Yeah, it really seems like they're taking it seriously as a medical tool.
http://cbs4denver.com/business/medic...2.1346694.html
First Gourmet Marijuana Restaurant Opens In Denver Reporting
A medical marijuana dispensary in Denver has decided to get creative and make the business into a full-service restaurant that caters to those who need to use medicinal marijuana to ease physical ailments.
The owner of Ganja Gourmet located at 1810 South Broadway Avenue said the restaurant will "aim to help distribute medicinal marijuana to those licensed to have it and provide an atmosphere where patients can visit with one another in a safe environment."
Ganja Gourmet plans to offer lasagna, gourmet pizza, jambalaya, paella, chocolate mousse and flavored cheesecakes, among other gourmet dishes.
"It's a different buzz too. It's a more alert, more awake buzz," Medical Marijuana Chef Evan "Budman" said.
Budman believes it will put South Broadway on the state's budding medical marijuana map.
"It will bring people from all over Colorado here," he said.
The restaurant will be decorated in a 1960s retro feel, including tie-dye attire for the employees.
Steve Horowitz, an owner of Ganja Gourmet, says the restaurant will not promote a party-like atmosphere.
"With the new laws in Colorado, medicinal marijuana is a business like any other. Dozens of legal dispensaries are everywhere. We have to set ourselves apart as a business in order to survive," Horowitz said in a prepared statement. "Just like any other restaurant, we have to work on the quality of our food and our atmosphere to make sure our customers have an enjoyable experience that makes them want to come back."
Horowitz said the restaurant will offer courtesy rides home for customers who feel they can't drive.
"I hope the launch of Ganja Gourmet will set the standard for other Colorado distributers and distributers around the nation so that those suffering from illness get the best service possible," Horowitz said.
The marijuana-laced menu is actually prepared off-premises. Building inspectors won't allow an on-site kitchen because of a fire hazard.
Some neighboring businesses it's just the latest proof several blocks of South Broadway are going to pot.
"I don't think it's good for the neighborhood," an area business owner said. "I think it's a joke that they're using the guise that it's medicinal. It just shows it's not medicinal."
Former State Rep. Don Armstrong, injured in Vietnam, says the ganja gourmet is just what he needs instead of powerful painkillers.
"This is an alternative for me. It's a great alternative, when I do this," Armstrong said. "I can function with life in me and be able to live a normal life … I'm learning on the eating part. I'm just trying this out now."
Ganja Gourmet opened on Wednesday.
Dude, They're Putting Pot In More Than Brownies
Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press Writer, shared the following notes on Ganja Gourmet in an article on Dec. 17:
Any slacker living over his parents' garage can make pot brownies. Gourmet chefs are taking the art of cooking with marijuana to a higher level. In Denver, a new medical-marijuana shop called Ganja Gourmet serves cannabis-infused specialties such as pizza, hummus and lasagna.
Ganja Gourmet's menu includes lasagna ("LaGanja"), "Panama Red Pizza" and an olive tapenade called "ganjanade," along with a sweets such as cheesecake, muffins and brownies. Employees wear tie-dyed T-shirts that proclaim, "Our food is so great, you need a license to eat it!!!"
All patrons at the Ganja Gourmet must show a medical marijuana card that proves they have a doctor's permission to use pot for some kind of malady. The place opened last week, and so far, 90 percent of its business has been takeout.
The food isn't cheap. A whole pizza sells for $89, and a dozen sweet treats called Almond Horns cost $120.
"The food is really good," said Jamie Hillyer, a 41-year-old medical marijuana patient who paid $12 for a serving of vegetable LaGanja. Hillyer said that he can't taste the weed in the food and that it gives him a "more mellow" buzz than smoking pot.
are able to use marijuana in cooking because its key ingredient, the mind-altering drug THC, is fat-soluble, meaning it binds with oils or fats.
Marijuana chefs put leaves or buds in a food processor and grind the marijuana into green flour. Then they add the flour to oil or butter, cook it slowly for up to a couple of days while the THC binds to the fat, and strain out the green flakes.
The result is "cannabutter," or butter that makes a diner high.
say 2 teaspoons of cannabutter typically contain the amount of THC in an ounce of weed.
The pot-infused oils and butters have a greenish tint and an earthy taste, but chefs say the flavor can easily be masked with garlic or other herbs and spices.
Marijuana chefs say it takes 20 minutes to two hours for the pot-laced food to produce a high. The biggest problem, they say, is that users often eat too much, thinking the food isn't working. While you can't exactly overdose on marijuana food, people who eat too much may feel more sluggish or disoriented than they would like.
So at Ganja Gourmet, customers are allowed to eat only one menu item every 45 minutes.
(The drug takes so long to start working that there's little chance of a customer developing a case of the munchies and getting hungrier the more he ate.)
Ganja Gourmet owner Scott Horowitz tried to get liability insurance of the sort bars take out to protect themselves against damage caused by intoxicated patrons. But he said he couldn't any insurers selling similar coverage for pot shops.