A 21st Birthday Celebration Tour

Turning 21 is an exciting time, and it was a lot of fun to bring a group of college friends around town on a private birthday tour celebration for a taste of great food, libations, and delectable desserts.

We started at Tahona Tequila Bistro for a flight of tequilas- blanco, reposado, and añejo, as well as a taste of a coin-style margarita made with the three different tequilas.

We then walked to Aji for some Latin American appetizers: ceviche, blue corn dusted calamari, an empanada, and a mojito.

Our third stop was The Pinyon for fried chicken (of course), trotters on a house-made english muffin (The Pinyon is the only place in town serving trotters, by the way), and some 48-hour brisket.  We sampled a couple beer cocktails while watching the esteemed chefs prepare each course.

Finally, we went to OAK at Fourteenth for a cocktail by Boulder’s illustrious Bryan Dayton, paired with a sample of their desserts.

As a tour guide, I must say that birthday tours are exceptionally fun. The group doesn’t just sit at one restaurant for a few hours- we progressively eat our way through town on a culinary exploration with friends.  Happy 21st!  I hope Local Table Tours made it memorable.

A Virtual Tour: Market to Table Tour

Last Wednesday was a another beautiful day for a tour through downtown Boulder!  When we met on Pearl Street, there were hundreds of people milling around, enjoying all the performers and the sights and sounds of a perfect Colorado afternoon.  We walked down Pearl Street to our first stop – Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant.

Leaf Dining Room

At Leaf, the group enjoyed 3 perfectly plated samples:  A Raw Wrap with swiss chard and basil almond pâté, Raw Ravioli with beet, and Buffalo Seitan with blue cheese, carrot and celery salad paired with a Spanish white wine from Catalunya.  All our tour groups have enjoyed the beautifully appointed dining room, as well as the samples of delicious creations by Chef Steve Dustin.

We continued on to SALT, where a brandy cocktail with a honey cardamom simple syrup was waiting for us.  We sat at the bar overlooking the impressive kitchen.  Evan, the Beverage Director at SALT, talked with us about mixing the perfect cocktail, and pairing wine with our food samples.  Executive Chef Kevin Kidd talked with us about sourcing local ingredients as we enjoyed crostini with butter, radish and arugula; followed by prosciutto wrapped asparagus, Hazel Dell Mushroom and Haystack goat cheese in filo; all paired with a California Gewurtztraminer.  The extra special treat at the end of our visit was a sample of SALT’s famous dark chocolate caramel salt tart.

Back Bar overlooking the kitchen at SALT

Before continuing to our next partner restaurant, we stopped at Savory Spice Shop to talk with Dan about the variety of spices and seasoning mixes he carries at his shop.  We sampled different kinds of cinnamon from around the world, freeze dried corn, and candied ginger.  The staff at Savory paired up with our tour guests and expertly helped us through seasonings to use with some of our favorite dishes.

As we walked up to the Boulderado Hotel, a bridal party was checking in to this beautiful, historic hotel. The dining room at Q’s is elegant, and we sat on the restaurant’s enclosed glass porch to enjoy the Chef’s garden greens with house smoked salmon and capers, paired with Q’s signature orange- cranberry spritzer.  Q’s manager talked with us about the variety of programs and initiatives they use to be as sustainable as possible, including using wind power and partnering with a local biodiesel company.

We ended our tour at the bustling Boulder Farmers’ Market. First, we took in the sites and sounds of the busy market, stopping to sample Sugar Snap peas from Munson Farms (one of the original farms to participate in the market over 20 years ago), and popcorn from Boulder Popcorn.  Then we met up with Antonio Laudisio, who cooked us pizza in his brick pizza oven using Hazel Dell mushrooms.  We topped off our tour with a small scoop of all-natural, vanilla ice cream from Boulder Ice Cream.

Boulder Farmers' Market

If you would like to experience Boulder’s culinary scene for yourself, please click here for a listing of upcoming tours.  We look forward to seeing you on a future tour.  Each tour varies slightly, and as different seasonal ingredients become available, our chefs will change up what they share with us.

Cheers!

Julie and Megan