saving grace

The current incarnation of Boulder is pretty hard to take if you have a memory. I remember when I can stand to but generally try to avoid harkening back. However, I am still here because this town has always managed to have at least one outstanding saving grace. These days, it's saying grace over Hosea's food.

Hosea Rosenberg is the chef at Jax Fish House here in Boulder. He makes my crab cakes, my cioppino, my peppered Fijian Tuna, my fried calamari. It is all superb, and I am one very lucky customer. The restaurant is always packed, so take-out becomes the dream-come-true of eating Hosea's food right in your own home. Moan. Shoot me now.

For several weeks, Bravo has been airing a show called Top Chef, another one of those reality shows which mostly make you wonder about how much real the contestants can take. If you saw any of it, you know what a grueling (no pun--oh go ahead--pun) contest it was. As a measure of the challenge, the first prize was $100,000, a Bon Apetite cover article, invites to cook at both Aspen's Food & Wine Festival and some major food fest en France (ma zut!), plus more notoriety than could possibly be anticipated.

You know where I'm going with this... On Wednesday, Hosea won. He is Top Chef of America. OMG. His immediate reaction? "Whew! Now I can finally tell all my friends and family (after 5 months of contractual secrecy), and "Wow, I've never had to have a real signature before (while he signed everyone's everything)." Local foodies went nuts; you could hear the crowds cheering all over downtown. Someone observed that Boulder hadn't been this giddy since the election.

All I can say is, can another saving grace possibly top Hosea? Hard to imagine. Can Boulder save grace? Can it save face? Maybe yet another Nobel Prize...