{"id":39043,"date":"2022-08-07T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-chalkboard-kitchen-in-durango-youll-find-something-new-every-time\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:47:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:47:57","slug":"at-chalkboard-kitchen-in-durango-youll-find-something-new-every-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-chalkboard-kitchen-in-durango-youll-find-something-new-every-time\/","title":{"rendered":"At Chalkboard Kitchen in Durango, you\u2019ll find something new every time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Holly
Holly Benadum and Evan Vitale opened up their new food trailer Chalkboard Kitchen, located behind Anarchy Brewing Co., about four months ago. (Nicholas A. Johnson\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

With specials being a focus for new food trailer Chalkboard Kitchen, the best way to keep up with its shifting menu may just be falling in as a regular at Anarchy Brewing Co. where it\u2019s located.<\/p>\n

\u201cChalkboard has been an idea of ours for several years,\u201d said co-owner Evan Vitale. \u201cThe idea behind it is that chalkboards are usually used for specials and we\u2019re constantly rotating new things onto the menu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitale co-owns Chalkboard with fianc\u00e9e Holly Benadum. Both Colorado natives, Benadum was raised in Durango and Vitale comes from Denver. Benadum brings 17 years of culinary experience to the food cart, having worked as a chef in restaurants in Los Angeles, Denver and San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Opening in April, the two have found a home at Anarchy Brewing, located at 225 East Eighth Ave. The nano-brewery\u2019s constant tap rotation lends itself well to Chalkboard\u2019s ever-changing menu, allowing Chalkboard to experiment with new brews both in and with their food.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so symbiotic working with Anarchy,\u201d Benadum said. \u201cThe beer is amazing, I make mustard with it, we make a beer cheese sauce sometimes that we use different beers with. It\u2019s fun to have that available to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being fun and experimental with food is what Benadum and Vitale said they enjoy most about their new food trailer. The two will find ways to build specials around flavors that come to them, specifically recalling a family that recently brought them a bunch of cherries that made their way into a sandwich on Chalkboard\u2019s menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cA family in town gave us a bunch of cherries, and we made a compote out of it and put it on a sandwich. We named the sandwich after them and put it on the menu for a week,\u201d Vitale said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of the idea behind Chalkboard, to keep things fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although ever changing, the Chalkboard menu does have some staples. According to Benadum and Vitale the french dip and buffalo chicken sandwich, both priced at $13, are two popular menu items.<\/p>\n

\"Chalkboard
Chalkboard Kitchen, located behind Anarchy Brewing Co., has a rotating menu with staple treats like shishito peppers and a buffalo chicken sandwich. (Nicholas A. Johnson\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Chalkboard\u2019s wings have made waves in the few months that the food trailers have been in business, as Benadum and Vitale are currently in contention for the best wings in Durango through the Best of Durango contest.<\/p>\n

The wing recipe that Benadum uses comes from a food truck she worked on in Denver called Rezzy\u2019s. Paying homage to that food truck, Chalkboard has aptly named its wings Rezzy\u2019s wings on the menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cRezzy\u2019s was a food truck that Holly worked on in Denver, and the owner had actually gotten the recipe for his wings from a food truck that he had worked on before that, and that truck had also gotten the recipe from a different truck before that,\u201d Vitale said.<\/p>\n

A standout vegetable Chalkboard serves as both an appetizer and in its turkey sandwich is shishito peppers.<\/p>\n

For now, Chalkboard is largely just Benadum and Vitale with a part-time employee who helps when she can. Benadum said she aspires to eventually move to a brick and mortar location, but at this point is happily cohabitating with Anarchy.<\/p>\n

\"Holly
Holly Benadum tosses a chicken in buffalo sauce while preparing a buffalo chicken sandwich. (Nicholas A. Johnson\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Vitale said business has been good since Chalkboard opened, but it isn\u2019t always consistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, we were slammed all day, and today things are slower,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The two said opening Chalkboard has given them the opportunity to meet many of their neighbors, as many of Anarchy\u2019s patrons live in the surrounding neighborhood where they also live.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to be proud of what we\u2019re doing and serve our part of this town,\u201d Vitale said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

keeps cuisine interesting with an ever-changing menu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,438,439,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-food","tag-food-drink","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84203,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39043\/revisions\/84203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39043"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}