Street Kitchen Asian Bistro - Englewood, CO

Some days it's just fun to share a meal in pictures.

Please enjoy this visual tour of the amazing flavors and colors that Street Kitchen Asian Bistro has to offer.

Their menu is color coded by region:  Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, China, Malaysia and STK original.  

I leave you to enjoy the pictures in peace.....until it comes to the Okonomiyaki.    

That requires an explanation.   

And help from the manager to pronounce it.  

Cocktails (and three of the four were on happy hour!)

Shrimp Chips

Pork Summer Rolls

Crab Rangoon
(best ginger pear sauce ever!!)

Shrimp dumplings

Story Time 

I asked a friend who lives in the area if she had been to SK and she said yes.    She told me that her fiance had ordered something with fish scales on it.   And he loved it.   She had no idea what is was called.   As I'm reading the menu, I'm trying to guess what he might have ordered.    What a fun game.   

Reading.....reading....

Still no clue.    So we just kept looking for dishes that were unique. 

We ordered the Okonomiyaki because it was a pancake.  

A Japanese pancake!  

There is no such thing as a bad pancake.     

Here it is in all of its pancake-y glory.   

The ingredient you need to know is katsuobonito (or katsuobushi) which is dried, fermented and smoked tuna.    As wikipedia describes it "upon being placed on hot food, the heat waves cause the thin and light katsuobushi to move about."  You could say dancing.   Or you could say that it looks like moving fish scales. Or it looks like it's waving at you.     No matter what it's doing, it won't do it long, because it is delicious!

Your okonomiyaki can't wait to say "hi"

The L-Bomb.    Favorite dish of the evening. 

Mochi ice cream

Green Tea ice cream

Thank you to Street Kitchen Asian Bistro for hosting us for dinner last week.   We enjoyed everything from start to finish.   I have a new appreciation for pancakes and I believe the L in L-Bomb stands for "love."    If you want your own STK dining experience, click here to see their menu or make a reservation.   

If you like to cook, check out the STK calendar for upcoming cooking classes (Malaysian in November and Japanese in December).   Cooking with wine?   Yes, please.  

Parallel Seventeen - Denver

My quest to eat my way through Denver never ends.   

Hooray!   

Last week, my sister and I had the chance to sample our way through the menu at Parallel Seventeen, a Vietnamese restaurant on 17th Avenue.     17th Avenue is a great place to eat in general.  So many restaurants and bars - most with outdoor patios that are open most of the year (let's hear it for the oft-touted 300+ days of sunshine!).   

P17 has a great happy hour - all night on Monday (when we were there), and 3-6pm the rest of the week.   Any happy hour that includes caramel corn and cotton candy is very happy indeed.    

Grab your fork or chopsticks and enjoy!

     

Happy Hour MUST start with cocktails.
Left:  Luce del Sole  Right: Cucumber Basil Martini

A quick tribute to amazing calamari.    I don't usually order calamari.   Why?   It's usually bland fried tentacles with a random dipping sauce.   This ginger and coconut calamari was in a league of its own.   Bring on the apple, jalapeno and sweet chili sauce.   Colors and Flavor - oh my!

Calamari of Joy

And then we just kept eating....

Happy Hour Steamed Pork Bun with Kimchee

I had to google Togarashi so that I knew exactly what was making the caramel corn so addictive.   It's chili pepper.   Chili caramel corn.   No wonder!

We also tried the white asparagus flat bread and a tuna taco.

And then things got bizarre.

There are three things on the menu that were featured on Bizarre Foods America .   Naturally we had to try a few.    Check out the picture on the far right below.   Two bizarre foods together in one moment:   Jellyfish Salad and the Sake Cavititni.    

Popcorn,  Flatbread,  Tuna Taco,  Jellyfish Salad

I must confess:  I have more than one sweet tooth.  
It's more like sweet teeth.   A perfect reason to have some Vietnamese coffee and the dessert sampler.

I've only got one thing to say.
Lemongrass cotton candy as big as my head.  

Our server told us that the cinnamon cotton candy was delicious.   Next time I go, I'll have to try it.   And since cotton candy is on happy hour, you might as well have more than one.  As for me, it will always be the lemongrass.    What good is willpower anyway?

