{"id":2453324,"date":"2020-01-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=319154"},"modified":"2020-01-16T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T19:00:00","slug":"variety-show-castle-creek-cafe-is-a-tasteful-gem-in-an-unlikely-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/variety-show-castle-creek-cafe-is-a-tasteful-gem-in-an-unlikely-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Variety show: Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 is a tasteful gem in an unlikely location"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Allen Cutler has eaten at the same restaurant in Aspen twice daily for three years. Remarkably, he\u2019s not sick of the food. Not even close, he says, because Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 offers a unique menu of two different entr\u00e9es (always one vegan) and from-scratch soups, plus side dishes, a bountiful salad bar, and build-yourself burger bar (also with veggie options) every day of the month. The recipes must number in the hundreds.<\/p>\n

Cutler, 77 and retired, doesn\u2019t cook, so finding affordable, healthful and convenient meals at reasonable prices is important. Plus he takes his 8-year-old \u201cloaner granddaughter\u201d Kayleigh Flynn out to eat after skating club practice at the Aspen Recreation Center \u2014 Cutler started playing ice hockey at age 75; she\u2019s a figure skater \u2014 three times per week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real gem, I think,\u201d says Cutler, between bites of a hefty BLT during lunch one Thursday. \u201cIt surprises me at dinner \u2014 they\u2019ll be serving ahi tuna steak or shrimp scampi, and nobody\u2019s here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Not quite nobody, but the 65-seat venue is rarely jam-packed. AVH nutrition director Kristy Bates estimates that the Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 dining room serves approximately 150 entrees for lunch and 80 for dinner, not including breakfast items and grab-and-go snacks. In addition to the caf\u00e9\u2019s diverse menu and staff, Bates has overseen all AVH clinical operations of nutrition services for the past four years, which includes room service-style delivery to patients among the 25-bed designated Critical Access Hospital.<\/p>\n

Temporary residents and hospital staff are fortunate to have this venue onsite, but a quick glance around the dining room shows an equal proportion of folks in plain clothes to scrubs. Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 is quiet, peaceful. There\u2019s ample space and natural light (plus 25 more seats outside in warm weather). For years it has been popular among locals in the know: City of Aspen employees, police, paramedics, ski patrollers, construction workers, and health and wellness professionals. Bates adds that many guests show up in ski gear, which makes sense considering the casual cafeteria vibe and plentiful parking just steps away.<\/p>\n

Menus are crafted with a focus on well-rounded nutrition: a balance of protein, starch, vegetables, fruit and dairy, keeping added sugar and sodium in check. For example, this week (Jan. 16 to 23) features chicken or eggplant Parmesan; cashew chicken with fried rice; shrimp fajitas; spaghetti squash with mushroom rag\u00f9, and pineapple-pork or sweet potato tacos.<\/p>\n

Meatless Mondays have been a boon to the Aspen area\u2019s plant-based contingent for years (fish or seafood instead, plus the vegan selection), and the soup bar with 60-plus house-made soups per month is worth repeat visits. In fact, Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 bested two-time returning champion Meat & Cheese Restaurant and Farm Shop just a week ago at the Soupsk\u00f6l 2.0 contest held at the Aspen Art Museum. Its winning concoction: roasted carrot-ginger soup with toasted coconut \u2014 a vegan creation that will be served next at the caf\u00e9 on Jan. 23 for the standard bowl price of $3.75.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few crowd-pleasers that I don\u2019t ever take off menu, like the bento beef; Mediterranean foods like shawarma, gyro, souvlaki; turkey pot pie. Taco Tuesdays, sometimes,\u201d Bates says. \u201cWe try to switch it up, and every week offer really healthy options. But on Jan. 24 we have fried chicken and macaroni and cheese (as well as) a chickpea patty as a vegan alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 also serves meals to inmates at the Pitkin County Jail \u2014 a contract held for decades. \u201cIt\u2019s been a strong partnership,\u201d says Bates, adding that she believes that such affiliation is rare. \u201cThere was a rumor that when Charlie Sheen was in jail here, he complimented the food.\u201d<\/p>\n

New for 2020, Bates and AVH\u2019s new dietician, Lauren Mitchell, who moved here from Ohio two months ago, rebranded an educational community series as \u201cDietician Demos.\u201d Every second Thursday of the month, the duo hosts a lunchtime seminar on a crucial topic (see sidebar, this page). More than 30 people showed up to the first event in January, \u201cKick the Sugar,\u201d to learn about various types of sugar sources, and how to determine which ones might be added to food by examining food labels. The demonstration portion showcased Bates preparing gluten-free, vegan carrot cake protein bars using freshly milled oat flour (simply whiz oats in a food processor) and grated carrots.<\/p>\n

In addition to these events (next up: Heart Health Month, offering dark chocolate), Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 is focused on ordering more organic, non-GMO ingredients and sustainable seafood, as well as continuing its mission of waste reduction and composting.<\/p>\n

Come spring, Bates will again tend a garden of salad greens and herbs. \u201cThe cool thing is that the soil used to grow those greens came from the landfill that we send our compost to,\u201d she says. \u201cIn a roundabout way, we\u2019re getting some of it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Cutler keeps returning to the caf\u00e9, a community resource \u2014 one yet discovered by a wider population. He ticks off favorite dishes easily: the steak sandwich, beer-battered cod, clam chowder, and Italian wedding soup, because of the meatballs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like chicken or turkey,\u201d Cutler shares, while I tear flaky, golden crust off the top of a personal pot pie about 5 inches in diameter. \u201cIf there\u2019s nothing on the menu I like, I can always get a hamburger.\u201d<\/p>\n

amandaraewashere@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allen Cutler has eaten at the same restaurant in Aspen twice daily for three years. Remarkably, he\u2019s not sick of the food. Not even close, he says, because Castle Creek Caf\u00e9 offers a unique menu of two different entr\u00e9es (always one vegan) and from-scratch soups, plus side dishes, a bountiful salad bar, and build-yourself burger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2453324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 20:44:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}