Lime in Denver (Greenwood Village)

Tuesday's is $1 taco night, which actually made me think my overall opinion of Lime needed to be revisited. Lime in Lodo and Cherry Creek are good places for nightlife and an expensive cocktail, but the food has always been a mixed bag to me. The tortilla chips and salsa are very good. Most of the entrees are generally of average tex-mex quality. On a Tuesday visit to the Landmark location of Lime in Greenwood Village, we had a pretty big crew from work. The tacos appealed to me, and we started with some queso, scorpions, and quesadillas. The starters were good, the tacos mixed. I sampled the carnitas, ahi tuna, and ground beef tacos (tuna was not on the $1 menu). The carnitas were good, ground beef ordinary, and tuna did not smell fresh - to the point that I feared repercussions the next day, but I was fine. I'd avoid the tuna next time, the food is decent but probably not worth a trip - go here for the nightlife and be happy with the chips / starters for snacks.

kindageeky´s # of visits: one (Greenwood), 5+ (Lodo / Cherry Creek)

Pizza Republica

After working too late one night, I sought solace with a Neopolitan style pizza at Pizza Republica. I sat at the bar, looked over the menu, ordered the basic Neopolitan and then did a little people watching. The diners were the same crowd that frequents Jing, which made be instantly worry about the food. When the pizza arrived it looked really good. The watercress was very fresh, and the San Marzano tomato sauce smelled good. The garlic chips were tasty, but the crust and the sauce were pretty bland. Pizza Republica seemed to me to be trying to evoke an authenticity that you were being transported to Napoli, but while the crust was crisped nicely from the wood fired oven, the dough seemed to lack any character from proofing. Similarly, the San Marzano sauce was in need of reduction and maybe a little coaxing of herbs and onion. At $14 bucks, I felt like there was far too much attention paid to the style of the restaurant and not enough on the food. The service at the bar verged on abandonment, and there was a pretty obvious mistake on the wine menu, notably the mention of a Barbera d’Alba with Nebbiolo as the identifying grape. Hopefully the miscues are just growing pains for this young restaurant, but either the crust and sauce will have to improve or the prices will have to drop for me to recommend this place.

kindageeky´s # of visits: one

Lucy in Denver (Greenwood Village)

A restaurant adjoined to a comedy club? You'd think this was a bad omen, but really Lucy shines and deserves a notable spot among the most progressive restaurants in South Denver. Open for lunch, I popped in recently for a quick late lunch. For $10 I was treated to Fava Bean Agnolotti in a Garlic and Tomato brodo, and started with a great reinterpretation of French Onion Soup. Service was very friendly and the prices stand out not only as the best in the shopping / eating enclave it's situated in, but also the value was memorable. I'll be back often - definitely a substance over style menu with a progressive attitude on ingredients and flavor pairings.

kindageeky´s # of visits: one

Best Burger in Denver 2009

A nagging question, a good cheeseburger is a guilty pleasure, so if I'm going to indulge, I want it to be worth it. Here's a list based on several informal surveys of burger aficionados whose palates I respect (wow, that's a statistically improbable sentence), along with some artery hardening personal research ... really this is just a bunch of burger geeks opinions, but I've tried to not let my opinion overwhelm this. Below are what I believe to be the TOP 10 Best Burgers in and around Denver, Colorado.

1. My Brother's Bar - best of the best, best of Lodo, a close battle with Cherry Cricket, but both the Johnny Burger and JCB are revered by all who have been lucky enough to consume one


2. Cherry Cricket - best in Cherry Creek, the most popular burger, most well known, but head to head with the Johnny Burger it loses by a nose ... in the end, the My Brother's Bar vs Cherry Cricket thing underscores this is really a two horse race in Denver, everyone knows Cherry Cricket, but everyone I surveyed who's eaten both gives the nod to the Johnny Burger at My Brother's Bar


3. Trinity Grille - Best Burger in Downtown / Uptown Denver, the steak burger with grilled onions is classic


4. City Grille - the beefiest burger of the bunch (lots of sirloin in there)


5. DeliTech - DTC's finest, bacon with cheddar couldn't be better


6. Crownburger - totally a burger joint, doing it right for, well forever


7. Cheeburger Cheeburger - EVERYTHING is fried in peanut oil, best toppings, best in Highlands Ranch


8. Bud's Bar (Sedalia) - Bud's is almost a hyperbole of itself, a biker bar that's on the other side of the tracks no matter which direction you're coming from; replete with attitude, the only thing on the menu is beer and burgers - and "no french fries dammit"


9. The Counter - An upscale chain in a mall's parking lot with hundreds of flavor combinations, like grilled scallions, garlic aioli, and green chiles on an English muffin; best fancy fries hands down (sweet potato with aioli)


10. Campus Lounge (DU) & - dive barely begins to describe the "pus" as it's known, but it's a casual favorite by DU and the burger with fried egg is sinfully good

If you're a burger fan this list will undoubtedly raise your ire, so please post your opinion and top 10 list (top 5, whatever). One honerable mention, best onion rings goes to Finn McCool's.

