House of Commons

It was all about my mom this past Sunday at afternoon tea at House of Commons, an English Tea Toom in the Riverfront area.

Our trek to House of Commons was a week-late Mother's Day celebration, as my mom was out of town last weekend. My mom loves all things British, and after reading many rave reviews, I've been wanting to take her to House of Commons for afternoon tea.

House of Commons lies in the Riverfront area at 15th and Platte. This particular afternoon, my husband and I met up with my mom after a quick trip to the Denver Beer Company just up the road.

I had made afternoon tea reservations for three about a week ago. The restaurant normally requests at least 48 hours notice for afternoon tea; otherwise their menu consists of an assortment of sandwiches, salads, and pastries.

Walking into House of Commons from a bustling Platte Street, we were immediately greeted by one of the women who worked there and seated at a table near the window. The restaurant is small, with space to seat maybe 20-25 people indoors, and a few additional tables outside.

Not surprisingly, House of Commons has a very feminine feel to it, with pastel walls and floral decor. The customers at the time of our visit were overwhelmingly female, including a bridal shower that occupied half the restaurant.

As my three readers know, my husband is a big tough guy, and I had to reassure him that he would end the meal with his masculinity intact.

We started off perusing the very long tea menu. House of Commons offers over forty teas, including many iced teas. My husband, at the waitress's recommendation, selected a white tea with lavender; my mom opted for a white peony tea.

I stuck with simple green tea. I have a hard time getting excited about tea since it's not coffee and it's not beer.

Green Tea

The tea was served loose in the respective pots, with filters provided to strain into the cups.

To nibble on, we were soon presented with this dainty and and beautifully arranged tower of fancy British tea staples.

Afternoon Tea Sandwiches, Scones, and Sweets

On the bottom tier were curried chicken salad and roast beef sandwiches. The curried chicken salad sandwiches were creamy and flavorful, with a sweetness from raisins thrown into the salad. I wasn't nearly as impressed by the roast beef sandwiches, which were a disappointing and boring combination of nothing more than a thin slice of roast beef and mayonnaise.

The second tier included classic cucumber and chive cream cheese sandwiches, as well as Irish cheddar and apricot jam sandwiches. I loved the sharp taste of the Irish cheddar, particularly combined with the sweetness of the jam.

Atop the third tier were bite-size scones served with Devonshire cream, jam, and lemon curd. I didn't care too much for the scones, though I generally think that traditional English scones, including these, are bland and too chewy. Fortunately, the tangy lemon curd and sweet jam contributed enough flavor to make them enjoyable.

On the top plate were sugar cookies with a chocolate center, lemon poppyseed cake, and chocolate cake. The lemon poppyseed cake was layered with a delicious citrus frosting that I loved, especially combined with the airy poppyseed cake.

Overall, the afternoon tea was tasty but it was extremely simple. For a pot of tea and a sample of finger foods and sweets, it felt too pricey. I would've been much more excited about this meal if it had cost $15 or so per person instead of $20.

Service was very good and very prompt. The waitress was particularly knowledgeable about the wide selection of teas available.

Afternoon tea at House of Commons was a lovely experience, but I don't get the urge to partake in afternoon tea very often, so I'm not sure if I'll be back.



Casual Dining

(7 of 10)

Pros: Wide tea selection, excellent tea, great service
Cons: Very expensive for the type of food served


Website:
http://www.houseofcommonstea.com/

Linger Revisited

Things have now come full circle: after passing on our booked-a-month-out Linger reservations several months ago to try the rare craft brews at Hops & Pie, we cancelled 5280 Restaurant Week reservations at Trillium to join a couple of friends at Linger last weekend.

The friends who we joined are Linger regulars, and they know many of the employees very well. This was our second visit to Linger; you can read all about my first visit from my initial review.  I'll keep this post brief, since my December 2011 review of Linger was so wordy, and just sum up a few of my thoughts from the weekend.

We decided on four small plates to share among the four of us. I really felt this was a perfect amount of food, and Linger's suggestion of two plates per person is entirely too much.

Linger had scaled back their menu for 5280 Restaurant Week, and they also no longer offered the Crispy Risotto Arancini - one of my "Best Things I Ate in 2011" - since they consider it a fall or winter dish. Bummer.

