To gain a grasp of the brewing styles around the city, Frank visits Great Divide Brewing Co. in downtown, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project in Sunnyside, Wild Goose Canning, and Dry Dock Brewing Company in Aurora. Afterwards, Frank invites Denver chef Mary Nguyen to join him in the kitchen at Bones to create some beer-friendly dishes, all paired by Bonanno Concepts beverage director Adam Hodak.
Visit some of the state's top cheesemakers, including Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy in Longmont, the Ugly Goat Dairy Co. in Keenesburg. Frank also visits his favorite cheese shop in Denver called Truffle Cheese Shop. The episode concludes with a party at Frank's house, where Bonanno shares tips for making a perfect cheese plate and sommelier Kelly Wooldridge offers his wine pairing knowledge.
To answer the question, he enlists soul food scholar, Adrien Miller, who takes him to CoraFaye's Café, one of his favorite soul food restaurants. Frank visits his restaurant Lou's Food Bar, where chef Johnny DePierro is developing a recipe for one of Frank's favorite southern dishes - Nashville-stlye hot chicken. Inspired, Frank shows how the home chef can make a traditional soul food dinner.
In Denver's Ballpark and RiNO neighborhoods, Frank visits two chefs making names for themselves with the same style, but distinctly different operations and philosophies: chef Mark Dym at Marco's Coal-Fired Pizza and chef Kelly Whitaker at Cart-Driver. With pizza on his mind, Frank throws a pizza party at his home and demonstrates how to make great pizza using household appliances and resources.
Frank meets up with professional forager Wendy Petty, who takes him on a wild front range adventure on the hunt for wild porcini mushrooms. He then hits the mountains to tap into foraging with Shae Whitney of DRAM Apothecary, who has transformed an old town bakery into an herbal oasis stocked with handmade bitters, syrups and teas. Shae demonstrates the basics behind making homemade bitters.
Frank road trips to Canyon City, a place that's employing the state's incarcerated population to farm and raise water buffalo, goats and fish. Later, Frank travels to Clear Creek Canyon, where he learns to fly fish from master fisherman, Micah Emerson. They catch Colorado trout in preparation for a mountain grill out dinner with friends where Frank demos his techniques for the perfect fish fry.
Frank embarks on a farm to plate journey exploring the Corn Industry in the Rocky Mountains. The Midwest may be called the Corn Belt, but the mountains have some unique growing and preparing techniques of their own. Frank examines Olathe Sweet Corn, meets with a unique Bourbon distiller in Wyoming, and learns Old World Southwest cooking techniques including tortilla and posole preparation.
Pork is the world’s most widely consumed meat, so for this episode Frank explores some lesser known Pig breeds and culinary techniques, as well as getting VIP treatment in one of the BBQ meccas, Kansas City. Frank visits a few farms in Eastern Colorado and central Kansas, as well as a charcuterie shop in Lawrence, Kansas, and then digs in to KC BBQ.
With Bee Species being added to the Endangered Species List, Frank sets out learn all he can the importance and many usages of Honey. What exactly is honey, and why do bees produce it? Frank visits a beekeeper in Central Colorado, learns some great cooking techniques with Larabar’s founder, and then discovers Mead.
The chili pepper is synonymous with Southwest Cooking. For this episode Frank heads south through Southern Colorado and New Mexico to learn traditional and new techniques for growing and preparing chilies. With a glass of milk at the ready, Frank encounters the world’s hottest peppers.
Frank starts the episode in Kansas, learning about how farmers are utilizing modern technology to bring one of the world’s most important crops in to the 21st century. Frank then heads to Denver to learn how Wheat turns in to Whiskey, and we close out the episode at one of The West’s oldest traditions, The Cheyenne Frontier Days Pancake Breakfast.
Frank starts in Denver at a local taco joint learning how to cook with cactus, then visits an innovative farm in an industrial neighborhood, and then heads to the Western Slope to learn about water rights on a main tributary of the Colorado River, finally ending in Grand Junction Colorado where distillers and chefs have learned unique practices to produce Liquors and develop menus.
For our final episode of the season, Frank heads to the Southern Tip of the Baja Peninsula to find out. An arid region much like the Southwest US, Frank learns desert growing techniques and how American institutions are helping Mexican farms cope with growing food demands. He also gets a locals-only fishing experience and cooks at a renowned farm to table restaurant.
