Buick Discovery Tour

My husband and I were invited to attend an event put together by Buick a couple weeks ago.  As a food writer I first found it a bit odd to be invited to a food event by Buick but my husband, who used to work in marketing, helped me understand.  Buick and Food and Wine teamed up and hired exquisite, nationally renowned chefs to do live demonstrations to draw people in.  As part of the event, they would also have guests test drive a Buick of their choice.  It's a really great idea!  I never would have test driven a Buick had I not been there for the food!

 

The event was called the Buick Discovery Tour and was held in downtown Denver at the Four Seasons.  We pulled up and the valet took our car and we were directed up stairs to sign in and snack while waiting for others to arrive.

 

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

Once it was time to start they directed the three groups to their own starting point.  We got to start off test driving the cars.  I loved the presentation! I looked out the second story window and noticed the entire block was filled with shiny, clean, new cars. It took me a minute to realize that they had closed off a whole block in down town Denver on a Saturday evening just for the car line up! It was an impressive site. We walked down stairs and out to the street. All the cars were already running with a representative inside waiting to guild you on the drive and tell you all about the car you chose. Since we have our second child on the way, my husband asked to test drive a full SUV (for me) or their sport car (for himself) . We were taken to the Verano Turbo, which is neither their sport car or an SUV. In fact it was pretty compact. I'm not sure if it is a "compact" car but it sure seemed like it! The interior was neat. I liked that it it had a heated steering wheel and apparently the front seats are heated too. As previous Audi owners there wasn't a lot to be impressed about. If we were interested in a compact Turbo we'd stick with our Audi A4. In any case, I did realize that Buicks are no longer your Grandma's car. They look nice and they are luxury cars which I was unaware of so I did learn something new!

 

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

 

 

Next we got to go back up stairs to watch the demo with Hedy Goldsmith. She was my favorite to listen to. She told us about her life growing up with a mother who didn't cook. She explained how she was introduced to baking when she received an Easy Bake Oven! Hedy is energetic, fun and creative. I love that she's not afraid to use unique ingredients in her food. For example, she made us a Basil Panna Cotta with Strawberry Consomme. It was so good! The fresh basil didn't taste like traditional basil. Paired with the sugar and cream it took on more of an earthy taste that really made the dish feel fresh and airy. I think the Strawberry Consomme was my favorite part though. It was delicious!

 

 

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

 

Next we went in with local chef, Alex Seidel. Alex runs a farm here in Colorado which he says is "Colorado's First Artisanal Sheep Dairy & Creamery". There they raise sheep which are milked to create dishes at his restaurant, Fruition. He showed us how to make Cavatelli Pasta with English Peas, Foraged Mushrooms and Cacio Pecora Broth. It was fascinating to listen to him and realize that there is a restaurant here in Denver that owns a farm, raises sheep, breads their own lamb and makes their own cheese! I just can't believe all the work that they themselves put into each dish they serve. It's incredible!

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

After the three stations the three groups came together in a large conference room. We were greeted by a Buick representative who then introduced us to Michael Green. We don't drink wine but apparently he's a wine genius! He spoke to us with much enthusiasm about wine pairings. He explained how different flavors will complement or ruin a wine. He was quite a character! My favorite part (since we didn't drink the wine) was eating the Lindor chocolate!

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

Finally, we were introduced to New York chef, Michael Psilakis. We were looking forward to his presentation since Greek food is one of our favorite cuisines! He shared a little back story, explaining how he was first an accountant and became a chef on accident. I love the family history that he shares in his book too! This guy is not only a great chef but he loves food and he loves his family and I appreciate that!

He made us Gyro Spiced Sliders. You wouldn't believe the flavor one little slider can pack! It was the most amazing food experience I have had in a long time! I could have eaten a second, maybe a third. This guy is a food genius.

As the event came to a close we were given a signed copy of Michael Psilakis' book How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking. I love collecting cookbooks so I really appreciated his gift to us!

