After Kim picked me up at the airport on Friday evening, we decided to head to Lala’s Wine Bar and Pizzeria for dinner. Kim was nearby the night before and decided that we should try it out. It was pretty crowded upon our arrival, but we were told that we could be sat immediately at the small bar overlooking the kitchen. I immediately noticed how loud it was inside, which I definitely could have done without, but fortunately the food and drink more than made up for it.

We first opted for a bottle of Quattro Mani Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, after we were given a small tasting that we both enjoyed. For a starter, we split the Pollo Salad which was a very tasty mix of chicken, dried cranberries, candied pecans, blue cheese, apples and cider vinaigrette over a mix of greens. The large serving was more than enough for the two of us to split.

We also decided to split a pizza for dinner, Il David, which was sauce-less and topped with three cheeses, herb grilled chicken, artichokes, oven dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and Peppadew peppers. The pizza arrived warm and perfectly cooked.   We thoroughly enjoyed all of the food and drink and will definitely be back in the future, despite the loud room.   I did notice that they do deliver, but I doubt they’d make the drive down to our place.

My trip to Kansas City is just about over, in more ways than one. I finally got some KC BBQ for lunch today, which pretty much wrapped up the trip. A group of ten of us from work headed to the Summit Hickory Pit. I’ve been many times before and have always enjoyed the food. This time was no different, great lunch!

Now I’m waiting to board the plane to fly back. I’m really hoping to see the sun upon arrival. It’s been hiding the entire time I’ve been in town. And I’m told it’s been missing for an entire week. That’s rough!

Last night Kim and I took part in the Uptown Sampler with a few of our friends.   For $20 each we gained entry to  fifteen different restaurants in the Uptown neighborhood of Denver where we could sample various food and drink items.   We all met at Jonesy’s EatBar where we had some delicious macaroni and cheese, along with Parmesan fries, various pizzas, and salad. Next we quickly stopped at the Horseshoe Lounge, but quickly left when we realized they had the same food as Jonesy’s. Our next stop was for a wine and beer tasting at a liquor store called Above the Rim.

After those stops we hoped on one of the complimentary buses and to Randolph’s inside the Warwick Hotel. There we had more french fries and chicken skewers, which were really good. I cannot find them on their menu though, so I’m not sure how the chicken was prepared. From there it was back on a bus. We decided to skip over Tavern Uptown, since everyone in our group had been there before. So next on our tour was the Avenue Grill. The only offering here was buffalo chili, which I actually tried, but I found it rather bland. From there it was a quick walk to Hamburger Mary’s, where I opted to skip the hamburgers and eat only the sweet potato fries, and Olivea, where I only tried the potato flat bread.

After those stops we waited for another bus, but after ten minutes or so decided to keep on walking down 17th Street. Our next stop was at Tastes Wine Bar where I only had the humus, but I’m told their meatballs were great. Next, we decided to skip over Las Margaritas and Pasquini’s as we were running out of time. We made a quick stop into Strings, which served my favorite dish of the night, pasta with chicken, mushrooms, and a wonderful spicy tomato cream sauce.

With just five minutes left in the event, we made it into Limon just in time to sample their yucca and plantain chips served with a tasty salsa. We had heard that there were free drinks here, but when we arrived our server told us that we had arrived too late. Though the waitress later stopped by to offer a couple of complimentary Peruvian drinks. We never made it to the Vine Street Pub, which I wanted to check out, but that’s okay as I’m sure we’ll head that way sometime soon. This event was a great way for us to see a ton of restaurants that we have never visited and I’m sure that we’ll be back soon for diner at some of our new favorites.

Last night was one of those nights that felt like a weekend, thus making this morning fairly miserable. We started off at Lure Lounge for a $20 all you can drink in three hours happy hour. This was a benefit event for the Colorado Youth at Risk organization. Hard to argue with a few drinks for a good cause.

After that, a couple old friends from our Kansas City days called to meet up. They had already been through a few of our city’s fine breweries, and we decided to top that all off with a visit to the Falling Rock Tap House. With tons of beers on tap, this is a real beer drinkers paradise. I had a few of Stone Brewing Ruinations, while Kim enjoyed her always tasty Franziskaners. I forgot how much fun the Falling Rock can be, even on a weeknight. Thankfully the weekend is now here!

Despite being a bit tired Friday, I convinced Kim that we should head down the Denver Summer Brew Fest. Though not nearly as big as the Great American Beer Festival (which unfortunately we’ll miss this year), the price was pretty hard to beat. At $35 per person, the event featured over 75 beers from around 25 breweries. Most of the breweries were local to Colorado, though there were a few from the northeast (Stone, Sierra Nevada) and even Alaskan Brewing.

We arrived just after the doors opened at seven and immediately worked out way to the outside patio. We first sampled some beer from Breckenridge, Left Hand, Flying Dog, etc. My favorite of that batch came from Breckenridge with their Lucky U IPA. Though not quite as good as their 471 IPA, this was great fit for the warm evening. We also enjoyed the bands that were playing outside on the stage. It was a nice touch to the fest.

