Pho 95

Needing some pho this past weekend and intrigued by the positive reviews that Pho 95 received on Yelp and Urbanspoon, my husband and I headed over for lunch.

Normally for a Vietnamese food fix, we head to Pho Saigon in Englewood, so everything at Pho 95 was judged relative to its south-suburban counterpart a few miles further east on Arapahoe.

Pho 95 is situated in the 'burbs at Littleton's SouthGlenn development, which is a totally different environment from its Pho 95 predecessor off Federal. Nonetheless the restaurant seems to do extremely well in suburbia.

We arrived on a Sunday around 1 pm to a brightly decorated, mostly-full restaurant, and were immediately seated at a booth near the window.

We began with our usual starter, the Shrimp and Pork Spring Rolls ($3.95):

Pork and Shrimp Spring Rolls

The rolls contained high-quality shrimp and pork, but otherwise were stuffed with only rice noodles and lettuce and were a bit bland. The peanut sauce tasted too much like overly sweet peanut butter.

Our main dishes were small bowls of Pho Tai or Beef Pho ($6) for my husband and Pho Bo Vien or Meatball Pho ($6) for myself.

Pho Bo (Beef Pho)

Meatball Pho

The soup was accompanied by a giant plate of veggies:

Pho Vegetables

You really can't tell from the photo above, but the plate came with a mountain of bean sprouts that were a bit brown and not particularly fresh tasting.

Other than the dreary bean sprouts, however, the pho was fantastic. The broth was light and pleasantly salty. The meatballs and beef slices in our respective bowls were comprised of thinly sliced, high quality meats. The soup was packed full of meat and noodles, and we threw in handful after handful of veggies on the side.

Service was ridiculously fast, efficient, and friendly. I'm pretty sure we only had time to blink between placing our orders and seeing the spring rolls delivered to our table.

Overall we loved the pho (minus the bean sprouts), but the spring rolls were disappointing. Worth another visit.


Everyday Dining

(8 of 10)


Pros: Great pho, cheap, fast service
Cons: Some aspects of food below average

Website:
http://www.pho95noodlehouse.com

Opus

Opus is proof that fine dining can exist in the suburbs. We've been interested in making the trek to old town Littleton for a night at Opus, so when my husband saw a Groupon deal for half off the chef's tasting menu for two, we knew the time had come.

Our reservations were at 6:15 pm on Friday of Labor Day weekend. Taking advantage of free valet parking, we found ourselves entering Opus through a back entrance and meandering toward the front to locate the hostess.

The interior at Opus is one very large, expansive room, with widely spaced tables and concrete floors. It was about two-thirds occupied on the Friday night of our visit. The restaurant faces Littleton's historic Main Street, which is a lively area full of bars and restaurants.

The Chef's tasting menu included five courses and normally cost $75 per person, but thanks to our Groupon was only $75 for both of us. My husband opted for the wine pairings, which cost an extra $25.

After starting with an amuse bouche and a variety of fresh breads, we received our first course, Asparagus Flan:

Asparagus Flan

The flan dish was served with tempura asparagus and a balsamic drizzle. I loved the crisp tempura asparagus. The flan was ok; I generally don't enjoy flan and I thought the flavor was flat. Overall the portion felt a little large for a first course.

Our second course was Summer Melon Salad:

Summer Melon Salad

This was a lovely, light dish containing three large watermelon spheres accompanied by cantaloupe slivers, very thin slices of Spanish sheep's milk cheese, and shaved fennel. It was a perfect follow up - and a more appropriate portion size - after the more decadent fried asparagus of our last plate. 

Our third course was Butter Poached Salmon:

Butter Poached Salmon

The salmon sat on a bed of ratatouille risotto. The salmon was perfectly cooked and had a lovely soft texture. The risotto, however, was the star of the show. It was creamy, pleasantly salty and filled with a colorful array of fresh vegetables.

Next was Sous Vide Redbird Chicken:

Sous Vide Redbird Chicken

I don't believe I've ever had anything cooked "Sous Vide" before, and this was just as tender and juicy as I imagined it would be. Each cylindrical piece of chicken was comprised of a curious blend of white and dark meats surrounded by a skin wrapper. It came with tomatoes and cheese-filled raviolis that were also excellent.