Bud´s Cafe & Bar in Sedalia

Bud´s has been around for 60+ years, and serves only one thing: burgers. God help you if you ask for french fries, there are t-shirts on the wall that say ¨Bud´s Cafe & Bar - No French Fries Dammit¨. After hearing about Bud´s from multiple friends and seeing both Serious Eats & Westword anoint it as one of the best burgers in America, I set about seeing for myself.

Bud's is to be found in tiny little Sedalia just off highway 85, situated between two sets of train tracks. As I pulled up, I noticed one inebriated local stumbling out of the place on a Tuesday at 4:30 pm, and a very intimidating biker giving me the eye. As I stepped out of the car, I said to biker, "I hear they have good burgers here". He replied, "The burgers are great, but the french fries are even better". Knowing I was likely to get physically thrown out if I asked for fries, I just chaulked this up to attitude, and there's no shortage of it at Bud's. I walked in and drew the stare of everyone in the place, so I ducked my head and acted like I knew what I was doing, and took a seat at the bar. The bartenders / waitstaff are pretty surly, protective of the locals and wary of strangers. I sat at the bar and noticed the whole menu was on one little stand-up - one side listed burger, cheeseburger, double burger, double cheeseburger, which also reinforced the notion "there were no damn french fries - you get chips, pickles, and onion at these prices" ($5.50 for a double cheeseburger, $3.50 for the single); the other side listed the beers in three price categories: $3.00, $3.30, $3.60. You can't beat the prices. So I ordered a double cheeseburger and beer. By this point the locals had stopped glaring at me, so I was able to look around a bit at the decor. The whole place is half the size of my family room, the walls are adorned with paintings of cowboys, hunting trophies, Broncos memorabilia, and bizarre figurines of yesteryear. The people watching is precarious but interesting sport here, be careful not to listen too closely, but the characters in this place were eye opening about what life is like in a small town that's remained insulated from all the urban growth around it.

As my burger arrived, I hunkered down to sample this slice of Americana. The first bite I just went plain, then added some pickles and mustard (no ketchup dammit - guess we all got our thing). The patties were hand patted chuck, and the cheese was probably velveeta - my guess as it arrived liquefied, then gradually took on a characteristically shimmering processed cheesefood look to it. This is a no frills cheeseburger, very filling, rich, cooked well. A very good burger, but in this writer's opinion, great if your down by Sedalia, but not worth a long trip unless you're in need of some attitude.

kindageeky´s # of visits: one

New York Deli News in Denver

This is a really old school Deli in Southeast Denver, from the waitresses that call you ¨Hon¨, to the big bowl of pickles that greets you, to the clientèle who appear to have been coming here since before you were born. As a thirty-something family man and quite particular food geek, you might not think this is my scene. Don´t let the old school vibe dissuade you though, portions are enormous, service is really fast, everything is obsessively fresh and satisfying. Eating there once will make you a believer. I´ve been going there for well over a decade, it´s the perfect spot to meet your dad for lunch. My personal favorite is the tuna salad with bacon. If you´re a light eater, eat half your sandwich and you´ll leave with your lunch for tomorrow.

kindageeky´s # of visits: dozens

Arepas with Sottocenere and Sweet Peppers

I recently had the opportunity to eat my first arepa, having seen them in various food media sources in the past. This particular one was delicious but was obviously made with yellow corn meal. Apparently this dish comes from Venezuela, but has made it into other culture in various forms. In research how I'd go about making my own arepa, I found there was some preferred nuance to picking the right dried corn base. First, corn meal is generally shunned, as is corn flour. Next, white corn is definitely preferred to yellow. So this leaves two options: white masa harina or actual arepa flour. The masa harina is maize that has undergone a process of nixtamalization, wherein the corn is "cooked" in lime water (lime in the mineral sense, not the fruit). This is the process in detail...

From Wikipedia

From all the sources consulted, the only legit arepa flour I was able to identify was Harina Pan, a commercial brand of arepa flour. After hitting 3 Latin American grocers and consulting this store finder, I was unable to locate Harina Pan, so I went with the white masa harina. Apparently masarepa is another name for what this cooked form of corn flour is called.

