Working in a kitchen can be a thankless occupation. But it’s an afternoon on a Maui beach compared with working the Taste of the NFL.
The Taste is an annual Super Bowl buffet with chefs from the 32 NFL cities cooking up their specialties the night before the game — to raise money for food banks in their home cities. For the second year in a row, Troy Guard from TAG restaurant on Larimer Square has been chosen to do the honors for Denver.
Other Denver chefs have come back from this event with stories of bad hotel rooms, impossible cooking conditions, long hours, loss of money, no tickets to the game and even a flight home during the game. But Guard loves this event.
“I’m really excited,” he says.
Guard will be cooking Colorado lamb sliders with Haystack Mountain goat cheese. “And for a wild factor I’m bringing in a milkshake machine and making Orange Crush Shakes.” Broncos alumnus Karl Mecklenburg will be by Guard’s side for the glam factor.
“I actually like doing this. It’s humbling. It costs us some money but it’s all worth it in the end.”
And he’s fine with not going to the game. “I like to watch it on TV. I go to a bar with a bunch of chefs and come home the next day.”
Mix it up.
We’ll get a winter edition this year of Mixed Taste: Tag Team Lectures on Unrelated Topics. Back at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the series always offers the oddest combinations. This winter’s lineup: Chicken + Waffles & The Ice Age; Frank Lloyd Wright & The Theory of Mountain Biking; Tammy Wynette & Cross-Dressing Saints; Pop Music & Stoicism; The Sonnet & Beef Jerky; Sigmund Freud & Sloppy Craft.
This all starts Feb. 11, call 303-298-7554, ext. 200 for tix and info.
Ski geeks.
It’s too bad I threw out my blaring red one-piece ski suit. I looked like Elvis and felt like the Flying Tomato.
You could use it today for the Steamboat Springs Vintage Ski Fashion Show at the Bear River Bar & Grill. Then you could race down the mountain in the vintage gear.
If you miss the party in Steamboat Springs, head to Faith & Whiskey in New York City on Saturday. The bar will host “The Awesome ’80s Aspen Ski Lodge Party” celebrating what they call “bad ’80s fluorescent ski outfits” and offer discount “shot skis” — 4 to 6 shot glasses glued to skis and downed in unison. Fun.
City spirit.
Rachel Greenwald, Denver’s romance expert and author of “Find a Husband After 35: Using What I Learned at Harvard Business School,” will gather Denver’s single women to the Spa at Four Seasons on Tuesday afternoon to deliver tips on how to find Mr. Right before Valentine’s Day. Call Lisabeth at 303-389-3136 . . . Sightem: Rockies players carb loading at Venice Ristorante onThursday night included Huston Street, Matt Daley, Jason Hammel, Chris Iannetta and Ian Stewart . . . Sez who: “When I played pro football, I never set out to hurt anyone deliberately — unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something.” Dick Butkus
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted @denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at .