One gripe: I was disappointed that the two proteins on the tasting menu were chicken and salmon. How boring (and cheap?). I would have much preferred more exciting meat and seafood selections.

The dessert planned for the five course menu was a creme brulee, which I was wary of as I usually dislike the eggy taste of many creme brulees. I was able to change my dessert to the Chocolate Duet in its place. My husband, however, stuck with the creme brulee.

First, my Chocolate Duet:

Chocolate Duet

The chocolate duet contained a flourless chocolate cake covered in toffee pieces, with a chocolate cylinder filled with a whipped mousse. The plate was decorated with a syrup swirl. I loved the different textures and levels of chocolate, but it was just a bit too sweet for me, especially with the syrup garnish.

And the creme brulee:

Creme Brulee

The brulee came with a mint oil and berry swirl, fresh strawberries, and a sugared basil leaf. It had a runnier texture than a standard creme brulee (which was fine), and I was very impressed with how well it was cooked in such a boxy shape. And it tasted fantastic. Creamy and rich, with none of the eggy taste that I feared. The berries and basil leaf complimented the vanilla flavor perfectly. My husband declared this to be one of his favorite desserts ever.

And I had to sit there and stare at the dreaded smug look on my husband's face, as he relished the fact that his dessert was better than mine.

Due to my overwhelming ignorance of all things wine-related, I can't comment on the wine pairings other than to say the waiter did an outstanding job of describing each one and my husband enjoyed them.

The service at Opus was outstanding, and the timing and flow of the different courses was perfect. Overall execution of dishes was very good, and I appreciated some of the inventive twists that were thrown in. We preferred the overall experience at Opus over our previous fine dining dinners at Kevin Taylor and Mizuna. We'd return in a heartbeat with another Groupon or other deal; otherwise it's just for special occasions.


Fine Dining

(8 of 10)


Pros: Excellent, unique food. Outstanding service.
Cons: Expensive (look for online deals), boring proteins in tasting menu

Website:
http://www.opusdine.com/ 

Snooze, Visit #2

Note: This is a follow-up review after our first visit a few weeks ago. 

It was inevitable: the allure of all the amazing-sounding dishes we didn't get to try at our last Snooze escapade drew us in for another visit last weekend.

This time, we brought a couple of friends along and tried to show up early-ish to minimize the wait. Fortunately, the four of us only had to wait 20 minutes after our 8:45 Sunday morning arrival for a table (keep in mind this is the suburban location at Southglenn).

The portions at Snooze being too large, and the amazing food options being too numerous, we decided to drive our waitress crazy with a mishmash of everything delicious we saw on the menu. I should point out that our waitress was really nice about our goofy orders and did a great job.

Let's get started.

Half order of Sticky Bun French Toast:

Sticky Bun French Toast (half order)

We all loved this, but it was extremely rich. The single slice of toast was smothered in a generous helping of syrup, nuts and cream cheese icing. Even splitting the half portion among four of us, it was hard to finish the whole plate because it was so sweet.

A full-size order of Peaches 'n Cream French Toast:

Peaches 'n Cream French Toast 

This wasn't as delectable as the Sticky Bun variety, but also not as overwhelmingly sweet. I loved the crunchy granola topping and the refreshing taste of the peaches.

We warned our friend that there was no way he could finish an entire portion of the Blueberry Lemon Bar Pancakes, but he ordered them anyway.

Blueberry Lemon Bar Pancakes

He finished them off. Unbelievable. These pancakes have a pleasant tart flavor and are covered in a honey-yogurt sauce made with local Noosa yogurt. My husband preferred these over the Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes from our last visit.

We also ordered two of the Juan's Breakfast Tacos (a normal portion comes with three). The tacos came filled with scrambled eggs, shredded hash browns, jack cheese, ranchero sauce, and we added chorizo to make things more interesting.

Juan's Breakfast Tacos

I loved the ranchero sauce, and I definitely preferred the tacos over the breakfast burrito I had at my last visit. Still, I thought they needed Cholula for an extra kick.

