TASTE OF THE WEEK: Bourbon Chicken @ Ruby Ru’s Street Eatery

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Bourbon Chicken is a curious bird. As Chris Rubeck prepares it in Lafayette, the classic sauce doesn’t taste much like the famous whiskey, but his tangy-sweet, fruity variation on a spicy teriyaki theme turns boneless chicken thighs into craveable candy. It’s the signature dish at Ruby Ru’s Street Eatery, a popular food truck successfully graduated to a storefront at 1280 Centaur Village Drive near Centaurus High School. 

At Ruby Ru’s, the secret is grilling the chicken until the glaze chars a little and serving it hot and heavily sauced over steamed rice. The moist thighs are also dished in a taco jammed with slaw, grilled pineapple and aioli. The portions are generous as are the sides of mac-n-cheese, Cajun potatoes and grilled summer vegetables. 

Other choices are sausages, chicken tacos, chicken banh mi and jerk chicken rice bowls and a Buffalo chicken-finger sub. 

FOOD NEWS

What to do with too much watermelon

Boulder County Farmers Market

These are the juicy summer days when the locally grown watermelons are so sweet and affordable. Colorado’s melon fame will be celebrated on Watermelon Day, Aug. 21, at the 144th Arkansas Valley Fair in Rocky Ford with watermelon carving and seed spitting contests and all the watermelon you can eat. The challenge with watermelon is that that the best ones are physically huge and you have to figure out how to use and preserve that excess of goodness. Besides eating it plain or in a salad with feta cheese, I like to cut off the flesh in chunks and puree it in a blender for drinks and freezing in cubes. I also puree ripe melon with coconut milk and honey to make frozen sherbet. 

Franklin Escobar of Familia Pupusas shares this simple drink recipe through the Boulder County Farmers Market.

Watermelon Agua Fresca

20 ounces (approx.) watermelon flesh, seeded, cut into chunks

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 tablespoons honey

Place the watermelon, water and honey into a blender. Blend until smooth. Strain if you want less pulp. Taste and adjust flavor. Chill thoroughly and serve. 

Culinary Calendar

Longmont dinners on the farm

Longmont caterer Whistling Boar hosts a Caribbean-themed dinner Aug. 21 at MetaCarbon Organic Farm with a tour of the regenerative farming site. Reservations: whistlingboar.com … Longmont’s Ollin Farms and chef Paul C. Reilly present a Coperta farm lunch on Sept. 19. Crops showcased will include Japanese eggplant, heirloom tomatoes, Dragon Tongue beans, summer garlic and Jimmy Nardello peppers. Reservations: ollinfarms.com

Markets: Pie cherries to cotton candy

Besides peaches, apples, freshly pressed cider, and doughnuts, Ya Ya Farm & Orchard in Longmont offers their Montmorency pie cherries — harvested, pitted and frozen. They are by far the best cherry variety for cherry pies and a tough commodity to find. … For a market change of pace, visit the Nederland Farmers Market, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. Food vendors include Five Freedoms Dairy, Head in the Clouds Cotton Candy, Green Tahini, Tortilleria la Esmerelda, The Vegetable Express, Kathmandu, Columbine Bakery, Coloradough Pizza, and Ranch Bakery.