We started off with the Devils on Horseback (not pictured, $10), which I had at my last visit, and which I've also had a couple times at Root Down. As with the last visit, I felt the bacon-wrapped dates were entirely too sweet, and I much prefer Root Down's version with Peppadew peppers.

Our second dish was their daily special, Mee Krab (not pictured, $10), which is a Thai crispy noodle dish. The dish was very well prepared and we certainly preferred it over the oily Pad Thai we had at our previous visit.

Up next was the Tamarind Braised Short Rib ($18). This plate was significantly more expensive than most of the small plates at Linger, but it was worth it. The meat was extremely tender and well seasoned. The bottom of the dish was filled with rice noodles that had absorbed the flavors of a broth-like beef sauce. Atop the concoction were baby bok choy and jalapenos.

Tamarind Braised Short Rib

Our final small plate of the evening was Yucatan Huarache con Mahi a la Plancha ($15). This is a newer addition to the menu, and was basically a flat fish taco. It was well prepared, but it didn't stand out like the short rib or mee krab.

Yucatan Huarache con Mahi a la Plancha

Since we weren't very impressed with Linger's desserts based on previous visits, we opted for a cheese plate ($15) as our final dish. It arrived with three cheeses, fudge pieces, a fig spread, and a caramel square.

Cheese Plate

It was a lovely sweet and savory pairing, and we all enjoyed it over any of the restarant's standard desserts.

We really enjoyed the food and atmosphere on this particular night. I'm even starting to forgive Linger's intense trendiness, as the hype does seem to be backed up by some great food, attentive service, and a lively ambiance.


Website:
http://www.lingerdenver.com/

5280 Best New Restaurants of 2011

5280 Magazine's March 2012 issue lists the eight best new restaurants in Denver.

Their top selections include three spots that have been reviewed in the Rocky Mountain Oyster: Pizzeria Locale, Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar, and Linger.

5280's complete list of the Best New Restaurants of 2011:

Pinche Taqueria
Tag Raw Bar
Charcoal
Pizzeria Locale
Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar
Trillium
CafeBar
Linger

Looks like I've got five more restaurants to add to my queue!

Check out the article and let's look forward to more great new restaurants in 2012.

Braised Lamb Shank @ Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar

Linger

Well, we finally made it to Linger. About six weeks ago, we had made two different dinner reservations at the restaurant: one for Saturday, November 27, and one for Saturday, December 17. Yes, getting into Linger on a weekend currently requires booking about four weeks out. That means the restaurant and I at least have one thing in common: we both have very busy schedules.

We ended up cancelling our first reservations at the last minute due to the irresistible appeal of craft beer at Hops & Pie. We stuck to our December reservations though, and met up with another couple for dinner last weekend to figure out why everyone's so excited about Linger.

Linger occupies the space of the former Olinger Mortuary, and plays on that history throughout the dining experience. In fact, the restaurant's name derives from Olinger with a simple subtraction of the "O". As a genius advertising maneuver, the "O" on the giant sign atop the restaurant that bears the former mortuary's name has been unplugged, leaving the brightly lit letters "linger" looming over downtown Denver.

Besides its influence on the restaurant's name, the "dead people" theme pervades Linger, from the decor to the menu to the beer options.

As the sister restaurant to Root Down a few blocks away, I had high expectations. Root Down is one of my absolute favorite dinner spots in Denver. Both restaurants advertise a commitment to environmental responsibility and good food, but Linger certainly seems to be the trendier, hottest-place-in-town restaurant of the two.

Linger specializes in a dizzying array of international street food, divided into world regions on the menu. They claim to be a "tapas-style" restaurant and they mean it. The menu offers only small plates, with each dish costing roughly $6 to $16.

The restaurant makes a point to cater certain dishes to food allergies, vegetarians, and vegans, although no one in our group had any dietary aversions.

The waitstaff recommends two small plates per person, a suggestion I completely disagree with. We ordered six plates between the four of us, and that was maybe one plate too many. Keep in mind that much of Linger's food is fried or at least very greasy, so it's hard to eat large portions.

Our meal started with complimentary togarashi-flavored popcorn. While I like the idea of popcorn as a light meal starter, I thought Linger's popcorn tasted stale and flavorless.

