Kim, Trey, and I spent some time in and around Denver this past weekend. The big event of our trip was the 30th annual Great American Beer Festival. This was my 5th time attending the festival and 2nd time at the Saturday afternoon American Homebrewers Association  members only session. Overall we had a fantastic time full of mostly delicious and hard to find beers. We met up with a friend of mine and his recent fiancé who had also spent time at the Thursday evening session. It’s now my goal to attend the Thursday session sometime in the future. This is the first session of the weekend, so all the beers are fully stocked and available.  Occasionally  on Saturday we found some of the beers we wanted to try were already gone.

Like Father, Like Son

In total there were 466 breweries in the festival hall, 2,375 different beers, and 49,000 attendees over four sessions. And even with all of those large numbers the festival still seems to be run so smoothly. I guess experience does pay off. Similar to last year the hot styles on display were sours, which I really enjoyed this year. It seems that as the popularity of these styles grow the quality of the beers produced increases as well. But the  American-Style India Pale Ale category is still the most  popular  of all categories with 176 different entries. I wish I could say that I tried them all, but there is always next year.

My wife and I have  been trying to find a local Mexican restaurant close to our house in Cincinnati to replace Benny’s, our neighborhood staple in Denver. El Toro Mexican Restaurant is only a mile from our new house, in fact we would have walked there if the weather wasn’t bad. They are located in the large strip mall named Hyde Park Plaza, next to Ace Hardware and just around the corner from Kroger. The storefront doesn’t appear very large, but the restaurant is very deep and has seating for plenty. We arrived just before 7:30 on a Wednesday to find the restaurant mostly empty.

Inside El Toro

We settled into our booth seating and noticed that all the booth tops are shaped like bull horns. El toro translates to the bull, so some care has been made in designing the restaurant. Shortly after sitting down an employee dropped off some chips and salsa and some water. The chips didn’t seem very fresh but they were warm. The salsa was pretty good overall, though most of the time I prefer a salsa with more chunks in it. This was very thin, but the spice was there and the flavor was good.

Complimentary Chips And Salsa

Shortly after receiving the complimentary chips and salsa, our server came by to take our drink order. My wife asked if there were any specials, and fortunately one of the smaller sized margaritas was on sale. We both ordered one on the rocks with salt. When they arrived I was shocked at how large it was.  According  to the menu there are two sizes larger than the ones that we ordered. The taste was decent. It wasn’t heavy on either sweet or sour, just middle of the road on flavor.

Huge Margaritas

For dinner I went with the combination plate #1, which includes a taco, two enchiladas, and either rice or beans (I chose beans). Overall the food was not good. The taco was completely bland, and though the enchiladas were a little better due to the red sauce on top, they still were bland. The red sauce was simply not full of enough flavor, and their chicken all seemed very dry. The beans might have been my favorite part of my plate, since they actually tasted like I was expecting. For $7.99 the amount of food was good, but the taste needed a lot of work.

Combination 1

My wife created her own combination plate with  chile poblano, burrito, and tostaguac. She almost ordered the chile relleno but when she realized it was filled with beef she switched to the poblano, which is the same thing except with cheese filling. The poblano was better than anything else on my plate, but still not very good. It too had the same red sauce on it, which really needs work. The burrito was equally as plain and boring as my enchiladas. While the tostaguac (basically guacamole on a tostada) was probably the highlight of the meal.

Custom Combination

I always thought that it would be hard to find Mexican food that was less flavorful than Don Pablos, but I think El Toro has done it. I really doubt that we will make the effort to return anytime in the near future. Our quest for good Mexican food near our home continues.

A couple of Saturdays ago I made my way to Fountain Square for the Cincinnati Beer Fest. Though the lineup of beers wasn’t anything special, especially after attending the Big Band & Bigger Beer Festival just over a week earlier, I did find some awesome food. I had heard of Tom + Chee before but this was the first time I would sample one of their gourmet grilled cheeses. My wife actually made my selection for me and decided on the BLT grilled cheese.

