This Monday we are celebrating The Red Trolley’s 2nd birthday!! Keep you holiday festivities alive by joining us for some jumpy castle action, scoop walk (like a cake walk with an ice cream twist), ice cream “how to” with chef Johnny, $2 breakfast sandwiches and hot dogs (did I mention ANY hot dog for just $2?), $1 Novo Coffee and lots of lots of products to sample.
Schedule is as follows…
All Day-$1 Novo Coffee, samples of Iced Toddy, Bhakti Chai Shakes and Novo Shakes 8am-11am-$2 Breakfast Sandwiches 10am-8pm-Bouncy Castle 11am-Close-Any hot dog $2 12pm-2pm-Samples of Continental’s new “mac and cheese” dog 1pm-Ice Cream “how to” with Chef Johnny (taste what you make!) Every hour on the hour from 11am to 4pm-Scoop Walk
Plus your normal everyday Red Trolley Fun…balloons, coloring sheets and Trevor the Trolley!!!
Call the store at 303-433-7200 if you have any questions. See you on Monday!
The year was 1979, the place was LaVeta Colorado. Wish I could remember the name of that little drugstore that my grandmother took us to when she could no longer tolerate the noise that 4 children generated in her small house in Walsenburg. This was the ultimate treat for us…we’d belly up to the bar and put in our order for the house specialty–Root Beer Floats.
Those were the days before high fructose corn syrup became the norm. When root beer was root beer–spicy, full of flavor, and ice cream was ice cream–no volumizing agents, just creamy yumminess. Damn, those Root Beer Floats were good.
It was recreating this experience, enjoying that ultimate treat with all the people I loved best, that was the impetus behind our Root Beer Float Happy Hour. I want kids from the Highlands to be off at college fondly recalling the happy times they spent at the Trolley over Root Beer Floats. I want them to want to re-create that experience with their own children. I want them to taste another Root Beer Float and realize that nothing can compare to fresh made ice cream and fresh brewed local root beer, made with everything real including (gasp) sugar and served ice cold in a tall frosted mug.
Make some memories with the people you love at our Root Beer Float Happy Hour. Daily from 3-6pm our Root Beer Floats are only $2.50.
Looking forward to a relaxing Mother’s Day? Have you ever really had a relaxing Mother’s Day? How about heading out for a delicious breakfast, reading the paper, enjoying some rare one on one time with your significant other (no, not the diaper genie) all while the kids are happily engaged with a yummy breakfast of their own, movies and games in a supervised environment?
Where, you ask, could such a scene possibly exist? The Red Trolley, of course!
Join us for our first annual Mother’s Day Brunch. On Sunday, May 9th your kids will be supervised in the back room with a waffle bar (lots and lots of Red Trolley style toppings) movies and games. Delicious breakfast, lots of reading material and some much deserved peace and quiet in the front for the grown-ups.
It would help us enormously if you could make a reservation, as an added incentive, if you do, Mom gets a free Mimosa Granita with her breakfast (it’s like a fancy mimosa sorbetto)!
There’s a powerful lobby out there, searching the far reaches of the world wide web, looking for anyone that dares, could be so bold as to besmirch the good name of high fructose corn syrup. I know. They’ve sent me packages (yes, more than one–really expensive looking to) of information touting the benefits. They have run multi million dollar ad campaigns to fix the marred reputation of their favorite sweetener. They are the Corn Growers Association and holy crap have they put alot of money into PR for HFCS.
I mean, really, I have an ice cream shop in Denver. I am the definition of small potatoes. Yet they had enough man power (and cash) to find me on the internet and learn that all our products are completely free of high fructose corn syrup. Not only that, they found this threatening enough to send me not one, but two packets of information encouraging me to cease and desist on our HFCS ban. My favorite part was the letter from the FDA clarifying that products containing high fructose corn syrup can indeed be labeled as “natural” (scary).
Apparently, the Corn Refiners Association took umbrage at the FDA stating that they would , “object to the use of the term ‘natural’ on a product containing HFCS, because it is produced using a synthetic fixing agent” and they used their considerable legal weight to take them to task. The result, of course, was a backtrack on the part of the FDA and a loss on the part of eaters everywhere.
According to foodnavigator-usa.com:
The process sees the enzymes for making HFCS being fixed to a column by the use of a synthetic fixing agent called glutaraldehyde. However, this agent does not come into contact with the high dextrose equivalent corn starch hydrolysate and so it is not “considered to be included or added to the HFCS,” said June.
Really? How about the fact that, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, “HFCS cannot be considered natural because its chemical bonds are broken and rearranged in the manufacturing process.” Are we seriously having this conversation? “Natural”, quite simply, means that it was made in nature. Last I checked natural things did not have broken chemical bonds or need synthetic fixing agents (glutaraldehyde?) in order to be produced. Natural it is not.
But really, I digress. The meaning of “natural” has been so watered down recently (see my previous blog post) and we could spend all day arguing with the FDA. Too many variables here, let’s look at the facts. Results from a recent Princeton University study clearly show that the effects of high fructose corn syrup are significantly different than the effects of simple table sugar, even in smaller doses. Rats who eat their regular chow and drink water sweetened with HFCS got fat, really fat. Worse than that they saw a significant rise in triglycerides, these two things in combination are the known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer and diabetes. This (from the Princeton study) is the simplest and clearest explanation I have ever seen for the difference between sugar and HFCS…
High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars — it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose — but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.
