Ear to the ground:
“He was chumming.”
– Local kayaker’s remarks after an ill-prepared and inexperienced rafter dumped four kids in the river.

A room of our own
After several years on the sunny second level of the Smiley Building, the illustrious world headquarters of the Durango Telegraph will be moving to the first floor of the building, at 1309 E. 3rd Ave. The new exclusive executive chambers are situated on the north end of the building, in Room #3.

“While we will miss our vantage point of Third Avenue, we look forward to catching all the nonstop action of Max’s Big Burgers as well the neighbor’s cut-throat badminton matches,” said an anonymous source for the Telegraph. “Plus, we are extremely happy that at least we will be lugging our crap downstairs instead of up.”

If you would like to stop by to see the new digs, bring us an office warming or help us unpack boxes and put desks together, enter through the building’s northernmost doors, hang your first right and enter through lucky door No. 3.  

Cleaver Fever
Bayfield native Owen Clark, co-conspirator of Durango’s fine dining experiment, “FoundFoods,” is hitting it big. On Tues.,  June 11, Clark, who now lives in New York City, will be featured on The Food Network’s reality cooking competition “Chopped!” The show airs at 8 p.m. local time (Optimum channel 67.)

Results of the highly competitive episode are a closely guarded secret, but Clark says the show is “good television” in any case. Be forewarned, though, things could get ugly. The network is promoting the episode as “Cleaver Fever,” in which one contestant loses valuable time to an “unfortunate injury.”  

In 2011, Clark, along with fellow local chef Marcos Wisner, created FoundFoods, a traveling “pop-up” fine dining experience among local restaurants with foraged foods (see Durango Telegraph archives, Dec. 16, 2010).  The concept was well-received by local foodies, but Clark dissolved that experiment to return to New York and start his latest restaurant venture as co-founder and executive chef of Brooklyn’s Gwynnett Street Restaurant. The acclaimed eatery was recently named “Best New Restaurant in America” in 2012 by Esquire Magazine.  

“I can’t really talk about what happened on the show, since we had to sign a confidentiality agreement,” said Clark, “but we had a great time and the network is featuring a lot of footage of Southwest Colorado at the beginning of the show, so it should be fun to watch.”
 

 

In this week's issue...

January 25, 2024
Bagging it

State plastic bag ban is in full effect, but enforcement varies

January 26, 2024
Paper chase

The Sneer is back – and no we’re not talking about Billy Idol’s comeback tour.

January 11, 2024
High and dry

New state climate report projects continued warming, declining streamflows