Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids & Solids

Right off the diagonal highway as you approach Longmont from Boulder lies this mecca for good beer and barbecue:

Oskar Blues Liquids & Solids

Despite the use of Oskar Blues's name, Liquids & Solids is definitely not a brewery. As the name implies, it's a restaurant with an outstanding beer selection. Patrons can choose from over 40 craft beers on tap, including the full line of Oskar Blues, a dozen or so other great Colorado brews, and well-known craft beers from across the country. The "solids" component is a menu consisting of Southern-inspired barbecue, pizza, and burgers.

Liquids & Solids lies just down the road from Oskar Blues's Longmont brewery and Tasty Weasel Tap Room.

The restaurant is giant, particularly for a smaller town like Longmont. I was impressed by its size and by how packed it was on a Friday at lunch time. We actually had to wait about ten minutes for a table for four.

The spacious interior was adorned with kitschy posters and Oskar Blues paraphernalia. Hanging from the ceiling of the bar area were an an impressive variety of beer taps.

Bar at Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids & Solids

We had their Fried Pickles ($4) as an appetizer:

Fried Pickles

These were very strongly seasoned, with a sharp peppery flavor. Serving the pickles as spears made them the perfect size for an appetizer.

We also ordered the 1/2 rack of pork spare ribs ($12). All the barbecue dishes at Liquids & Solids come with two sides, and we chose the mac 'n' cheese and corn and crab fritters.

Pork Spare Ribs with Mac 'n' Cheese and Corn and Crab Fritters

The spare ribs were decent. They had a nice smoky flavor and were coated in a thick layer of tangy barbecue sauce. The mac 'n' cheese and fritters were both very average tasting.

The main draw of Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids & Solids is really the beer and not the food. The fried pickles were great to snack on with beer, but I didn't love the pork or sides. If you come from a part of the country more renown for good barbecue than central Colorado, you probably won't be very impressed with the food. 

Everyday Dining

6/10

Pros: Beer.
Cons: Food is just ok. Isolated location.

Website:
http://www.oskarblues.com/restaurant/liquids-solids

Larkspur

It's a little-known fact: the tasty yet humble hamburgers at Larkburger's many front range locations actually have their roots at the high-end Larkspur restaurant in Vail, CO. Cashing in on the popularity of their Larkburger served at the bar, the management of the mountain restaurant decided to spin off the burger concept with a proliferation of fast-casual restaurants across the state.

And thus it was that our love of the Larkburger brought us to Larkspur during a recent winter fun weekend in Vail.

It was a big step up for us to go from stuffing our faces with the $5 amazingness of Little Larks and Truffle Parmesan Fries on the front range to the fine dining, ski-slope atmosphere of Larkspur, but we were prepared for the challenge.

Larkspur is situated at the extreme east end of the base of Vail mountain, making it close enough to the slope to ski up to for lunch. Except that during our early-season visit, the lifts near the restaurant weren't open, and Larkspur was only offering dinner service.

We had dinner reservations for 7:15 on a Friday in early December. Getting into Larkspur after exiting the cab required trekking through the deserted Golden Peak Lodge, with the restaurant tucked into the back corner.

Larkspur is spacious, beautifully adorned, and upscale. The bar area where the Larkburger was born lies at the very front as you walk in, and behind it in the main dining area is ample seating, including plenty of space for large parties. The restaurant was mostly full when we arrived and filled to near capacity by the end of our meal.

For those of you who have never been to Vail, it's a beautiful ski town bustling with an international assortment of some of the most beautiful and ritzy people you've ever seen. The top echelon of those beautiful people appeared to be dining at Larkspur during our visit.

We were greeted by our waitress and began the meal with drinks and complimentary multigrain bread and butter.

I should point out that Larkspur offers an impressively long wine list. I would elaborate on this point more except I'm completely ignorant about wine.

As an appetizer, we ordered Larkspur's take on a Shrimp Po'boy ($9.5), which was sort of a deconstructed po'boy served with cornbread slices and a mustard sauce.

Shrimp Po'boy

This dish is an unusual choice for a fine dining establishment in Vail, although we certainly enjoyed it. I couldn't find any mention of it in Yelp reviews, so I assume it's new to the menu.

The fried shrimp tasted just like the ones that my mom, a Louisiana native, uses in po'boys. The use of cornbread and mustard sauce is certainly not traditional, but it was very tasty and a pleasant sweet-and-savory compliment to the shrimp.

As my main dish, I ordered the Snake River Sturgeon ($28):

Snake River Sturgeon

The sturgeon was presented with a crispy crust and served on a bed of red beans. The fish was delicate, light, and perfectly seared. The red beans were extremely tasty; they were very well seasoned, and like the fish, expertly cooked.

