This past Saturday I headed up to Breckenridge along with Kim and our friends Ryan and Rob.   We made plans earlier in the week to attend the Breckenridge Beer Festival and arrived just after the event had started.   It was fairly cold and windy out, but that didn’t stop a pretty decent sized crowd from gathering outside to taste unlimited beer samples from over twenty breweries.   The website said, “Rain or Shine, we’ll be there and hopefully so will you!” We didn’t see any rain, but there was plenty of snow.

On to the sampling.   The first surprise was the beer from the Rifle Brewing Company.   I’d never heard of the city of Rifle, Colorado, let alone the brewery there, but their IPA was delicious as was their Anvil Point Amber.   Another brewery that I had never heard of before was the Grand Lake Brewing Company, also from Colorado.   While I wasn’t as blown away by their brews, they did have a couple of tasty entries.   Of the larger breweries, I was very happy to get a taste of small batch offering from Deschutes.   I walked up to their booth just as a bottle of Hop Henge IPA came out of hiding and encouraged them to give me a pour.   It went fast, but all in our group were able to try it.   We also enjoyed beers from Great Divide, Kona, Breckenridge (obviously), Avery, and many more that I am forgetting.   It was a great festival, and my only suggestion would be for them to add more restrooms into the mix, as we had to wait for fifteen minutes or longer each time.

Breckenridge on Dwellable

Over the weekend I found my new favorite little Italian Restaurant in Denver, the Saucy Noodle Ristorante. It’s not even two miles from our house, but it’s not in an area of town that we regularly visit. I guess there are too many other places nearby for us to venture too far out very often.   Kim and I played a round of racquetball after work on Friday, and afterward decided to get some food.   We thought about grabbing something close to the University of Denver, where we workout, but an upcoming hockey game had packed all the restaurants.   So we headed north on University Boulevard and ended up in the Bonnie Brae neighborhood.

We found a parking spot directly outside the Saucy Noodle and headed inside.   The restaurant was actually bigger than I was expecting it to be, and it was pretty well packed.   We were told it would be up to twenty minutes for a table.   We decided to stick around and ordered a couple of drinks from the small bar.   We were seated before finishing our drinks, so the wait wasn’t too long.   Kim decided that she wanted to have pizza and ordered one with their spicy hot Arrabbiatta Sauce.   I decided on the Stuffed Shells Florentine, which are filled with a creamy Mixture of Fresh Cheeses, Parsley, and Spinach. Both dishes were excellent, as was the side salad that came with my meal. The Arrabbiatta sauce was definitely spicy and delicious, but I’m glad that I also got to sample their equally delicious and famous garlic marinara sauce. We will absolutely be back!

While starting to write this review, I’ve realized that I’ve eaten out quite a bit recently.   This was especially true over the weekend, where we dined out on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and evening, along with Sunday afternoon.   We made up for it by grilling out on Sunday night, and cooking a bunch early in this week.

Anyway, back to our dining out experience on Saturday night.   We decided late in the evening to go out for dinner and after tossing around some of the usual suspects, I suggested we try India’s Pearl.   I quickly made a reservation at OpenTable and we were on our way down to the restaurant.   It’s a very quick drive from our house, so we arrived just before our scheduled reservation time. The restaurant said that they hadn’t received my reservation, but we were seated right away. I only made the reservation 10 or 15 minutes earlier. We were seated at a table against one of the front windows.

Our server arrived soon enough to take our drink order and to drop off the complimentary appetizer. We also ordered a vegetarian sampler appetizer, as it was our first time there. The Samosa’s (fried dough filled with spicy potatoes and peas) were really good, as were the vegetable Pakora (seasoned vegetables dipped in gram batter, then fried to perfection). The Paneer Pakora was a little bland though, which is the same as the vegetable pakora but with homemade cheese instead of vegetables. For entrees we had the vegetable curry and chicken Tikka Masala. Both were very good, though the curry was a little different than expected, as we are used to Thai curries. Overall, I would definitely go back to taste more of Denver’s best Indian food.

This past Friday night I headed to a new eatery near to our house called The Walnut Room.  They’ve had a location on the north side of downtown for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never been to it.  This is surprising as it combines two of my favorite things: pizza and live music.  The new venue does not have any live entertainment, but the menu is completely the same.  A group of four of us arrived a little late in the evening and immediately found a table.  On first impression, the restaurant is not nearly what I had anticipated.  Food and drink is ordered from the counter, but I was expecting to have wait staff.  They only have one beer on tap, PBR, but they make up for it with a good selection of Great Divide brews.

Three of us split the largest pizza they had, while one of our friends decided he wanted some meat and ordered a meatball sandwich.  The wait for the food wasn’t long, and the pizza arrived hot and fresh from the oven.  Overall I would say that it’s a very good pizza.  It reminded me a little bit of LaRosa’s back in Cincinnati, but that may have just been because of the crust along with the way it was sliced.  Overall, it was a good experience despite our higher expectations.  I believe that they should stay open even later than they already are, as the restaurant could capitalize on all the hungry people emptying from the many neighboring bars.

I prepared this recipe the other night and must say it was really delicious.   I wanted to not only share it but also get it up online in-case I ever lost it.   It comes from a recent issue of 5280 Magazine from Holly Hartnett owner of Venue.

