Ototo Den

When Den Deli put up their sign saying they were closed for remodeling, more than a few people were worried of what would be become of this upscale fast casual spot in the trifecta of sushi den and Izakaya.  Luckily on my first visit to Ototo which focuses on spanish influenced japanese tapas (thats my take at least), I left impressed and was no longer depressed about the demise of Den Deli.  It was a slow sunday evening,  and we decided to sit at the "sushi bar"  in front of a cold case of cheeses and rounds of cured meats.  Now to the meal.....

The Waygu beef carpaccio lay over roasted hen mushrooms and drizzled with a truffle soy sauce was certainly fresh and tender.

The Egg in a Jar has been the source of all blog discussions since Ototo opened.  This creamy mixture of truffled mashed potatoes, diced serrano ham, caviar, steamed egg in a mason jar is served with diced red onion and tarragon mixture and delicious delicious grilled ciabatta.  I had conflicting feelings about this dish with so many flavors and the mashed potatoes added an odd texture to the dish.  In terms of dipping toast points into a creamy sauce, i prefer Cholon's Kaya Toast (check out that review from Dec).

The star of the dinner was the warm lobster salad, which was incredibly fresh and poached to perfection.  The lobster was sitting atop of a small thin layer of mashed potatoes (both hidden) garnished with grapefruit, tossed mache salad, pistachios and some sort of aioli.  An interesting garnish of thinly fried potato strips hit my tongue with a suprisingly sweet note and really pulled together this amazing dish!

We ended our meal with the tonkatsu ramen, the only remnants from the former den deli to make the new menu.  With sliced pork shoulder, bok choy, bean sprouts and soft hard boiled egg. the ramen was sitting in a steaming bowl of flavorful soy broth which helped round out this excellent meal.  We skipped the dessert and I settled for a half scoop each of pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate ice cream at Pajama Baking Company.

Plate Score: 9

Jelly

At first glance, this place has a similar concept as the undisputed breakfast king of denver- Snooze.  However upon closer inspection, Jelly in capitol hill has potential but definitely needs to work on a few things having opened less than a month ago.  A dining tip: unless it is snooze where you need to meet at 8am to avoid waiting 60 plus minutes on a weekend, choose to meet your friends or significant other at 9:45 rather than 10am (basically avoid top or bottom of the hour), we were seated immediately at the few open tables left and by 10am, the front door was packed with at least a dozen groups.  The space is fairly small with the walls decorated with old school cereal boxes including one with nerds cereal and another with smurfs.  Just like any breakfast centric restaurant, there are eggs (scrambles, benedicts, hashes), biscuits, and the pancake and french toast (they have chai french toast) options on the menu.  I was torn between a benedict and a hash but at game time i decided on the sweet potato hash ($7.79) with 2 over medium eggs and a single buckwheat pancake ($2).

My friend had a half order of the cinnamon sugar donut bites with her meal and just as a 5280 blog post had predicted, they were terribly chewy rather than the light and airy texture you would commonly expect.  Additionally her biscuit was cold....

When my sweet potato hash with mexican chorizo, roasted poblanos and caramelized onions arrived, we were both somewhat confused, i actually thought they made a mistake on my order due to the dozen or so split red bliss potatoes on the dish....I thought my dish was a SWEET POTATO hash!  I clarified it with the server and he said it was the correct dish.  Upon closer inspection, i noticed a few clumps of pureed sweet potatoes hidden in crevices around the bliss potatoes.  False advertising....not a fan.  Luckily the flavor from the chorizo, onions and poblanos improved the dish and the homemade strawberry jam was delicious so it was not a complete failure.  In the end, those bliss potatoes remained mostly untouched on the plate.  The buckwheat pancake was solid just a little stiffer than what I am used to from watercourse foods, but i still ate the 8 inch pancake no problem!

Plate score: 6 with potential

On a side note about watercourse which does not need a whole review, I finally tried the sweet potato and black bean tacos this weekend after so many rave reviews from a friend of mine who now lives in India.....it was delicious!  So if you need to mix things up at this vegetarian joint give the tacos a try!

Plate score: 9

ModMarket

If you drive down Colorado Blvd on the way to pinkberry or the barnes and nobles, it is very hard to miss the 3 story tall green glass structure (especially at night) which houses the newly open ModMarket, the original which is located in up in boulder. Granted it just opened less than 10 days ago so it definitely needs some refining.  ModMarket's concept includes all natural and lcoal ingredients, fresh produce and made to order pizza and sandwiches at very affordable prices.  The interior is clean and modern with condiments and good olive oil to dip the pizza crust into.  As the associate explained their concept to us, we sampled their split pea curry soup which was hearty and delicious.  As a health conscious place, they post the nutritional info on the menu and it is also printed on your receipt.  The fig pizza with several cheeses, arugula on a whole grain crust served as the training tool for the newly hired associates which as a result suffered some expected flaws.  I designed my own salad with honey herb vinaigrette while my friend ordered the Mongolian salad with the typical asian flavors (plus soy nuts) and an orange mint vinaigrette.    The salads were solid but the pizza had too much flour on the bottom which left a powdery taste in our mouths and was missing the arugula.  I will return in a few months as soon as ModMarket smoothes out its operational food related kinks.

Plate score:  6 with potential

top 10 fast casual

With our lives becoming increasingly hectic, we (including myself) hardly have to time to sit and enjoy a full on meal.  I define fast casual as made to order meals that can be enjoyed in less than 20 minutes, 30 if you are a snail.

This list is in no particular order.