My husband ordered the Veal Scaloppini ($32):

Veal Scaloppini

Veal scaloppini is a traditional veal dish prepared with floured, flattened veal cutlets. Larkspur's version was accompanied by creamed spinach, twice baked potatoes, and "lemon buerre fondue." It was an excellent, comfort-food type dish.

The twice-baked potatoes were particularly memorable; they were crisp on the outside and incredibly soft and creamy on the inside. They were served as slices rather than potato halves, with no additional toppings, which was unexpected. As far as the lemon beurre sauce, there's no reason to call it "fondue," it was just a cream sauce. The tartness of the sauce nicely balanced the rich flavor of the veal.

We finished the meal with the Brooklyn Blackout Cake ($11.5):

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

The cake was a simple, almost brownie-like chocolate rectangle. It was topped with what Larkspur referred to as "Fudgesicle Sorbet" and "Fox's U-Bet Froth." I have no clue what the froth flavor was supposed to be referring to, and the sorbet had a deep chocolaty but still light flavor.

Service was very good. Our waitress was helpful and friendly but seemed relatively new.

Larkspur was expensive, but so is everything else in Vail. For comparable food in Denver I would expect to pay about 10-20% less. That being said, I generally felt the food and drinks were appropriately priced for the quality and location. One exception was the dessert, which, for $11.5 seemed a little steep for such a simple preparation.

The food and ambiance were lovely at Larkspur, although for fine dining in Colorado I prefer Opus in Littleton. Larkspur is definitely worth a visit for a nice dinner in Vail.

Fine Dining

(7 of 10)

Pros: Excellent food and ambiance
Cons: Expensive, may be hard to get to without skis

Website:
http://www.larkspurvail.com/

Denver Biscuit Company

Any of you who have read my Silver Creek Diner review have probably been sitting at the edges of your seats since that post, wondering in frantic anticipation:


What happened to the quest for amazing biscuits and gravy in Denver?!


Relax, my friends. I shall put you at ease with my recap of our recent visit to Denver Biscuit Company.

Our meal at Silver Creek Diner failed to fill the void in my husband's life caused by insufficient hometown biscuits and gravy, but we have continued to keep our eyes peeled for a worthy contender.

Enter the Denver Biscuit Company. Recommended by a friend and seeming to be an obvious candidate for delicious biscuits and gravy, Mr. Oyster and a friend and myself all headed to their Colfax location last weekend for breakfast.

After hearing so much about the nomadic Denver Biscuit Company food truck, I was really expecting more a of a hole-in-the-wall place for their brick-and-mortar venue. Instead, the location - on an eclectic strip of Colfax just south of City Park - was surprisingly swanky and yuppie-fied. The spot is shared by Denver Biscuit Company, Fat Sully's Pizza, and the Atomic Cowboy bar, each with their own hours and contributions to the feel of the restaurant.

Denver Biscuit Company location shared by Atomic Cowboy and Fat Sully's Pizza.
I was wondering why there was a full bar in a breakfast place.

Oh, and I was also wondering why there was a giant cowboys vs. aliens mural-painting.

And our food:

My plate was the "Ellsworth", a biscuit sandwich containing buttermilk fried chicken with honey, stone-ground mustard and homemade pickles. Terrified of the sweetness of the honey, I asked for it on the side.

The Ellsworth, honey on the side

Ohh this was wonderful. The enormous biscuit was light and fluffy and not too buttery or heavy tasting. The fried chicken was perfectly seasoned, with a crunchy crust and very tender meat. I loved the spiciness of the mustard, and I was glad I asked for the honey on the side so I could add only the small amount I wanted.

Our friend ordered the biscuit French toast, which came with pineapple compote as the "compote of the day".  She asked for the compote on the side and received a ridiculously large, soup-sized bowl of it with the french toast.

Biscuit French Toast

I tried a bit of her dish and loved the unique flavor and fluffy texture of the biscuit French toast itself. We were all underwhelmed by the pineapple compote; the acidic sweetness of the pineapple seemed to have been completely cooked out, leaving only a sad mush behind.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the verdict on the biscuits and gravy:

Biscuits and Gravy

Yes, it tasted as delicious as it looks. Giant, fluffy, flaky biscuits smothered in a generous helping of sausage-packed gravy. One pleasant surprise with this dish was the sausage was fairly spicy and a added a nice kick to every bite.

A couple of gripes: service was a bit slow, and I didn't order any coffee but they make you fetch your own coffee at their "coffee bar". If I wanted to fetch my own beverages I wouldn't have gone out to eat.

But there were happily filled stomachs for all. If you love biscuits, go to Denver Biscuit Company.


Everyday Dining

 (8 of 10)

Pros: Great food. 

Cons: You have to fetch your own coffee. Slow service.

Website:
http://www.denbisco.com