Seems like as good a reason as any to get rid of something in our food supply that should never have been there in the first place.
Oh, and if you want to go somewhere where you don’t have to be obsessive about looking at labels, come to The Trolley. We obsess about it for you.
I always find it humorous (read:annoying) the number of places that claim to be “all-natural”, especially in regard to ice cream and gelato. Best I can see, they lay claim to this moniker because they use milk and sugar in their products and milk and sugar are, of course, all natural. Some even go so far as to let us know where their milk comes which, if they are drawing attention to it, usually means that it’s local and free of unnecessary hormones and additives (all good things, mind you). It begs the question though, what else goes into their ice cream and gelato? There’s oh so much more to it.
Admittedly, I’m what many would call a food freak. I homemade a goat milk formula for all my three babies, my first child had an apple juice sweetened cake for her first birthday and didn’t have the pleasure of her first taste of sugar until at least a few months after that (standards loosened considerably on the next two). We stick to organic as much as is humanly (and financially) possible. The bottom line for me is that we have control of what we put in our bodies and the choices we make from the very beginning affect the quality of our entire lives. On the same token, I believe that food is one of the great pleasures of life and should be enjoyed abundantly with the ones you love. Thus, The Red Trolley. I wanted to enjoy a treat with my family every now and then, I did not want to compromise my standards to the point that many places were asking me to.
We made a commitment to some very specific things from the beginning. We believed that specificity was the key to setting us apart from all the other “all natural” claims in the marketplace. We would never carry a product that contained high fructose corn syrup, trans fats (hydrogenated oil) artificial color or artificial flavor. Our commitment has broadened (while others narrows) since we opened in 2008. No mono and diglycerides (next time you are in another ice cream shop ask them about mono and diglycerides in their base), no nitrates, no artificial sweeteners–really, no artificial anything.
Honestly, it hasn’t been easy. Cost has been the greatest factor, turns out it’s much cheaper to serve your customers fake food. We would love to be the cheapest scoop in town but, it seems that cheap and high quality cannot co-exist. We have kept the cost to the consumer as low as possible (as evidenced to me every time I realize that we’re running a “non-profit” ) and we try to run traffic driving specials (root beer float happy hour, $2 t-dog Tuesdays) as much as possible. We will, however, not make any compromises on our standards and I know there are plenty of people like me who would rather have a reasonably sized scoop of real ice cream than a mammoth scoop of manufactured mush.
We’re in the business of fun. The Red Trolley should be a place where you come with all the best people in your life to enjoy some really delicious all natural treats and to make memories that will last forever. We are proud of the fact that we can stand behind every product that we serve and that we have never made compromises to save a buck. This means that you can always feel good about what you are enjoying in our store.
Fresh steamed eggs, cheese, bacon or sausage cozied up between an organic Rudi’s english muffin plus a cup of joe, or juice for just 5 bucks!! Weekdays 7-11, weekends 8-11. Yummy.
Looking for a deliciously romantic ending to your feast? Charm your Valentine with Red Trolley’s incredible treats. We have dark and white chocolate covered strawberry gelato bombes on a bed of red velvet cake for those looking to impress. For the simpler tastes we have chocolate dipped strawberries.
Bombes are $4.50, strawberries will be market price. All will be available on Saturday afternoon through Valentine’s Day.
5280 Top of the Town voting has begun! You can get your ballot at www.5280.com/tot/. E-mail coffee@theredtrolley.com to let us know you voted and we’ll enter you’re name for a drawing for a Red Trolley t-shirt.
It’s “Holly Days” this weekend on 32nd Ave, which means that Santa Claus will be at The Red Trolley on Sunday from 1-7 for FREE digitals sent to your e-mail address and instant frameable prints for only $5.00. In addition we’ll have tractor pulled hay rides, caroling, trees for sale, crafts, treats at local retailers and a candlelight procession ending with Santa reading (his very favorite!) The Night Before Christmas.
Give your kids (dogs, parents etc…) their Holiday fill of fun and excitement.
Oddly enough, it’s a breakfast sandwich. One that you can get with a cup of coffee, orange juice or our whole leaf tea for only $5 everyday! Now that we’re opening at 7am weekdays, we wanted to be sure to provide a Trolley quality breakfast for our coffee customers and we wanted to provide it fast. Enter Fastracks. Our signature steamed eggs, your choice of cheese, bacon or sausage (made locally at Continental Sausage) all housed between a yummy Rudi’s organic English muffin (also local). All the nutrition you need to get your day started right. I’m tellin’ ya, there’s no better deal in town.
All we ask is this…remember Red Trolley for your morning coffee. We promise to get you in and out fast or provide a clean, comfortable place for you to work (Free Wi-Fi!) if hanging out is your thing. And we promise to do it all with a smile. We brew a different Novo coffee every day (take a world coffee tour every week!) and, really, you have to try our new whole leaf teas. They’ll make you understand why the rest of the world is so obsessed with tea.
So make the Trolley a part of your morning routine, we’re sure you won’t be disappointed.
PS. Don’t forget the Trolley on the weekends too! Our delicious made to order brunch will please the whole family!!
For ice cream shop
