A Good Place for a Drink & a Natter

Here's a first world problem (as they say): It's hard to find a decent place to drink downtown that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, isn't a sports bar, isn't too loud and isn't a complete dive. 

Well, we didn't do much research, so we washed up at the Cruise Room in the Oxford Hotel, across from Union Station. Convenient for catching buses and trains, as we needed to do. ("We" being me and a co-worker, blowing off steam.)

The Cruise Room is in the arm and leg category, but the decor is lovely, and there's a certain nostalgic component. I used to go there a lot 20 years ago. It made me feel sophisticated and mature. I suppose it still does, though I think have the maturity thing down now. Mostly. Sophistication is only occasionally in evidence.

The Caesar salad had actual anchovies. We ordered spiced nuts, too. Washed it all down with bourbon Manahattans (her) and rye Sazeracs (me). Talked about work and past jobs, sewing, the women's march, blogging.

It's hard to get back into storytelling mode. Remembering to take pictures. Thinking of an angle. Making it interesting. 

This is a little boring, and the photos are bad. But it's a post!

A delicious meal was had by all

We meant to go to Chez Panisse, but there was a fire there earlier this month, so we had to make alternate plans. This one was a winner.

On a roll in Ho Chi Minh City

Because the Sergeant loves cars, we started our first full day in Saigon touring the city in a 1954 Citroen Traction-Avant. One of our first stops was the Reunification Palace. It used to be the presidential palace, until North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gate in 1975. It has since been preserved as a museum, and its meeting and banquet rooms are still used for ceremonial occasions.

The Sergeant had a great time chatting with the driver, who also has a war-era Jeep (and photos of it on his iPad) ...
... while I watched the traffic from the back seat. Never seen so many scooters in my life!
We drove all over Saigon, taking in the sights, and even stopped at a shop that sells old car parts, so the Sergeant could take photos. Our tour guide, a lovely young woman in a traditional ao dai, was a bit put out that we didn't want to stop and do some souvenir shopping, but you don't need an expensive antique vehicle to do that.

She did recommend a good pho place for lunch, not far from our hotel. Pho Quynh was also a great spot for people- and traffic-watching.
I was glad to slurp down noodles and a couple glasses of Vietnamese iced coffee. Boy, is it good.

Welcome to Saigon

When the Sergeant and I got married, we went to Telluride for a couple of days for our "placeholder honeymoon." After all the work that went into planning a wedding, we didn't want to deal with planning an elaborate trip, too.

And we really wanted to see Vietnam. Which we finally have. It's quite a long trip, via San Francisco and Taipei. We flew China Airlines and lucked out on the primo two-across seats at the back of the 747 (more room to stash your stuff and stretch your legs). I took Dramamine for its knock-out effect and slept much of the way.

We landed in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) at 10 a.m. Sunday, after 26 hours of travel. Happily, a friend of a friend was there to meet us. Manisha had put us in touch with K, who took us to our hotel and then to lunch at a restaurant called Ngon or "Delicious." And was it ever.
This is a green papaya salad. In the background are spring roll fixings. We love love love Vietnamese food. It's one of the main reasons we wanted to go there.

K started us off right with Ngon, whose owner recruited some of the best street food vendors in the city and arranged them at stations around a central courtyard and hall. The menu is extensive, and you can wander around watching the food being prepared. Or just sit back and enjoy a beer, watermelon juice or iced coffee.

We went back there again because the menu was so diverse, and the prices were really affordable. So I'll post some more photos later.

After lunch we went back to our hotel intending to just nap a little. We slept until the next day.

Quan An Ngon
160 Pasteur St.
District 1
Ho Chi Minh City
Phone: 08-3827-7131.

Lunch at Falafel King

The Sergeant and I had lunch this afternoon at Falafel King, a small, local chain. They have a bewildering array of options, but it's all good, and fast.

I got the grilled chicken plate, which comes with six falafels, salad and two sides and pita bread. Very yummy. The marinated chicken is grilled as you wait, and served atop the salad. I got tabouli and hummus as my sides. The tabouli is especially good. Nice and lemony.

The note next to the register was amusing. It took me a second to get it.
(Blurry cellphone picture, sorry.)

