Denver trip, part 2

After lunch at SALT, we walked around the Pearl Street Mall, an outdoor walking mall closed to traffic similar to 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. We made a few observations about the stores we saw. For one thing, there were a lot of shops for outdoor activities. That's totally understandable as Boulder is right next to the Rocky Mountains. There were several exotic stores with world/ethnic clothing, accessories, knick knacks, etc. We also passed by multiple "apothecaries" that sold herbs, spices, oils, etc. It felt like a concentrated Berkeley-esque hippie land tucked away in the mountains.

So, after the late lunch (we didn't eat until close to 3pm), we drove back to Denver and walked around the Cherry Creek mall until it was dinner time. Lawrence wasn't particularly hungry so we eventually decided on sushi for dinner.

We went to Sushi Den, one of the top sushi bars in Denver. They fly their fish in from the Nagahama fish market in Japan. Their selection is uniquely exotic for prices that are extremely reasonable. We wanted to take advantage of that and so ordered several fish that we don't normally get the chance to try, including Tilefish, Needlefish, wild Yellowtail, Golden Eye Snapper, Spanish Mackerel, Japanese Shad, Albacore sashimi, and Royal Miyagi Oysters sushi-style. They mixed up an order and we actually got an extra order of salmon for free.

Denver trip, part 1

Lawrence and i were in Denver last week. We flew in Friday night and after checkinng into our room we went out to grab some food. We didn't have a car yet so we walked several blocks through downtown to the Denver Diner. They served fresh cooked diner comfort food and the place was packed. The biscuits and gravy Lawrence ordered were surprisingly light. The fried chicken tenders I ordered were very juicy. It was a good hearty meal for a pair of weary travelers at 1am.

Saturday we rented a car from the closest place we could find that still had a small sedan available. It was still halfway to Boulder, so we drove on up to check out the area. We walked around the Pearl Street Mall and had lunch at a place called SALT. It was a cute space and they gave 2 types of salt to try with the bread. One was a black volcanic Hawaiian salt, and the other was a French fleur de sel salt. They cook seasonally and source locally, organic, and sustainable whenever possible.

Lawrence ordered the Rotisserie Chicken Pot Pie. It was certainly not traditional. The chicken and vegetables came in a wide shallow bowl and looked like a sort of creamy chicken stew. In the middle, a large square of puff pastry sat on top. I ordered the Butternut Squash Cannelloni, which came with "garlic seared chard" and sage brown butter". It was similar in concept to the traditional butternut squash ravioli in sage brown butter, but in the cannelloni pasta it practically oozed butternut squash everywhere. It was very good and in fact, Lawrence liked my dish better than his chicken pot pie.

For dessert we got the Roasted Local Honeycrisp Apple. It came with cinnamon puff pastry, brown butter walnut ice cream, and a caramel sauce. The tanginess of the apple went great with the sweetness of the other components.

Overall, we had a very enjoyable meal. Portion sizes were relatively large (I would have been super full if I had finished my entire entree). I would come back if I were in the area, but at the same time I would not necessarily go here over trying another good local restaurant.