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nd moreand moreand more. There areently 1,450 Chipotle locations spanninglobe, with more hundreds more onorizon. And while Ells has added anotherood concept to his repertoire, an Asianurant called ShopHouse, hes backed

y rom his initial dream o opening anale restaurant. People oten ask me iver open that restaurant, he muses. Ino plans or that now. Were completely

sed on our larger mission o providingainably raised ingredients in an accessible

at. I think were having much more o anact with the Chipotle concept than i Idk to my original plan.nd while Chipotle is an extremelyghtorward concept, Ells emphasizeshis undamental convictions are the sameey would be or fne dining, despite theur to a ast-ood empire. The key is usingy beautiul ingredients and this idea og a very simple ingredient and making

mething thats more extraordinary is ame at Chipotle, he says.

Chipotle kitchen unctions like that ona fde fne-dining restaurant, he notes:eres constantly meats on the grill, al-

some beans simmering on the stove,

tables sauteing in the pan, whole avoca-resh herbs on the stems, knives, cuttingds, pots and pans and lots o prep workg on; its not at all automated, and ouromers can taste the dierence, becausering out the best in our ood. And muchat ood is local, he stresses.n act, Chipotle will serve more thanen million pounds o locally grown pro-

in its restaurants this year, up rom itsgoal o ten million pounds. As the only

onal restaurant company with a signif-commitment to using local produce on a

large scale, weve steadily increasedour locally sourced produce supplysince beginning the program in2008, says Ells. All o Chipotleslocally grown produce comes romwithin 350 miles o the restaurantswhere its served. To celebrate thatcommitment and educate its eat-ers, Chipotle started Cultivate, aree ood, ideas and music estival,which will celebrate its third yearin Denver on August 17. But in themeantime, in honor o its twentiethanniversary, Chipotle is oeringcustomers around the globe the

chance to win ree Chipotle orlie. (The Adventurrito conteststarts July 13; go to westword.comor details.)

We push ourselves to fnd thebest-quality ingredients ingre-dients that have traditionally beenavailable only in high-end restau-rants and specialty ood markets and making them available in away thats accessible and aordableto everyone, which I think is a reallyimportant mission, concludes Ells,who in the ollowing interview dis-cusses the signifcance o high ex-pectations, a rivolous lawsuit and

his partnership with McDonalds,which started in 1998 and endedin 2006, when he took the company public.

Lori Midson: Talk about your upbringing.Was food an important element when youwere young?

Steve Ells: I started cooking early on, as avery young child, so ood and cooking havebeen important to me or as long as I canremember. I always liked to help my momin the kitchen, and while other kids werewatching cartoons and things, I was watching

Julia Child. By the time I was in high schooland college, I loved having dinner parties andentertaining riends over ood. Many o myoldest memories involve ood and the wholedining experience.

You graduated from the Culinary Institute ofAmerica in Hyde Park and spent several years asa chef before opening Chipotle and becoming ahousehold name in entrepreneurial restaurant-industry circles. Do you miss cooking?

Ive always loved to cook, but Ive moved

on to do otChipotle was a cash coa real restplace that Francisco.grown, soence, and wan impact othan I everstuck withstill love toI really likewhat Im d

Whos

chefs/restamost inue

There aemiah TowFrancisco,on me. Whcooking scat Stars, wavorite restry at the tiI really leataste ood There havches Ive but the expreally impo

What asessions?

Can I say chipotle peptles in so much o our ooor the chicken and steacarnitas. Ive always thoo depth o avor and nI named the restauranpepper because its in so and because I think itselevated and are really rewe do with the ood in o

What is your favor-

potlenued from page 13

co

Steve Ells is no stranger to the kitchen.

Black Beans,White Stripesearing Tom Waits rumble through Jockey Full o Bour-n while youre dripping Tabasco on a barbacoa bowl at

hipotle may give you pause. Or you might take comortthe smooth rhythm o Peter Toshs Coming In Hot asu wait in the lunch-rush line. The music selections at the

enver-based ast-casual giants stores hit the spot between-out stoner radio and hip DJ sets, a brainy mix o new indie

tists, alternative-radio avorites and international jams.However you eel about Chipotles musical selections, you

ve one man to thank or blame. Christopher Golub is they who programs the songs or all o Chipotles more than

00 restaurants, making him responsible or an essentialece in ounder Steve Ellss restaurant vision.

When [Ells] opened the frst one, over on Evans, hislie was that he always thought music was an importantrt o the overall restaurant experience, Golub says. Sobegan with his programming at the frst store, and it

ent on rom there. He always kept a ocus on music as anegral part o the experience. Today Golub runs an en-

rprise called Studio Orca thats based in Brooklyn, wheres company creates music identity or a number o di-rent brands. Chipotle is his biggest client, and youll fndm at Chipotles Cultivate Festival in Denver next month,inning his restaurant programming between music sets.

A reugee rom the East Coast DJ scene, Golub worked

as a manager at the Wynkoop Brewing Company andmoved on to building and designing Denvers ultra-hipSwimclub32 beore ditching Denver and the restaurant lieto rediscover music. Four years ago, he wastapped to take over music-curation eorts atChipotle. Steve asked me to come up with asample playlist o what I thought might workin the restaurant, Golub recalls. Havingspent a lot o time in Colorado, I had a goodeeling or what was going on there.

But music programming at Chipotle isabout more than just a eeling. It also has tohave what I call texture o sound, Golubexplains. You know that i you go into a store,youve got the small, hard suraces. Youvegot concrete oors, a lot o windows, hard

walls and a lot o cooking gear and tile. So thatdoesnt work with certain songs. For example,the high, tenuous yowl o Radiohead rontmanThom Yorke wreaks havoc with the steel andconcrete o a Chipotle buildout.

That means you wont hear Kid A atChipotle but what will you hear? Its hardto put my fnger on exactly what song makesit and what song doesnt, Golub says. We do our very bestto put on programming thats not on mainstream radio, onInternet channels. Were not playing the big hits o the worldat all. Were trying to fnd emerging stars. Emerging artistshave this certain eel to their music.

An average playlist Golub puts togeth

than 500 songs and be in rotation or no mto keep the song selection resh. Once hes fits streamed to every Chipotle restaurant

We dont programkets; we program we eel works, hyou have a burritoFrance, or Londonada, youre hearingand the same vibe.menu, everyone evsame aural experie

Studio Orca alsubtle technique cThis technique is ndio and club DJs, a

and 50s, the Muzaprogram workplacto increase produccalled Stimulus Ping similar tactics music during the have a quicker BPMplaying during the

But Golubs personal approach to getmakes Chipotle programming much morpaper. One o the greatest joys, he sayssomeone liting up a cell phone and Shazamsinging along to a song.

Christopher Golub