Falafel King
825 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO
303-322-6077
Mon-Sat: 11:00am-9:00pm
Sun: 11:30am-8:30pm

Dinner at Euclid Hall

On a rare Sunday night off work, I took the opportunity to head downtown with the Sergeant to try a newish restaurant, Euclid Hall. Granted, they've been open since August 2010, but parking downtown is such a bitch that the couple of previous times we tried to go, we gave up after circling a few times in search of a spot on the street. No way am I paying $15 or $20 for parking in a lot when there are plenty of awesome eateries where parking is free or cheap. On Sunday, we found a spot easily a block away.

Our first impression on walking in wasn't the greatest. A staffer was on the phone at the entrance and while she saw us, she gave no nod or wave or "just a minute" gesture. So we stood there looking around, wondering if we should seat ourselves. After a few minutes, another staffer finally came and showed us to a table and brought water. Then we sat for nearly 10 minutes waiting for one of the many servers passing through our area to notice us.

When our server finally came over and I mentioned the wait she apologized for having not noticed us. To her credit, she was very attentive after that, so I felt mollified.

We both order the BQE cocktail, essentially a rye manhattan. That was tasty. I ordered the chicken and waffles (Petaluma chicken paillard, sourdough waffles, pure maple syrup, salty walnuts, $12.50) while the Sergeant got the chicken schnitzel sandwich (double decker, double wide, dill rye, aioli, apple cabbage caraway slaw $9.50). I didn't taste the sandwich, but he said it was good.

The chicken and waffles were a good combination, stacked (like Jenga! said our server) and both sweet and salty. I'd heard that chicken and waffles are a "thing," so it was nice to find out why.

The atmosphere was hipster bar, with a steady stream of alternative rock playing and an extensive beer list. The menu is heavy on sausage, poutine and schnitzel.

I'm glad we checked it out, and maybe sometime we'll go back. If you're downtown already or dining on a week night when parking is less of a hassle, you might enjoy going there, too.

Euclid Hall
1317 14th Street (between Market and Larimer)
Denver, Colorado 80202
303-595-4255

Lunch at Thai Pot Cafe

The Sergeant and I needed to run some errands on Colorado Boulevard, so we popped into Thai Pot Cafe for lunch (it's on the east side, between Iowa and Florida). We've been there once before. There's another Asian place in the same strip mall (Saigon Terrace?) that we accidentally ordered takeout from once. Don't go there. Thai Pot's the place you want. We got the soup with our lunch specials. Kao tom, or rice soup. A clear but flavorful broth, rice and chicken. Surprisingly delicious, because it I thought it was going to be watery and bland.

The Sergeant ordered masaman curry. The restaurant has a formula for spiciness, from 1 to 5, with 5 being "Thai spicy." That strikes me as a sensible way of dealing with people's nebulous descriptions of how hot they want their food. He said his tofu curry was tasty, but could have been still hotter than the level 4 he ordered. Next time, "Thai spicy" it is.

I ordered the chicken pad see-ewe, which is stir-fried wide noodles with chicken, eggs and broccoli. I ordered it spice level 2, because I'm a wimp. It was pretty mild but I really liked it. I wished I'd ordered a dinner-sized portion so I could have some later.Thai Pot is not a cheap lunch ($8 for the lunch specials we ordered) but worth it. Nice friendly service, too.

Thai Pot Cafe
1550 S. Colorado Blvd. #113
Denver, CO 80222
303-639-6200

Dinner at ChoLon Bistro

I've been hearing about ChoLon for a while. It opened maybe a year ago downtown. On a rare recent weeknight off, the Sergeant I headed down to try it. (I hate trying to find parking downtown on weekends, so there's probably a lot of good places I'm missing out on. Euclid Hall, for example, is another place on my list.)

ChoLon has a week night prix fixe dinner for two that is a good deal – $55 for six dishes. We ordered soup dumplings, pot stickers, lemongrass-beet salad, vegetable fried rice and kung pao chicken. (Oh, I just noticed they misspelled "prix fixe" on their menu. Whoops!) We got seats at the kitchen bar because I like to see the cooks at work. We could also watch the final touches of the plating.

The first order of business was the drinks. The Sergeant ordered an Old Saigon, which is simply an Old Fashioned with basil added. And a nice Luxardo cherry.