Our six small plates consisted of one "Asia" dish: Pad Thai with Wagyu Beef; three "Americas" dishes: Scallop Ceviche, Strongbow Cider Mussels, and Maple Leaf Duck Wings; and two "Europe" dishes: Devils on Horseback and Crispy Risotto Arancini. Though we hadn't necessarily intended them to be so, our selections were some of the most pedestrian offerings on the menu.

The dishes were served in two rounds of three plates each.

First up were the Devils on Horseback ($10):

Devils on Horseback

Linger's Devils on Horseback were comprised of goat cheese stuffed Medjool dates wrapped in bacon. These packed quite a sweet-and-savory punch, with an intense sugary taste from the dates.

While I enjoyed the little devils, Root Down offers a different interpretation of the dish - made with sweet-and-spicy peppadew peppers - that I prefer over Linger's.

Next was the Scallop Ceviche ($11), served with avocado and chips:

Scallop Ceviche

The scallops were fresh, light and citrusy, and were balanced with the creamy avocado and salty corn chips. The dish was apparently prepared with habanero peppers, but I tasted no spiciness whatsoever. This was good ceviche, but many other restaurants in town offer something comparable. For $11, I prefer the scallop ceviche at Vesta Dipping Grill or LoLa (just a block away).

Finishing up that round of small plates were the Strongbow Cider Mussels ($13):

Strongbow Cider Mussels

Besides the obvious Strongbow Cider component, the sauce included garlic, thyme, celery, and grain mustard. The shellfish were accompanied by grilled spicy cheddar bread. The mussels were tasty, but like the ceviche above, they were not terribly memorable.

It was time for our second round of tapas, starting with the Pad Thai with Wagyu Beef ($10 + $5 for Wagyu beef).

Pad Thai with Wagyu Beef

The pad thai tasted a little oily for my taste but was authentically prepared. It wasn't very spicy on its own and needed more heat from the chili sauce served on the side. The Wagyu beef was perfectly cooked, but it had simply been thrown on the side of the dish, with no attempt made at meshing flavors.

We also couldn't resist trying the Maple Leaf Duck Wings ($11):

Maple Leaf Duck Wings

I've had a million chicken wings in my life, but never duck wings. I was concerned that they might be too tough and chewy, but the meat was actually impressively tender. The wings were drenched in a sweet and tangy blood orange hot sauce, which made them extremely messy. I realize wings are supposed to be messy, but Linger felt a little too upscale for me to drench my face in wing sauce.

And finally, Linger's menu held one of the high points of my many 2011 dining experiences, the Crispy Risotto Arancini ($11 for three, we added a fourth for an additional $3):

Crispy Risotto Arancini

Arancini are apparently a traditional Sicilian food, comprising of fried rice balls filled with meat sauce. I'm afraid the above "as-served" photo makes them look more like the world's most confused donut holes and does not do justice to the their delicious innards. Let's take a closer look at a severed arancini:

Crispy Risotto Arancini

There it is: a creamy risotto exterior with a crisp, fried shell, filled with a delicious bolognese sauce. The meaty bolognese sauce was particularly rich and well-seasoned. Every bite of the arancini was outstanding, and they were one the few things I ate at Linger that didn't bring to mind a similar-but-better dish somewhere else in town.

Timing of our various small plates was a bit too fast; we were rushed into relocating food to different dishes and juggling too many items on the table. Also, our individual plates quickly became covered in sauces and straggling bits from various dishes. With the extreme array of foods served at Linger, these turned into a flavor hodgepodge that blended unfavorably with whatever subsequent item we tried to throw on the plate.

We finished off the meal with the dessert trio ($10), which included mini versions of the Peanut Butter & Jelly Cup, the Ovaltine & Oreos, and the Mississippi Mud Pie.

Dessert Trio. Left to Right: Peanut Butter & Jelly Cup, Ovaltine & Oreos, and Mississippi Mud Pie

Linger offers a couple more exotic dessert options, but they stuck to close to home with their dessert trio selections (so much for international street food!). The Peanut Butter & Jelly Cup tasted overwhelmingly of peanut butter. Similarly, the Mississippi mud pie was basically a very one-dimensional chocolate cake. The Ovaltine & Oreos dessert was a little more exciting, comprising of a very strongly Ovaltine-flavored Bavarian cream atop an "Oreo" made of chocolate cookies and mascarpone.