We had an excellent night at the Four Seasons attending the Buick Discovery Tour! I learned a little about Buick and a lot about food. If you ever get an invite don't hesitate to accept! It was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

 

Phoenician Kabob

The Phoenician Kabob will probably always be our favorite restaurant in Denver. My husband and I stumbled in here on a very snowy, cold night a few years ago. It looked like a hole in the wall from the outside but once we walked in we were impressed! Little did we know, we were about to fall in love with Mediterranean food.

Four years later we are still raving about our experience here. The manager at the time, Jamal, just brought us food. From what I recall, we hardly looked at the menu because he just brought us his favorites. He sat with us and explained the origin of Falafels and explained to us what Kafta was. He was invested in making our visit a good one, so much so that he brought out his personal tube of tomato sauce and sent us home with it. Jamal is my food hero. He welcomed us into the beautiful world of Middle Eastern Food.

When company comes from out of state we don't hesitate to take them out to dinner to the Phoenician Kabob. When my aunt and her family came they were no exception so we once again found ourselves at our favorite eatery.

We ordered the exact same things Jamal suggested to us the first time we came. My family loved it!

I won't post the details but rather, I'd love for you to read our first experience at this hidden Denver gem! Seriously, this is my highest recommendation of all time!

Diegos

I had family in town a couple weeks ago. They were staying on 16th Street so we spent a day on 16th Street. I always dread going downtown but once I am there I always love the hustle & bustle and people watching.

We were freezing and hungry so we ran to the first restaurant that looked good. Diego's. I am always up for Mexican food!

We had two toddlers in strollers with us which made us difficult to seat I'm sure. Our waiter was excellent and patient with us non the less.

Since I had my toddler with me I thought the Nachos would be an easy dish to share with her. I am a sucker for loaded, cheesy nachos despite the guilt that follows eating them. Ours were topped with chicken, guacamole, salsa, sour cream and a creamy cheese sauce. They were so good but we couldn't finish them. It is an impressively large dish that I'd highly recommend.

My aunt ordered the vegetable fajita plate. It looked and smelled great! She said it was delicious too.

If you find yourself downtown with a craving for Mexican food I recommend giving this place a try. My favorite thing about Diego's was their salsa bar! I think more places need sauce or salsa bars!

Mecca Grill

My husband and I love Middle Eastern food. It's our second favorite with authentic Mexican being our number one. With that being said, we had to try Mecca.

 

 

We went to Mecca around two in the afternoon on a Saturday and we were the only ones there for the majority of the time which was nice. Our waiter was very polite and accommodating until his friends stopped by. He then slacked off, taking ten minutes just to bring us a box. He also turned the music up so loud that my husband and I couldn't hear each other anymore. I wouldn't complain, I like loud music but the atmosphere before was calm and relaxing so to go from a relaxing meal to a night club feel was just odd. One or the other would be nice.

 

I also have to point out (because it's not obvious), you seat yourself and pay at the counter.

 

Now, lets talk food. My husband ordered their meat combo (Kafta, Chicken Shawarma, and a chicken Kabob) which also comes with two pittas, hummus, rice and a salad. I like how they bring out the pittas and hummus with the salad out as an appetizer. The presentation was also amazing. We were impressed. The food was delicious too. Our favorite was probably the Shawarma. The Kafta was also amazing but the chicken was pretty boring.

 

I ordered the Falafel plate. It came with the same sides as the meat combo and my 5 Falafels. I love Falafels! I don't think I've ever had  aFalafel I don't like but these weren't very good. They tasted a lot like flour and not much else. I thought they were a bit too dry and flavorless really. After dunking them in the amazing hummus and garlic paste they weren't too bad.

 

I highly recommend trying their meat combo! If we go back we'd probably get that again along side a Chicken Shawarma sandwich since their Shawarma was so good. I also have to mention the Mango and Strawberry juice. It was the best drink I think I have ever had! It was devine! The Strawberry juice was good too but the Mago Strawberry is the best.

