Monica LaSalle, Peak to Peak. Passion is a quality in a person that, at times, is a rare find. Often misunderstood or frowned upon, passion in a person is what you see when one is willing to sacrifice everything they have to focus on, engage with, support or perform whatever it is they believe in to the fullest extent possible in that moment with an intensity that can feel like fire. 

As I walked into the Grand Z Casino the other day, I felt like I was in a movie because all I had to do was drop one name and everyone knew who I was looking for and where to find her, expediting me to her with smiles like I had been summoned by the head VIP. 

One walk into the kitchen and it was easy to see that this woman not only rules this kitchen but commands respect. Nicole Straub looks up from her latest creation, sees me and gives me one of her sparkling smiles that comes with a force all its own. As she shows me around the kitchen, coworkers patiently wait for her attention to come back to them for approval of their work before it heads out to hungry customers. 

Nicole is very passionate about her chef work, holding everything that goes on in the kitchen where she works to strict high standards that she patiently teaches to all who work for her. And the results are amazing…after the tour, I get to satisfy a long ignored growling stomach by sinking my teeth into a hot roast beef and cheese sandwich made especially by Nicole for little old me. It is so delicious, I momentarily forgot that I was there to interview her as I was transported off to the world of taste bud satiation.  

Coming back to reality, I listen to Nicole tell me a story of her recent  interaction where a class instructor not only recognized her hard work and dedication but her positive and influential effect on the people around her. Having been a lead cook in the kitchen, she was now moving on step closer to supervisor. I see her face beams with pride that her efforts to take on a leadership role and become a problem solver were finally acknowledged. As I watch her get up to check on a table of customers she had cooked for earlier, I see the respect and appreciation for her hard work reflected in their nodding heads and affirmations that yes, everything has exceeded expectations. 

Nicole grew up in Northglenn and only arrived in the mountains five years ago. She had been going through a time of turmoil and felt she had lost her place in life, so she took advantage of an offer to relocate to the home of a friend in Gilpin County and chose to start over. For her, the recent accolades she has been receiving mean that much more to her because of being forced to go through such a tough transition in her life.  It took some time for her to begin rebuilding, but with patience, determination and the help of many new friends she was able to begin again. This time in kitchens serving a passion that had been in her since she was a small child. 

Nicole began cooking when she was just three years old and seemed to have a natural understanding of food combinations that she says was never explained to her but came to her instinctually. She described making French toast for her parents by herself, and served it with chocolate chip cookies and pickled herring to her parent’s astonishment. I can’t help but chuckle at the image of two parents waking up to their three year old walking in to serve them such a combination for breakfast in bed. This isn’t the food combining she was referring to, but rather the ability to know it takes eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla to make French toast. 

This passion lay dormant within her while she pursued dancing professionally from ages 3-9 at the behest of her mother, then later modeling and pageants where she eventually won Miss North America in 1986. She went to the Pima Institute in Denver to become a physical therapist assistant, a move that later had her in her own business serving clients in trade for tips or donations because they were too poor to pay for care. She even held a job test driving cars to find warranty limits for Rausch Motors. Calling herself a Jane-of-all-trades, Nicole says she has done a lot in her short life, but it wasn’t until she answered a call to the mountains where she began working for Roy’s Last Shot that she recognized her passion for cooking. 

“There’s always room for growth, healing and change. If I mentally heal myself, my body will follow,” she says as she looks back on her life. She feels like she was given a beautiful opportunity from one person who allowed her to come up here and start over. She is proud that she is constantly told, “When you aren’t in the kitchen, it falls apart,” by her coworkers and managers, for it allows her to feel seen for who she is while giving her permission to care about people in general as well as about supervising and training people. For some reason this experience has just sunk into her, she says, and although it doesn’t mean she will cook forever, she believes it is something she needs to complete here. 

Nicole is a proud parent of two children who currently are beginning their adult lives in the Northglennn area. Her daughter, Nalicia, is 19 while her son, Mason, is 18. Nicole is very proud of her children, saying they are great individuals and she looks forward to seeing what they chose to do with their lives. Being a single mother raising her children in Northglennn was not easy, and she hopes that one day she can make her children proud. Being a positive beam of light with a determination to touch people’s lives while honoring the passion within her, I would say that Nicole is well on her way. 

(Originally published in the May 30, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)