Decade’s Top Food Trends Announced

The foodchannel.com editorial staff has compiled a look back at the last decade in food, providing a perspective on the top flavors, biggest foods, food influences and top food stories.

“Our chefs and editorial staff have seen a lot of changes in the last ten years,” said Kay Logsdon, Managing Editor of The Food Channel. “Food has become a story like never before, and it’s interesting to look back at how its growth has impacted our society. Over the last few years, we’ve been able to visit restaurant after restaurant, attend the biggest food shows, and try new products, giving our editors a first-hand look at what’s been happening with food.”

According to the editors, the biggest trends of the last decade include: the top ten trends overall: sushi; bacon; cupcakes; sliders.; gourmet burgers made with Kobe or Angus beef; super fruits such as acai, pomegranate and blueberry; oils, such as olive oils and truffle oils; whole grains, such as Kashi, polenta, risotto; artisan foods, particularly in breads, cheeses and dark chocolates; coffees, teas.

The top flavors: pomegranate, wasabi, cranberry, ginger, blueberry, hibiscus, bacon, green tea, dark chocolate and mint.

The Food Channel is a vibrant online community comprised of food enthusiasts, culinary students and professionals bound together by a passion for all things food. The site includes original features, chef-tested recipes for all occasions, chef profiles, 4-star food photography, book reviews and food-event coverage.

Visitors will also find a variety of videos on cooking techniques, recipe preparation and interviews on topics of current interest. Weekly and monthly trend and recipe newsletters are available by signing up on the site.

For more information, visit www.foodchannel.com, www.twitter.com/foodchannel and www.facebook.com/foodchannel.

Rioja Tuesday Sips and Snacks

Any Tuesday from 5 p.m. until close, you can sample four wines specially selected for our weekly theme matched with four bite-sized snacks from the Rioja kitchen. Four tastes of wine paired with four luscious snacks for just $15.00. Wines for January include, Jan. 12, wines of Spain; Jan. 19, pinot posse; Jan. 26, the sauvignons.

One of the results of ever-changing menus is the disappearance of old favorites. Throughout January, Chef Jen is bringing back two of her most popular dishes featuring fresh Maine lobster in recipes from the new cookbook.

For lunch, enjoy the Maine Lobster Club Sandwich with apple-wood smoked bacon, arugula, beefsteak tomatoes, aioli and house-made crispy vegetable chips. For dinner, Chef Jen is cooking up Carnaroli Risotto with Maine lobster, mascarpone, asparagus and lobster bisque.

For more information, call 303-820-2282 or visit www.riojadenver.com.

Yummy Menus Spice the New Year

To kick-start 2010, Chef Jeff Osaka has one resolution: to present his guests with a menu full of exciting flavors. For starters, he offers everything from the hearty Slow Cooked Pork Belly and Cured Leg with French Lentils and Whole Grain Mustard to the light Whole New Caledonia Prawn with Watercress, Pink Grapefruit and Ligurian Olive Oil.

The main course options belong on everyone’s list of flavors to savor in the new year, including Loch Duart Salmon with Yukon Gold Potato, Scallions and Bacon-Potato Chowder; Veal Spare Ribs with Curry, Coconut Rice, Green Papaya Salad and Thai Chili Sauce; and Duck Breast with Black Quinoa, Baby Arugula and Marcona Almonds, just to name a few.

Perhaps guests should put their diet resolutions aside before checking out the dessert menu, which lists a tempting Orange Polenta Cake with Blood Orange Syrup and Crème Fraiche, the ever-popular Trio of Chocolate, and a Pear Charlotte with Vanilla Syrup and Orange Blossom Honey Ice Cream.

Please see the attached for a look at twelve’s complete dinner and dessert menus for January, and feel free to link to their website at www.twelverestaurant.com anytime for additional information. Prix fixe dinner specials continue to be popular on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with guests choosing their own starter, main and dessert options for $35 (excluding tax and gratuity).

And for those thinking ahead a bit, please let everyone know that twelve will be open for Valentine’s Day, Sun., Feb. 14. Chef Osaka will present his February menu along with several romantically inclined specials for this lovely occasion. Make reservations early; space is limited.

For more information, contact Tracey Miller-Zarneke at traceymz@wordplay-pr.com or 310-529-0542.

Root Down Does Green

Highland’s latest craze, Root Down, has certainly made a strong impact on the neighborhood and Denver restaurant world as a whole, but this new joint is also doing everything it can to lessen its impact on the earth itself.

“Going green really seems like a here-and-now issue, and at the same time it’s a bigger picture issue,” said owner Justin Cucci. “When something is both micro and macro, it’s an ‘aha’ moment on what it takes to achieve a balance, and what the right thing to do is. It just makes sense that this is the way to go.”

Testaments of Root Down’s sustainable philosophy can be found all around the restaurant, from the food to the building to the art. Not only are they 100-percent wind powered, but 70 percent of the restaurant was built with reclaimed and recycled materials.

