With warm decor, great service and wonderful food, we’ve fallen in love with Chinook Tavern. Located in Greenwood Village, it’s a perfect place to entertain clients for lunch, or great for a special evening out. Be prepared for a welcoming comfortable and memorable dining experience. Let’s take a look.
A shot at our booth, a lunch outing at Patsy’s Inn, the oldest Italian Restaurant in Denver.
My husband is a Denver native and grew up in what we affectionately call “the old country” and officially known as the “Little Italy“. In recent years, the area has undergone a renovation and now is part of “The Highlands“. Rich in Denver history it’s located just West of Downtown.
Winding your way through this partially renovated and unique neighborhood you’ll find historic brick bungalow homes next to upscale boutiques, next to run-down liquor stores, next to a razed modern loft projects and then you get to Patsy’s. Let’s take a look.
Bacon Wrapped Date Appetizer. Absolutely delicious and a “must order” at JaJa French Bistro
Back in August, our California friends Nancy and Neal were coming to Denver for a few days before we all headed up to Grand Lake for a mountain get away vacation. Once I knew they were coming, I started the arduous task of finding “just the right” restaurant for a group dinner out. Requirements were not that difficult; locally owned, with just the right lively and welcoming atmosphere and with clever mouthwatering food that would make us swoon. I assumed I’d find that criteria only in Downtown Denver.
A mid-day field trip to Brighton found us eating Kraut Burgers for lunch and exploring a wonderful certified organic farm. Let’s take a look.
With my friend Marla as tour guide, Kirsten over at My Kitchen In The Rockies and I were given a mighty fine tour. You see, Marla’s Russian-German descendents settled in this agriculture rich area of Colorado. She and her family still live in the area and when she suggested that Kirstin and I meet her for a Kraut Burger, followed by a stop at Berry Patch Farms, we couldn’t get it on the calendar fast enough.
Let’s start with Lauer Krauts, a small family owned and operated restaurant in Brighton simply serving Kraut Burgers and a soup of the day. You can get your Kraut Burgers three ways; regular, with cheese or with jalapeno. I opted for the original “regular” version. A Kraut Burger is ground beef, onion and cabbage and some seasoning, steaming inside a fresh-baked bun. Cut it in half, squeeze in some spicy brown mustard and you’ve got a delicious treat.
The meal even came with nice visit with the owners who demonstrated a sauerkraut making machine and gave us a view of a special German pastry, kuchen.
Their kuchen is made with a German berry that can only be obtained by growing it yourself. Smaller than a raspberry with a more tart flavor. They grow the berries behind the restaurant and keep a list of patrons that want to purchase a slice of kuchen each fall. Doesn’t it look beautiful? I didn’t write down the name of the berry…darn it. Marla actually just commented on this post and informed us the berry is Schwartzbeeren and you can read abit about it at this link: http://www.volgagermans.net/portland/foods.html
Seating inside is friendly and hospitable and we had such a good time chatting with everyone. Kirsten, my blogging friend is from Germany has only lived in the states for a few years and I honestly didn’t think they were going to let her leave. Too much fun talking about German food.
Lauer Krauts is beaming with small town charm and great food. I’ll definitely be back.
Next stop was Berry Patch Farms, which hosts a barn full of beautiful certified organic produce grown on the land that surrounds it. Take a look at their website to learn more about them.
You can also pick your own at Berry Patch. We didn’t, but as you can see by the look on this young man’s face, it’s a satisfying task. Man, don’t those raspberries look good. It’s a wonderful place, with a great selection of produce and a lot of items I had never heard of…lilac and chocolate bell peppers to name a couple. It even comes with a greeting crew of beautiful roosters, a farm dog that chases the roosters and a pig that doubles as entertainment and sheriff. As you can imagine, I felt like Alice in Wonderland.
Thank you to Marla for a wonderful Foodie adventure, and stick around for a slide show tour.
[slideshow]
The Tut Poster outside the Museum
Everyone needs a little culture, so this week we headed into the city to the Denver Art Museum to see the King Tut Exhibit.
One of our favorite things to do is to attend a show at the museum and have lunch at Palettes Restaurant. Palettes is located inside the museum, is a Kevin Taylor Restaurant and a fabulous place to dine and drink in some food art before you soak up culture at the museum.
I’ve been wanting to go for Pho for years. I just haven’t because I didn’t know what to order, how to eat it or even how to act once I got there. This past Friday, Deborah and I went to Pho Saigon Restaurant Denver.
A couple of months ago I walked into our office and Deborah was there and had brought Robert Pho for lunch. Robert is one of the owner’s of our company and Deborah is his girlfriend.
Friday for lunch, I met friends Lee and Mary at Pesce Fresco Restaurant. Pesce Fresco is a great little place tucked away behind Safeway just north of the intersection of Arapahoe Road and Quebec Streets in Centennial. I love this restaurant, the food and the atmosphere.
Look at those crunchy golden fried mushrooms
From Lebanese to Moroccan dishes, Sahara Restaurant Denver has proudly been serving traditional Arabian cuisine to the Metro area for over 15 years.
A year ago, if you would have told me that one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants would be stuck in the far east end of the Super Target parking lot in the strip mall at Yosemite and Lincoln, I would have laughed.
Thank you Randy Tickle, Colorado State Bank and Trust, for sending me business, thanks to NoNo’s for being in business so I can take care of business and thank Randy for his business.
A client appreciation lunch ended up at NoNo’s Cajun Restaurant in Highlands Ranch. Randy read my blog post about NoNo’s and being the good ol Southern boy that he is, choose NoNo’s for lunch. Not that he’s new to NoNo’s, he’s been going there for years.