Under new (and more civic-minded) owners, Brenda Smith and Judy Mackey, the club is once again featuring products from Ranch Foods Direct. Earlier this year, Food and Beverage Director Erik Pederson and Executive Chef Steven Weber, below, toured Callicrate Cattle Co. to clinch the deal.


The lunch menu now includes several Callicrate Beef burger options, including the Fran�aise, described as "a half-pounder on a griddled brioche bun with vinaigrette, frisee and poached egg." For dinner, selections include a flame-grilled Callicrate New York strip steak (accompanied on a recent menu by a "dried apricot and caramelized onion sauce.")

Even better, here's the new wording now printed on all menus:

"We are proudly partnered with Callicrate Ranch and Ranch Foods Direct who provide our beef and most of our meats; humanely treated, hormone, antibiotic and GMO free. Where we can't source locally, we still insist that our meats are consistent with the standards set by Ranch Foods Direct."

THE SCOOP: Mundi Ross (in photos above by Anthony Delao Adams) made a name for herself last year at the Colorado Farm and Art Market by selling wildly inventive cookies featuring flavor combinations like pumpkin curry oatmeal, lemon basil and chocolate anise (under the equally irresistible name Salt + Butter Co.) Though she won't be at this year's market, which starts June 11, her popular cookies are now available year-round at STIR, the fun coffee, pie and tea shop in the Bonn Shopping Center, 2330 N. Wahsatch. She also has a big new venture unfolding: a glossy on-line magazine celebrating "makers, creators, and enthusiasts" from throughout Southern Colorado.

Colorado-Collective.com is a collaboration of talented writers and photographers, producing sumptuous imagery as delicious as her cookies and a growing repository of stories about food artisans and do-it-yourselfers from across the area. She's marshaling many of these same subjects to share their stories at local "Mic Talks" events as well. Her mission is to "cultivate new collaborations, uncover hidden gems, and celebrate cultural and artistic pioneers in our community." She visited recently about her new project during Colorado Springs Craft Week, where Ranch Foods Direct owner Mike Callicrate gave a talk on the importance of supporting all things local (including local craft beer-makers.) The first-ever Craft Week event, the brainchild of local brewer Aly Hartwig, is a sample of what readers can learn about on the Co-Co site, along with hog butchering and kombucha making. The occasional recipe is posted there too.