Denver Wrap up Part II

Civic Center Eats down by the capitol features a dozen or more food trucks that feed hungry government workers (and me!) every tuesday and thursday from 11-2 through the end of September.  Check out the line up here

The beef tongue tacos from Pinche Tacos are different from El Taco de mexico, both delicious, but Pinche's version are not shredded but diced and triple cooked until tender, finished on the grill then topped with the usual cilantro and onion but also a roasted tomatillo salsa, honey mayo and a wedge of lime.

The korean steak skewer from the stick it to me food truck was sensational, tender and full of typical soy, ginger and garlic flavors

Third trip to Squeaky bean was just as innovative as the previous two times and I am sad to see it close June 12th after brunch 

 The wagyu beef tartare wrapped with avocado, chiles and teriyaki gel was exquisite and beatifully presented.

 The second appetizer which is a play on pork chili verde was a braised and seared pork belly with a pork shoulder corn bread sitting in a rich roasted green chili soup.  The soup itself was a little bitter which actually worked nicely with the sweetness from the cornbread.  Once again plating was beautiful.

 The halibut cheeks entree which was generously split for us sat atop of a brandade (basically mashed potatoes infused with mild salted halibut), pea puree, crushed marcona almonds and a variety of backyard greens.  Delicious.

The dessert called "chocolate and sugar" was a bit of a head scratcher and no where near as pretty as the other dishes.  The elements including meringue, chocolate ganache ribbon, chewy caramel triangles, chocolate moose, beet chocolate cookie, cocoa powder and spun sugar seemed did not provide a cohesive dish.

Watercourse foods on 17th was almost a weekly staple my first year here in Denver, yet i've never captured a picture of the scrumptuous food.  For lunch, I ordered my usual Toulouse (broccoli, mushrooms, artichokes and swiss) scramble with sweet potato homefries, biscuit with raspberry jelly and split a buckwheat supreme pancake with a friend of mine.  It has been a while since my last trip but everything was delicious, the buckwheat supreme pancake (which is now smaller in diameter than in previous years) comes with a choice of mango banana granola or cherry almond granola (We opted for banana mango).

Denver Wrap up Part I

On a list with so many things to do before I leave colorado, at least half the list consists of food related activities.  Here is the wrap up in the past week on adventures on my dinner plate

- Beef tongue tacos from El taco de mexico were delicious as usual, though the corn tortilla's started to fall apart as I stuffed my face.

-$2 street tacos (on Tuesdays) from El Camino in the highlands were great particularly the carnitas and the al pastor tacos with chunks of sweet pineapple and diced onions.  Do not sit at the end of the bar near the door, it is awkwardly shaped and the arm pit/black hole of the restaurant where we could barely get a server's attention without the help of other patrons.

-The bison burger from Rackhouse pub was juicy but a bit too gamey in flavor and needed some salt.  A LA times food critic who stopped through denver last year praised the beer baked mac and cheese which can be ordered as a side with any sandwich, even the triple grilled cheese sandwich.  If you get tired of the brewery tours around town, rackhouse pub also moonlights as a distillery for Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey and offers free tours during the week.

-The green chicken chile from Mod market had a nice mild heat with hearty chunks of white meat chicken and roasted green chiles in a soothing broth.

-The tempura fried half avocado from Leaf restaurant in boulder.  Stuffed with mango salsa with an orange blossom sauce and a black rice cake, this place satisfies the vegetarian, vegan and raw palates of hippies across boulder.  It was interesting but will never replace my first love, watercourse

Sad times
According to Westword, one of my favorite restaurants Squeaky Bean is closing its doors June 12th due to leasing issues and will reemerge as a different restaurant concept in about a month.  Go now but if you need to be convinced check out my reviews here or if you need a second opinon, i guess yelp would do. They have a new spring menu which is not updated on the website.

Need something to do tonight?
The Justice League of Food trucks is having their season kick off party from 5-10pm tonight.  Check out their facebook page for details!

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

Food trucks

With food trucks popping up like fro-yo places in the last year, i attended my first food truck party which had an 80's theme.  The justice league of street food hosted their 3rd event of the season in an empty lot behind coors field.  In attendance were many food trucks including fat sully's, the little orange rocket (the people behind deluxe), pinche tacos, steamin demon (folks behind watercourse) and denver cupcake truck, denver biscuit bus, biker jims hot dog and the great divide brewery.  I went with my roommate and her friend around 7:30 last friday night.  Upon arrival the place was already pretty crowded as we immediately jumped into line for fat sullys pizza.  The lines were long and we quickly decided that the best way to get the most food in the shortest amount of time was to split up.  I waited in line for pinche tacos and was soon greeted with a thin slice of cheese pizza, crispy and hot from my roommate and her friend.  It was amazing! a great slice even if you are sober.  Pinche tacos were $3 each, i ordered the beef tongue which was triple cooked, served crispy, with avocado, onion, cilantro roasted tomatilla salsa and guajillo honey mayo, yummy! The creamy chipotle chicken taco however was easily forgettable.  


While my roommate waited in line for the little orange rocket, I waited in the steamin demon line which was considerably shorter.  Coincidentally my old roommate was standing right behind me double fisting two beers from the great divide.  I had a sip and it was pretty hoppy, not exactly my thing.  I was excited for the thai rice noodle dish but was disappointed when they were sold out.  I settled for the loko moko which was white rice, pinto bean cake, fried egg, avocado and some sort of gravy.  It was good and homestyle, not exactly what i was expecting but still good.  when we finally got up to the little orange rocket, my roommate order fried truffled mac and cheese balls and the lamb sandwich.  We were given one of those restaurant buzzers and were informed that the wait would be 25 minutes.  We quickly found  we parked ourselves at a nearby patio table as we people watched including some individuals with ridiculous 80s outfits.  When the buzzer went off, my roommate lept from her seat to retrieve her food.  I took a bite of those cheese balls and could definitely understand why people really enjoy them: FRIED, CHEESE and TRUFFLES a sure win!  My roommate complained that her lamb sandwich which was a ground patty had too much dill yogurt sauce on it.  I thought it was good and her friend devoured the naan bread it was served on. I was pretty full by this point as we sat right by the inventing room stall, Ian Kleinman's catering company who uses liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. We watched group after group order the ice cream sandwich which was two 4 inch espresso fudge cookies with strawberry ice cream and housemade marshmallow....maybe next time

Watercourse

I love the homemade biscuits with raspberry jam!

That is all :)