Working without a recipe of any manner, I played with the flour, incorporating more water than if I were making corn tortillas, and ended up with about a 5 to 4 ratio of flour to water. The texture was tacky like thick oatmeal. Now to make this taste good, I found inspiration in a dish I had at Tamayo restaurant in Denver, the Sopa de Elote - a soup of roasted corn with a huitlacoche dumpling. This was a flavor revelation to me as this was my first exposure to huitlacoche (corn fungus), and the pairing of a mushroom with corn. The earthiness of the huitlacoche and the sweetness of the corn made sweet + earthy just work. For this preparation I settle upon incorporating sottocenere, an Italian cheese flavored with chunks of black truffle. The sweet peppers (red and orange bell peppers) came from the thought of the flavor of succotash. The actual preparation used 1 cup white masa harina, 200 ml of water, small dice of 1 red and 1 orange pepper, 1/4 pound of sottocenere diced, and a couple healthy pinches of maldon sea salt. After combining the ingredients, I greased a small sheetpan with duck fat, and separately greased the inside of 4 english muffin rings. Using a spatula, I filled each ring a little more than half full and pressed the mixture roughly into place.

From gastronomic guesswork

Then over a gas burner on medium heat, I cooked the bottoms of the arepas for about 5 minutes. Then these were placed into the oven at 400F for 15 minutes, until the cheese was bubbling. I finished these under the broiler for 3 minutes to crisp them slightly. The arepas were removed from the oven and cooled for a couple minutes. To plate, I used a paring knife to help free the edges from the muffin rings.

From gastronomic guesswork

The results were delicious, a delicate paring of truffle and corn, sweet and earthy chaulks up another win with this foodie. While this might be missing the particular flavor that the masarepa imparts, these little corn cakes are a cool little vehicle for flavor, and I think make a nice starter or starch as part of a main course. I'll continue the search for masarepa today in the South Federal Blvd corridor, but if you know where to get it, either leave your comment or tweet me @kindageeky.

Next week - The Gauntlet of Gastronomic Guesswork 2009

In my annual tradition, next week will be devoted to gastronomic curiosities - A whole week devoted to research, cooking, experimenting - all things I've never cooked before (as always, but with the signal to noise ratio dialed a little lower). I'll break out all the tools, herbs / spices / chemicals, and new ideas for flavor pairings. Last year yielded an award, a tequilla soup, and an experiment gone far awry. There will be no net beneath the culinary rope I shall walk, so on that note please post your comments on "outside the box" ideas for dishes... a flavor, a texture, a classic re-imagined ... if it's really crazy I'm almost sure to take the challenge, and I guarantee you'll see a savory marshmallow and some air make an appearance. I really look forward to this week, it's a replenishing retreat for my gustatory Id

Farro Restaurant in Denver (Centennial)

Let me first say that I went in really wanting to like this place as a welcome addition to the scant South Suburban Denver Dining Scene. We ordered bolognese pasta and meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes for the little ones, and the adults started with the farro salad and killer olives. The bolognese sauce was pretty good, but was filled with large chunks of cracked black peppercorns that threw the dish off - minus the pepper, a compentant sauce. The pasta served with the bolognese was slightly larger than angel hair and completely out of place with this robust sauce, texturally a little off-putting. The olives were good, probably a little overpriced at $4 for 8 olives though. The farro salad was dissappointing, we were really hoping the team at Farro would have made this ancient grain shine - herein, the portion was paltry and the tomatoes were very under ripe. We continued with the Linguine with clam and white wine sauce and a woodfired pizza with prosciutto, pancetta, sausage, red sauce and cheese. The clam pasta was mediocre, but failed as we found two unopened clam shells in it - evidence the clams were dead and should have been removed before even making the sauce. The pizza that was brought to the table was not what we ordered, instead it was the spicy salami pizza with eggplant and roasted peppers. I raised this issue upon seeing it, but the water corrected me telling me this was the prosciutto, et al pizza. I said Ok. I bit into it and found that the crust was much thicker than one would expect of traditional Italian pizza, underproofed, and not fully baked, akin to eating warm wet flour really. I concentrated on picking off the toppings at this point, and the salami was pretty tasty. The waiter did return to say I was correct about what I ordered and offered to bring me a replacement, but with kids in tow we declined the offer. Again the waiter returned to offer to buy us dessert, but with the food to this point being so off, we respectfully declined. Given the misses with the pasta, seafood, pizza and the signature farro, I'm dissappointed but I just can't recommend Farro.

kindageeky´s # of visits: one

Watermelon with Mint Infused with Coconut Water & Lime

Another infusion experiment using the vacuum sealer. This marks the first time I've used a power drill in cooking as I employed a 5/16" bit to bore a couple holes into a coconut.