Cotton Candy (!)
Banana Spring Rolls, Creme Brulee, Beignets 

 And there you have it.    We didn't even make it to the entree section of the menu because we were so consumed by small plates, jellyfish and cotton candy.    

To plan a Vietnamese dinner adventure for yourself at P17, check out their menu here.

A big thank you to the team at Parallel Seventeen for hosting us for dinner and letting us try all the amazing things pictured above.    My new found love of calamari and lemongrass cotton candy is all your doing! 

Photo credits:  Thank you to my sister Heather who helped document this dinner in pictures.  They say that people "eat with their eyes" and there is definitely truth to that....just looking at these photos makes me want to go out to P17 again.   

Lucile's Creole Cafe - Littleton, CO

As I'm walking through the parking lot to Lucile's, I hear two ladies talking as they walk back to their cars, in a conversation that goes something like this "blah blah blah sugar overload..."  

"Sugar Overload?  I must be in the right place."  

"You are, just make sure you get the pecan syrup with your beignet."

And that was my introduction to breakfast at Lucile's Creole Cafe.    After an unsuccessful attempt a few months ago to go to their Denver location (a very long line), it was a pleasure to pop into their Littleton location, right along the Platte River Trail and head straight for a table, chicory coffee and giant beignets.  

The beignet in question - with pecan syrup

And this is the "Carlin County" aka biscuits and gravy

Their biscuits are huge!
The spoon and the syrup caddy are just for reference.

Do you like southern or Creole breakfasts?   What's your favorite dish?

Marco's Coal-Fired Pizza - Denver

This tale of delicious dinner starts and ends with one of the most lip-smacking things on earth.   Nutella.

That's right.  Nutella.   Within moments of sitting down at Marco's Coal-Fired Pizza, my eyes gravitated to the bottom of the menu where the desserts hang out.    Nutella Pizza?   We knew that was on deck before even ordering a drink.

Tearing my mind away from Nutella for a brief moment, I ordered Marco's Mule.   I've only enjoyed a  Moscow Mule a few times and only here in Colorado, always served in the traditional copper cup.   

(for those truly curious about the history of the mule, read up about the vodka craze of the 1950's here on Wikipedia)   

Ginger beer should be enjoyed more often.  

This is where the good stuff happens at Marco's....

                                                     

Our party of four tried two different styles of pizza:  Pizza Napoletana and New York Pies.    The Sicilia (the rear pizza in the pic above) and the Bronx.   The Sicilian has artichokes and salami (yum!) and the Bronx has some serious meatball action.   I learned a little more about Pizza Napoletana while I was there, including the use of a special flour (making the crust awesome).   We added some Caesar salad in the mix for some leafy greens and were good to go.    

Until my friend jumped up to get an action shot of.....you guessed it, the Nutella Pizza!    It comes out of the oven in a giant puff of dough that then has to be sliced.   And slathered. With Nutella.   

The magic - piping hot dough and Nutella

Once we had polished off both pizzas we knew that it was time for a dessert pizza of our own.    The cannoli at the table across from ours looked good, but we knew what was going to happen.

Nutella Pizza...that's what happened

And once more, with enthusiasm

And that, my friends, is my most recent Denver restaurant adventure.

A special shout out of thanks to the team at Marco's at the Ballpark for hosting our lively group for dinner...you definitely started our week off right!  

Three Happy Hours in Three Days

Happy Hour might be a little counter intuitive when we have a weight loss contest going on at work, but I look at it is as sharing.    How much trouble can I get into when I share tapas, white bean dip, or even a creme brulee.  

Not much.  

Last week, I went three for three.    And all three restaurants were new to me.    I love to try new places.  Even better, we had patio weather each day.    That was before the heavily hyped snowpocaplyse that wasn't

Being caught in the moment and trying not to be that person who can't leave their phone in their purse, I didn't take pictures of everything, but I will tell you what we had and why it was delicious.

Wednesday at Row 14
$5 wine and select apps.   We had the beef and goat cheese empanadas and the white bean dip.     And we couldn't resist the coffee creme brulee.   There's something about sugar and a blowtorch that is simply irresistible.

