Apothecary approach
The Mining Exchange to offer Blk Mgk coffee shop, Colorado Springs Airport announces new vendors ahead + more food & drink news
The Springs’ newest coffee shop will open on Halloween [*Editor’s note: this date has been pushed back and no new date has been announced, I’ll update when I hear] inside The Mining Exchange downtown, and I can say it looks totally unique.
“To the best of our knowledge, there’s nothing like it out there,” says hotel GM Gus Krimm.
The spot’s called Blk Mgk, which yes, you can pronounce as “black magic.” Their design is super slick and the menu looks very interesting.
Krimm tells Side Dish that the venture comes as a collaboration between the hotel owners the Kemmons Wilson Family (who also operate this foundation), the hotel’s operating group named Valor Hospitality, and two branding agencies: Loaded for Bear and Life and Branding. Krimm acted as the effort’s overseer (expressing the local vision) and has hired a beverage manager (for the whole property) named Drew Hipp Clark who’ll finish Blk Mgk’s concept execution and work with the newly hired barista staff to get it off the ground.
“We’re trying to tell a more connected story throughout the property,” Krimm says. He’s referring to the initial vision put forth by co-founder and former proprietor Perry Sanders in 2010 when he sought to revive a historic property that a century ago housed the most active stock exchange in the nation. Gold pouring down the pass from Cripple Creek fueled incredible local wealth, and the name The Mining Exchange pays homage to this era that helped shape Colorado Springs’ growth.
Another association we have today with those long-ago times is “medicine men and traveling salesmen from the pioneer frontier” explains Krimm as he unpacks Blk Mgk’s apothecary-evoking theme. The menu features a list of tinctures (like rose syrup and orange peel bitters); herbs (like turmeric, cayenne and mushroom extracts); “elements” (like magnesium, zinc and charcoal); medicinals (supplements and superfoods) and “potions” like a habanero shrub, “Summit Sawdust” (white pine and gold flake) and “Snake Oil” (literally Chinese water snake oils said to be rich in Omega 3 fatty acids).
Guests can customize their own coffee drinks with those, or choose concept-developed “remedies” like a barrel-aged cold brew Old Fashioned (non-alcoholic) or a rose and orange blossom oat milk matcha drink named Joy.
I presume you’re starting to see Krimm’s point about there being nothing like Blk Mgk around; it’s odd and offbeat and there’s potential for creating some wild drinks. Arguably those concoctions could be quite healthy given everything from CBD or MCT oils to collagen, lion’s mane powder, blended dandelion and burdock and so many more trendy ingredients.
For their coffee, Blk Mgk has partnered with Hold Fast Coffee Co. locally and will for-now utilize existing roasts like the City Slicker Guatemalan-Ethiopian espresso blend. Krimm says down the line they may work on an exclusive blend for the shop. For you true coffee nerds: shots will be pulled off a three-group-head Synchro espresso machine.
For eats, Blk Mgk will carry pastries from The French Kitchen and make some sandwiches (like an Italian-style item named the Phat Bastardo) in-house as well as a few breakfast dishes (like a rosemary-cheddar waffle with blackstrap molasses).
As for its customer interface, the coffee shop will be located inside the lobby and Krimm says the Pikes Peak Avenue entrance has been redesigned to “feel like a standalone coffee shop entrance” while the Nevada Avenue access will feature the hotel signage, “but either will feed you directly into the lobby.” Renovations remain underway on the hotel spa upgrades and they’re also still using a temporary front desk in the former lobby bar spot. Once the new front desk opens, a new bar brand will also be created and it will be “more enhanced than a typical lobby bar.”
Catch free drip coffee all day on Halloween as an opening trick-or-treat type promo.
Ranch Foods Direct behind-the-scenes
The idiomatic phrase “how the sausage is made” typically refers to behind-the-scenes goings on that are messy, chaotic or even secretive. But here, in the context of lead Side Dish sponsor Ranch Foods Direct showing a demo video of chorizo sausages being constructed by RFD meat processor Steve Ochs, I’d say the phrase could be employed as a method of literal transparency. At their Town Center location, where Ranch Foods Direct distributes from, they also butcher and offer retail market services that include a fresh counter where customers can get customized steaks cut. Remember, when you go by to shop, mention that you’re a Side Dish subscriber and receive a 5-percent market discount on your entire shopping basket. While you’re there, make sure to pick up ingredients for this month’s Schnip’s Pick recipe from Gather Food Studio, a Beef Carbonnade featuring Pikes Peak Brewing Co. Gold Belgian-style Strong Ale.
Airport refresh
SSP America, a division of the international SSP Group — not to be confused with SSA Group, who operates the concessions at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo — was recently awarded the contract with the Colorado Springs Airport to continue operating the food and drink offerings on site.