Later we spent the rest of the evening sampling the many breweries inside of the Mile High Station. I finally go to sample Sierra Nevada’s Anniversary Ale, which I really enjoyed. Other beers of note were Upslope Brewing’s IPA along with some of Mountain Sun’s ales. There was a good sized crowd throughout the night, but you rarely had to wait for than a minute to get a pour, unless the pourer was extremely slow (like at Rogue). I also appreciated having the glass sampler, rather than a plastic one. Though when these are dropped they definitely shatter, as a few people discovered throughout the night. We had a great time, and will have to consider their winter brew fest early next year.

Last night, Kim and I participated as secret shoppers at a local Mexican restaurant called Rio Grande. We’ve been to the downtown location a number of times and always found that the margaritas were excellent but the food leaves something to be desired. Our assigned location was out by our offices, but we still were expecting the same variety of food, especially since the menus are identical. Even with those expectations it is hard to refuse a $60 gift card to use as we please, with the only rules being that we have to order at least one entree and either an appetizer or a desert.

As I’m eating the leftovers from Kim’s entree last night, I’m trying to fill out the three page survey that is also required. Well it’s one page of yes and no questions and then we are expected to write a couple pages of review. I don’t know if I’ve written this much in a long time, but fortunately I’m enjoying putting my opinions down on paper. A quick synopsis of our visit would be that the margaritas were as good as always, the food was as bland as ever, though we were surprised by the tasty appetizer of melted Monterey Jack cheese, mushrooms, onions, and peppers rolled into warm and fresh tortillas.

Last night I was really looking forward to making these chicken tacos. I’ve made them a few times before and I’m really happy with the way they turn out. I started cooking it up, but when Kim came down to the kitchen she said that the chicken I was using smelled bad. We had just bought it on Monday, but I guess the store had it for too long? It was a major disappointment, but I quickly heated up some refried beans and had burritos instead. Regardless, I would highly recommend the recipe linked above. I look forward to trying it again in the near future.

Since moving out of my parents house many years ago, I’ve nearly always had a Jimmy John’s within walking distance of home. Currently that is not true, but that should be changing by the end of the month when the franchise’s 17th Colorado location opens just up the street at 331 East Alameda Avenue. I’ve always been a big fan of their no frill sandwiches, especially after a late night of partying. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of the local shops are open nearly as late as the one on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. But this will definitely be nice when the Einstein Brother’s across the street closes after their lunch shift, though it may be hard to pass up the neighboring Chipotle. I’m sure I’ll make a stop within a week of opening.

As you are already aware, whenever I travel back to Cincinnati I love to eat all of the native food that I can. I wanted to do the same thing on this past weekend’s trip to Kansas City, and that meant one thing: barbecue. That may sound strange to some of you, knowing that I don’t really eat red meat, but I love eating smoked turkey or chicken. With some time to kill on Sunday before my flight back to Denver, we made plans to visit Arthur Bryant’s BBQ with Doni and Phil.

Having never been to Arthur Bryant’s before, I wasn’t real sure what to expect. Was it going to be of the fancier variety like the sit down service at Jack Stack, or would it be counter service like Gates. Well it is counter service, though they don’t yell at you when you walk in the door like at Gates, but that doesn’t take anything away from the food. On advice from our friends, Kim and I decided to split a sliced turkey sandwich, order of fries, and a side of beans. The turkey was pleasantly smokey in flavor and their Rich & Spicy sauce complimented it perfectly. The fries were fresh cut and flash fried to perfection. However, I wasn’t a big fan of the beans. I don’t mind a little meat in the beans but prefer it not to be large chunks. Overall, I was impressed and would definitely give it a four star rating.

Well my second batch of homebrew is more or less complete. I kegged it a week ago and have had it hooked up to my CO2 tank since. I probably could have had it ready a little earlier had I rocked it more than the half dozen or so times that I did. We tried it this past Sunday evening, and it had a long way to go still. Our neighbors joined us for this tasting, and since it was a bust, I had them try my first batch of homebrew that I bottled awhile back.

Upon opening up a couple of the first batch bottles, I was surprised to see how carbonated the beer was. Both of our neighbors immediately said that it wasn’t too bad after their first few sips. I was shocked! So I tried it once more and I had to agree with them. It appears that it might have aged a bit since my last tasting. Maybe I won’t have to settle for using this in my cooking only. I threw a couple more bottles into the refrigerator and I hope to give it another try after work today.

I did try the second batch again last night and it was much more carbonated. It still tasted a bit fruity to me, which I’m not expecting from a Pale Ale. I’ll pour another one of these today as well so that I can compare and contrast it with the first batch. Should make for an interesting tasting session.

Update: Taste test has begun. Pictured below is batch 1 (autumn amber ale) on the left and batch 2 (english style pale ale) on the right.