14 WESTWORD FOOD & DRINK 2023 Food for Thought WESTWORD FOOD & DRINK EDITOR MOLLY MARTIN GETS GRILLED BY WESTWORD EDITOR PATRICIA CALHOUN. Every year, the Colorado Restaurant As- sociation (CRA) serves up Industry Spot- light Awards, honoring people who’ve made major contributions to the dining scene — whether as bartenders, chefs, owners or even journalists. This year’s winners will be honored at an event on November 8, and here’s a tidbit to whet your appetite: Westword Food & Drink Editor Molly Martin will be given the Outstanding Media Professionals award. To mark the occasion, Westword Edi- tor-in-Chief Patricia Calhoun, who won the CRA award a decade ago (Mark An- tonation took the same honor in 2018), sat down with Molly to chat about food mem- ories, culinary fads and the ever-evolving industry. Patricia Calhoun: What does winning this award mean to you? Molly Martin: This award specifi cally honors people who are allies and support- ers of the industry, which makes it really special for me. Since I took on the role of Westword’s food and drink editor about two and a half years ago, my driving goal has been to help uplift the city’s hospitality scene as it has come back from the pan- demic. Every day, I get to talk to people in the industry who have shown incredible perseverance, creativity and strength, and I take pride in helping to share those stories. Being recognized by the CRA for that effort is a reminder that the work we do as food journalists is an essential part of making sure Denver’s culinary scene continues to thrive and grow. What is your fi rst food memory? Food has always been a big part of my life — my mom pretty much always worked in various food-service and hos- pitality roles, and when I was a toddler, my parents bought a bed-and-breakfast in southern Vermont where my dad did all the cooking. I lived there until I was twelve, and my earliest food memories are basically a blur of pancakes, maple syrup and creemees (aka soft-serve ice cream). I was, admittedly, a very picky eater as a child — I always say it was my small way of trying to rebel against my otherwise non-disciplinarian, food-loving parents — but one dish I still think about often is blueberry soup. Every summer, we’d visit a local farm and pick loads of blueberries, most of which we froze to use in pancakes throughout the year. On hot summer days, my dad would use them to make a cold, creamy blueberry soup, which he served as an afternoon snack at the inn. He passed away when I was thirteen, and no one else seems to remember the recipe. I’ve tried a few times to re-create it, but have never gotten it quite right. Maybe the secret ingredient is those Vermont berries? What was your fi rst restaurant job? I was taking breakfast orders — and reservations — by age fi ve at the inn, and after my parents moved us to Gainesville, Florida, when I was in middle school, I had a short-lived (three-day) stint at a Burger King. But my fi rst real restaurant job was at TGI Friday’s. I was a teen mom — I had my daughter when I was seventeen, and at nineteen, I got a job as a host at the chain restaurant. I defi nitely didn’t take it seriously; I wore knee-high black socks with various red- and-black outfi ts and spent most of my time hiding out in the kitchen, eating breadsticks dipped in honey mustard and fl irting with the cooks. One day I showed up to work and my manager, who was moving back home to Denver in a couple of weeks, told me he’d run into a problem: The girl who had agreed to move with him and his wife in order to be their live-in nanny had changed her mind and backed out. I immediately volunteered. Growing up in Vermont, Colorado was the place where all the cool older kids moved after they graduated, so I’d taken to telling people I planned to move there one day, too. Two weeks later, I packed my two- year-old daughter and all the belongings I could fi t into my Ford Explorer and drove from Florida to my new home — which actually turned out to be in Parker, but that’s a story for another day. I was a ter- rible nanny, and that original plan didn’t last very long, but I’ve lived in Colorado ever since — nearly twenty years now. What was your fi rst Denver restaurant experience? Being a broke young mom who was working and going to school to fi nish my degree, I didn’t eat out much when I moved to Colorado. But when I did, it was with my former partner, who was born and raised in Denver and had an obsession with something I’d never heard of before: green chile. After trying to get me on board with it several times, we were at breakfast at Sam’s No. 3 in Aurora MOLLY MARTIN Rabbit pappardelle from Point Easy, one of Molly Martin’s current favorite restaurants. continued on page 18
