shop counter may seem unexpected, but at The Counter at Odell’s it’s just as delicious as it is memorable. By night, Odell’s Bagel transforms into an intimate, omakase (meaning “I leave it up to you”) experience, where diners place their trust entirely in Chef Miles Odell. After years living in Japan, he brings a thoughtful, refined influence to this multi-course experience guided by seasonal proteins and peak produce. Rooted in a deep respect for Japanese culture, and technique and structure, the menu explores contrasts in texture, temperature, and global flavors, changing with the seasons and the availability of ingredients.
3200 Irving St. in Denver.
odellsbagel.com
@odellsbagel
