Tidbites | Week of November 14, 2013

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Cheese Importers in Longmont

CHEESE IMPORTERS STARTS HAPPY HOUR

Longmont’s jack-of-all-trades specialty store, Cheese Importers, has announced it will beef up its café/bistro area with extended hours, a new happy hour and wine and beer service.

The store, which won the Kitchen Supply Store category in our 2013 Best of Boulder East County publication, goes well beyond cheese on its bistro menu, offering salads, soups, sandwiches and grilled sandwiches as well as coffee. It’ll now serve craft beer and wine in the bistro, which will stay open until 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The happy hour will be 4-6 p.m. every day except Sunday, the store announced on its Facebook page, and it will be serving dinner 4-8 p.m.

The bistro will also have a “full bar soon,” the Facebook page says, suggesting it will begin serving hard liquor.

TURKEY TASTING

Itching for that tryptophan fix? Lucky’s Market invites the public to chow down for free at its Holiday Tasting Fair 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20. On the table will be gravy, stuffing, side dishes, Organic Valley Eggnog, Lucky’s Bakehouse Pies and, of course, turkey. If you like what you taste, you can pre-order a turkey, ham, pork-roast or other meat dishes from Lucky’s meat department. You can pre-order small (8-10 lbs.) or large (20-30 lbs.) turkeys and pick them up any time within a week of Thanksgiving. Lucky’s usually orders around 600 turkeys and always sells out.

AMONG THE BEST YET AGAIN

International culinary website The Daily Meal has included Boulder in its list of “America’s Best Small Towns for Food 2013.” According to The Daily Meal, small towns across the country focus on “freshness and high-quality ingredients,” making them ideal destinations for traveling food lovers. The website praises The Kitchen for healthy local and seasonal dishes, Shine Restaurant and Gathering Place for its attention to dietary restrictions and availability of allergy-free food, and Frasca Food and Wine for its authentic Italian dining experience. Boulder was also given the honor in Daily Meal’s 2012 list; it’s not clear if the list is organized as a ranking, but if so, Daily Meal ranks Boulder 10th out of 11 best small towns for food. Some other cities that made it on this year’s list are San Mateo, Calif., Richmond, Va., Galesburg, Ill., and Charlottesville, Va.

THE DUDE ABIDES

Boulder Beer Company is celebrating the first-ever release of The Dude’s Bane Barrel- Aged Barleywine at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at The Pub at Boulder Beer.

According to Boulder Beer’s Facebook page, the limited-release Dude’s Bane is an English-style barleywine with fruity undertones that has been aged for one year in first-use bourbon barrels, infusing the flavors of bourbon, vanilla and oak. The Dude’s bane is Boulder Beer’s only bottled barrel-aged beer and its most rare packaged offering, with only eight barrels in existence.

Collectors are encouraged to show up early for their chance to snag a lower-numbered bottle. Bottle number one will be going to a lucky bath-robed winner — in honor of The Big Lebowski, Boulder Beer will be awarding an attendee wearing a bath robe the first bottle. There will be games for chances of winning other Boulder Beer prizes. Limit 12 bottles per person.

CALIFORNIA WINE AND COLORADO FOOD

Colorado Master Sommelier Doug Krenik will join the staff of Arugula Ristorante Nov. 26 for a wine and food pairing featuring wines from California’s Napa Valley, including three “blue chip” cabernet sauvignons.

On the five-course menu at Arugula, an Italian restaurant in its regular menu offerings, will be such unusual delicacies as foie gras and duck confit, caperberries, kabocha squash (sometimes called Japanese pumpkin) and elk carpaccio. Bad news for vegetarians: Each of the first four courses contains meat. Good news for local food lovers: All five courses include local ingredients, from spices and herbs like sage and thyme to the duck confit, beef tenderloin and Bookcliff Vineyards, the Boulder vineyard. The wines include three cabernet sauvignons, a sauvignon blanc and Sven’s Swedish Glögg, a mulled wine that is made with the Bookcliff cabernet sauvignon.

The dinner is $45; the wine pairings are an additional $35. The full menu is available at http://arugularistorante.com/events, and reservations can be made at 303-443-5100.