Thursday at The 9th Door
They have all kinds of cocktails and tapas during happy hour.   I can't actually tell you what we had, since I wasn't in charge of ordering.    Just know that it was all delicious.   Note to self - tapas and cocktails, even at happy hour, can add up.   Good thing it was also our dinner. 

Pintxos San Sebastian



Friday at Jonesy's EatBar
We were past Happy Hour O'Clock by the time we got to Jonesy's.     They advertise their world famous fries.   They are pretty damn good.   We shared the Bacon Mac & Cheese fries and the Truffle fries.    My partners in crime all tried different kinds of sliders.   I had killer Nepalese Samosas.  

And there you have it.   And these three don't even touch all the endless possibilities that are within walking distance in downtown Denver.   

Don't worry.  Be happy (hour).

Do you have a favorite happy hour spot?   Where is it?  Why do you love it?

Duffey Roll Cafe - Denver

 

I love going out for breakfast and brunch and wish I had enough mornings to do it in.   Work interferes with that....just a bit. 

 

Today I met up with two good friends and had lunch at the Duffey Roll Cafe right by the Louisiana Pearl light rail station.    The breakfast sandwich (the Bakin Sun in my case) came with a mini roll.   My latte also came with a mini roll.   I got to try both the Irish Cream roll in honor of St. Patrick's Day, and also the orange roll. 

 

The sandwich, rolls and coffee were all delicious and the company made it even more so.  

 

I guess I have no more excuses saying that work interferes with my breakfasting.    I ride the train every morning and it goes right by Louisiana Pearl.    I could give myself an extra half hour and stop in. 

 

Let's see if I can successfully get out of bed and make that happen.

 

 

Have you had a Duffey Roll?



Birthday Week Breakfast Tom's Urban 24 - Denver

 

Birthday noshing should go on for a week at a minimum.    At the end of the week, I had a chance to catch up with a friend for breakfast.    We went to Tom's Urban 24 since neither of us had been there before.   

 

Going out for breakfast (and its close cousin, brunch) is a wonderful thing.   However, it involves mornings - most of the time.   Since you have to get up for work anyway, why not get up a little earlier and go out for breakfast?   You can try new places without the waits that hit the good breakfast places on the weekends.

 

Tom's has home made pop tarts on their menu.   Pop Tarts!!!

 

(did you hear that?)

 

These are not the sad, flat , processed tarts that I ate throughout college.  

This is hot breakfast pastry.  Raspberry in my case.  

 

My corned beef hash was also real tasty.

 

Another breakfast victory here in Denver!  

Long live coffee, breakfast and friends. 

 

-----------

 

Random fact:  The parking meters in the Central Denver Business District are free from 6am - 8am.   Perfect for early breakfast.   

Birthday Dinner at Zengo - Denver

 

As if I needed another excuse to go out to eat...

 

I went to Zengo for my birthday earlier this week.    From start to finish, all I can say is amazing.

 

We tasted our way through the menu sharing everything.    Our journey of delicious included:

 

$5 Mojito Monday cocktails

Tasting of 2 ceviches (the bay scallop ceviche was killer!)

Tuna wonton tacos

Pork arepas

Caramelized plantains

Tagalog style churrasco steak (melt in your mouth - worthy of saying omg!)

 

What a way to celebrate!

 



Wild Eggs - Denver

 

 

I wish there was more time for brunching.  

 

Brunching by (my) definition:  Sleeping in and then meeting friends for breakfast, lunch and/or cocktails.    If only there were more days off in a week.  Sigh.

 

Our new brunch find this past week was Wild Eggs.     Two of us had the Kalamatie Katie's Benedict, and one had the breakfast nachos.   We also tried a piece of french toast.  

 

And a pancake.   We really had to.  

 

The restaurant is also running a contest here in Denver and each of their four restaurants will have a winner who orders the 4 millionth egg.   The person who does wins breakfast for a year.   The host said they think it will happen in the next month.   

 

How awesome would that be?    

 

Seriously.  I can't wait to go to brunch again.   Is is the weekend yet?

     

Waffle Cakes - Denver

There is something about a portable waffle-to-go with awesome toppings that is irresistable.   
This isn't your standard, stodgy, Sunday brunch waffle.   

Love at first bite eating from the Waffle Cakes food truck at the Cherry Creek farmer's market.  
Goat Cheese.  Bacon.   Honey.

