Denver Wrap Up Part III

Well since my plans have changed and I am not leaving for at least another month.  I will be eating my way through the Denver in which case you can expect at least one or two more wrap ups.

Last week at Civic center eats (Tues/Thurs 11-2pm), i sampled Mythos Greek Pork Souvlaki sandwich on a warm pita with tazatziki sauce, tomatoes red onions and FRENCH FRIES! The pita was soft and chewy but the pork was slightly dry and the sandwich could have benefited from alittle more crunch (think romaine lettuce!).  I also sampled the Pabellon Arepa from Quiero Arepas which has shredded beef, black beans, plantains and cheese.  The arepa was slightly too thin and crispy and the shredded beef was oily but i do love plantains.

The spicy tuna burger at Deluxe burger is diced and marinated with asian spices and loads of hoisin sauce and cooked to a nice medium rare.  Topped with a cucumber salad and cilantro leaves, this is a delicious and different burger if you need a break from all those land locked meats.

Snooze, one of my two all time favorite brunch spots (the other being watercourse) in denver has never disappointed me.  I even captured a pic of my bella bella benny, blueberry pancake to share and my roommate's breakfast tacos with hashbrowns inside the tortillas!

On the west side of town lacking a much needed froyo place, my favorite and hole in the wall US Thai Cafe in Edgewater neighborhood.   Delicious plate of pad thai.  They need to decide on what "mild" is because last time it definitely packed some heat, but this time "mild" meant no heat.

A friend suggested Yazoo bbq at the crazy corner intersection of 21st, Broadway and Champa in my quest to find good bbq here in Denver.  Another hole in the wall, this place was packed on a workday lunch, as i decided on the 2 ribs and 1/8 pound of both pork shoulder and brisket.  The ribs and pork shoulder were both standouts in terms of smoke flavor and tenderness but the brisket was just average with too many burnt ends.  I like that there were squeeze bottles of "sweet" "hot" or "super hot" bbq sauce so i could customize the amount of sauce on my meat.

In the 4 years i've been around, i don't remember walking the saturday cherry creek farmers market mostly because i don't care about organic overpriced produce and large crowds.  But somehow there is less grocery stuff and loads of prepared foods and free samples!  We sampled our way through dips, spreads, cakes and breads.  A few memorable ones came from waffle cakes and all of quick breads samples from outrageous baking (pumpkin, lemon poppyseed, chocolate zucchini).  Normally we expect burritos, tacos, sandwiches,  easy foods at a farmers' market but i wasn't expecting paella provided by the stand from le central.  For a mere $8 you got a "small" box of piping hot saffron scented rice cooked with chicken, pork, shrimp, bay scallops, mussels, chorizo and a myriad of classic paella veggies.  Excellent and cheap!

I've talked alot about Dim Sum particularly at star kitchen, an amazing family style brunch of steamed dumplings and super delicious buns stuffed with both savory and sweet fillings.  Classic "har gow" shrimp dumplings (upper right) and "siu mai" pork and shrimp dumplings (bottom right) plus not so classic ones such as tripe stew (bottom left) and tofu skin wrapped with pork and variety of black fungi (mushrooms!).

Then there is one bun the size of your fist that will put a smile on a anyone on their first dim sum experience.  The "pineapple bun" (crust is pineapple like?) is a baked sweet bread filled with an egg custard.  Perfect at the end of the meal or as an afternoon snack but always a winner!