Culinary Checklist

Photo by John Anderson

Savory Spice Shop

On an otherwise uneventful family visit, the original Savory Spice Shop in downtown Denver offered a welcome reprieve from a harsh December afternoon late last year. Founded in 2004 by Mike and Janet John­ston – Janet hosts Spice & Easy on the Food Network – the specialty store proved a true culinary delight, offering more than 140 spice blends as well as a variety of herbs, extracts, and sauces. Their specialty lies in unique combinations – the Flat Irons Prime Rib Rub, Park Hill Maple & Spice Pepper, and mild yellow curry, to name three personal favorites – most of which are blended on-site and come with recipe suggestions, such as the Red Rocks Hickory Smoke & Beer BBQ Sauce. These concoctions can make a gourmet chef out of just about anyone. The Lake Barkley Fried Chicken Season­ing, for example, is singularly responsible for the best chicken-fried steak batter I've ever come across, and that's including a three-year stint at Clear Springs Restaurant in New Braunfels. As such, Savory Spice Shop's gift boxes, which are packaged in themed four-, six-, and 10-jar sets ($20-48), make excellent gifts, especially the Holiday Feast ($24): Mulling Spices, Tiny Town Turkey Rub, Sage & Savory Stuffing Seasoning (salt-free), Pump­kin Pie Spice, and Citrus & Savory Brining Spices, with nutmegs, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves thrown in for good measure.

Details for all 40 sets can be found online, but thankfully a new branch of the Savory Spice Shop just opened here mid-November. It's a spice-for-spice re-creation of the original, with the same warm hospitality and indie spirit, thanks in no small part to the franchisee, Karen Aboussie.