Chef Or Death

Hess studied Chinese at the University of Wisconsin; during summer breaks, she lived in Beijing, China and traveled across Asia. She completed her law degree from the University of Denver, after which she practiced divorce, criminal, and bankruptcy law. Finally pursuing her culinary career, Hess interned for Carrie Baird at Brazen. Natascha started Ginger Pig food truck in Boulder before expanding into a food hall, and eventually its own brick and mortar. The Ginger Pig was named Denver's Best Food Trucks | Westword

In 2015 Natascha and her husband Steve started developing recipes and building the dream of creating a unique food truck concept. The next year The Ginger Pig truck hit the streets. The Ginger Pig name came about as she was telling a friend about healing through ginger-infused foods. She mentioned that she had a pig named Ginger, and at that moment, they both knew that the business would be called "The Ginger Pig". 

Evidently, her favorite sandwich is the Caribbean Roast from Delicious | Paseo in Seattle.

But we’ll get to that! Next on Chef or Death

Sarah Daulton is with us today! Sarah is the Chef/Owner of Denver Cooking Classes & Daulton Culinary

Raised in Cincinnati OH, Sarah has lived in Colorado for 20 years, and has worked in the restaurant industry since she was 15.

I’m pissed that she didn’t bring any Cincinnati chili for us - but we’ll do her show anyways! 

Sarah Daulton came to our industry in the usual manner - With a background working with horses, in a small animal vet clinic to English & writing, to a cook! Pretty typical…

Actually, her story starts when she was adopted after being born in a women’s prison. Thus, her being denied having a lack of roots when it comes to a connection to food - She started a business creating new connections every day in the homes of her guest’s kitchens

Jose Avila has been cooking in and around Denver for the last 20 years. He began as a dishwasher in a burrito shop in Cherry Creek. With self-motivation, hard work and discipline he began to work his way around most every Cherry Creek restaurant, gaining knowledge and experience with many styles of food. He finished his Cherry Creek tour as the executive Chef at Elway's Steakhouse from 2004-2011. Jose then opened his first concept, Machete Tequila + Tacos in 2011. After great success and 3 locations, Jose set out on a new path.

The Denver Post named La Diabla Denver's Best New Restaurant for 2021, Westword's Ten Best Restaurants, and 5280 named their pozole one of the 45 best dishes in Denver. Chef Jose Avila is the epitome of hustler. From his Sunday Barbacoa - El Borgo Negro made from sheep harvested from his farm in Wellington, CO, to his contributions to the Westwood neighborhood with RE:Vision, and RISE Westwood Collective. Jose understands more than most, that success sometimes means being first to market - And with Denver's first Pozoleria - Success is his La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal

As an artist, musician, author, life coach and individual, my next guest is bold, daring and fearless. She makes no effort to stand out from the crowd, this sort of thing comes naturally to her, but the inward aspect of who she is, is all about helping people feel. She loves helping people access who they are, how they tick and helping them channel that into a dream they may be longing to fulfill. She also rocks. Like, a lot.

Joining me today is Kerry Pastine!

As a musician, Kerry has spent her life bringing her own brand of classic sounds, styles and fashion to her songwriting and live performances. From the big band jump blues of The Informants, to the edgy rockabilly blues of the first two Crime Scene records Let's Do This Thing and Bad Magic Baby, Kerry has redefined what vintage music means in the new millennium.

Kerry Pastine (crimesceneband.com)

THE INFORMANTS World Headquarters (theinformantsband.com)

Amazon.com: Kerry Pastine: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

Jacob Bickelhaupt was born and raised in Fond du Lac Wisconsin, and moved to Chicago to begin his culinary career. A self-taught chef, Bickelhaupt worked in some of the world's most highly-regarded restaurants before beginning his own critically acclaimed projects. A recipient of 2 Michelin stars in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Bickelhaupt is also a Food & Wine Best New Chef 2015, James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes, Jean Banchet Chef of the Year, amongst other accolades and honors.

