Teresa Farney

New chef for Homestead Collective, new eatery in Old Colorado City, Easter brunch at ViewHouse, and chocolate and cheese fest.

Base Camp Restaurant, 2611 W. Colorado Ave., has opened in Old Colorado City in the former Westside Cantina. Matt Maher is chef and owner; he was formerly chef de cuisine at Ristorante Di Sopra.

Between Hightower’s vast knowledge and Helm’s assistance with the service during the evening the class moved along smoothly and was completed in the allotted 90 minutes. We tasted four wines and nibbled on delicious bites, prepared by Hightower with Helm’s assistance. Hightower’s tasing classes always feature food prepared with her personal recipes. For this tasting, in keeping with the theme of history in a glass, the dishes were tied to culinary happenings during the time period.

An award-winning Colorado Springs bagel shop is expanding.

Eric Brenner, executive chef and owner of Red Gravy, 23 S. Tejon St., took his chef, AD (Adriel) Hamlin and the restaurant’s kitchen crew to St. Louis over the Thanksgiving holiday week. The trip focused on eateries at The Hill, St. Louis, a neighborhood dominated by Italian immigrants and a place where Brenner honed his culinary skills. On the culinary trip, Brenner and his culinary team found inspiration for new dishes and a reminder of former recipes, which have resulted in a new menu at Red Gravy.

An award-winning Colorado Springs bagel shop is expanding.

Our server, Alan Lagunas, Teresa’s nephew, started our Tosti Locos order, saying, “Pick a bag of chips,” as he pointed to the shelf displaying more than six varieties in various flavors of Tostitos, Doritos, Rancheritos, and Cheetos. We went with the Tostitos salsa verde flavored chips. From there, Lagunas cut down one side of the bag to make a wide opening.

New culinary delights have arrived in Colorado Springs with the opening of a crepe eatery on the north side and a bakery on the west side serving classic Mexican and

Agave Lounge to open in Old Colorado City, Carter Payne events and Susanna’s pop-up dinner.

To get a handle on how to tackle the job sanely, we turned to Brother Luck, the nationally award-winning chef and owner of two eateries, Four by Brother Luck and Eleven18 Latin Tapas Bar. “Most of my early years as a chef I worked in huge hotels where I prepared holiday banquets for hundreds of guests,” Luck said.