Blog | Culinary Collective Network

Farm

Bigger Doesn’t Always Mean Better

Hipwell Ranch moves to smaller acreage, doubles down on sustainability

Lex Nelson

Since 2010, ranchers Brecca and Mitch Hipwell have been running 150 head of cattle and raising their family on Mitch’s parents’ ranch in Oreana, Idaho. In that time, they became known for their grass-fed BrAngus beef, which they sold at the Caldwell and Nampa farmer’s markets, and for their Juniper firewood cut from the Owyhee Mountains. Then in August 2019, the couple turned their lives upside down when they purchased their own 185-acre parcel of land, intending to craft a brand-new, entirely self-sufficient version of Hipwell Ranch.

Culinary

Chop Shop BBQ Opens Its Doors In Caldwell

Two Boise food powerhouses team up on a sustainable, local-focused barbeque joint

Lex Nelson

When the doors swung open for Chop Shop BBQ’s Friends and Family Night Nov. 30, the tiny Caldwell restaurant filled up almost at once. The fact that the clock had just struck 3 p.m. didn’t seem to have an impact on the eager diners’ appetites for smoked pork shoulder, St. Louis-style pork ribs, and brisket.

Culinary

A Taste of Home

Russian Food Festival Co-founder Elena DeYoung opens a Russian family restaurant in Boise

Elena DeYoung started cooking for her mother and five siblings at the tender age of 11, four years after her father’s death turned her family’s life upside down and forced them to move in with her grandmother. DeYoung remembers her grandmother as excellent cook, and recalls learning the basics of food and flavor in her kitchen in Kazakhstan, flipping through an old cookbook that would later become the Bible of her family cuisine.

Culinary

Larking About on the Bench

All-local grocery and gift shop Lark & Larder opens on Orchard Street in Boise

Lex Nelson

Looking around their soon-to-open shop on the Boise Bench, Jessica Harrold and Carissa DeGuzman were like two queens surveying a miniature kingdom.

Beer

Edging Into Downtown Boise

Edge Brewing plans a second location on 10th Street

Lex Nelson

In 2014, Edge Brewing set up shop in a tangle of corporate offices and distribution centers near the intersection of Emerald Street and North Maple Grove Road. In the years since, its owners have turned what could have been a sterile warehouse into a cozy restaurant/brewery that serves as a home base for office workers and nearby residents. Now, Edge is expanding into downtown Boise with a second location on 10th Street set to open this month.

Culinary

The Big Cheesy

Vegan ‘dairy’ company The Kula Connection gets a giant new home on wheels

Lex Nelson

Fifty-year-old Boise entrepreneur Michelle Russell paints a vivid picture of herself at 40: A decade ago, she said, she was depressed, crippled by allergies, 85 pounds heavier, drinking too much, and taking almost a dozen medications each day. Then, she decided to make a change. If she swapped out her job, she thought, she just might be able to swap out her life.

Beverages

A Sweet Tale of Bitters

Meet the cocktail-loving couple behind Warn Reserve

Lex Nelson

Bitters—concentrated flavor infusions similar to kitchen staples like vanilla extract—are the unsung heroes of craft cocktails, adding sophisticated notes that can be a difficult to single out. For Adrienne and Danny Warn, parsing those flavors began as hobby but soon became a business.

Beer

Dinner in the Garden

Local farmers, chefs and winemakers come together for a night of good food

Lex Nelson

On June 8, Culinary Collective Network’s Chef Kris Ott did what should have been the impossible: He crammed 60 New York strip steaks into a single home oven, then plated them up for a hungry crowd. Though the exercise sounds like part of a Food Network cooking show challenge, it was actually the lynchpin of the fourth course of Dinner in the Garden, Waterwheel Gardens’ annual farm-to-table dinner.

Culinary

If You Build It, They Will Come

Indian Creek Plaza brings new restaurants to Caldwell

by Lex Nelson

Walking through downtown Caldwell with Keri Smith-Sigman, it’s impossible to get more than 50 feet without being waved down by someone friendly. One man is helping her find the perfect door to top her upcycled desk, another wants to show off his under-construction restaurant, and a third just wants to say hello.

Beverages

The Chef Who Would Be King

How Mai Thai Executive Chef Justin Scheihing became culinary king of the mountain

Lex Nelson

It was a few days before the Shore Lodge Culinary Festival’s Culinary King of the Mountain Competition, and Mai Thai Executive Chef Justin Scheihing, one of two announced competitors, was relaxed. To hear him talk about the high-pressure competition and the four-course meal that followed, you’d think the weekend was just another dinner service.