Food with a Story - Presented by Marczyk Fine Foods

Step into a culinary adventure where every ingredient has a story. You don’t just learn how to cook - you discover why these ingredients matter. Leave with more than just recipes - carry with you a deeper appreciation for the food you eat and the hands that bring it to your kitchen. Each session will have a different area of focus, listed in further detail below. Menus are subject to change. July – Making Great Salsa September – Wild Mushrooms November – Holiday Appetizers

Making Great Salsa – Learn to make 3 salsas

Verde: Bright and tangy, our salsa verde combines tomatillos, garlic, jalapenos, serranos, cilantro, lime and onion to create the right amount of heat and acid perfect for dipping, or slathering on anything you grill. Restaurant Style: WARNING: this salsa is highly addictive and we are not responsible for your cravings, nor will we answer late night calls requesting a batch on the fly. The melding of tomatoes, de arbol and guajillo dried chiles, onion, garlic, cumin and chile powder will have you coming back for me with every bite. Salsa Fresca: The quintessential salsa of summer.

Wild Mushrooms

Being mycologically inclined and loving that Mother Nature provides in the wild, here are two great dishes that work with any mushroom - plan is to use foraged and farmed boomers. Mushroom Risotto: Pete is known for lots of things outside of his markets, wit and charm, but when it comes to cooking, this is his world famous, deliciously simple, Mushroom Risotto made with foraged porcini. It's all in the wrist. Mushroom Toast: While avocado toast is all the rage, this easy-to-make, easy-to-enjoy recipe uses Marczyk Fine Foods pain au levain combined with a schmear of whipped ricotta to make the perfect vessel for Jacob's Mushrooms sauteed with Marczyk olive oil, garden herbs, shallots and garlic.

Holiday Appetizers

Jazz up your Thanksgiving sides and prepare a feast to impress your guests. The detailed menu is still being finalized and will be updated once our chefs have decided which recipes to entice your tastebuds with.

Price: $68, $63 member

Location: York Street

Instructor: Peter Marczyk, CEO, co-founder, Marczyk Fine Foods & Jamey Fader, Executive chef, Marczyk Fine Foods

Peter moved to Denver, Colorado in the 90’s from Easthampton, MA. He carried with him his painting and plastering skills but was soon hired by Merrill Lynch in 1993. He had great success there, winning a Rookie of the Year Award, and worked as a broker and then with a mortgage team. However, his passion was for stock of a different sort, and in 2000, with his wife Barbara Macfarlane, he began to create the outline for Marczyk Fine Foods. His vision was for a family-owned grocery, a world class neighborhood market that would bring in the best ingredients from all over the USA and Europe, where the staff was knowledgeable, and the ingredients were fresh. Everything, from the layout of the meat cases to the products on the shelves, was his vision. In April 2002, Marczyk Fine Foods opened its doors, and Pete soon became "Denver's most eloquent grocer." Pete worked closely with ECRS, the market point of sale provider, and has made Marczyk’s into one of their star pupils.

Over the years, Jamey Jamey asked Pete and Paul to contribute a course, and fresh bread, for his successful Dos Casas charity dinner, and they got to see how each one worked under pressure. During rare free time skiing and fishing with the Marczyk team, the conversation often turned to food and once included a hunt for enchiladas in downtown Winter Park during an epic storm that closed the pass home. When it was time to find a new culinary director, Chef Fader was the first choice: he was looking for a new opportunity and adventure outside of the restaurant industry, and the MFF team was looking to expand and grow their brand. A perfect fit. Chef Fader contributes at a high level to MFF, well beyond the kitchen: he kicked off the first ever employee survey, and under his leadership MFF achieved a participation rate of over 90%. His creation of new, exciting, and HEALTHY options for our guests in prepared foods has resulted in consistent growth in this department. When asked what he thought of the grocery business: “Grocery business is a hard knock industry filled with even harder working people. I love the feel[ing] of all that hard work culminating in a one-of-a-kind guest experience. Many similarities to restaurants in that I continue to be able to develop food and people, but the differences are often very loud: less guest interaction.”