Denver City Council candidate has a "campaign chef"

Dave Monnerat

Ooh la la. City Council candidate Jon Lehmann's got himself a campaign chef!

One Denver City Council candidate hopes to win 'em over with food. Jon Lehmann, one of ten candidates vying for the council seat recently vacated by Rick Garcia (who went to work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development), recently signed on a real live campaign chef.

Kirston Ha, a friend and housemate of Lehmann, launched his gig while cooking corned beef for his buddy and other campaign volunteers sometime around St. Patrick's Day.

Lehmann says he came up with the idea as a way to ply, er, please volunteers. "We want to be serious and important but also have an enjoyable experience," Lehmann explains.

Lehmann says Ha, who has no official culinary background, contributes with cooking. "It's his way to participate in the campaign," Lehmann notes. "It's a way for him to show his support, and all the volunteers really love it."

Since the corned beef, Ha, who has a degree in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, has added sushi and Moroccan preserved lemons to the list (digging the looks of these), which, from now on, will include bi-weekly posts sharing dishes of various origin.

"Look for matzo ball soup topped with topped with cilantro-lime chicken and sweet potato tamales in the days and weeks to come," the campaign promises. All recipes are posted on Lehmann's site.

The mail-in only campaign for the District One spot concludes May 4.