When chef Mawa McQueen pushes a plate of pancakes toward me, I must admit: they look pretty standard. Dappled golden-brown with lacy edges and each measuring the height of three tines of a fork when cut (a generous quarter-inch), the pancakes have a moist, cloud-like texture. I take a bite and ponder the subtly sweet flavor. Something is \u2026 different.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t even need this,\u201d McQueen says, reaching across the table to pour pure maple syrup down one edge of the stack. I slice off that portion, and chew thoughtfully. I\u2019m stumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cFonio,\u201d she declares, procuring a postcard printed with facts about the West African ancient grain, pictured as a pale imitator of couscous but naturally gluten-free. \u201cI\u2019ve found that fonio is gentler on my stomach than quinoa. It\u2019s not as heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of this weekend, fonio will replace millet \u2014 in gluten-free porridge and a \u201charvest bowl\u201d \u2014 and quinoa in pancakes, all served for daily breakfast and weekend brunch at Mawa\u2019s Kitchen. Adjacent to the production kitchen for her busy catering company, located 3 miles outside of Aspen proper down Highway 82 in the Aspen Business Center (ABC), the dining room is a rare destination that strikes a balance between high-end hotel fare and more reasonably priced coffee shop or fast-casual meals.<\/p>\n
While Mawa\u2019s Kitchen menu is loaded with healthful produce and caters to an array of dietary preferences \u2014 McQueen\u2019s MO since breaking into private cheffing 13 years ago and essentially creating the area\u2019s first private in-flight catering service \u2014 it doesn\u2019t fall short on splurge ingredients. See: organic free-range eggs, luscious Tender Belly bacon, and herbes de Provence folded into her signature buttermilk biscuits.<\/p>\n
Those biscuits, by the way, are also offered as a gluten-free option. (Along with toast, banana bread, cornbread, lemon or nut bars, brownies and granola.) For the past two years, McQueen hosted a booth showcasing gluten-free goodies at the Aspen Saturday Market.<\/p>\n
Now, instead, she\u2019s refocused on breakfast, brunch and lunch at Mawa\u2019s Kitchen, as well as at Market Street Kitchen in Willits Town Center, which opened in May 2016. During the Snowmass Base Village grand opening this past December, McQueen launched The Cr\u00eape Shack by Mawa\u2019s Kitchen, instantly popular for its wide variety of filling options (including luxe caviar and red-wine-braised short ribs). Diversity is the chef\u2019s longstanding hallmark.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the menu is geared to dietary restriction \u2014 vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free \u2014 because this is our society today,\u201d McQueen explains. \u201cI am not gluten-free, but (it) is my preference. The menu reflects that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresh produce reigns supreme, too. The Plant B Breakfast is an array of saut\u00e9ed greens, mushrooms, grilled tomato, fingerling potato, refried beans and scrambled tofu (sub free-range organic eggs); purple yam chipotle hash includes spinach, bell pepper, onions, and black beans. That harvest bowl is vegan by design, with roasted cauliflower and house-made cashew \u201cricotta.\u201d The Farmer\u2019s Wife equals seasonal vegetables topped with two eggs any style.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd a bonus biscuit!\u201d McQueen exclaims, for good measure. \u201cYayyyyyy!\u201d<\/p>\n
Unique ingredients abound: yuzu citrus in lemonade; chia seeds swirling in watermelon agua fresca; bee pollen on almond-strawberry-banana toast; lentil-cashew hummus in a lunch wrap. Ni\u00e7oise salad is topped with Norwegian salmon; French-baguette b\u00e1nh m\u00ec is stuffed with rare ahi tuna; a Maine lobster roll is nestled next to freshly fried potato chips tossed with Old Bay Seasoning. Two years ago, McQueen began packaging GrainFreeNola for sale, offered in five flavors without refined sugar or GMO ingredients.<\/p>\n
This seemingly broad range of cultural influence makes sense when you realize that McQueen was born the eldest of 11 children on the Ivory Coast, grew up in Paris, and spent her first expatriate year in hospitality at a luxe hotel in Kennebunkport, Maine.<\/p>\n
Today her well-established catering company and satellite operations in Basalt and Snowmass make daytime creativity at Mawa\u2019s Kitchen possible. All told, the empire \u2014 which McQueen runs with husband, Daniel \u2014 employs more than 30 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take more risks now,\u201d McQueen says. \u201cI can really play. I\u2019m doing breakfast and lunch to be creative. I\u2019m not charging 18 bucks (for eggs). Our rent is cheaper; we have parking (at the ABC). I don\u2019t have that stress. I have my catering. I make money with my private chef and at the airport. I\u2019m like everybody else in Aspen: I have two jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two is a conservative estimate, of course, because McQueen \u2014 known around town for her big, loud laugh and, some might, say diva \u2019tude \u2014 is always scheming. She\u2019s brainstorming a street-food concept to launch in her home city of Abidjan in 2021. Recently she purchased a mobile cr\u00eape cart from France, which is stationed outdoors at Aspen Ideas Festival all this week.<\/p>\n
David Blumentritt, who worked alongside then-restaurant manager McQueen at Montagne at The Little Nell back in 2008 and reunited with her on the Mawa\u2019s Kitchen team in May, drove to Denver twice last week to pick it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t focus on one area in the food and beverage business,\u201d he marvels. \u201cIf we do dinner, it\u2019s a special event or a client\u2019s house, a private-chef service. We\u2019re always inventing; the menu changes almost every two weeks. From the customer \u2014 and staff \u2014 perspective, it\u2019s great. We keep learning and growing \u2026 it keeps everybody sharp and on our toes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next up: Mawa\u2019s Kitchen annual summertime special events, including a Lobster Bake on July 27 (McQueen\u2019s birthday) and \u201cTaste of West Africa\u201d on Aug. 24. No doubt, there will be fonio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m introducing things that are a part of me,\u201d McQueen quips. \u201cI did the French thing, the American thing. African food is a blank canvas. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n