 

We really wanted to try their Baklava but our waiter stopped attending to us as I mentioned. I suppose it's just as well. We left with so many leftovers as it was. I just wish we had as excellent service as we did in the beginning. Overall, I recommend Mecca. The food and presentation were exceptional!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Peking

I live near New Peking. I drive by it all the time. It's a hole in the wall looking place. I never thought to try it but one day, I was looking on Urban Spoon for a Chinese restaurant we could grab some quick take-out from. With a toddler and a husband on bed-rest I was too lazy to make dinner and the family wasn't up for a night out. I found New Peking and I was impressed with it's rather high reviews. I was especially thrilled that they offered delivery! Now we're talking!

Growing up my parents just ordered a family something from our local Asian eateries. I never had a choice and when the food came, there was so much food everyone was in heaven. As an adult I haven't run into many places that offer a family combo meal. I love that New Peking offers that. It makes dinner easy and for me, nostalgic too.

We ordered the Family Dinner for two. It's a little under $12 per person. It comes with one fried shrimp, one egg roll and one crab wonton per order. It also comes with a choice of one of three soup options. You then get to pick from a list of entrees and rice or fried rice as your side dish.

We ordered Sesame Chicken and Orange chicken, both with fried rice.

I was so excited! Chinese take-out is my guilty pleasure and for us, it's a rare treat. After waiting for a little over an hour, our meal was delivered to our door step. I excitedly opened the bag pulling out each of it's contents. Soup, sauces (soy sauce, sweet and sour, and hot mustard). I pulled out a white bag. I was sure those were the fortune cookies but sadly they were not. No fortune cookies for us. (What Chinese take-out doesn't have fortune cookies?!) I then pulled out our fried rice which looked promising.  I pulled out the chickens. I opened the Sesame. It looked like Sesame chicken but nothing fancy; something similar to what you would find at Panda Express. Last, I opened the Orange chicken. "What on Earth?" I thought. I was so confused at what sat in front of me. That is not Orange chicken. I tasted it. It didn't taste like Orange chicken, that was for sure. I still don't know what it was but I can promise you it was not what we ordered. I was really disappointed but again, with a toddler and a husband on bed-rest I wasn't willing to make a fuss over it.

I was obviously disappointed that our simple order was somehow messed up. Both chicken's were decent.  After getting over the fact that the one wasn't orange chicken it was good. The fried rice was what you would expect. Nothing more and nothing less. The Egg Drop soup wasn't good. I tried eating it twice (even as left overs) and I just didn't find it worth eating. The appetizers were okay. My favorite part of the whole meal was probably the Sesame Chicken. It was good but still, not exceptional. My husband and I loved that it didn't feel greasy. It felt clean and we prefer that to the disgusting, greasy stuff.

Overall, I would rate New Peking a 6 on a scale of 1-10.  I really expected more from a place with such high reviews. It was more of a disappointment than a great experience and because of that, my husband said he wont ever eat there again. I'd go back if I were in the same boat again. Maybe.

Melting Pot

For our anniversary, my husband treated me to a fancy dinner at the Melting Pot. I have wanted to go to the Melting Pot since I heard it existed years ago. It just a little pricey and we'd been waiting for a special occasion. We thought our anniversary was just the occasion to check it out.

Since it was a special occasion we went all out and ordered the "Big Night Out". I highly suggest ordering this since it comes with pretty much all the Melting Pot has to offer. You get a starter, a salad, main meal and a chocolate fondue for desert. Now that's heaven! It's $100 for two. It may sound a little expensive I promise it's worth it.

We started out with our cheese fondue (the starter). Their special at the time was a cheddar cheese with bacon. The cheese fondues come with veggies, apples and bread to dip. Oh how I wish they offered this particular cheese fondue all the time; but that just would be too much of a temptation to handle so it's just as well.