I ordered a peach cocktail whose name escapes me and which is not listed on the website (Note to self: Always photograph all menus). It had rum and coconut milk, a touch of chili, and boba pearls in the bottom. Tasty! And entertaining. But too easy to slurp down quickly, so I had an Old Saigon after that.

Then came an amuse bouche: a giant puffed rice cake, propped up on a stand and served with a flavorful and spicy tomato jam.
The first course was soup dumplings. I thought they were going to be dumplings in soup, but no, they were dumplings filled with soup!
More specifically, French onion soup with gruyère. Oh my goodness, these dumplings are good! Apparently soup dumplings, or xiaolongbao, are a Shanghai specialty. The onion soup is a ChoLon twist.

(In case you're wondering, the chef's name is Lon Symensma – he's using a classical Western culinary background to translate Asian dishes. The restaurant name is a play on his name and the name of Saigon's Chinatown, Cholon.)

Then there were pork belly pot stickers with a ginger mustard sauce, and the lemongrass-beet salad. Both were lovely. I'm usually not fond of frisée, but this was tender and not too bitter, with a very light dressing. A bonus course also arrived, compliments of the chef: rib-eye satay. Rare and very tender and flavorful

As we nibbled and chatted we also enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. Many of the reviews I've seen complain about the noisiness of the restaurant, but we had no trouble hearing each other because most of the noise was behind us. The very friendly staff checked in with us regularly and answered our questions in detail. As a bonus, the lighting at the kitchen bar is much brighter, so I could get some decent food photos.
Doesn't this fried rice look delicious? That's a poached egg on top. I was very happy that the dish was not oversalted, as fried rice often is.

The main course was the kung pao chicken.
The chicken is brined and deboned, then folded into a tight bundle and cooked sous vide – sealed in a plastic pouch and immersed in hot water at a consistent temperature for many hours. The process results in very tender, succulent meat, which is then served with a kung pao sauce with vegetables. Ordinarily I would like some plain white rice with such a dish, but with so many earlier courses, I was happy to have just a couple of pieces. The rest of my share I took home for a delicious lunch over rice the next day.

I needed to save room for dessert!
Molten chocolate cake with salted peanut ice cream and toasted marshmallows. Quite a decadent treat and more than enough for two of us to share.

If you have a week night free or can plan ahead and make a weekend reservation, ChoLon is definitely a place to try. They do lunch, too! More soup dumplings are in my future. Maybe in yours, too. ChoLon Bistro 1555 Blake Street #101 Denver, CO 80202 303-353-5223

Kung pao tacos

I've heard of kimchi tacos and spaghetti tacos, so why not kung pao tacos? But no, I'm really talking about two different meals I had recently.

At East Asia Garden the other day, the Sergeant and I enjoyed some pork and cabbage jiaozi (boiled dumplings), kung pao chicken and sesame balls. We are big fans of the sesame balls.
East Asia Garden's owners are from Northeast China, so it is fun to practice my rusty Mandarin with them (my first year in China was spent in the northeast's Jilin Province, so the accent is easier for me to understand). Their food is good and reasonably priced. The service is friendly. Not always speedy but we don't like to eat in a hurry. I like the way they mold the rice, too. It's original.

If you want to try some Chinese dishes from a less-known region, stop in East Asia Garden or order takeout sometime.

East Asia Garden
1156 South Broadway
Denver, CO 80210-1502
(303) 722-9968

On Saturday night, we headed up to Westminster with friends to try a Mexican place mentioned in Denver on a Spit.
Toluca is short on atmosphere but long on friendly service and yes, awesome tacos al pastor. I had straight-up tacos (with extra pineapple) while the Sergeant had the combo plate with beans and rice, which he said were quite tasty. The margaritas were passable, and we all enjoyed the sopapillas.

If you're up on the north side of town, go get you some tacos there!

Toluca Mexican Restaurant
9165 Lowell Boulevard
Westminster, CO
720-540-5649

Brunch at Wild Eggs in Denver

We had a hankering for brunch and headed to Lucile's on Logan at Alameda, but the wait was something like 40 minutes, out in the heat. Instead we ambled over for a look at the new place across the street, where Blockbuster used to be.

Turns out this weekend is the soft opening for Wild Eggs, the first Denver branch of a Louisville, Ky.-based chain. It was by invitation only, but we were told we could eat at the bar, if we didn't mind slow service. Oh, and by the way? Breakfast would be on the house.

