Monday, August 8, 2011

Biker Jim's - Fry Anything Friday

Persistence and a prodigious food related memory pays off. As an avid Westword Cafe Society reader, I remembered this article and the news of Fry Anything Friday. My imagination was captured and I anxiously awaited Biker Jim's restaurant opening. The opening was postponed and eventually I left Denver for a 3 month stay in Portugal. While I did enjoy my Portugal stint, I kept abreast of Denver's restaurant news, even purchasing discount deals for Biker Jim's.

3 days after I returned to Colorado, I contact Biker Jim and asked if he was doing Fry Anything Fridays. I hadn't seen any news about this on Facebook, his website or the Westword (always a Biker Jim fan). We immediately started talking and tried to arrange a frying date. We talked in person at the July Justice League of Street Food Party, but finally at the Uptown Block Party we set a date - Friday, August 5.
I invited several friends, but was the first to arrive. I contented myself with their Street Burger, a great concoction of a beef patty, bitter lettuce, fried green tomato, onion strings, roasted poblano pepper, basted egg, and bun. Great flavors all around.
Biker Jim's menu has slightly changed. There are signature items and also dogs you can pair with select toppings. Love the sign typography.
I first seated myself at the bar to be closer to the action. I met Shane, Ian and Andrew over there, one of which brought liquid nitrogen for future evening fun. Finally, another friend arrived with some food stuff and we chatted with Biker Jim for a while. He had ideas, we had ideas, and other incoming friends did too.
First, we started with fried duck fat or his take on cracklins. The first batch was fatty with an unusually tasty smoky flavor. My friend went so far as to describe it as nutty. The second was batch was addictively saltier.
Next were the Irish Egg experiments. You take a hard boiled egg and wrap corn beef and hash around it. The corn beef and hash were his own creations. He wasn't satisfied with this first take, so we enjoyed attempt #2.
He took the same mixture, but also fried it with tempura batter. It held together much better and was just as delicious.
Delicious looking, right? You're wishing you were here with us, aren't you?
In between the fried food, I encouraged my attending friends to order food. According to Jess, if you're a Texan living in Colorado longing for home, try the Rattlesnake & Pheasant Dog.
Pop quiz: What's been soaked in brine for 6 hours and buttermilk for 16 hours? Answer: Biker Jim's fried chicken. Crunchy outer shell, tender meat, fantastic treat. It was fend for yourselves time.
And what would life be without a large, thick sourdough waffle with butter and maple syrup? Much emptier. We quartered this amongst us three and another guest who heard the Fry Anything siren call.
Welcome to the lemon blueberry cheesecake ice cream with exploding whipped cream. Whipped cream was forced through liquid nitrogen so it exploded it your mouth as it was cooled. What a reaction! Well done experimentation, Biker Jim!
Now it was our turn. We listened attentively to the battering and frying instructions.
Fried pickle spears were the first.
While they were frying, we were adding battered peppadew peppers stuffed with bacon and goat cheese.
Here Kevin is getting creative with speared cheese slices featuring dried cranberries between.
Savor the fried pickle spears with mustard and peppadew peppers.
Biker Jim contemplating a fried stuffed peppadew.
Sporting Movemental gear, I join the frying fun.
It's getting crowded as we're frying reese's cups, bananas, strawberries, and a Snickers bar.
Our fried bounty.
The picture sums up the ridiculously good time we had. Thank you, Biker Jim, for hosting Fry Anything Friday. The food was amazing, the experimentation awesome, the frying so much fun. My friends and I can't wait for this to happen again!

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