I'm disappointed and puzzled that Linger veered sharply away from their international street food theme and instead offers these very tame, all-American desserts. The world flavors that influenced their small plates menu could have easily produced a half dozen interesting and delicious sweet treats, but instead Linger serves boring mud pies.

Other than being underwhelmed by their desserts, Linger basically delivered on an ambitiously diverse menu. All the small plates were tried were well-executed, though only the arancini stands out as a superlative dish. I commend Linger for their commitment to environmentally responsible, quality food, but some of that backbone of substance gets diluted with distractions of the restaurant's trendy feel and the pervasive dead body motif.

Linger felt reasonably priced considering the quality and quantity of food served. As I mentioned earlier, one to one-and-a-half small plates per person is probably the ideal ratio. Visiting Linger with a large group will give you the best opportunity to sample multiple dishes.

As a side note, 5280 Magazine recently published an excellent Linger review in their December 2011 issue. The article discusses Linger's background in depth and reviews many of their small plates. It's well worth reading for more information about the restaurant, and I found myself in complete agreement with the author regarding Linger's food and service.

There are still a dozen or so dishes on the menu that I'm curious to try, and I need to check out the amazing patio views that everyone raves about. Linger is certainly worth another visit, but it may be another couple of months before our busy schedules can align.


Casual Dining

(7 of 10)

Pros: Good food and service, reasonably priced
Cons: Dessert was boring, hard to get reservations


Website:
http://lingerdenver.com/

La Loma

In the mood for a quick Mexican food lunch last weekend, we strolled into La Loma on our way back from the north suburbs. La Loma is basically a Denver staple. They must be doing something right, as they've thrived in their spacious location on 26th Avenue for over thirty years.

Anyone seeing La Loma's location for the first time ma be surprised by the residential-looking abode in an otherwise commercial area just north of Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Operating out of a former Denver home built in 1887, La Loma looks and feels more like grandma's house than a giant Mexican restaurant.

La Loma

We've been to La Loma a few times before, always either for dinner or just before heading over to a Broncos game.

On this particular visit, we arrived at a not-ideal-for-Mexican-food hour of 11 am on a Sunday, just after the restaurant had opened for the day. The dining area was pretty empty due to the early hour and a simultaneous Broncos away game.

The interior is filled with homey decorations, including plenty of Christmas decor during the December day of our meal. We were seated next to their tortilla maker, which pops out fresh tortillas on a heated conveyor belt to the joy of nearby diners.

Our server quickly brought us complimentary chips and salsa:

Chips and Salsa

My husband proclaims this to be his favorite chips and salsa in Denver. The homemade salsa is fresh, spicy, and rich in tomato flavor. I prefer a thicker, chunkier salsa, but the flavor of this salsa was excellent.

For my main dish, I ordered the Chile Rellenos ($9.95):

Chile Rellenos with Green Chile

This dish was described on the menu as "Green chile strips with melted aged cheddar and jack cheeses in a crispy shell, served with green or red chile, refried beans and rice."

Relleno is Spanish for "stuffed," but there was clearly nothing stuffed about the chiles used in this dish. Instead, inside the crispy, fried wrapper was a giant log of sizzling, oozing cheese and a small sliver of green chile.

This might make an ideal bar food, but it was too greasy and cheesy of a dish to be a good main meal. To call it "Chile Rellenos" on the menu is a bit misleading, although the menu's description exactly depicted how it was served.

Alongside the chiles were large helpings of rice and refried beans. I have yet in my lifetime to enjoy the sad pile of boring, bland Spanish rice served with so many Mexican-American dishes, so I was similarly unimpressed with the rice at La Loma. The beans, however, were well seasoned and not too mashed up, which I liked.

The chiles were served with a large helping of green chile. La Loma makes a big deal of its green chile, and apparently 5280 Magazine awarded La Loma Denver's "Best Green Chile" title. It's packed with small pieces of pork and has a bit of a thick, floury texture. I found it very tasty, although I wish it had a little more heat.

My husband ordered the Tacos Dorados with ground beef ($9.75):

Tacos Dorados with Ground Beef

The tacos were stuffed with ground beef and topped with cheddar and jack cheeses, lettuce, and tomatoes. Like my chile rellenos, they were served with refried beans and rice.