BLT+CHEE

She must know me too well. This was an amazing combination of two sandwiches that I love. It would have been very hard for me to be disappointed, but the sandwich easily exceeded my expectations. It was perfectly grilled and ready for pickup in about five minutes. The cheddar cheese was still warm on the inside and the other ingredients inside couldn’t have tasted any better. I definitely will be back to sample some other  sandwiches, including the Flying Pig (roasted turkey, bacon, pickles, and gouda on sourdough) and the hot+spicy (pepperoni, hot peppers, onions, and pepper jack on wheat) just to name a few.

My wife and I stumbled into Zip’s Cafe a couple of weekends ago after Lunken Aviation Days. We actually attempted to stop in at Terry’s Turf Club, but quickly left when we were told that they didn’t have high chairs and it seemed a little too crowded for our infant son. We got back in the car and ended up at Zip’s, which worked out well since a couple of my wife’s brothers and some guests all joined us for lunch.

Turkey Burger

I had been to Zip’s before but not for many years. They are famous for their hamburgers, but I am not a big red meat eater so I wouldn’t know if they are any good. My wife tried the turkey burger with cheese ($5.75) and she seemed to enjoy it. I also saw a black bean burger on the menu that I may try in the future. She also ordered a side of french fries ($2.25) which actually looked better than they tasted. I’ve read good things about the fries, so maybe we had a bad batch, but they seemed to be exceptionally dry and perhaps overcooked.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

I went with the chicken salad sandwich ($6.00) and a side of onion rings ($3.25). The size of the sandwich was a little small, but the taste was great. Though the real standout from my meal were the onion rings. These large slices of onion had a great tasting batter on them and were perfectly fried. I would definitely recommend these over the fries for just a dollar more. Others in our group had Zip Burgers and they all seemed to enjoy them. Overall I enjoyed the food that I ordered and I hope to go back to sample more of their bar food style offerings.

I first heard of the Kolache Factory through a coupon we received in the mail, likely from ValPak. I lost the coupon but my wife and I still decided to check them out anyway. For me breakfast is often a disappointing experience as I don’t eat eggs. It is therefore hard for me to find quick breakfast options that still have  protein. Our visit came after an eight mile run in the morning, so I needed to find something to fill me up.

Enter the kolache, “a type of  pastry  that holds a dollop of fruit rimmed by a puffy pillow of supple dough.  Originating as a semi-sweet wedding dessert from  Central Europe, they have become popular in parts of the  United States. Often in the United States, kolaches are used for breakfast, stuffed with ham and cheese.”  I remembered a picture on the coupon showing bread stuffed with things other than eggs and knew that we needed to give it a try. The Kolache Factory was founded in 1982 in Houston, TX and is expanding nationwide.

Inside Kolache Factory

When entering the Kolache Factory you immediately recognize the layout of the restaurant as similar to a donut shop, with trays filled of the offerings back behind the registers. They have a few of the standard kolaches, similar to what I think you could find in central Europe. However most of the options utilize the same dough, but instead of placing various toppings on top the ingredients are stuffed inside the near baseball sized ball of dough. They also offer a couple of longer varieties with a few different kinds of sausage stuffed inside the pastry.

Sausage Gravy and Pepperoni Mushroom

I decided to try the most popular item from the menu, the filled dough balls. I went with one breakfast selection (sausage and gravy) and one more lunch offering (pepperoni and mushroom). After making my choices the employee taking my order offered to heat them up, to which I obliged.  Unfortunately  they are just microwaved for a minute and then served. It would be nice if they were heated quickly in an oven, which would make the outside a little more crisp instead of chewy. Regardless the dough was a bit sweet and tasty. The sausage and gravy was just as good as I imagined that it would be, with the dough it tasted almost just like biscuits and gravy. The pepperoni and mushroom also had some pizza sauce on it and was even referred to by the staff as a pizza kolache. It too was very good, spicy, and filling.

