When Becky Creighton decided to begin the food tour company Culinary Connectors, she had no idea it would grow into what it is today. After just five years of business, Becky Creighton has brought Colorado’s dining scene to over 2,000 people who have attended her exclusive, behind-the-scenes food tours in Boulder, Aspen, and Denver. With a certificate of excellence from Trip Advisor, Culinary Connectors is looking enthusiastically to a future filled with bite after bite and sip after sip of the best Colorado dining has to offer.

In light of this important milestone, I got a chance to sit down with Culinary Connector’s proud President, the devoted foodie behind the magic, Becky Creighton in order to get the inside scoop on what the future holds for Culinary Connectors, her popular radio show Culinary Connectors Live, next year’s Toques and ‘Tails, and her newest creation, Smart Chef Marketing, the one stop shop for restaurant marketing.

Becky Creighton, Culinary Connectors President, Host of Culinary Connectors Live, & Co-Partner of Smart Chef Marketing

“I wanted to introduce people to the huge pool of culinary talent present in Colorado.” Becky explains when I ask her what inspired her to begin Colorado’s first culinary tour company. Becky, always a foodie at heart, had previously lived in San Francisco and Philadelphia, two American cities well-known for their rich and ever-growing dining scenes. When she came to Colorado, she found a new dining scene brimming with just as much culinary talent. As she explored this multi-layered foodie heaven, her enthusiasm grew to a point in which she felt inspired to share her newest culinary finds with people beyond her immediate social network.

Then the time came when starting a company to do just this became an actual possibility. “It all started when I was waiting to hear back on a job and I just couldn’t get the idea of beginning a culinary tour company out of my head. I finally decided to give it a try, just as a way to tide me over. There was no food tour company at the time. Of course, now there are six, all of which are very different from Culinary Connectors.” Five years later, Becky sits smiling over the thought of her company. As the Colorado dining scene continues to grow with new and fresh talent, and innovative restaurants keep popping up around town what seems like every day, Becky seems to have opened the door to a gold mine of culinary talent.

Just as eager as the scene itself are the Colorado diners who can’t seem to ever get enough. Many tune into Becky’s popular talk show that, you guessed it, revolves entirely around food. Becky brings some of Denver’s freshest talent to the microphone, introducing her listeners to chefs, farmers, food artisans, and anyone else behind Colorado’s fine eats that people would never normally get the chance to hear from. This is just one avenue by which Becky has used to bring the culinary scene to people. Last May, she also hosted the inaugural chef and bartending competition “Toques and ‘Tails” that brought some of the culinary and beverage talent from Denver and Boulder’s most creative and cutting-edge restaurants out for this one event.

Becky’s foodie events don’t stop there, as she has also begun a private event niche within her company, offering any foodie the chance to have Culinary Connectors personally design and implement a food-based event using their V.I.P access to the best chefs, restaurants, and food artisans of Colorado.

Just recently, Becky decided to add another company onto her plate, this time combining her business tech-filled past with food to create Smart Chef Marketing, a company that does the social media side of running a restaurant so that chefs and busy restaurant owners who don’t have the time, knowledge, or desire to infiltrate the virtual techno world don’t have to.

After five years, what is the secret to Becky’s Creighton’s success? “I had a business filled past” Becky explains, and when you combine business expertise with passion, things are bound to happen. Of course, Becky had a lot of help along the way. As she takes a moment to think of everyone she would like to thank over the five years, she sends her gratitude out to Fruition’s Alex Seidel, food photographer Alan Hill, and all of the chefs who have supported her from the beginning and still continue to raise a helping hand. Above all, Becky wants to thank all those ardent foodies who were daring enough to engage in a Culinary Connectors’ adventure. Becky thanks the foodies of the world for their support and looks forward to introducing them to more of Colorado’s culinary talents!

Continuing with August’s farm to table month, host Becky Creighton, interviews Colorado Cut’s co-owner Rebecca Pasquariello educates us on grass fed versus corn fed.  If you don’t think there is a difference, listen in!

Maurice Wedell
Wedell Cellars

Host Becky Creighton interviews winery owner, Maurice Wedell of Wedell Cellars.  Listen in to hear what Maurice did before he started a winery and what got him to wine country in the first place.  Think you know California Pinot Noirs?  Think again, Wedell Cellars will change how you think about them.

