Tag: donut diet

Best Tastes of 2016: Restaurant Edition

Lauren2 Comments

I really wanted to post this last week but Joey was adamant that I wait until we made it through the very last day of 2016 and HEY, he was right, because our very last meal of the year made it on this list and wouldn’t have otherwise.  He’s wise like that.

We were all over the country this year and so were the best meals we ate.  Burgers in Hawaii, po’ boys in New Orleans, miso butter in Chicago, cheese plates in Portland, roast chicken in D.C., Italian in Vegas.  Not to mention lamb sliders, Detroit-style pizza, steamed buns and, of course, ice cream right here in Denver.  2016 was, by all means, a delicious year!

P.S. Sorry I don’t have pictures of every single one of these dishes.  Sometimes it’s dark in restaurants and sometimes I feel like enjoying the moment without my iPhone camera 🙂

Best Toast:

Avocado Toast from Black Eye Coffee CapHill in Denver, CO (January 10) // cashews, housemade flax seed bread, cilantro + bacon

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Best Burger:

HĀNA BURGER from Hāna Ranch Provisions in Pāʻia, Hawaiʻi (January 20) // house-made ‘ulu brioche, caramelized onions, horseradish aioli, cheddar

Best Entrée Plate:

Crispy CHICKEN Breast, 3 CHEESE-MAC & CHEESE with SAGE & BUTTERNUT SQUASH from Tables in Denver, CO (February 14)

Best Slider:

Colorado Lamb Slider from Root Down in Denver, CO (April 1) // Harissa Aioli, Irish Cheddar, Arugula & Garlic-Mint Yogurt

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Best Sandwich:

Seared Gulf Shrimp Po Boy from Killer PoBoys in New Orleans, LA (May 2) // Marinated Radish, Carrot, Cucumber, Herbs, Special Sauce

Best Appetizer:

Curried Fried Cauliflower Hummus (and pita) from Shaya in New Orleans, LA (May 2) // caramelized onions and cilantro

Best Bread & Butter Course:

“Miso Hungry” from Girl & the Goat in Chicago, IL (June 4) // miso butter . kimchi relish
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Best Pizza:

Brooklyn Bridge from Blue Pan Pizza in Denver, CO (June 10) // Mozzarella and Brick Cheeses / Pizza Sauce / Creamy NY Ricotta / Natural Casing Pepperoni / Italian Sausage / Chopped Garlic / Sicilian Oregano / Pecorino Romano Cheese
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Best Ice Cream:

Space Junkie from Little Man Ice Cream in Denver, CO (June 17) // raspberry ice cream, brownies and marshmallow swirl
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Best Cheese Plate:

Cheese & Crack in Portland, OR (July 9)
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Best Donuts:

Pip’s Original Doughnuts in Portland, OR (July 10)
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Most Fun Restaurant Experience:

There Denver (July 16)

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Best Bun:

Let’s be mature about that category, okay?

Steamed Bun Trio from Night Shift in Denver, CO (August 4) // pork belly PB & J, pork belly, curried cauliflower

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Best Ramen:

Spicy Chicken Ramen from Uncle in Denver, CO (August 18) // spicy sesame broth, scallion, bean sprouts, soft egg

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Best Chicken Dish:

Roasted Half Chicken from Tail Up Goat in Washington, D.C. (September 11) // semolina toast, aioli, cipollini onions

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Best Italian:

Spaghetti & Meatball at Roma Deli 1 & Restaurant (September 22) // I think this might be self-explanatory 🙂

Best Side Dish:

Sweet Potato at The Nickel in Denver, CO (November 4) // poblano chile, hazelnut, toasted crepe, shallot

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Beers:

A three-way tie between:

Soul Glo Saison from Southern Prohibition Brewed (May 2)

Oaked Sorachi Ace IPA from Wild Woods Brewery in Boulder, CO (July 15)

Gumballhead (American Wheat) from 3 Floyds Brewing Co. (October 6)

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Best End of the Year Meal:

ChoLon!  ChoLon forever!  If I could afford it, I’d eat here every week.  But maybe it’s for the best that we don’t go that often because it means we’re that much more excited when do go.  This was our New Year’s Eve meal and every dish, every bite, every ingredient was nothing short of sheer perfection.

Spring rolls with tarragon cream sauce, pork belly steamed buns, kaya toast, French Onion Soup Dumplings.  FRENCH ONION SOUP DUMPLINGS.  And to top it all off, a lamb chop special that had us straight giddy.  No tastier way to end 2016.

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Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

This weekend was unexpectedly perfect.  It started with post-work patio beers and ended with a twinkle light backyard dinner and sandwiched in between was Hannah and Her Sisters, a Saturday morning run, THE BEST NIGHT at the Denver Mart Drive-In, donuts, a day date to the museum and lots of time for just chilling out and reading a book.  Like I said, unexpectedly perfect!

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We skipped out of work early on Friday in favor of a beer on the patio at Epic Brewing.  My Hopulent IPA was magical and Joey’s Imperial Red Ale was pretty good too!  It was sunny but sprinkling at the same time?  We don’t know about you, Colorado weather, but it was okay because the patio had big umbrellas.  We went home afterwards and cooked ourselves a steak dinner.  Still “hmm”-ing over the flavor of green tomatoes but Joey cooked that steak to pure perfection.

Did you see that #Fave7Films thing on Twitter a few weeks ago?  I saw a few lists that included Hannah and Her Sisters and felt like I needed to see it.  We couldn’t find it on Netflix but Joey surprised me by ordering it online.  Then he made me this dessert that I’d been hinting at all week and I was like WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS PERSON?! ♥♥♥

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Saturday morning, we went for a run then hung out for most of the day (though we did fit in some yard clean-up and a trip to the grocery store) before heading out to the main event… THE DRIVE-IN!  I was totally going to be a financially responsible adult and eat the leftovers we had in the fridge but then Illegal Pete’s sounded just so much better.  And it was!

Also, our guest room mattress fit perfectly in the back of the truck.  It’s a double feature, so we got to Kubo and the Two Strings and Ghostbusters.  Guys, I think a giant animated beetle is my favorite role ever for Matthew McConaughey and GB wasn’t terrible.  I kind of loved Melissa McCarthy in it.  But mostly, I loved this perfect summer night 🙂

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Joey was out running 8 miles on Sunday morning and I felt like the least I could do was make the donuts he mentioned he was craving.  But really, going from pajamas to apron isn’t a terrible way to start the day and neither is a donut as a breakfast appetizer.  Later on, we biked over to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which I seriously adore.  It’s small enough to make your way through before museum fatigue sets in, crowd-free and the rooftop café is Denver’s best kept secret.  But let’s keep it that way okay?  The views are A+++ and how is it that a place without an actual kitchen can produce food that good?!

Post-museum, Joey napped, I read, all was good.  I also took a nightmare trip to the Cherry Creek Whole Foods and I will NEVER go there on a Sunday evening ever again.  Apart from that, this weekend was just too good.  The weather, the food, the activities.  Felt so good to let August go out on such a good note.  TELL ME WHAT YOU DID!