Finally, I couldn't decide between eggs benedicts, so I went with one each of the Caprese and the Upstream Benny. The Caprese had an heirloom tomato atop mozzarella and ciabatta bread, topped with the usual poached egg and hollandaise sauce, with basil pesto and balsamic. The Upstream Benny included smoked salmon on bacon-jalapeno spoonbread.

Left: Caprese Benedict   Right: Upstream Benny   Back: Hash Browns

The Caprese benedict tasted like a hybrid of bruschetta and eggs benedict. I really enjoyed the fresh flavor of the tomato, but the mozzarella was so gooey that it was a bit hard to eat. I preferred the very unique Upstream Benny (I'm a huge salmon fan), although the spoonbread just tasted like cornbread to me. The hash browns were just average.

Feeling like a seasoned Snooze pro after all that food (ok, I really only have two visits under my belt), I bring you the following recommendations for any visit to Snooze:

• Be prepared for a wait at any of their locations
• Not the most relaxing experience as things can be rushed for table turnover
• Portions, especially for sweet dishes, are way too big. Get a half order, or split with lots of friends, or both
• Recommend getting additional meat and/or veggies in savory dishes

Snooze seems poised to take over the planet, with new locations coming soon in Boulder and San Diego, CA, so be prepared for a future full of giant breakfast burritos and red velvet pancakes. I know I'm ready.

The food at Snooze is very unique and mostly awesome. We've always had good or great service, and the waits have never been too awful. I'm therefore handing out an additional star to Snooze @ Southglenn, so they're now an 8-star joint instead of a 7-er from the initial review.


Everyday Dining

(8 of 10)



Pros: Great food, able to mix and match menu items, really unique breakfast choices
Cons: Long waits, feeling rushed, giant sugary portions

Website:
http://www.snoozeeatery.com

Snooze

Snooze is another restaurant that's kind of a big deal, and I've been wanting to go for months now. I mean, this is a place that offers Red Velvet Pancakes, how can you go wrong?

The downside of being kind of a big deal is that everyone else is trying to eat there too. When we stopped by their Centennial location last Sunday morning, a quick look at the crowds standing outside idly made it obvious we were in for a bit of a wait. They also don't take reservations, which was frustrating.

We were told by the staff that our party of 2 would be a 15 to 25-minute wait. That stretched out to about half an hour before we were seated.

Snooze has a pretty jazzy looking interior, with pale green walls, giant orange light fixtures, and huge circular tables. It was, of course, packed to capacity.

Making a decision on our meal selections was tough. There were about five or six dishes we each wanted to try. I'll just refer to you to their full menu. You'll understand our dilemma.

My husband decided on the Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes. From the menu: Caramelized pineapple chunks with housemade vanilla crème anglaise and cinnamon butter.

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes

These pancakes were every bit as rich and delectable as you'd imagine. Fluffy, white pancakes filled with sweet pineapple pieces and topped with a rich drizzle of rich sweet cream-cheesy "syrup" that was almost like a glaze.

The only problem? It was way too sweet and rich for the portion size. This is a hyperglycemic attack on a plate.

I didn't notice until after we'd dug in was that Snooze offers "a la carte" pancakes. I really wish we'd just ordered a single pancake alongside something with more nutritional value. The two enormous pancakes were just too much.

Anyway, moving on to my selection: the Breakfast Burrito. From the menu: Filled with scrambled eggs, hash browns, house black beans, cheddar & jack cheese, topped with salsa fresca and your choice of green chili or ranchero.

Breakfast Burrito with Green Chili

This monster was delicious, but why such a measly helping of green chili? I was expecting a far more generous smothering. The burrito was a little bland and would have been outstanding with more green chili flavor in each bite.

My portion was also too big, and even with some help from my lovely partner in crime, we had to push ourselves to finish three-quarters of it.

Our service was alright. Obviously it was a very busy place and I felt like we were rushed a little bit for the sake of table turnover.

I'd definitely return to Snooze, assuming I could get there early enough in the morning to avoid a substantial wait. The menu has too many delicious-sounding items that I have yet to devour.



Everyday Dining

 (7 of 10)

Pros: Great tasting food. Unique options. Cheap.
Cons: Long wait to eat, and they don't take reservations. Beware the full pancake portions (I recommend a la carte pancakes).

Website:
http://www.snoozeeatery.com