They were simple and quite tasty, although not particularly special. The ground beef was very well seasoned, but the tacos would've needed more depth of flavor to really stand out.

Service was friendly and extraordinarily prompt.

La Loma offers some decent but not amazing Mexican food for a reasonable price, and it makes a great spot for a reliably quick lunch.


Everyday Dining

(7 of 10)

Pros: Cheap, fast service, great green chile
Cons: Some dishes to greasy and/or one-dimensional

Website:
http://www.restauranteur.com/laloma/

Hops & Pie

Let me break down the sequence of events that led us to Hops & Pie last night:

3:13 pm: My husband receives a photo of last night's Hops & Pie "Beers on Tap" list from one of his friends. The beer menu includes his beloved - and extremely hard to find - "Supplication" by Russian River.

3:14 pm: Unable to turn down the immediate potential for Supplication on tap, we cancel our reservations at Linger that we'd made a month earlier.

3:33 pm: My husband calls one of his beer aficionado buddies and informs him that he and his wife must join us on the journey for some craft beer on tap.

4:30 pm: We leave our place down south to head 35 minutes away for Supplication on tap. Sorry, Linger. Your international street food menu will have to wait.

5:06 pm: Hello, Hops & Pie.

And that is how we ended up at Hops & Pie, and not at Linger, on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving.

So Hops & Pie offers just about the best craft beer selection in Denver. And they sell pizza. It's really the simplest, most genius, and most inevitably successful business model imaginable for a front range establishment.

Located at 38th and Tennyson in the historic Berkeley neighborhood, Hops & Pie lies off the beaten path of Denver's main restaurant and bar scenes. Alongside Hops & Pie on Tennyson street are an eclectic mix of restaurants, coffee shops, a yoga studio, and an antique store that my mother would be happy to spend all day in.

Hops & Pie's location is small, really too small to accommodate the beer-loving Denver public. It comprises one long, narrow room, with the bar area taking up half the space.

Despite our early arrival just after 5 pm, the restaurant's tiny space and the fact that three groups of people had monopolized all available tables meant we were in for a bit of a wait. Half an hour later, after squeezing the four of us around a small table sandwiched between the bar and another table, we were all seated.

The beer menu at Hops & Pie is really unmatched by any other bar in Denver. They have managed to offer - either on tap or in bottle form - some of the absolute highest regarded and hardest to find craft beers in the country.

Unfortunately, this being complete beer-snob territory, the menu was extremely sparse on the light, "girly" pilsners and wheat beers that I prefer.

My husband enjoyed a 375 mL bottle of Pliny the Elder, an IPA from Russian River ($11), followed by a 375 mL bottle of Consecration, also by Russian River, a barrel-aged ale ($19). I drank water and longed silently for a Michelob Ultra.

Pliny the Elder IPA by Russian River

Consecration Barrel-Aged Ale by Russian River

For dinner, we started with their IPA Mac & Cheese ($7.5), made with cheddar, smoked ham, peas, herbed bread crumbs, and of course, IPA.

IPA Mac n Cheese

Think of an outstanding home style mac and cheese, made even better with the use of beer. The rich, cheesy sauce had subtle, pleasantly bitter IPA undertones. The addition of sweet green peas and large, smoky ham pieces further improved the flavor. The four of us ate every last bite.

The mac n cheese was followed up with one of their 16" Artisan pizzas, topped with prosciutto, mozzarella, sauteed spinach, banana peppers, cherry tomatoes, and roasted garlic ($17).

Artisan Pizza slice

After our excitement at Hops & Pie's beer selection and delicious mac n cheese, this pizza was a letdown. Basically, it was bad. The crust was bland, and there was no sauce. While I enjoyed most of the toppings, the banana peppers were straight from a jar, and their briny flavor overwhelmed everything else on the pizza.

Good pizza should be pretty easy to crank out, right? Especially by owners who are smart enough to tap into Denver's palate for craft beers, and who have enough kitchen skills to put together the incredible IPA Mac n Cheese we had just consumed. So I was perplexed that the pizza would be so completely disappointing.

