One of San Francisco’s hottest bars will be staging a pop-up in Denver for four nights, which gives people an opportunity to sample the vibe and music of that scene without leaving home.
Trick Dog, founded by Bay Area bartenders Josh Harris and Scott Baird, has generated lots of buzz around the country — and they’re taking over at from May 5 through May 8 to help their friends at the to take their annual staff vacation.
Trick Dog opened in San Francisco’s Mission District in 2013, and soon became a finalist for a James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program. It also won the the Best American Bar Team in the Spirited Awards in 2014 and in 2015, has been named one of the World’s 50 Best Bars.
The place is known for overhauling its menu every six months, keeping it fresh, and the newest menu — labeled “Top Secret” — looks like a classified government file, complete with redacted details and mysterious photos of long-contested “facts” — drinks such as Bigfoot, Grassy Knoll and Elvis Sighting.
The team will be serving up these cocktails in Denver, along with some surprise highballs, shots and boilermakers.
(Full recipes for DIY versions of the Top Secret cocktails are at
They’re not taking reservations; it’s all first-come first-serve.
3160 Tejon St. 303- 997-8886.
Centennial cookbook author wins Beard award
Food and nutrition writer Toni Tipton-Martin of Centennial just won a James Beard Foundation award for her book “The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks.”
The book, published by the University of Texas Press, tells the story of her collection of more than 300 African-American cookbooks — one of the largest in the country — that ranges from rare 19th-century texts to modern classics by Edna Lewis and Vertamae Grosvenor.
“The Jemima Code,” which won in the reference-and-scholarship category, started as a blog that featured what Tipton-Martin called “America’s invisible black cooks and their cookbooks” then grew into a traveling exhibit.
As Tipton-Martin started researching black women cooks over the centuries, the stereotypical image of Aunt Jemima with her do-rag kept cropping up, but she dug deeper and discovered talented, gifted cooks “who quietly broke the Jemima code and (had) taken their rightful place among the best of America’s culinary professionals,” wrote John Egerton, a founder of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and the book’s forward.
Her book is part of a growing niche of culinary history that explores African-American foodways, which includes by Denver culinary historian Adrian Miller, in the reference-and-scholarship category.
Plant Herbs
In Colorado, we’re heading into the planting season just in time for National Herb Week, the first week of May.
That means it’s a smart time to boost your knowledge of culinary herbs, which experts say is a good way to replace too much sodium in American diets — adding layers of flavor to a dish without excess salt.
There’s an on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website that includes along with cooking videos and a handy herb-and-food pairing chart.
May 6-7 in Denver, you can buy herb seedlings while supporting a local nonprofit at the annual plant sale at Denver Urban Gardens. All proceeds help fund the group’s Free Seeds and Transplants program, which each year provides free vegetable seeds and plants to more than 10,000 low-income residents. (The Horse Barn, 101 33rd St., Denver, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on both days.)
You can also buy herbs — organic, heritage, non-GMO seedlings — at the nonprofit farm GrowHaus, including oregano, parsley, basil, thyme and tarragon.
They’re also offering the “Urban Herbs” workshop at GrowHaus on May 14, when herbalists from Denver’s Apothecary Tinctura will teach how to spot common yard and urban herbs for health teas and tinctures. The workshop runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Early bird tickets are $30; regular price is $40. 4751 York St. 720-515-4751.
Colleen O’Connor: 303-954-1083, coconnor@denverpost.com or @coconnordp