1.  Bombay Bowl-  A southeast asian style chipotle with recognizable sauces such as Korma, Tikka and Saag served with choice of meats (or tofu), basmati rice, chutneys and veggies.  Get the warm chewy naan bread for an extra $1.  The kid size will satisfy an average appetite, too bad there is currently only one location in South Denver off of Arapahoe.

2.  Garbanzos- A mediterranean style chipotle with the crunchy falafel ball to chomp on while you instruct the "food designer" ( i believe that is what they call em these days) to build your wrap or bowl filled with classics such as hummus, tabbouleh, babaganoush and your choice of meats and sauces.  Served with a warm white or wheat pita.

3.  Pho 79 or 95 on Federal
People debate as to which is better, i think they are both excellent.  Softball or basketball sized bowls of steaming beef broth flavored with asians spices with choice cuts of meat including rare beef, brisket, tendon and vietnamese meatballs (note:  this is not like an italian meatball, but more like a chinese fish ball...if you know what that is like....).  Served with a pile of additions such as thai basil, jalapenos, limes and raw beansprouts, these places are amazing on a frigid day.  P.S if you don't eat red meat, this probably isn't the place for you, i don't think the chicken version is quite the same, but thats just me.

4.  Santiagos
Before I moved to Colorado, I had no idea as to what breakfast burritos or green chile were.  But after enjoying many of them during professional development sessions at school,  I am so glad I do.  For $2 you can enjoy this handheld gem of a soft flour tortilla filled with shredded potatoes, eggs, and green chili and the daily meat (ham, sausage or chorizo (my fav)).  The are many locations in the denver area but I've been going to the one on 25th and Federal and it has yet to disappoint me.

5.  Parsley
My former roommate described the odd combination of tuna, miso, sesame seeds and sriracha in this sandwich located off of speer and 11th which certainly peaked my interest the first time around.  Now I am loyal patron of this sandwich shop,  mind you this place is not cheap especially their organic apple and carrot juice which runs at least $4 for 16oz.

6.  Masterpiece deli
A top 10 best new restaurant from a couple years back, this place continues to churn out great sandwiches, salads and soups.  Still a bit pricey but absolutely worth it.  Don't miss the fried egg sandwiches with the roasted wild mushrooms or the popular smoked turkey sandwich with brie, pears, arugula and cranberry honey on toasted wheat bread.

7.  El Taco de Mexico
Not the most asthetically pleasing restaurant, but this yellow shack in the santa fe art district makes authentic tacos.  My favorite is the beef tongue with cilantro and raw onions on 3 corn tortillas.

8.  Dim Sum at Star Kitchen
Yes there are waiters, but don't be fooled by this place.  The dim sum (chinese brunch tapas) sit in bamboo containers ready to be enjoyed by hungry patrons.  Come before 10:30 to avoid a long wait and you can be happy and full on your way out in less than 30.  Promise.

9.  Thai food cart
This unique food cart owned is operated by a tiny asian lady who works in an elevated glass/metal kitchen stirfrying authentic lunch orders for the business crowd.  Yummy pad thai on the go!


10.  Still in the hunt for delicious southern style bbq.....if you have suggestions, i would love to hear them

Happy New Year!

I know i said I would blog while I was in Atlanta, but i was too busy overeating and enjoying my vacation to sit down and discuss my culinary excursions.  Here is a quick overview of a few places in Atlanta.

Spice Market-in the W hotel downtown is a replica of the one in Midtown New York City.  Often times restaurants in hotels can be a hit or miss and in this case it was a miss.  The only reason we went there was because we had groupon for $25 worth of food.  The interior design was beautiful with wood accents and asian art decorating the walls and the food is mostly tapas with a focus on southeast asian cuisine.  Nothing was terrible but nothing was good.

Plate score: 5


Hong Kong Harbor restaurant- My mom had read a positive review by a local newspaper critic who raved about the food at this place so we decided to try this for lunch one weekend.  Unfortunately when we arrived around 11:30 for lunch, the only Asian people at the dozen or so tables were NON asian.  As terrible as this may be, it is a good indication as to the authenticity of the dim sum and other asian dishes.  The dim sum was sub par, as the wrappers on the steam dumplings were stiff or too thick or the filling tasted processed, denver (star kitchen, super star asian cafe) might have them beat.  My mom then proceeded to tell me that the critic had not had the dim sum, just the regular stuff, so we bravely ordered a classic noodle dish which translated into english would be "dry beef noodle".  As I was quite disappointed already, the flat rice noodle dish actually turned the lunch experience around.  It was nicely prepared with tenderized slices of beef, wilted bean sprouts, onions stir fried together with soy sauce, reminded me of Hong Kong.

Plate score: 6.5
Side note:  Had a super dim sum experience at star kitchen again this past weekend!

Hankook Taqueria-  I first caught glimpse of this place while watching "Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network and was even more excited when I saw that this place was in Atlanta!   This fast casual eatery is located in an obscure industrial area of Atlanta, probably a place I won't venture to alone or at night.  However if you do make it there, you will find fusion menu of korean inspired tacos.  We sampled a few of the their tacos and an order of bimbimbap though i really wanted to try their sesame fries.  We enjoyed the fish tacos (tilapia) with hoisin tartar sauce and the taco with calamari rings with a sweet chili sauce.  All of the tacos were freshly prepared and served with an soy cabbage salad atop the small flour tortillas.  The large order of bimbimbap was standard with marinated beef, fried egg, and marintated veggies.  This was a solid dish but there was too much korean red pepper paste which overwhelmed the other components.

Plate score: 8

Denver restaurant week is February 26- March 11th-  Make reservations soon and often! Over 300 participating restaurants sounds impressive until you see the ridiculous number of national chains...should still be a good time with good deals