Yes please. 

The Delectable Egg - Denver

Another Denver breakfast success!   I love going out for breakfast, but I'm not a morning person, and most mornings I'm at work (rather than living the life of leisure to which I aspire).   You could say this was more of a brunch.   A post-fitness calorie killing brunch while my metabolism was flying high from a Sunday ass-kicking with my trainer.     I had scored a $10 for $20 coupon for The Delectable Egg and we made every penny count.    

I enjoyed the Peanut Butter Crunch french toast and an Almond Joy cafe au lait.   My sister had the Monte Cristo (breakfast and lunch combined into one delicious sandwich).   

If only there were more free mornings in the world....

What your favorite breakfast treat?



Freshcraft - Denver



Going for drinks and dinner with a friend from work we decided to go somewhere (new to us) in LoDo.   I had looked at the menu for Freshcraft previously, but had not made it there.   

The night we were there they had a huge promotion with O'Dell Brewing as well as some other special items including New Belgium Tart Lychee.  

I am not a beer person.  Not by any far-reaching, red solo cup stretch of the imagination.   I probably made it through 4 years of college drinking less than ten beers and only then if some random guy handed it to me because he didn't know any better.    And you know that college beer included a lot of Ice House.  Ewww.

Tart Lychee is new to me.  And it was so good I had two.  

And on to the menu: 
Colorado seems to serve fried pickles in more places than the average state.   The fried pickles here were some of the best EVER.  Sliced super thin with just a light breading, it was dilly goodness in every bite.    My entree was the Iowa Tenderloin.   Yum!    I'm not exactly sure what our dessert was called, but I think it was a slice of Chocolate Stout __________ (adjective) _________ (noun). 

Two thumbs up from this girl!

The Inventing Room Denver = My First Handcrafted Donut

My first exposure to Denver's Inventing Room came when I tried a liquid nitrogen ice cream sandwich two summers ago.   Last week I started seeing pictures of crazy delicious looking donuts on their Facebook page.  

This week they had a little "pop-up" donut and coffee stand at Table 6.   Since I happened to be driving to work (normally I take the train and then this sadly would not be on the way), what was the harm in taking a little detour?  

A little coconuty, creamy, chocolatey detour.   Made to order.

A delicious detour that was the envy of my co-workers in our employee cafeteria.  

A detour so sinful I shared it with a friend. 

If this "pop-up" pops up again, you'd better go.  

Poutine Cuisine - Denver

My personal trainer is Canadian.   On Thursday when we met up for some fitness fun we were recapping his holiday, Canada Day, and my holiday, Independence Day.   As we were casually discussing things that came from Canada, I mentioned Naniamo Bars.    He mentioned Poutine.  

Nothing about Poutine can be approved by a trainer.   It's french fries, cheese curds and gravy.  Delicious.  Salty.  Savory. 

It can in no way be described as eating clean.    Imagine my delight walking through the Pearl Street Farmer's Market on Sunday and finding the Poutine Cuisine booth.    It was meant to be.   

My poutine was garnished with the Canadian flag.   That must be the giveaway to the secret society of poutine lovers.   Otherwise it would just look, to the uneducated eye, like a basket of fries with mystery sauce.  As I was walking cheerfully through the market enjoying my treat, someone stopped me to ask "where did you get that poutine?"    How often does that happen?

The Rock - Highlands Ranch

Think back.

How long has it been since you drank out of a bucket?    

Depending on your age and lifestyle choices your answer might be last night.   It could be college.   It could be never.   In my case, it was on the island of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand in the spring of 2009.   See how vivid memories can be?

A group of friends went to The Rock to celebrate a milestone birthday.   Not mine, in case you're wondering.    I've already passed this one.    I had never been there before.   It's a rock and roll themed restaurant that serves wood-fired pizzas.   The food and drinks were really tasty.   I had "The Bucket" (see if you can guess which one that is?), Rock Chips and the Bat out of Hell pizza.

Our running joke was the fake graffiti on the wall proclaiming "Highlands Ranch Rocks."   It's Highlands Ranch.   The ultimate suburb of approved paint colors.   I don't know if H.R. rocks, but the food does.