I did notice, however, that surrounding diners had stuck to the "create your own" pizza selections made with hand-tossed crusts and served with their house-made tomato sauce and cheese blends. They looked much tastier than our pizzas, but of course I have no way to verify how they tasted.

Anyway, we couldn't walk away from Hops & Pie without trying some of their cereal-based marshmallow treats.  We ordered their Super Treat, containing Cocoa Puffs and Peanut Butter Captain Crunch ($3), and a Crispy Treat ($2), made of traditional rice crisp cereal.

Super Treat

Crispy Treat

Not to brag, but I'm pretty much a cereal-and-marshmallow-treat connoisseur, and I must say that all such treats should be evaluated based on the following criteria: 1) Ratio of marshmallow cream to cereal, 2) Ductility, 3) Butteriness

Both treats were a resounding success in all three categories, although I must say the butteriness of these treats was extreme, and some people may find them too rich.

The service at Hops & Pie was very good. Our waitress removed one of our beers from the tab when we notified her that it tasted basically awful (likely on the brewer's end and not Hops & Pie's).

By the time we got ready to leave, which was only about 7:30 pm, the small restaurant was packed with patrons mulling around the bar area as table and bar seating had long ago filled up.

If Hops & Pie can upgrade its pizza offerings, it will rule Denver. Otherwise, its still worth the long drive if you love craft beer, mac n cheese, and cereal treats.


Casual Dining

(5 of 10)

Pros: Unmatched craft beer selection, excellent IPA Mac n Cheese and Cereal Treats, good service
Cons: Not crazy about pizza, crowded

Nescafe Dolce Gusto Event @ Root Down

There's a huge part of my life that I can't believe I've actually never mentioned on the Rocky Mountain Oyster.

I am a major, major coffee addict.

From the time I wake up until the time my body has absorbed a significant quantity of caffeine, everything around me is an irritating, blurry, unbearably complicated and exhausting trainwreck. Coffee is the backbone of my existence, and I'm very happy with that.

So I couldn't pass up a recent invitation to combine coffee with incredible food from Root Down, which is one of my favorite restaurants in Denver. See my review of Root Down (9 of 10 stars) from April.

The event was a "Foodie Feed Up" organized to promote Nescafe's Dolce Gusto line of single-serve coffee makers.

Prior to this event, the only other blogger I'd met was Ms. Sizzling Cupcake, so it was great to meet a bunch of fellow bloggers and not feel like a self-conscious dorkface when I took pictures of all the food.

We started out with wine and five of Root Down's standard appetizers.

Seared Colombian Arepas:

Seared Colombian Arepas

These arepas, made from corn flour, were filled with mozzarella and topped with poblano-pistachio pesto, something they call achiote crema, and pico de gallo. In other words, its a corn-based grilled cheese. They were good but nothing special.

Sweet Potato "Falafel":

Sweet Potato "Falafel"

I guess they put "falafel" in quotes because it's a falafel in looks alone. The sweet potato base is mixed with a variety of spices and vegetables, fried to perfection, and topped with lemon-tahini Yogurt, Israeli salad, sesame seeds and chile oil. I've had these at Root Down before and they're very tasty.

Lamb Sliders:

Lamb Sliders

The mini burgers were topped with aged cheddar, harissa aioli, and arugula. They were outstanding, with a much simpler and more delectable flavor profile than the Buffalo Sliders that I've had before at Root Down. The lamb was incredibly rich and well seasoned. The giant helping of organic sweet potato fries and mint-garlic yogurt dipping sauce disappeared fast. 

Organic Butternut-Ricotta Gnocchi:

Organic Butternut-Ricotta Gnocchi

Besides the gnocchi, this plate contained mushrooms, spinach, black currants, shallots, chile flake, brown butter, sage pesto and pecorino. While the gnocchi itself had a lovely creamy-sweet flavor and perfect texture, I really didn't care for the appetizer as a whole. Everything was a bit greasy and there were too many flavors and textures on the plate.

Devils on Horseback:

Devils on Horseback

The name "Devils on Horseback" isn't very descriptive; the small bites are comprised of date and goat cheese stuffed peppadews, wrapped in serrano ham, and served with smoked paprika-sherry gastrique. Peppadews, by the way, are a variety of small, sweet-and-spicy peppers native to South Africa.