From gastronomic guesswork

The coconut water was drained into a sauce pan to which I added the zest and juice of 1 lime, 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, and a pinch of kosher salt. This was reduced on high heat by 1/3, chilled to near freezing, then added to planks of fresh seedless mini watermelon. The infusion and the planks were vacuum sealed for 5 minutes, then plated with fresh mint.

Avery Ale to the Chief 2009

This is a special release that was made for the occasion of inaugurating our 44th U.S. President on January 20, 2009. No matter your affiliation, this is a great beer that evokes what at least this taster finds to be quintessential flavors you should find in a Colorado Ale. The nose and palate has sage, caramel, smoked meat, and a dusty quality that speaks to our semi-arid climate. A very well conceived craft beer, yet another big winner from the masters at Avery - 92 pts.

From gastronomic guesswork

Sirloin Kabobs Infused with Tamari, Black Garlic, and Rosemary

For Father's day, my lovely wife gave me a vacuum sealer as she knew how much I enjoyed sous vide cooking, marinades, and fabricating my own meat then freezing for later. To break it in, I used a vacuum canister to marinate some sirloin for kabobs.

From gastronomic guesswork

The marinade was 3 parts organic tamari (all soy / no wheat soy sauce), 1 part organic red wine vinegar, 8 cloves of minced black garlic, a few grinds of black pepper, and the minced leaves of 3 rosemary stems. The sirloin was cut into ~1" cubes, added to the marinade, and then vacuum sealed for 6-8 minutes. The meat was made into kabobs with red onion, orange pepper, and white garlic cloves, then grilled for about 8 minutes rotating once. My wife was astounded at how thoroughly the beef took on the flavor of the marinade. From my perspective, this was more of an infusion as marinades typically just scratch the surface of incorporating flavor in the absence of a vacuum.

Making Tortillas

Many years ago, while renting a house with a couple other good friends, one of them was dating someone down in Southern Colorado. Those were some good times for all of us because when he would go down there, he'd always bring back freshly made tortillas from some little hole in the wall. As simple as the ingredients are, those great homemade tortillas were highly sought after, resulting in secret stashes and more than a couple arguments about who ate what. The base recipe I chose came from Chow.

I made two kinds, first the basic tortilla:

2 cups unbleached organic all purpose white flour
1/4 cup organic palm / sunflower shortening
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup warm water

From gastronomic guesswork

For the second, I substituted 1/3 of the flour for corn flour, and added some dried green chile powder.

1 1/3 cup unbleached organic all purpose white flour
2/3 cup corn flour
1/4 cup organic palm / sunflower shortening
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons powdered roasted Hungarian Wax chile powder
2/3 cup warm water

With both recipes, the dry ingredients minus salt were mixed together, then the shortening was cut in using a spatula, and finally the warm water with disolved salt was added. Work to an even consistency, then on a floured surface my sous chefs and I kneaded the dough for about 5 minutes. Each preparation was divided into 8-9 portions, and each portion was worked into a ball then rested for 2 hours on a cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap. These were then rolled to very thin rounds, dusted with flour, and cooked on a dry and well seasoned medium high cast iron skillet for about 1 minute a side. Visually, it's easy to spot when they are ready to turn as they will lose most of the moisture. While still warm, these were served with fresh avocado.

Neither version lasted very long, most were devoured on the same day. A few of the spicy ones made me happy for the next couple of days. The basic recipe was delicious, the spicy version was addictive. No comparison to store bought, none.

Basil and Almond Pesto with Pecorino Toscano

Pecorino Toscano is a semi-hard cheese that evokes the terroir of Tuscany. It's a little barnyard meets meadow with a bite. This was a wonderful variation on your basic pesto.

From gastronomic guesswork

The preparation involved combining 1 handful raw almonds, 1 handful Italian parsley, 1 handful fresh basil, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 cup of grated Pecorino Toscano in a food processor. Olive oil was added along with a dash of white wine vinegar and a couple turns of freshly ground black pepper. The sauce was blitzed and mounted with olive oil until creamy in texture. This was tossed with fresh egg linquine while still hot, and served warm. Molto bene!

Black Radish Poached in Black Mustard Butter with Baby Broccoli

A total experiment that turned out great. Melt 1 stick of butter, add 1 tablespoon black dijon mustard and a pinch of maldon sea salt. Over low heat, poach thin slices of black radish for 4 minutes. Separately steam baby broccoli stalks for ~5 minutes. Plate radish slices with broccoli and spoon over a little of the poaching sauce. The black mustard and radish was very memorable.

From gastronomic guesswork