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Ranch Foods Direct Customer Newsletter    

June 2012 

"Sustenance is the beginning of consciousness. The first condition of bringing something to your head and your heart is bringing something to your stomach."   

- Jacob Moleschott, in The Theory of Nutrition (published in 1850)    



At downtown family diner, Callicrate Beef banner on display

  

Detz Cafe owner says, 'I like local'     
 

If you want to get a sense of what's been lost as chain restaurants replaced independent diners over the last few decades, look for places like Detz Cafe and talk to people like owner Verna Summers.
 
"We had a gentleman who came twice a day for years before he passed away," she recalls. "My oldest customer is 94, and she's been eating with me for a long time. I see people here that I've been seeing for the last 30 years. When they have children, they introduce a whole new generation to us."

Neighborhood diners like this one (named for Summers' daughter, who went by the nickname "Detz") offer customers a familiar face, a personal touch and a sense of community. "We have a lot of long-time customers," Summers says. "Some of them work downtown. On Sundays, we get a lot of people coming in from the churches around this area."

Summers opened Detz back in 1991. "I was working at a restaurant out on North Nevada, and it wasn't working out. I decided I could either find a job or make one for myself," she recalls. She opened her first location near the courthouse, moving once over the next 20 years but choosing to stay downtown.

"I wanted it to be comfortable everyday food," she says of her vision for the place. "Downtown has a lot of variety, but no one seemed to have everyday comfort food. It's nice to have a change, but sometimes you just want to have ham and eggs or a good hamburger."

She appears to have succeeded at what she set out to do: fans describe her cafe as "perfect American comfort food" and "the best affordable downtown diner."
 
Others refer to it fondly as their "secret diner destination." Summers, however, is ready to be a little more bold about what she has to offer. In recent months, she added a colorful Want Real Meat/Callicrate Beef banner to the unassuming sign that looms over her modest earth-toned building.

 "The banner attracts attention," she says. "I know the product is really good, and I think the advertising will be good for us."

Like many independently owned and operated restaurants, Summers has a limited promotional budget and relies heavily on word-of-mouth. She also lacks the ability to buy in massive quantities to lower prices like the big chains can do. But she is more apt to do business locally as well.

"I like local," she says.

Callicrate Beef items on her menu include homestyle burgers (she recommends the housemade guacamole and bacon or the mushroom and Swiss) along with meatloaf, stuffed peppers, Salisbury steak, the hot beef sandwich with mashed potatoes smothered in gravy and the classic French dip. Bones are used to make beef broth for soups. The exceptionally tender New York strip steak is served several ways. In addition, the diner is also known for its pork green chili, homestyle pancakes and a made-from-scratch carrot cake, although Summers also notes "more people are asking for fruit instead of hash browns with their eggs these days." Comfort food, but on the lighter side.

Detz Cafe � 211 East Cucharras � (719) 632-9712 � Open daily (except Saturdays) 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. �  Menus at http://detzcafe.com

BANNER UP! Look for the colorful Callicrate Beef banner at Ranch Foods Direct partner restaurants all over town.

SIGN UP ANYTIME... JOIN RANCH FOODS DIRECT'S UNIQUE PAY FORWARD CARD PROGRAM. Ranch Foods Direct makes it easy to support community organizations every time you shop or dine with "Pay Forward" cards that allow you to contribute part of what you spend toward local charities. Learn more by CLICKING HERE


In June, get a taste of the Springs...
Ranch Foods Direct will be part of this important fundraiser. CLICK HERE for tickets. 

Then, later in the month, the ranch rodeo comes to town...

And that means the chuckwagon cookoff is coming too...
Get ready for some real cowboy cooking! 
Enjoy heaping plates of food, and burgers are free for the kids (young and old) courtesy of Ranch Foods Direct.

 
 

Plus, there's more cowboy chow on down the trail...

Kevin Campbell of Full Circle Cuisine is planning to team up with Kit Haddock of the Heart Bar Ranch for a chuckwagon chowdown sometime later this summer. Keep up with Kevin's lunches, dinners and special events by following him on Facebook, CLICK HERE. To contact him for catering information, please email [email protected] o
r call him at (719) 482-8082.



CALL THE STORE ANYTIME TO FIND OUT WHAT FRESH PRODUCE ITEMS ARE AVAILABLE. BUY FRESH, BUY LOCAL!
     
Produce Display    
 

"What you support prospers,

what you feed grows."

-Mike Callicrate   

 

When eating out, use Ranch Foods Direct's interactive restaurant map (or the smart-phone QR code, below).

 

Restaurant Map Code 

 

Know your farmer...
Callicrate Cattle Co. (and Echo's Eggs) hosted Ranch Foods Direct customers for a tour of the ranch and a community picnic in May.  
 
 
Fred Brocklesby, owner of the Tabeguache Steakhouse in Woodland Park, is among the chefs who have visited Callicrate Cattle Co. to see firsthand how the livestock are raised.


Keep up with RFD on Facebook.  

Follow owner Mike Callicrate on Twitter: @MikeCallicrate 

    

Ranch Foods Direct Natural Meat Market 

2901 N. El Paso, Colorado Springs 80907

Retail Hours: Mon-Fri 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

 (719) 473-2306 or 1-866-866-6328


Shop online: www.ranchfoodsdirect.com

 


Visit the Denver Urban Homesteading Farmers Market, a convenient Ranch Foods Direct sales outlet in Denver! CLICK HERE for details.

 

For harvest table dinners (presented by Full Circle Cuisine) CLICK HERE.  

 

For more about the Ranch Foods Direct Home Service option, CLICK HERE.