I wrote about my love of the Devils on Horseback on my previous Root Down review, and they were just as insanely good at my second taste. Hands down my favorite appetizer at Root Down, and certainly one of the best in Denver overall.

While we were enjoying the appetizers, Root Down's Kitchen Manager, Daniel Asher, spoke to our group about Root Down's philosophy and practices in sourcing the restaurant's ingredients.  He encouraged us to understand where our food comes from, and to make informed choices about sustainable and local produce and meats.

It was then time for dessert:

Almond Fluffernutter. Flourless Chocolate Cake, Cashew Caramel Creme Almond Corn Flake,
Bruleed Fluff, and Candied Citrus

Banana "Creme Brulee" Pie. Peanut butter-chocolate crispy crust
and sweet whipped sour cream

Croissant Bread Pudding. Whiskey Butter Sauce
& Sour Cream Ice Cream

Apple & Butternut Squash Cheesecake. Ginger Anglaise,
Black Tea Reduction, and  Walnut Ice Cream

I only tried a very small bite of each; the decadent banana "creme brulee" pie was my favorite.

We then had a coffee demonstration for the Dolce Gusto:

Dolce Gusto Coffee Presentation

Nescafe's Dolce Gusto machines are a line of single-serve coffee makers that appear to have more versatility and a much wider range of beverage options than many other single-serve coffee makers. I had no idea, but most coffee-house espresso machines operate at around 150 to 215 psi; the Dolce Gusto operates at 215 psi (for reference, that's about seven times the pressure in a car tire). The machine makes both hot and cold beverages, including espressos, cappuccinos, chai lattes and iced teas.

I tried the Cappuccino Skinny, which had a smooth and mild flavor, a nice froth, and came in at only 50 calories per serving. My husband tried the Mocha, which he enjoyed, and the Nestea Peach Iced Tea, which was very sweet (though Nestea is normally very sweet in all forms its sold in). Also keep in mind that the Nestea Peach Iced Tea is sweetened with sugar and aspartame, and contains artificial flavors and vegetable oils. All the coffee-based flavors had a much simpler ingredient base.

Nescafe also sent each of us a Piccolo, which is one of five of the Dolce Gusto machine varieties.

For more information:

Nescafe Dolce Gusto: http://www.dolce-gusto.us

Root Down: http://www.rootdowndenver.com/


Disclaimer: The event described above, including the complimentary coffee maker, was fully paid for by Nescafe to promote their Dolce Gusto coffee makers. All opinions are my own. 

Duo Restaurant

Every once in a while, on a lazy weekend morning, my husband and I manage to drag ourselves out of bed, hop in the car, and drive far far out of the suburbs to treat ourselves to delicious brunch in the city.

Last weekend was one of those occasions, as we trekked to the Highlands for an encore visit to Duo Restaurant on Sunday morning.

The last time I was at Duo was sometime in the era of a million years ago, with Mr. Oyster and my mother, for what I remembered was a fantastic brunch.

It was just my husband and me this time, looking for a repeat of the great food from our previous visit.

Duo is tucked fairly deep in the Highlands at 32nd and Zuni. We had reservations on a Sunday for the restaurant's open at 10 am. Within a few minutes of being seated, every table was occupied. Note to anyone eating at Duo at a similar time: make reservations.

Duo is yet another farm-to-table type place that reminds me a lot of The Kitchen in Boulder. It's got a cozy, homey feel that includes napkins that look like this:

How quaint. 

I ordered the mushroom scramble ($8), which included scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach, with a side of crispy potatoes and a slice of homemade bread.

Mushroom Scramble

It was perfect. The scramble was very healthy and fresh tasting, although too large of a portion for me. And I love love love their crispy potatoes; they come well-seasoned with a wonderful crunchy exterior. 

And for my husband, the cider glazed pork "benedict" ($10). Direct from menu: poached eggs, grilled sourdough bread, slow roasted cider glazed pork, whole grain mustard cream sauce, crispy potatoes.

Cider Glazed Pork Benedict

This was a completely unique twist on eggs benedict and we loved it.  The eggs sat on a bed of roasted pork, which were atop a slice of sourdough bread. The eggs were perfectly poached with runny centers that melded with the cream sauce, sourdough, and pork. 

