Golf on the Dark (Chocolate) Side

Fitness experts say it’s OK to enjoy Colorado’s fine bean-to-bar dark chocolate     By JOHN LEHNDORFF(Colorado AvidGolfer, May 2021) – Chocolate is probably not the first food you think about when choosing a healthy snack to consume at the 9th hole. Reasonable people might wonder: “Is chocolate good for golfers?” When asked, two noted Colorado … Continue reading →

Comfort, Covid and Canned Tomatoes

By JOHN LEHNDORFF (This was my final Nibbles column March 19, 2020 in the Boulder Weekly. I had written Nibbles weekly for various publications starting in 1985.) Boulder –  Late on a March evening — Friday the 13th — I went shopping at a Louisville supermarket for some necessities to make it through the virus … Continue reading →

Golf Food Memories

Colorado golfers recall top meal memories on and off the links By JOHN LEHNDORFF (Originally published in the Winter 2020 issue of Colorado Avid Golfer Magazine) Food may not be the first thing golfers recall about great days on the course. If the truth be told, the bill of fare in the clubhouse is not … Continue reading →

Zen and the art of elevating the grilled cheese sandwich

(Published in the Sept. 2020 issue of Colorado Avid Golfer Magazine) By JOHN LEHNDORFF I’ve got a snapshot memory of me sitting at the Formica kitchen table in my childhood home. Mom is serving me American cheese on Wonder Bread griddled in butter. The crusts are cut off. I’m dipping the gooey grilled triangles in … Continue reading →

How to Turn Home Food Waste into Great Tastes, Save Money and the Planet

“We waste tons of food in our home kitchens impacting our environment, economy and health.John Lehndorff from KGNU’s Radio Nibbles is bringing us weekly tips, practical ways for you to save flavor, save money, feed your neighbors and save the planet in your own home kitchen.” Tip #1: Bread: We literally throw out a ton … Continue reading →

Denver-area fried chicken destinations that satisfy

By John Lehndorff Is it the crunch that gets to you, or the chew? Maybe it’s the salt and pepper or the umpteen herbs and spices in the coating? Perhaps you crave that hot, savory, rich juice that fills your mouth when you bite into a piece? Or could it be the side dishes, from … Continue reading →

Colorado ice cream destinations are hot

By John Lehndorff COLORADO HAS RECENTLY birthed a bumper crop of shops serving ice cream, frozen yogurt and chill variations to satisfy our cravings. However, only a few of these sweet spots qualify as true ice cream parlors. When your kid brother begged on a hot summer night: “Let’s go out for ice cream!” the … Continue reading →

Will grocery shelves empty again this fall?

By JOHN LEHNDORFF Remember December of 2019? Grocery shopping was a simple, hum-drum holiday chore. You jumped in the car, ran into a crowded supermarket and sometimes literally bumped into friends in the produce department with hugs all around. We grumbled about the costs of seasonal items.  It now seems like long ago.  In March, … Continue reading →

A Sad Summer without Rockygrass and Folks

By JOHN LEHNDORFF (Published in the Aug. 19, 2020 Redstone Review, Lyons CO) It was a perfect summer day for a bluegrass festival by the creek under the cliff. It seemed to me there ought to be picking, grinning and greetings going on by people shoulder to shoulder on blue tarps. I should be enjoying … Continue reading →

Easy Grilling (or smoke gets in your chicken thighs)

By JOHN LEHNDORFF We all have those helpful neighbors. You know the type – eager to share their expertise about literally everything, especially your barbecue. Consider this recent Facebook comment on a barbecue food page: “There are two types of people in this world: those who grill over charcoal, and those who are wrong.” Frankly, … Continue reading →

The Seldom Scene: Decades of modern picking

By JOHN LEHNDORFF Bluegrass music is meant to be heard while sitting on a grassy field at a sunny summer festival. That’s the belief of fair-weather bluegrass fans whose mandolins and banjos go into hibernation between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Colorado’s hardcore bluegrassers will emerge for the 35th annual Midwinter Bluegrass Festival. They don’t … Continue reading →

Pressure Cooker: How to open a restaurant in one frantic year

By JOHN LEHNDORFF (Originally published in 2004 in the Rocky Mountain News/ Photos by Marc Piscotty) – It’s 10 a.m. on Nov. 12 and Jennifer Jasinski stands in the middle of Rioja, her long-awaited and very unfinished new restaurant in Larimer Square, talking to the construction crew. “I’m just not happy,” she says, “but it’s … Continue reading →

Hip Twang: Progressive bluegrass music history in ten albums or so

By JOHN LEHNDORFF (Originally published in the Boulder Weekly) You know who you are. You are America’s sect of young bluegrass devotees. I’m not saying you’re a hipster or anything, just that you are probably under 40. You probably are a fan of Punch Brothers, Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, Infamous Stringdusters, Greensky Bluegrass, … Continue reading →

On The Rize: Life with a Landmark Bluegrass Band

By John Lehndorff (The following appeared in the September 2010 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited) Bryan Sutton, the guitarist many regard as the most gifted flatpicker in a generation, believes in practice, not destiny, but he also keeps a snapshot at home taken in 1989 that seemed to foretell his bluegrass future. “When I was fifteen, … Continue reading →

The secret to a memorable spaghetti sauce isn’t the recipe

(PHOTOGRAPH BY E.J. CARR) By JOHN LEHNDORFF “My spaghetti sauce doesn’t taste right.” That’s what an old friend told me recently as we “met” on Zoom for happy hour. I had asked Bill what he and his wife had been cooking during the stay-at-home time. They were trying to recreate old favorites. “The tomato sauce … Continue reading →

Twinkies: toxic junk or the people’s cream puff?

By JOHN LEHNDORFF (Originally published Oct. 6, 1986 in the Boulder Daily Camera) Rows of air-powered nozzles squoosh white “whip” into pans full of the oblong yellow cakes, which puff as they are filled. The silver-colored molds are then automatically empties onto a conveyor belt, and an endless parade of the sweet snacks moves across … Continue reading →

Coloradans upcycling food waste in good taste

By JOHN LEHNDORFF It is easy to find information about the state of our environment that is so alarming and so depressing that you wonder if anything you do will make a difference. (It also tends to lower your general opinion of human beings as a species.) I’m especially alarmed about food waste. According to … Continue reading →

Album captures the eclectic range of late Boulder guitarist Charles Sawtelle

(Originally published in the Rocky Mountain News in 2001) By John Lehndorff News Staff Writer In late 1994, Boulder guitarist and record producer Charles Sawtelle called his old friend, fiddler and singer Laurie Lewis. “He asked me if I would produce his solo album. I was very flattered,” says Lewis. She also knew the project … Continue reading →

Impossible to Beyond: Rating the plant-based fast food burgers

By JOHN LEHNDORFF I was just outside of Boulder when I spotted a Burger King and decided that the time had finally come for my great meat-and-greet initiation. As a dining critic I’ve sampled some great cheeseburgers over the years and, living in the Boulder area, I had my share of bean and grain burgers, … Continue reading →

Telluride’s Angel Band: Doc, Earl, Bill, Vassar, Steve and Fred

(Originally published in the festival guide for the 40th anniversary Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2013)         By JOHN LEHNDORFF   If the Town Park stage looks eerily crowded this weekend, it may be the Festival’s alumni spirits back for a reunion jam. Is that Doc on guitar, Earl pickin’ banjo, Bill on the … Continue reading →