Sweet! We bellied up to the circular bar. I was trying to figure out why they would have such a fixture. Maybe just a design element to vary the seating options. I overheard one woman complaining vociferously about the uncomfortable bar stools, but I thought they were all right. The rest of the space is tables and booths.
The ceiling is high and the space is nice and airy, with artsy pictures of eggs on the walls and other eggy touches, such as egg-shaped salt and pepper shakers.

The menu is extensive. I was torn between the "ACE" of a "BLT" (Avocado, Cheddar, fried Egg, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato on toasted sourdough with skillet potatoes) and the Jimmy the Greek Frittata (Oven-dried tomato, kalamata olive, fresh spinach, onion, basil pesto, feta cheese and pepperoncini). I opted for the latter.
It was quite tasty! A little on the salty side, but anything with olives and feta will be. I ate it all. I liked the potatoes, too. Three pepperoncini was overkill for me; I think they could probably put one on there and call it good, or ask people if they'd like more than one (I hate to waste good pepperoncini).

The Sergeant had the "Violet You’re Turning Violet" (Three buttermilk cakes, blueberries, whipped cream and maple syrup. The name is a nod to Willy Wonka).
He thought the pancakes were quite good. Not too sweet. He also was impressed with the bacon we'd ordered on the side. "This bacon is perfect!"

We also had an "everything muffin," which is little bit sweet and a little savory. I think I would've like it more with some butter on it. The flavor was interesting but not what I was expecting.

Wild Eggs serves fresh-squeezed juice, and they've invested in a robot squeezer that's amazing. I took a video of it in action:

That's a $5,000 juicer, but considering how much juice they were processing, it will pay for itself in man-hours saved quite quickly.

Wild Eggs opens for real on Tuesday, Aug. 2. You can look at their website for hours and their menu. (I can't get their menu to display in Firefox, only Safari. Might be a problem on my end.)

Wild Eggs
300 East Alameda Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80209
303-744-EGGS (3447)
P.S. They do have a liquor license and what looked like a pretty interesting drink menu. I didn't take a picture since I thought it would be available online. I'll just have to go back!

Basil artichoke pizza at Udi's

A month ago we went to dinner in Arvada with some friends who suggested Udi's in Old Town. The appetizers were forgettable, the Old Fashioneds were acceptable, but OMG, the pizza was awesome.
Specifically, the basil artichoke pizza. I liked it so much I took Mom there for lunch a few days ago (she's been out for a lovely visit).

The lunch offer of salad with the pizza is redundant, since you get all that lovely arugula, and the salad is nothing special. Then again, if you eat the salad, you can save some of the pizza for later. It's good cold, too.

Mom had the lamb pita, which she enjoyed. She says she doesn't like pizza. I didn't encourage her to try mine.

Udi's
7600 Grandview Avenue
Arvada, CO 80002-2410
(303) 421-8000

Lunch at Chez Panisse

I was out of town for a few days. The weather in California was pretty crummy, alas, but it may be what allowed us to get a last-minute lunch reservation here:
We were eating in the "café" upstairs. The downstairs, main restaurant is dinners only, prix fixe. Upstairs is lunches and à la carte dining (they also have one prix fixe option), and is slightly more affordable, i.e. $30 to $50 per person instead of $80.
For starters I couldn't resist the pizzetta with pancetta, arugula and artichoke. Nom.
My companions enjoyed the "Russian salad" of beets, potatoes, peas, chervil and an egg:
And oven-baked white beans with an egg and kale and fresh turmeric and ginger pickle. Oh my gosh. So good.
As it turned out, all three of us wanted the pasta, which our server was most enthusiastic about: Spaghetti alla Pallina with cauliflower, pine nuts, currants, saffron and toasted breadcrumbs.
Super tasty! I will have to try to re-create that at home, along with the white bean dish. The menu was "inspired by Niloufer Ichaporia King," so I may be able to find some clues in her cookbook, My Bombay Kitchen.

When our entrees arrived, we had to ask for the check (and skip dessert) because we were running out of time (there were kids to be picked up at school). Our server brought it with apologies and a plate of cookies and figs. She noted that some of the bill had been comped because the pasta took so long to come out. Oh? I guess it had, but we were enjoying the leisurely pace. We appreciated the gesture just the same. And the cookies.