With that announcement, which notes a “concourse modernization project,” comes a list of future vendors “which celebrate the culinary landscape of Colorado.” Here’s who’s arriving (at unspecified dates in time) that’s from our local scene:
Atrevida Beer Co., Colorado Craft, Drifter’s Hamburgers, Pizzeria Rustica and Street Eats by Chef Brother Luck. (Other national brands are: Camden Food Co., Einstein Bros Bagels and Einstein Bros Express, Mi Casa Cantina and Peet’s coffee.)
I reached out to Brother Luck, who’s brand will occupy the only full-service restaurant and bar, for a comment. He calls this “an exciting partnership.”
“What attracted me to the table,” he says, “was they wanted to source as many local concepts as they could to represent our city, to enhance our brands. That shows a company that cares… they’re doing this across the country, not just here.”
I ask Luck if he’ll be in charge of day-to-day operations and he clarifies that it will be 100-percent SSP’s operation, but he’ll design the menu with them and be involved in training staff and helping provide guidance. His menu will feature some classic favorites and “revamps” from his prior Street Eats ventures: one downtown in the space that has most recently been Folklore and the other in Old Colorado City in what’s now Sherpa Garden’s space. That means plates like his pork belly mac ‘n cheese, bacon-jam burger, maple chicken wings and jalapeño poppers.
Luck says the timeline for Street Eats at the airport to open is tentatively 12 to 18 months out, as the new kiosks will open in stages along the way concordant with construction happenings. That jives with a statement I got back from SSP when I asked, regarding “the development [being] tied to the Airport’s terminal renovation… a phased construction project.”
I also had a quick chat with Pizzeria Rustica’s Jay Gust, who confirms his timeline for opening also might extend into 2025. Gust says, “I think it’s going to be great, and great exposure for the city… It’s a neat idea.” When we speak, Gust is just returning from a trip to Italy and says “after all the stuff I’ve seen in these last days of travel, I think something like this here is needed. It makes sense to have a strong, consistent, local flair within our airport.”
Focus on Fossil
Two words: Oreo stout. Fossil Craft Beer Co.’s releasing the popular brew at 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 21 as part of its 9th Anniversary Party, which includes more special beer releases, live music throughout the day and food from Native Grill, The Original Dr. Taco, Doki Doki, and The UNcommons. Focal Pint, in its writeup this week about Fossil, says they’ve “continually crafted exceptional beer” and that the outfit feels “the most consistent from beer to beer.”
Additionally from Focal Pint this week, check out the five-course menu for a Sunday, Nov. 5 Pikes Peak Brewing Co. beer dinner at Atmosphere Gastropub. Seats are $75.
Mocktail party
Catch Homeward Pikes Peak’s Sober Soirée at 114 W. Cimarron St. from 6-9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 21. $75 tickets get you access to nine mocktail makers and 18 food vendors. I’ll be co-judging with Gold Hill Mesa’s Stephanie Edwards and Fox21 meteorologist Matt Meister, who made this short video to help promote the event. Give it a watch:
Halloween happenings
… I’ll tell ya in next week’s newsletter, closer to when you’re ready to get in costume. How do you like that for a tease? (Seriously, are any of you planning this early?)
Parting shot(s)
On Monday, Oct. 16, during Round 4 of our monthly Bar Battle series, Districtelleven’s Andrew Alverson emerged victorious in yet another tight competition that spotlighted our local bartenders’ prowess. That means at the upcoming Nov. 13 battle bartenders from Districtelleven will take on a pair of mixologists from The Archives. And in December, there’ll be a winners round; stay tuned for the final competitor list.
Judging with me this month were our event sponsors: Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits sales rep Jeff Robinson and Brand Ambassador for Heaven Hill Brittany Brooks. The challenge spirits between the different rounds were an Elijah Craig bourbon and a rye, as well as a Lunazul Tequila, a PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur and Hpnotiq, which earned a bunch of bartender groans during the final face-off (partly because co-presenter/Tipperary owner Sean Fitzgerald didn’t reveal it until half the time clock had expired, forcing the bartenders to incorporate it into drinks they were already underway with).
Remember: It’s free to attend and we pour free samples of the competitors’ drinks after each round, so it’s active participation for spectators. Here’s more highlights from the night via photos taken by me and my friend Matt Cascio:
And finally, here’sAndrew Alverson making his winning drink of the night:
Interesting info on the Mining Exchange lobby transformation. As great as the new place sounds, I’m not sure I’m ready to patronize it due to the Mark Curry incident (in said lobby!) which was less than a year ago. Perhaps I’m sounding too “woke” for some people bringing this up, but as a brown person, this was a huge black eye for that hotel in my opinion. I thought Colorado Springs was over and above this. (My parents were ignored/refused service at a downtown restaurant in 1969.) I also used to recommend this hotel to visiting family but no longer. I hope they’ve honestly transformed more than the walls if they’re expecting the general public to enter their lobby area.