Sausage Egg Cheese and Chicken Enchilada

My wife also ordered one breakfast and one lunch style kolache. I didn’t sample her sausage egg and cheese kolache but she seemed to enjoy it. The chicken enchilada was again quite good. There was definitely some spiciness in it from the enchilada sauce. We also split a  cinnamon  roll for desert. Since they didn’t have any ready, it came fresh from the kitchen a few minutes after we started eating our meal. It was warm and topped with melted icing. It is hard to mess up a cinnamon roll, but this one was definitely toward the top of my personal list. To reiterate what I said before, I think the next time I will get a large variety pack of kolaches to go and then warm them up myself in the oven to see if that makes them even better. I hope that next time is sometime soon.

After the Queen City Underground tour a couple of weekends ago, I stopped into the Lavomatic Cafe for lunch with my wife and parents. Honestly I probably would have dined somewhere else this Sunday afternoon but all the other nearby eateries were closed. Fortunately the tour guides told us that there was a 10% discount to Lavomatic for anyone on the tour. We figured that it was worth a try.

Inside Lavomatic

None of us had ever dined at Lavomatic before so we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. Plus the name isn’t descriptive in what type of restaurant it is going to be. Their website has the word urban in multiple places, such as urban wine bar or urban food. I’m sure the environment is much different during dinner hours, and there is a separate menu for dinner, but during the day I wouldn’t call this a wine bar. In fact the six or seven solid beer choices on tap and their signature cocktails were more highlighted than any wine.

Jerk Chicken Sandwich

During our visit we could order from either the lunch or brunch menus. I decided to go with the jerk chicken sandwich, which I don’t see listed on their online menu. It was pretty basic with a seasoned chicken breast, slice of cheese, onion and tomato. The chicken was a little overdone in my opinion, coming from someone who always overcooks chicken at home. Also I didn’t feel that the jerk flavoring was there much at all. And the small green salad on the side didn’t have much flavor either.

Omelette

My wife ordered from the brunch side of the menu, some sort of omelette. I didn’t hear any complaints from her about the omelette, but I did find it strange that the same green salad was served on the side. Would some kind of potato have been a better choice? My mother had the same sandwich that I had, and my dad went with a turkey club. Judging from looks alone, I should have went with the turkey club myself. We shared a couple orders of the house cut fries, and though they were much tastier than my sandwich, I felt they were overpriced.

House Cut Fries

On the positive side, our service was excellent! Though the food took a long time to arrive, our drinks were always full and both our server and the bartender were very pleasant to speak with. I also liked the draft beer selections that I had while there, and I’m sure they boast a decent wine selection too. Maybe their dinner is better, but my advice would be to stick with drinks and appetizers at the Lavomatic.

While at the Big Band & Bigger Beer event last week, I had the opportunity to try Taco Azul. This food truck specializes in authentic tacos (2 for $5), burritos ($5), tortas ($7), and quesadillas ($5). Each item is available with chicken, pork, steak, or mushroom filling.  Everything is made fresh daily and local ingredients are used when possible.

Taco Azul Truck

I made the mistake of waiting too long before placing my order. When I finally did the pork was completely gone and there was only enough chicken for one taco. I was hoping to get one chicken and one pork taco. I decided to switch the pork over to mushroom. The tacos are served on corn tortillas with only onions and cilantro. Pico de gallo and lettuce can be added, as well as cheese for a quarter, but I decided to keep them simple.

Mushroom And Chicken Tacos

The menu doesn’t mention it but lime wedges are served with the tacos for squeezing onto the top. I decided to skip this step since the slices of lime I was given weren’t fresh, as evident in the photo above. Also wedges of radish are served on the side, which I wasn’t really sure what to do with. I started with the chicken taco and was immediately impressed with the spice and flavor of the chicken. The cilantro and onion add simple flavors to the taco but let the meat shine through. The mushroom taco wasn’t as nearly as flavorful, but was still a decent option for the  vegetarians  out there. In conclusion I enjoyed the food and I would definitely give them a second shot, especially if they have pork available this time.