It’s summer! Which means it’s grilling season, or as some might say “barbeque” season.  I love to cook and I love to learn…about cooking.  So, I invited Certified BBQ Master, John Head to be on my radio show.  John runs the BBQ Cooking School, which is a correspondence course, which I will be taking and summarizing here in my blog and on my radio show.  (Which airs every Saturday at 2 pm MST on AM760 in Denver or on iheartradio.com)

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk grilling, which isn’t actually BBQ’ing, but, some consider it to be so.  For sake of this class and my blog, the BBQ Cooking School starts our their lesson with grilling.  And a pretty easy start at that.  At least that is what I thought.  The first lesson is grilling hamburgers.

Grill needs to be between 425-450 degrees.

Like any good American on a warm, summer day, I fired up my grill (a propane Weber).  I needed to get it to 425-450 degrees.  While my grill was heating up I got all of my ingredients together; beef bouillon, dried onions (I used shallots), worcestershire sauce and corn starch (odd addition, but, I’m going with it – it’s in the book.  I can be creative later.)

3/4″ thick patties

I got it all together, mixed it lightly and gently made 3/4″ patties.  I went and checked the grill, 550 degrees!  Ok, open the lid, let it cool and bring it back up.  I put the patties on the grill and patiently (usually not a word in my vocabulary, but, again, it’s in the book) waited five minutes before I could turn it.  Not flip it, we’re looking for cross hatch marks, after all, we eat with our eyes first.  I waited and went to turn my burgers, but, they didn’t want to budge.  Which means, they aren’t ready to move.  More waiting.  tick tock tick tock.  I tried again – now they were ready.  I turned them and had to wait some more.

At this point you might think you can walk away.  You could, but, fat and fire tend to have a volatile relationship, so, best to stick around.  After all, we’re making grilled hamburgers, not charred ones.

NOW, it was time to flip them over….and wait some more.  But, at least this time I could put the buns on the grill to toast them up because my burgers were nearly cooked to perfection.

Lesson 1 – Grilled Hamburger

I checked the buns, nicely toasted (and I noticed I have a cool spot in my grill – good to know.)  I took the burgers off and let them rest just a little.  And there you have it.  I completed my first lesson, grilling hamburgers.  And, I had a very critical judge, my 11 year old son.  I was curious what he would think of the added ingredients.

“What do you think Sam?”.

“These are awesome! How come we don’t have these more often?”

I’m taking that as I passed my first lesson.

Stayed tuned for next week – I’m grilling chicken parts and beer can chicken isn’t far behind.

What are some of your BBQ hits?  Any BBQ disasters?  (We’ve all had them!)

What goes better with summer than beer and barbecue?  Host Becky Creighton interviews Certified BBQ Master John Head about the basics of BBQ.  Becky will be taking John’s course, http://www.bbqcookingschool.com, and reporting weekly on what she learned.  What are the different types of BBQ? North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City, etc.

What beer and wine go well with BBQ? She talks about a few different styles that go well with BBQ.  Tune in weekly and follow along on Becky’s BBQ journey.

John also shares what some of his favorite store BBQ sauces too!

An interview with owner of il Paradiso di Frassina, Carlo Cignozzi.  Carlo has certainly led an interesting life and the interview takes place at his vineyard just south of Montalcino.  His winery is known as the Mozart Winery because he plays Mozart to his vines 365 days a year.  What are the affects on the wines where he produces Brunello’s and two others blends.

Tom Ryan

A repeat guest in Tom Ryan but this time he is talking about his new restaurant venture, Live Basil Pizza.  A pizza establishment that focuses on organic, authentic, local or imported.  Take a listen and learn a little more about his background and how he comes up with the concepts of his restaurants.  From a Ph.d to the Chief Innovation Officer at McDonald’s to Chief Concept Officer at Consumer CP Tom Ryan follows a love of food and exploring what consumers want.

Jim Pittenger
Biker Jim Gourmet Dogs

The always irreverent Jim Pittenger of Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs joins host Becky Creighton this week.  Listen in to how he got into the hot dog business, what he did before and how he comes up with his flavor combinations.  Jon Emanuel of Project Angel Heart also joins in and talks about Dining Out for Life happening April 25, 2013.

John Jordan
CEO Jordan Wines

With deep roots in Denver, the Jordan family decided to move out to Sonoma County in the 80’s to start a winery that paid homage to the French.  Son, John Jordan, now runs Jordan Winery, keeping in close conversation with his winemakers and changing wine trends to make sure Jordan not only keeps true to their beginnings.  Listen in and enjoy the conversation with one of Sonoma’s best loved wines.

Troy Guard

Troy Guard of  TAG, TAG Raw and TAG Burger Bar and lead bartender Tyler Lewis join host Becky Creighton.  Listen in as they talk about food and cocktail flavors, and how they continue to innovate to keep the culinary experience creative and fun for their guests.  Troy talks about his background, his mentors and how he wound up here from Singapore.