Almost all the furniture is vintage and reclaimed, the floor and bar top are created from a basketball court and bowling alley, and the host table is formed out of an old air compressor, taken and repurposed from its previous use in the original service station.

Even the art has an earth-friendly flair. Take the giant tin can wall, made out of over 1500 recycled can lids. Who knew you could recycle from a recycling center. The wall, one of the first things you see when you walk in, is a tasteful display of Root Down’s earth conscious mentality while offering a surprisingly elegant touch to the private dining room.

Root Down uses reverse osmosis for all drinking and cooking water, eliminating the need for bottled water. Reverse Osmosis is a treatment system that basically acts as a filter to clean and create fresh drinking water, so the restaurant can supply its own instead of relying on outside sources.

Speaking of water, have no worries about wasting it when you flush; Root Down uses dual flush toilets, which are designed to save an estimated 40 percent to 70 percent on water consumption.

Naturally the food is no exception to the green style of Root Down. Executive Chef Ryan Lenionen uses as many local products as possible and creates dishes with sustainable meats and fish. In fact, the restaurant will be opening two onsite gardens in the spring, so not only will the herbs be local, they’ll come straight from the restaurant itself.

Root Down uses only recycled paper for its printing needs and does its best to keep paper products to a minimum. And if, by chance, you can’t finish your meal, of course you can take it home in one of Root Down’s eco-friendly and biodegradable to-go containers to savor your dish later.

“Being green is really a creative decision,” said Cucci. “I think there is a great challenge on achieving high design with reused, reclaimed materials, that pushes creativity and collaboration to new heights and has very exciting results. It also allows us to take a new direction in being conscious and appreciative of fruits of the mother earth tree.”

Root Down offers globally inspired seasonal cuisine with high-level service and a funky casual atmosphere. Located at 1600 West 33rd Avenue, the restaurant is open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Brunch: Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

For more information or reservations, visit www.rootdowndenver.com or call 303-993-4200.

Trio of Restaurants Won’t Break the Bank

by Dayna Copeland

Only a mere month ago, Rack & Rye, a trendy gastro-pub serving gourmet comfort food and an array of complimentary beverages, opened its doors less than a block from Larimer Square.

At first glance, the slender space appears simplistic and modern, and while this is true, once inside, the subtle charm of the room begins to unfold beneath you. The rustic, wooden floors, scuffed and worn are reminiscent of an old dance hall or an historic Denver watering hole. The tables are black, minimal, the walls, patches of gray, broken away to reveal the brick foundation. At last, your eye is drawn upward, toward a high ceiling that opens to air vents and wooden beams; a comfortable kind of warehouse chic.

The menu is a mix of old and new, coined: “global comfort food,” by one of the pubs owners, Violet Chan. “I made the menu to include food that I would want to eat, and that I think other people would want to eat, too.” Chan points out some of her personal favorites from Rack & Rye’s diverse menu to include: roasted duck sliders with Swiss cheese and pears on a buttered baguette, and bacon jam, a ragout of bacon, garlic, onions and various other ingredients served with sliced tomatoes and a toasted baguette; food that lends itself towards drinking and socializing at a price that doesn’t limit a diner’s choices.

The kitchen at Rack & Rye is the manufacturer of almost every meal on the block. Paul Piciocchi, the pubs owner, also owns Mix Music Lounge and Drink, all of which run along the same sidewalk on 15th Street and all of which have opened for business within the last month. Waiters travel between each outlet through back doors and hallways carrying trays of food to patrons who might be watching a football game at Drink or a live band at Mix. And, while the kitchen at Rack & Rye is the hub of all three of Piciocchi’s venues, the menus are significantly different, as are the atmospheres.

Piciocchi describes his next restaurant, Mix Music Lounge as: “an upscale, gourmet bar,” and with menu features like Kobe beef hot dogs and sweet potato fries served with a set of Thai dipping sauces, it’s easy to understand this explanation. The lounge, which sits in between the other two restaurants, hosts live musicians most nights of the week and a DJ every other. The bar is dark lit in golden hues with an air of old fashioned elegance.

Like Rack & Rye, the space is long and slender, leading to a small stage in the back. The scene is intimate and relaxed and with no cover, Mix Music Lounge encourages Denver concert goers to support the city’s local musicians.

Drink is the third project of Piciocchi’s; a tavern that turns into a high energy late night bar and lounge. In the early evening, televisions perched above the bar provide engaging, and at times raucous entertainment to patrons who have come in search of a great burger and a Nuggets game. But, as the night matures, the tavern turns up its music, and becomes a place to be seen by socialites and alike. On the weekends, Drink brings in a DJ and hosts a spirited party, bringing in a lively crowd.

Between the three locations, it seems as though Piciocchi has covered all forms of entertainment, leaving no one behind, and no room for boredom. Whether in search of a burger and a pint, a free show, a colorful martini or a heaping plate of comfort food, 15th Street seems to be the place to get it done.

For more information, contact Rack & Rye, 303-916-6756; Drink, 869-916-0542; Mix Music Lounge, 720-938-5929.