Setting Sun Behind Pavilion

Last night I attended the Big Band & Bigger Beer Festival in Ault Park. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the festival other than the little information that was advertised. We knew that we would get 20 beer samples for just $20, but we had no idea what breweries would be there. We also knew that the  17-piece Jump n’ Jive Show Band would be there, but we didn’t really know what to expect from them. We also knew that there would be food for sale, but little information on the vendors was available. After spending nearly four hours at the event I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by most of what the event had to offer.

Event Ticket

Dutch’s is a fantastic wine bar and bottle shop nearby that was presenting the festival. Having them in charge of the beer tasting, I knew there would be some good offerings. I was happy to see Colorado well represented immediately upon our entry with Boulder, Breckenridge, Great Divide, and Left Hand featured at a couple of tables together. They mostly had the regular offerings from each of those breweries, so I spent the majority of the time trying to find good beers that I had never heard of or seen before. I really enjoyed some of the Buckeye Brewing Company offerings as well as Hoppin’ Frog Brewery.

Buckeye Brewing Hippie IPA

Here’s a full list of what I tasted (though I might have missed a few). I used the Untappd app to track my samples:

• Left Hand Brewing Company – Good Juju
• Boulder Beer Company – Cold Hop
• Buckeye Brewing Company – ’76 Imperial IPA
• Hoppin’ Frog Brewery – Frogs’ Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale
• Hoppin’ Frog Brewery – Hoppin’ To Heaven IPA
• Tallgrass Brewing Company – Oasis
• Buckeye Brewing Company – Hippie IPA
• Clipper City Brewing Company – Heavy Seas Marzen
• Great Divide Brewing Company – Denver Pale Ale (DPA)
• Stevens Point Brewery – Pale Ale
• Mendocino Brewing – Eye of the Hawk
• Unibroue – Trois Pistoles
• Great Divide Brewing Company – Claymore Scotch Ale
• Boulder Beer – Mojo IPA
• Breckenridge Brewery – Vanilla Porter

Jump n' Jive Show Band

Overall it was a great time. One suggestion is that I would do away with the sample counting and just offer unlimited samples. I found it impossible to completely fill my card with 20  check-marks, even giving some of my samples away to others. The tasting glass was probably three ounces, so a good amount of beer is already being offered with 20 samples. Plus some of the volunteers forgot to mark cards anyway. Other than that, this was the third year for the festival and I think they have a good thing going. I hope to see it return next year, as I will definitely be there.

Over the weekend my wife and I had lunch at Olives at the Ludlow Garage. Awhile ago I bought a LivingSocial coupon that was expiring this week, so we were forced to use it. We nearly went to a beer tasting months ago at Olives, and when we saw the coupon a few days later we figured it was worth a try. When we pulled up to Olives I immediately recognized the restaurant as the old Uno’s, which I guess closed a couple of years after I graduated from UC. The outside of the restaurant seems a little different, but once I stepped into the entryway with steps down to the basement and the double doors on the left into the bar, there was no denying that much of the inside of Olives in unchanged from the Uno days.

Olives Upstairs Bar Area

Since we arrived late in the afternoon on a Sunday, the downstairs was closed and most of the upstairs was empty. We were told to sit where we like and chose the empty loft area behind the bar, since it had low tables that we could pull a high chair up to. The bartender would also act as our server, which wasn’t a problem as there were only a couple of other tables and a few people at the bar. I did see another server running around during our visit. The bar is stocked with a large variety of draft beer selections and the menu is rather big as well.

