Find smoked chicken, Filipino dishes, adobo mayonnaise, lime coconut cubes and global cuisine

Sometimes you just need a signal on a summer evening. When this urge arose, I headed for a familiar place that I hadn’t visited in a long time. KT’s BBQ opened in North Boulder in 1995, offering classic smoked meats and sides in an ambiance laden with Elvis Presley memorabilia. It was nice to hear the sound of ground meat and to smell that smoke.

I dug into a chicken sandwich, a white bun loaded with smoked black and white meat pulled from the bones, seasoned with mild-tangy barbecue sauce. It’s the kind of messy sandwich you have to hold on to until you’re done eating it or it falls apart.

KT’s has a great offer: a smoked rib with purchase for $1. It was a satisfying, meaty chew with a zesty, tangy Memphis sauce. As an accompaniment, macaroni and cheese and red beans decorated with pieces of grilled meat.

It reminded me of judging an Elvis impersonator contest for KT in the late 1990s.

Bones and remnants of wet wipes and decimated napkins littered my table.

Pro tip: Order your sandwich “Elvis style” and you’ll get free coleslaw on it.

Another Roadfood attraction: Halo-Halo for all

You don’t have to look far to find a Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese restaurant in Boulder or the Denver metro area. There are even pan-Asian restaurants, but when was the last time you saw a Filipino restaurant?

Manila Bay’s Filipino restaurant in Aurora offers authentic dishes. Filipino cuisine is a fascinating fusion of Chinese, South Asian, Spanish and even American cuisine. It’s easy to love lumpia, thin and crispy pork and vegetable spring rolls, pork adobo simmered in vinegar, soy sauce and garlic broth with steamed rice, as well as of noodles. If you’re more adventurous, order the grilled pompano whole with mighty garlic fried rice and wash it down with calamansi-ade – it’s a lemon-orange hybrid flavor.

Make the drive to Manila Bay just for the halo-halo, which is as fun to say as it is to eat. This translates to “mix-mix,” and that’s how you consume this refreshing combination of shaved ice, candy beans, coconut and ube (purple sweet potato) ice cream, and evaporated milk.

Summer culinary tip: lime in coconut

Elevate your summer by making ice cubes with coconut juice and a spritz of fresh lime juice. It adds that certain something else to drinks and cocktails by cooling the liquid. For a change of pace, use fresh watermelon juice.

Find Farm-Fresh Flavors Statewide

The 14th of July weekly block included a guide to Boulder County Roadside Farm Stands. For information on farmers markets, stands, U-pick locations, wineries, ranches, apiaries, and other local food producers across the state, see the Colorado Farm Fresh 2022 Directory. Status: ag.colorado.gov/category/farm-fresh

Flashback Recipe: Adobe Mayo for Corn

Chef Jimmy Schmidt ran Rattlesnake Grill, a groundbreaking Southwestern restaurant, in Denver’s Tivoli Brewery building from 1985 to 1989. He immediately elevated Colorado’s dining sense. Schmidt shared this recipe at the time for a big-flavored mayonnaise to use on sandwiches, Mexican-style street corn, and as a dipping sauce for hot fries.

Jimmy Schmidt’s adobe mayonnaise

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon grain mustard

1 tablespoon of vinegar

1 tablespoon achiote paste

1 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

Salt, to taste

In a blender or blender, combine the yolks, lemon juice, mustard, vinegar and achiote paste. On high speed, gradually add oil until blended. Add the chipotle peppers and mix. Taste and adjust with salt. Dilute, if necessary, with a little lukewarm water. Refrigerate.

Culinary calendar: Get your Okonomiyaki

Osaka’s restaurant in Boulder hosts Natsumatsuri on July 24 from 3-7 p.m. in the parking lot near McGuckin Hardware. On the summer festival menu, okonomiyaki pancakes, sake and Japanese sweets. …The Colorado Brazil Fest takes place August 13 at the Boulder Bandshell with Brazilian music and food, thedairy.org … The Colorado Polish Food Festival takes place August 27-28 in Denver, polishfoodfestival.org … The Taste of The Middle East Festival is September 17 in Aurora, tasteofthemiddleeast.com. …Send information about local events, classes and food fairs to: [email protected]

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Send information about food events, classes, festivals, farm dinners, farm stands and tastings in Boulder County and Colorado to: [email protected]