The entree is a broth, oil or wine base. We went with a chicken broth with herbs. It was great but it wasn't nearly as awesome as that cheese fondue was. When the waiter brings out each of the fondues it takes quite a while to heat them to the appropriate temperatures so you have a little time to chat with your significant other or friends and also to digest your previous course. I like that. Finally, when the fondue is warm enough you get to dip in your choice of entree. We got chicken, shrimp, lobster, sirloin and pork. You would think we'd favor the lobster as lobster lovers but you'd be wrong. We were shocked to find that the pork was on the top of our list. It was divine!

They also bring you so many sauces to dip your food in! We were overwhelmed with the choices that lay before us. With the meat options, veggies options and the combo of sauces everyone is guaranteed to be happy.

Finally, once you think you are about to burst at the seams it is time to dig into the greatest, more decadent, delicious desert you will ever experience. You get a choice of chocolate fondues. My husband is crazy. He really doesn't like desert and he especially doesn't like chocolate so I let him pick which fondue to try since I'd love them all. He picked Cookies and Marshmallow Dream. It was an excellent choice. It had milk chocolate and marshmallow cream with with Oreo cookies sprinkled in. It was so good I could have poured the leftovers in a designer bag to save for later and not even regretted the mess. As if that wasn't good enough, you get an awesome variety of goodies to dip into the fondue. We had marshmallows, rice crispy treats, cheese cake, pound cake, brownies, strawberries, and bananas.

I had a great time! I loved the environment. We were seated in our own private little space with curtains. The waiter was a great teacher and was an awesome help. My only complaint is that I asked him if would take a picture of us and he said "later". It never happened unfortunately. I really would have loved to have a picture to go with such a fun memory.

I'm not sure that we'll go back for the whole meal again since we've already experienced it. I would however, highly recommend everyone try it for a special occasion. It's not even a question as to whether or not I'll go back. The answer is a resounding yes! But we'll be going for just the chocolate fondue next time as a special treat. If I remember correctly, the chocolate and the cheese fondues are only $16 each for two people. That's a great deal in my opinion!

Jewel of India

My husband and I have been a little hesitant to eat out since our sweet baby was born in November. You never know who is baby friendly, who has high chairs and how the baby will behave is a whole other story. Luckily we chose to come to Jewel of India on our first family date. It was a spectacular choice! We felt like we were on a date sitting in this well decorated restaurant. Our server even lit a candle at our table all the while our baby was sitting in a highchair that they provided for us.  The wait staff loved her and were very willing to do anything to help make the baby feel welcome too. 

We started our night off right with Vegetable Samosa and Chicken Pakora. I fell in love with the soft, flavorful Vegetable Samosas while my husband loved the Chicken.

In a typical Indian restaurant food is served family style. I love this as it gives my husband and I the opportunity to serve ourselves as much as we want. I'll be honest here, Indian food isn't love at first sight but once you taste it you are sure to be pleased! On the left you'll see the Chicken Saag. Chicken Saag is a creamy spinach based food filled with amazing flavor. Above the Saag is the rice which is delicious when mixed in with the sides. Then there is the Tandoori chicken. I love the simplicity of this meat. It's well flavored and was perfectly tender too! Below the Chicken is Lamb Rogan Josh which is a Lamb Curry. Finally we have the Dal Makhani which are creamed lentils seasoned with garlic and ginger.

I have a special place in my heart for Saag so I can't deny that it was my favorite of the meal. They served all of this with fresh, warm Naan. I really enjoyed their soft Naan and appreciated how fresh it was!

If I could, I would share this treat with the entire world. This here is why I write a food blog; to let people like you know that you need to stop what you are doing and go try these! They are called Gulab Jarnun which according to their menu are " Milk Balls in syrup and rosewater".

This is Kheer. It is a rice pudding with a very subtle flavor. I think my husband appreciated a dessert that wasn't too sweet.

