Hi, all! I hope you’re all having a glorious Colorado Sunday, perhaps taking time to catch up with friends and family, wherever they are.
I’m lucky that in addition to a great extended family, I have a weirdly close group of friends left over from my school days. Though we live far apart, we find one another every now and then in various corners of the internet. One of the things that really gets us going is the collective hunt for nostalgic recipes from long-lost restaurants or the instructions for preparing foods that made our elementary school lunches memorable — in a good way. I almost wept when a relative of a genuine school lunch lady offered the instructions for making baked cheese sandwiches. I felt a catch in my throat when some random guy posted handwritten instructions for making Blue Parrot spaghetti sauce — in restaurant quantities — on NextDoor, of all places.
The one dish that until now has never popped up in my circle of culinary detectives is krautburgers, even though one of us lives very near to the birthplace of the Runza restaurant chain in Nebraska. Those delicious pockets of sweet white bread stuffed with savory cabbage, onions and beef, were everywhere in my northern Colorado growing up, but not in my recipe box.
In this week’s cover story, Gabe Toth takes a look at what makes krautburgers so special. And it turns out that they’re stuffed with all kinds of cultural nostalgia.
Dana Coffield
Editor
The Cover Story
A sandwich’s journey to Colorado
Robin Lauer-Trujillo prepares krautburgers at Lauer-Krauts Kraut Burgers in Brighton. (Jeremy Sparig, Special to The Colorado Sun)This story took me on an unexpected journey, which is the type of story I love. It’s one of the best parts about being a journalist.
It started off, as many stories do, looking at something unfamiliar to me — krautburgers, in this case — and asking, “What is that? Why is it here? Why haven’t I ever seen it when I lived elsewhere?”
It began as a food story, a look at a local oddity, and quickly unspooled into a history lesson. I learned about a population that I hadn’t recognized before: people who left Germany to help farm and feed Russia, then left their adopted home and traveled thousands of miles to the United States, where they helped build northern Colorado’s agricultural sector while feeling forced to hide their culture due to xenophobia during WWI and WWII.
For the faithful few who are still making krautburgers at home or in their restaurants, it’s a reminder of the past. It’s something that helps bind them to their roots and their family going back to the Old Country.
And it’s delicious.
READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE
Gabe Toth | Author
The Colorado Lens
Sometimes, we just like looking at the details. Here are some of our favorite recent images.
As viewed through a fisheye lens, a maintenance worker cleans the hand rail on the stairs in the rotunda of the State Capitol on March 25. The Allen Tupper True murals at the bottom of the image illustrate poetry by Thomas Hornsby Ferril. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Elle Taylor leads a crowd of 200 people in a chant of “¡Escucha Jeanette! ¡Estamos en la Lucha¡” (Listen Jeanette! We’re in the fight!”) during a vigil March 25 for Jeanette Vizguerra at GEO Group’s Aurora ICE detention center. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun) A bicyclist waits for the walk signal to cross Arapahoe Avenue at 28th Street on March 27 in Boulder. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun) Ego commercial sales manager Brian Keene demonstrates the Ego CSX 5000 chainsaw during an Electric Lunch ’n Learn event Wednesday at Willow Creek Park in Centennial. The event showcases electric lawn and garden tools, allowing attendees to test out the equipment. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler
Flavor of the Week
Boulder goes all Hollyweird on us
(Peter Moore, Special to The Colorado Sun)Before moving to Colorado, I spent time in Boulder, to assess the vibe. One morning, early, I sat down outside a coffee shop for meditation and caffeine. My latte curdled when a half dozen tech bros invaded the terrace, blotting out the bird song with loud disputes over VC pitches and scalable assets.
We moved to Fort Collins, instead.
So I felt some trepidation when I learned that Boulder had outbid Atlanta, Cincinnati, Louisville and Santa Fe for the $34 million honor of hosting the Sundance Film Festival. Does Boulder really need to become more celeb-obsessed? Does it need more fat cats scratching in the municipal litter trays?