His highest accomplishment to date, however, is his sobriety and his dedication to advocating for a healthier lifestyle for those in the service industry. Today, Bickelhaupt is thrilled to call Denver home, where he lives with his wife, a Colorado native, and their two rescue puppies. Chef Bickelhaupt and his wife, Nadia, own and operate K O N R O, a pop up restaurant hosted in undisclosed locations. The dinner features a 12-16 course tasting menu and is likened to the ultimate Michelin star dinner party.

My guest today started out as a food writer and did the unthinkable - He transitioned to the kitchen! He clearly found his voice in the making of food, yet didn’t lose his skills as a writer. Joining me today is chef Ben Whelan

Ben was born and raised in Boston MA and will always be a New Englander at heart. After getting his start as a food writer for Boston’s Weekly Dig, Ben was seduced by kitchen life and in short order transitioned from eating in the dining room to working behind the line. After stints working for Chef Michael Scelfo at the Russell House Tavern and Chef Chris Douglass at the historic Ashmont Grille, Ben set off for a year in San Juan, Puerto Rico to work for Chef Peter Schintler at Marmalade Restaurant. Upon returning stateside, he spent six months traveling and staging through some of the best kitchens on the West Coast before settling in Denver.  After spending almost two years working under chef Frank Bonanno at Mizuna, and a short stint at Alex Seidel’s Fruition, Ben left the restaurant world to help build the Culinary QuickStart program at Emily Griffith Technical College. After two years of teaching, Ben set off for a year of cooking and traveling in Thailand, including a four month stage at Bo.Lan Restaurant in Bangkok, a 1-Star Michelin serving traditional Thai cuisine. Since returning to the US, and the COVID pandemic, Ben has been helping out in a number of kitchens around Denver while developing several projects of his own.

In early May, Ben will be opening Lunchboxx in the Denver Central Market in RiNo as the chef under Zach Spott (Greenseed, Brass Tacks). “We will be attempting to step into Sean Kelly’s enormous shoes in the SK Provisions space, slinging rotisserie meats, carefully curated sides, and classics like a dope signature cheeseburger and fried chicken sammy. Over the course of 2021, we’ll be adding a really fun brunch service as well as a craveable weekend late night menu. Also look for a Farang Thai pop-up to...pop-up serving a small menu of Thai street food favorites. Stay tuned for all of the developments, Denver, and we can’t wait to be feeding you soon! I will also be continuing my Thai pop-up series this summer, so check out @kitchenronin and @farangthaikitchen for updates on those!”

James Blanchard is co-owner and founder of Blanchard Family Wines, a family, veteran owned, boutique winery, originally based in Healdsburg, California. After completing a 24-year Air Force career, half of which was spent in Colorado, he opened up their 2nd location, in downtown Denver in the Dairy Block development. While originally created to bring a California wine country experience to Denver, it has become a social gathering space to discover both California and Colorado wines, ciders, meats, cheeses, and desserts, while learning about wine through in-place and virtual tasting experiences.

After graduating from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, James spent 20 years, primarily as a helicopter pilot. He spent 4 years flying for Air Force Special Operations Command, to include 2 deployment tours in Iraq. Was an Assistant Professor of Management at the Air Force Academy teaching, accounting, finance, and investment management. Selected for Command twice at the Air Force Academy and as part of Global Strike Command. After retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel, shifted to a full-time role managing the company he and his brother founded 10 years prior. After years of creating and sharing their wines only through their California tasting room and wine club, it was time to expand their reach. After a successful 1st year in Denver, year 2 brought COVID-19 and another shift in the business model and into the virtual wine tasting world. 

2020 brought the year of virtual events and Blanchard Family Wines has completed around 120 events in the past year. BFW’s first online, Zoom based, tasting event was completed before COVID-19 and were poised to fill the need once the shutdown forced people inside.

“One of our founding tenants as a company was that we wanted to create a product and an experience that brought friends and family together through wine, and we've been doing that more than ever in the past year. We have created events that have brought thousands of friends, family, business colleagues, and strangers together into a wine community, from the safety of their own homes.”

Let’s welcome the Blanchard Family to our Chef or Death Family.

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