Do yourself a favor and order a Lassi. This was a Mango Lassi which is simply a mix of mango and yogurt. Our daughter and I loved sipping on this special treat!

Jewel of India was a jewel indeed and by far one of my favorite restaurants to visit. The owner was very friendly and kind. The servers were great and the environment was perfect! If I were you, I wouldn't hesitate to try this place out! You can even order it to go!

Smash Burger! My #1 favorite burger

You may have heard of this place... it originated in Denver and is rapidly growing. There are now chains in California, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma... (I was going to list all the states but found that it's now in over half of the 50 states)!! It appears that everywhere a Smashburger makes an appearance, suddenly a burst of Smashburger chains show up. What does that tell you?

What makes this place the best? First of all, the burgers are made of 100% fresh Angus Beef, never been frozen. Their buns are fresh and original. Similar to Subway, you can pick which kind of bun you want. This is just the beginning. Once you've picked the bun (or lettuce), you pick the weight of burger you'd like, what kind of cheese, sauce and veggies you'd like on it. They even offer toppings like guacamole, bacon, fried egg... onion rings! Don't tell me it gets better than this!

If your like me and hate making choices, you can just select a burger from the menu. There are even special burgers made for each state!! For example, in Idaho they had a burger that is served on a Potato bun with potato chips! Weird! Sadly, there is no Colorado burger...

If you'd like a little more, or just a side, you can pick between fries, seasoned fries, fried veggie sticks, haystack onion rings or chili. If your really feeling bold you can order beer or a yummy Haagen Dazs shake!

Honestly, I don't really even love burgers but I'm in love with Smashburger.

Casa Blanca

My husband and I love Mexican food so for Valentine's Day we wanted to go try a new Mexican restaurant. We had seen Casa Blanca a few times and thought we'd try it out.

Their daily special was a chipotle chicken enchilada which sounded great! My husband ordered tacos as usual. He loved his tacos de  adovada but I wasn't as fond of the enchiladas as I expected to be. The chipotle gave off such a potent earthy taste! Some people would love that but it was a little over powering for me. I did love their rice. It was well flavored and made a great side to the enchiladas.

My husband is somewhat of a salsa snob. He won't eat store bought salsa. Only home made will do so when I say he loved Casa Blanca's salsa, you know it must be good stuff! We were disappointed that there wasn't the slightest bit of heat to be found in it but the fresh flavor of onion and cilantro made up for the lack of kick.  It was pretty tasty salsa!!

We overall had a good experience at Casa Blanca. We were treated to warm Sopapilla just for "checking in" on Facebook. I enjoyed the warm treat and thought that was a clever promotion! There's nothing fancy about this place but I can bet you'll love their salsa!

Cafe Mexicali (amazingly great food!)

This past weekend we decided to explore Ft. Collins. I of course looked up the most popular restaurants in the area so we could check them out. I was half excited and half skeptical about Cafe Mexicali. I was told by a friend that it's a lot like Chipotle or Qudoba. I certainly am not one to drive an hour and a half to check out low quality, Americanized Mexican food.

 I had been studying the menu and had my mind set on this Corn and Onion Quesole. I wanted this since it comes with guac and a few other unique sauces. It helps too that I love quesadillas which is pretty much what this is.

 

I was incredibly happy with my decision to get a quesole but after tasting my husband's steak quesole I was jealous.

 

 The steak quesole was heavenly. It made the hour and a half drive worth it. The steak was juicy, tender and perfectly seasoned.

We decided that the quesole dish is best consumed by cutting the quesole up into bite size pieces and mixing it in with the lettuce, guacamole, tomatoes, chipotle sour cream and drizzled with the creamy hobanero sauce. This combination was quite amazing. It was even better once we both combined our dishes together creating an onion, corn and steak quesole. Certainly I have to say that the steak is essential. I would seriously consider driving all the way back to Ft Collins to eat this again. It was that good!