We were well attended to at Duo and left with some wonderful brunch in our stomachs. Just as good as I remembered it. 

Casual Dining

 8 of 10

Pros: Delicious food, good service, fresh, local ingredients

Cons: Reservations needed

Website:

http://duodenver.com/

Lola

Lola is one of many restaurants in the Highlands that my husband and I get awfully excited about (see our Root Down review here).

We had Saturday night reservations on yet another rainy evening during this uncharacteristically wet May. Fortunately for us, we were joined by our wonderful neighbor-friends who journeyed out of the suburbs with us for some wonderful food.


Lola has apparently been named one of the "top five establishments to drink tequila in America by Food and Wine Magazine." I know that because that's the first thing you see when you visit Lola's website. I don't know what Food and Wine's criteria was, but Lola has a long, long list of tequilas available. Their margaritas are mixed with premium tequilas, and without any sour mix. After trying the Dr. J margarita at Lola many months ago, my husband has sworn off any other margarita from anywhere else. Forever. In fact, he considers himself a sort of pseudo tequila snob after a schooling from the bartender on that visit.

Dr. J Margarita

Lola is part of the "Big Red F" group of restaurants, which shares ownership under Dave Query and also includes Centro, West End Tavern, Jax Fish House, Happy, and Zolo. Besides all the tequila, Lola specializes in coastal Mexican cuisine, so you can expect far more seafood options on the menu than most Denver restaurants. 


The Highlands location at 16th and Boulder is apparently a former mortuary, and the spot where Wild Bill Cody's body laid temporarily in the winter of 1917 before Lookout Mountain had thawed enough for a burial. Fans of obscure Denver history will love it. 


Lola has an enclosed patio area with a view of downtown that's lovely in the summer. However, we were happy to be seated in the main dining area given the dreary rain outside. 

This being such a famously amazing tequila-drinking establishment, everyone ordered the Dr. J margaritas ($11 each).  Everyone except myself, that is, since I am an irrationally stubborn drinker of nothing but light beer.

We started out with our usual appetizer: chips and guacamole. It sounds boring, but there's a twist: Lola sends out a server and a cart full of ingredients, and the guacamole is prepared tableside to your liking. For $8, it's an expensive, Benihana-esque entertainment gimmick, but the guacamole is outstanding. Plus, you get the novelty factor of Lola being spelled into your dish with cayenne pepper.

Guacamole

For our main entrees, Mr. Oyster and I split the carne asada ($26) and the ceviche "flight".

The Carne Asada included, besides the steak, yam and chorizo hash, pork green chili, and grilled squash. The presentation was messy, but the food was outstanding:

Carne Asada

The yams stole the show; they were naturally sweet, seasoned to a perfect saltiness and cooked to very tender.

The ceviche flight that we split was an enormous portion consisting of fish, shrimp, and scallop ceviche.

Ceviche Flight, clockwise from top right: fish, shrimp, scallops

The shrimp was my favorite, although the least traditional of the three. It was served in a creamy aioli sauce with tomato slices. One of our friends that was with us, a native Californian, said overall the dish was the best ceviche she'd had in Denver.

One of our dining companions ordered a Caesar salad alongside her main dish. The salad ended up containing a bit of a surprise:

Caesar Salad

See the huge croutons? Those aren't actually croutons. They're polenta-crusted cheese cubes, which we were told were wonderful. Sneaky.  

Finally, although we were getting quite stuffed by that point, it was time for dessert. Fortunately for us, Lola had just unveiled a completely new dessert menu which had several enticing options. We chose the Strawberry Shortcake Churro, being partially swayed by the fact that throughout our meal, the whole dining area had smelled like sweet fried dough.

Strawberry Shortcake Churro

Besides the lovely swirly churro, the dish came with malted strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, and sweetened strawberries (hidden under the whipped cream and churro in the photo). Very unique and every bite was delicious.

We had ordered too much food, but everything was excellent.

One downside to point out is Lola is not particularly vegetarian-friendly. One of our dining companions is vegetarian, and she had very limited menu options to choose from. In fact, if you're not in the mood for seafood, your meat options are also a little slim.



Casual Dining

(9 of 10)


Pros: Endless tequila selection, good food
Cons: Expensive, lack of vegetarian options

Website:
http://www.loladenver.com