Mining Exchange Hotel

I’ve sometimes had trouble writing dining columns. I’d squeeze my eyes shut and focus on wringing delicate flavors from my palate’s memory. I’d pour over notes, zoom in on my food photos for garnishing details. I’ve agonized over adjectives (“What shade of rich was it?”) and debated degrees of judgement (“Bad, but how bad?).
I set a new standard of difficulty today, however, because this Insider Eats is my last article as dining critic for The Gazette. After having the privilege to be the person behind the Groucho mask for more than a year (my first column ran Sept. 30, 2011), my life has taken a new course, northward to the city of Boulder.
The flavor of this move is easy for me to identify: bittersweet, the very definition of the word. But I refuse to mourn over what will soon be left behind, to let all my personal and professional food experiences in Colorado Springs be eclipsed by the sadness of their ending. Instead, I chose to celebrate. I indulged. I had four last meals in this hometown o