Check out how Peter Moore thinks the Sundance will shine on Boulder
Peter Moore | Illustrator
SunLit: Sneak Peek
“Deadly Heist” revisits Denver’s 1991 Father’s Day Massacre
“It was June 23, one week since the bloody massacre. King was mildly surprised nobody on the joint task force had reached out to him to brainstorm. After all, he’d spent thirteen months in the bowels of United Bank—until August 1990—and knew its security system better than just about anyone.”
— From “Deadly Heist”
EXCERPT: Colorado has had its share of high-profile crimes and criminal trials, but few produced the tragedy, intrigue, courtroom theatrics and unsatisfying resolution of the United Bank robbery that resulted in the loss of $200,000 — and the murder of four unarmed guards. Author Steven Epstein, a North Carolina attorney who made “Deadly Heist” his fourth true crime title, recounts the twisting, often emotional narrative from an outsider’s point of view. This excerpt describes the investigation that closed in on enigmatic suspect James King.
READ THE SUNLIT EXCERPT
THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Epstein interviewed surviving figures from the case and delved into massive amounts of media coverage, but his ability to recreate a story that unfolded largely in a Denver courtroom rested heavily on the video recordings of a new cable network that broadcast the James King trial nationwide. Here’s a portion of the author Q&A:
SunLit: The James King trial unfolded in the early days of Court TV. How did that help your research and influence the writing of “Deadly Heist”?
Epstein: I couldn’t have written this book without the footage I obtained from Court TV. Many of the characters who play a vital role in the book are the lawyers and witnesses (including James King) who appeared in that footage.
Hearing their voices, watching their mannerisms, and seeing their passion and emotions — particularly King, Judge Dick Spriggs, and defense attorney Walter Gerash — allowed me to breathe life into their characters and flesh them out in three dimensions.
READ THE INTERVIEW WITH STEVEN EPSTEIN
LISTEN TO A PODCAST WITH THE AUTHOR
Kevin Simpson | Writer
Sunday Reading List
A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.
Standing just outside his front door at the Meadow Hills Town Homes in Aurora on March 28, HOA president Randy Garlington says the property insurance at the complex tripled last year, forcing the HOA to raise all of the homeowners monthly fees. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)? Is nuclear power in Colorado’s future? Parker Yamasaki looked at the implications of a new law that classifies nuclear generation as a “clean energy” source.
? Speaking of clean energy, even GOP members of Colorado’s congressional delegation are clamoring for release of federal grant money to help support development of solar and wind projects by rural utility companies. Mark Jaffe learned it’s an economic development issue, not a political issue, in the 3rd and 8th congressional districts.
? Do Colorado Springs City Council members need a raise? Olivia Prentzel looked at the stipend paid to those who govern Colorado’s second-largest city and found out they make about $100 a week.
? A lot of government hopes and dreams have been built on marijuana taxes. But sales of cannabis have plummeted in the past couple of years, putting a new hitch in state budgeting work, Brian Eason reports.
? An unvaccinated adult in Pueblo has measles. State health officials say the man traveled internationally and his illness doesn’t appear to be related to the outbreak in Texas, John Ingold reports. And, in case you missed it, we have a guide to the outbreak and who should check in with a doctor to see if they should be revaccinated.
? A supersized number of people bought cars last weekend. Tamara Chuang wondered whether it was just the end of the quarter deals that lured them, or worries about looming tariffs on imported vehicles.
? Fluvial geomorphologist Toby Minear has a very interesting job and Tracy Ross found out why a kayak is as important as a satellite to his work measuring bodies of water.
? Gross Dam neighbors got what they’ve been wanting for years. Michael Booth reports a federal judge ordered the massive dam building project to stop — at least until mitigation of environmental impacts can be worked out.
Dana Coffield | Editor
Thanks for hanging out with us today. A reminder, if you’re getting geared up for the coming outdoor adventure season, check out the slick metal camp mugs over at The Colorado Sun store. They’re kind of perfect for creating memories of your own.
— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun
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