• olive oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 6 cloves garlic, slivered (I used minced)
• 1 cup light cream (I used heavy whipping cream)
• 6 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 16 ounces frozen young peas, blanched
• 2 jars marinated artichoke hearts (I used 1 regular size can)
• lemon juice to taste (I didn’t use any)
• salt and pepper to taste
• cayenne to taste
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• 1 pound fettuccine, cooked and strained

In a deep saute pan, heat three tablespoons of olive oil and add chicken.   Sear until golden; remove from pan.   Once you are able to handle the chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces.   Lower heat and add more olive oil if necessary.   Add garlic and cook until lightly golden.

Add chicken, cream, and goat cheese to the pan and simmer until chicken is cooked through.   Add peas, artichoke hearts, lemon juice to taste, sale, pepper, and cayenne.   Add Parmesan to desired consistency.   Add cooked pasta to the pot and combine all ingredients.   Serve additional cheese on top.

Friday night I decided to order in some pizza for dinner.   After scoping out the coupons online, I decided to order from Domino’s.   They had a coupon for two medium pizzas for $5.99 each, and I wanted to try their new pizza anyway.   So I placed my order using only vegetable toppings (such a good Catholic) and noticed that they had a sauce called Hearty Marinara Sauce in addition to their New Robust Tomato Sauce.   I decided to try each of the sauces on separate pizzas since my coupon was for two anyway.

When they arrived, I immediately noticed that the one that had the Hearty Marinara Sauce actually said Original Sauce on the box.   I was thinking that both sauces would be new, and was therefore disappointed.   But I decided to turn the situation into my own taste test.   I started on the pizza with the New Robust Tomato Sauce and immediately thought that it tasted just as I had remembered Domino’s to taste, rather bland.   After a slice from the new I moved to the Original Sauce and immediately was struck by how awful it was.   So they have managed to improve their pizza, though I still don’t think it’s as good as the other chains.   The one thing that I did like was the new garlic butter that is brushed on the crust edges.   It helps enhance the flavor of the rather boring crust, though it can be a little messy.

Friday night, Kim and I decided to stay in, order some food, and watch a movie.   After debating between sandwiches and pizza, we decided on pizza and ended up ordering from Extreme Pizza.   We knew we wanted a couple of different pizzas, but couldn’t decide between four different styles.   We finally decided to get all four, utilizing the half and half option.   Each of our selections were tasty, but I think my favorites of the group were the California Cactus and the Drag It Through The Garden.

As for our entertainment, we watched the Hurt Locker from our cable service On Demand menu.   “Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.”   The movie was full of suspense and   action.   Though it is a war movie, it’s not overly graphic or gory.   Kim and I both really enjoyed watching this movie and would definitely recommend it, if you haven’t seen it.

On Sunday night we headed to dinner at one of my favorite downtown eateries, Wazee Supper Club.   This is a regular stop for us before Avalanche games, along with many others.   There was an Avs game that night, but fortunately we arrived early enough to avoid the crowds.   The restaurant has some of the best pizza in town, along with great sandwiches and Strombolis.   Kim and I shared the wonderful Pacific Rim pizza and tried their bread sticks as well, which were very tasty too.   I can’t wait for our next visit to Wazee.

The holiday season is in full swing.   Kim had her work holiday dinner this past Friday, and that officially kicked off the next week or two of parties for us.   We met up with her coworkers and some spouses at LoLa for some coastal Mexican food and drinks.   I had never been to the restaurant before and was excited to give it a try.   The food that we ate was all good.   Their guacamole was especially good, as were the sweet potatoes that were served with some of the dishes.   My chicken dish was good, but the sides with it left a lot to be desired.   The asparagus was barely there, and I felt like some sort of potato would have complimented the rest of the dish very well.   As far as the drinks go, their margaritas were very good, as were the tastes of tequila that I had.   Overall it was a great start to the holidays and a good experience at this popular Denver restaurant.

There’s a new bar in town!   The Rackhouse Pub opened about twenty days ago, adjacent to the Stranahan’s distillery. We decided to check it out last night, along with a bunch of other folks, as part of a monthly Denver Tweetup. Essentially a Tweetup is an announced location for users of Twitter to gather for socializing and such. True, it sounds pretty nerdy, but you have to remember that I’ve met many of my good friends online before ever meeting in person. Times are a-changin’.

Anyway, I was really impressed with the Rackhouse. They have a great selection of Colorado beers, all for a great price. It may have just been a special last night, but beers were just three and four dollars a piece, and this is for great beers, like Breckenridge, Odells, and New Belgium, just to name a few. We were also pleasantly surprised by the food. The white bean chicken chili that Kim ordered was excellent, as was the whiskey chicken sandwich I had. And though we didn’t try the pizza, all of those looked great as well.

We also stuck around to take part in our first ever Geeks Who Drink trivia night. I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated by the idea of bar trivia, as it can often be really difficult. However, we managed to make it all the way up to first place at one point in the game, and that was with very little cheating. In the end we finished way back in eleventh, but it was still a good time, and perhaps something we should try again. After all, I am a geek and I do like to drink.