Bier Cheese Dip

Since this meal would serve as both our lunch and dinner, and we were really hungry, we decided to split an appetizer to start. Our server told us that the menu was recently redone and she had only tried a few of the options on the menu. After a little debate we opted for the bier cheese dip ($5.95) served with garlic drops, fresh made garlic dough with blended cheese and then deep-fried golden brown. The garlic drops themselves were actually really good, and the bier cheese was pretty tasty as well. We could definitely taste the beer in the dip, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Johnny Appleseed Burger

Though not an expert at the menu, our server did let us know that their burgers were all good. With that bit of advice I decided to give one of their signature burgers a chance, which can be served either with Angus ground beef, veggie burger, black bean burger, turkey burger, or chicken breast. I opted for the Johnny Appleseed ($11.95) which featured cheddar cheese, maple bacon, sautéed apples and red onions, with whole grain mustard on a ciabatta bun. I had this sandwich served with the black bean burger, which was a large fresh made patty that was hard to keep together. Despite the massive amount of toppings, the sandwich managed to stay together pretty well otherwise. The taste was really good with the sweetness from the apples and the  spiciness  of the mustard and onion.

South Of The Border

My wife went with the South of the Border burger ($10.95) with guacamole, applewood smoked bacon, and fried egg, topped with pepper jack cheese on a toasted Kaiser bun. She choose to have the turkey burger on this sandwich and commented that it was very meaty. It was a thick patty which dominated this sandwich. Again I think the flavor combinations worked pretty well for her, but she did admit to preferring my sandwich more. There are quite a few other burgers on the menu with some unique topping combinations. The shoestring fries were fresh cooked perfectly and the cole slaw on the side was decent. Overall we enjoyed our visit to Olives and would return if ever in the area. It’s not worth a special trip, but if near campus it is worth a try (or retry if you’ve dined before).

After a couple of hours at the nearby Arnold’s last Wednesday, a friend suggested that our group head to Taqueria Mercado for some food. At the time of our visit I had no idea that the restaurant was the subject of so many recent reviews, but my friends who had been before all praised it. We arrived around 8:30 to find only a couple of other occupied tables. We were quickly guided to a table between the bar area and the somewhat open kitchen. I had a run back to Arnold’s to retrieve a left item, and when I returned I had a fresh margarita waiting for me.

Margarita

I wouldn’t say it was the best margarita I’ve had, but it was overall pretty good. Most of the salt on the rim had been washed away from the filled to top drink. You can even see some of it on the table from when the server set it down. Speaking of service, we had absolutely no problems, and found the experience to be really fast. I read other reviews complaining of slow service but that was not the case for us.

We started with some chips and salsa, which I really enjoyed. Unlike most other Mexican restaurants, the chips and salsa are not complimentary here, but they are worth spending the extra $1.50 for. The same  tortillas  that are used for most of the menu items are fried crisp and served with delicious salsa. Also available are three other bottled sauces that you may have to special request. The chips were thick and held up perfectly against all the sauces.

Two Enchiladas

All of the experienced friends in our group ordered tacos. However I wanted to try something different and decided on the enchiladas with chicken filling. However as you can see above, the enchiladas aren’t all that different from the tacos, at least not in appearance (minus the red sauce on top). It seemed that all the dishes are served with the same style of  tortillas  and differentiating between them can be  difficult. With all of that said, I thought the enchiladas were very good. The red sauce on top had a nice amount of heat to it. The rice and beans also were not bad, though I did add a little extra sauce to my rice to spice it up.

Two Small Quesadillas

My wife went with two small quesadillas. Again see how these could easily be confused as tacos, especially since the easiest way to eat them was to pick them up just as you would a taco. My wife was not as happy with her choice and found the chicken to be dry. One of our friends warned us to this problem, as he has had the same experience before. Though I guess the sauce on my  enchiladas  helped to disguise the issue. Both of our meals were from the lunch combo menu, which can be ordered for dinner for an extra fifty cents. Each of these plates of food was only $6, so it’s not a bad deal at all.

The others in our party all seemed very happy with their tacos. I definitely want to give those a try sometime in the future, maybe even skipping chicken and getting the al pastor (pork) or  carnitas (fried pork). I’m sure my wife will do the same, as each of those choices seem to get better reviews than the chicken that we had on this visit. As far as Mexican food goes it is the best we’ve had in the last few months.