For me, picnic hen, Denver’s authentic Elitch Gardens and my birthday in August have ceaselessly linked the thought of what summer season is meant to be.
As a child, being born in August meant I by no means received to have a classroom celebration — the one the place your mother exhibits up with a platter of chocolate-frosted cupcakes and all the opposite youngsters suppose you’re cool for a day.
For years, my mother all the time made up for this by frying a double batch of hen, baking cupcakes or brownies (something was good so long as it was chocolate), and punctiliously tucking our picnic into two rectangular Tupperware containers. I keep in mind them: one had a mint inexperienced high, the opposite pale yellow.
I used to be allowed to ask a few associates to spend the afternoon at Elitch’s, using rollercoasters, enduring the Octopus, and marveling on the park’s lush floral shows. Once we received hungry, we headed for the picnic pavilion, the place overhead the curler coaster automobiles using the Wildcat’s rails creak, rattle and roar.
Many years earlier than cell telephones, in some way Mother knew once we’d be hungry and had already unfold a red-and-white checkered fabric the place dinner lay ready. Hours within the cooler by no means affected the style of mother’s juicy fried hen.
Quick ahead a bunch of years, and fried hen continues to be my go-to for celebrations giant and small, together with birthdays, wrapping up a difficult hike or bike experience, or just acknowledging a day when the weeds in my backyard didn’t get the most effective of me.
And whereas fried hen was restricted to home-cooking and what KFC and its larger-than-life founder Colonel Harland Sanders pumped into the American culinary mainstream, nowadays there’s loads of unimaginable fried hen available that may simply be outlined as Colorado’s personal.
The most effective out there may be The Put up Hen & Beer. With areas in Lafayette, Longmont, Denver’s Rosedale neighborhood, Boulder and, since this summer season, in Estes Park, there’s an simply accessible outpost to search out your subsequent fried hen meal.
After sampling fried hen everywhere in the nation, tasting between 50 to 75 recipes earlier than organising their first store in Lafayette on July 4, 2014, chef and working associate Brett Smith stated the Put up’s model ended up utilizing a gluten-free flour mix. That call was made to assist the coating soak up considerably much less oil than common wheat flour.
Mixed with a stress frying technique, the Put up’s fried hen has a skinny layer of crust so the pores and skin stays intact, is much less greasy and clings to the meat higher.
That’s factor for a lot of causes.
Throughout the pandemic, the Put up’s hen developed an unlimited following despite the fact that all they provided have been the to-go variations.
“I all the time inform folks, all of the completely different phases of the hen are nice, whether or not ten minutes after popping out of the fryer, 45-minutes later after you’ve gotten it house, or consuming it straight out of the fridge the following day,” Smith stated.
Now that the Put up’s areas are open for in-house eating, all of these choices are viable — together with a fourth one: picnic hen. That’s the one you set into the glass storage container and tuck into the Yeti cooler with a reusable ice pack.
The red-and-white fabric is non-obligatory, however good for those who’re going for nostalgia.
The Put up’s primary recipe shakes on a little bit of spice, together with cayenne and chili powder, giving it daring taste. Delicate warmth is No. 1 while you’re attempting to outline what’s fried hen, Colorado-style.
For those who’re into it, for $1.95 you may make your chook Nashville Sizzling. That model kicks up the warmth, prepping the hen earlier than breading it with a home habañero scorching sauce made with tomato paste, puréed habañeros and cider vinegar.
In case you’re apprehensive it’s not scorching sufficient, don’t be.
For those who’re having fun with your chook on web site at one of many Put up’s eating places, order it with barely candy, cayenne pepper-spiked hushpuppies and spicy collard greens with rashers of bacon. Don’t skip the wealthy, chorizo nation gravy for dipping and dolloping over buttermilk cheddar biscuits.
Or, get the mac & cheese, both plain or spiked with inexperienced chile, one other Colorado favourite.
Except you’re picnicking. If that’s the case, a basic deli slaw may transport you again to the 70s. For those who favor a picnic within the right here and now, go for a aspect of quinoa and kale.
The Put up’s fifth location opened in Estes Park this July on the grounds of one other Colorado basic, The Stanley Lodge. The restaurant is simply inside the primary gates in a renovated carriage home constructing, above the Aiden Sinclair Underground theater.
The historic constructing additionally provides intensive patio seating with views of the majestic Rocky Mountains. Open for weekend brunch, lunch and dinner, marvel on the rumble of distant thunder earlier than afternoon showers roll in, or bask within the Alpenglow, surrounded by sun-kissed mountain tops and gilded wildflowers within the meadow.
Together with Colorado-style hen, benefit from the Put up’s domestically crafted beers, together with Nice American Beer Competition medal-winners El Corn, a Mexican type darkish lager, and a western pilsner named Howdy.
It’s fried hen served on a patio when you’re absorbing mountain sunshine and sipping brews. There’s no head-rattling, creaky rollercoaster overhead to interrupt dialog. It’s simply you, the hen, a beer and Rocky Mountain contemporary air.
It feels like the final word Colorado picnic.
Extra Information about The Put up Hen & Beer
Estes Park location: 333-D E. Wonderview Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517
Test web site for different Put up areas
Contact: (970) 287-5001 | estespark@postchickenandbeer.com
Hours: Monday & Thursday: 4-9 pm | Tuesday & Wednesday: CLOSED | Friday: 12-9 pm | Saturday & Sunday: Brunch 10 am – 3 pm; Dinner 3 pm – 9 pm
What’s on the menu: Colorado-Fashion fried hen, sandwiches, salads, desserts, gluten-free choices, craft beer, cocktails, wine. Indoor and patio seating out there, or get your hen to-go.