Quick advice:  They don't take reservations on the weekend.   As a party of ten we had to wait a while for our table. 

  

How I Spent Less than $10 at IKEA

Last year I went to Santa Fe for Memorial Day.   One of the key components of the trip was a trip to Trader Joe's, since there isn't one here in Colorado.   Yet.   (They have filed to do business in CO...there will probably be one in Boulder by early 2013).   While at the checkout with a case of 2 Buck Chuck, I mentioned that there wasn't a TJ in Colorado, so I had to make the journey.   The checker laughed and said that when the IKEA opened here in Denver, lots of people in New Mexico would be making a similar journey.    IKEA opened last July.   I finally went this past week.  

The good news?  Because I, and my budget, are completely focused on my upcoming trip to Greece, it was easy not to get caught up in a home improvement whirlwind.   Don't get me wrong.  I loved the couches with ottomans, funky light fixtures, kitchen storage and inexpensive down comforters.   I just love the thought of vacation more.  When all was said and done, I spent less than $10.   All on food.   IKEA has a large cafeteria that sells their signature Swedish meatballs, among other things.   I felt compelled to try the $3.99 meatball plate with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.    I also bought two chocolate bars and a jar of the jam.    

Not bad for my first visit.  Not bad at all.

Denver Restaurant Week #2: La Fondue

Hard to believe that I actually went out to eat and did not take pictures of my food.  I must have been too busy laughing.  Or drinking wine.  Or taking fierce action with my blue tipped fondue forks.   Restaurant week in Denver is so popular that it lasts two weeks, one just isn't enough.  Sadly for unsuspecting visitors during this time, it's really hard for them to get restaurant reservations.   But enough about them....

I gave two friends who moved recently to Denver the challenge to pick a restaurant (out of the 300 or so restaurant week options) to try out.    I've been to La Fondue before and was happy to go again.   During restaurant week all the restaurants offer menus for $52.80 for two.  It was a great value here - with a table of 5 we had two burners and were able to enjoy both cheese fondue options, a choice of salad, both entree fondue cooking sauce options, and milk and dark chocolate fondue.    Did I mention the two bottles of wine?   And house-made cheesecake to dip in chocolate?   I love to go to eat with friends who thoroughly enjoy the company and the food. 

It was weekend fun on a work night.   Cheers!

Denver Restaurant Week 2012: Hapa Sushi

Oh it's one of the best times of the year....5280 Week (or Restaurant Week) here in Denver.   Actually it's so good that it lasts for TWO weeks.    You can get dinner for two at over 300 restaurants for $52.80 (or $26.40 for one).    Tonight we went to Hapa Sushi, a deliberate choice as all three of us like sushi and none of us had been there before.   Note of awesomeness:  One of the entree options was any original Hapa roll, plus two orders of nigiri.   Needless to say we opted for the surf & turf roll (lobster and kobe beef) and the booty call roll (lobster and crab), both of which are normally priced over $20 each!   Our appetizer was tuna nachos and for dessert rice krispy sushi.    The best use yet of a Swedish fish.  

The fun just started on the 25th, so there's lots of time left to eat!

Denver on Dwellable

Tuk Tuk Thai

As many times as my sister has gone to Tuk Tuk Thai in the two years she's lived in Denver, I have never been there.  Apparently it's crazy with the lunch crowd in the Tech Center.  We finally went this past week for dinner and I am looking forward to going back and trying other things on the menu.   Even better, I had some Groupon bucks, and the restaurant was featured on Groupon Now, so I got my meal for free!    My sister and I shared curry puffs, pan fried dumplings, pad see eew, and banana wraps.   I also sipped on some Thai coffee.  

If you didn't know, I have mad love for all things Thailand after spending a month there in 2009.   I always keep a travel journal and on February 19, 2009 (three years ago already?) it was the last day for two of the other volunteers at the pre-school where we worked.

If you are interested in taking a look at Thailand through my eyes, visit my Traveler Abroad page over on The Pursuit.  

Pasquini's Pizza

This was only my second time dining at Pasquini's in the DTC and again the pizza and service were great.     After skiing all afternoon and then rolling back into Denver (without traffic on I-70), we walked in tired and, honestly, not looking our best.   We had giant classes of water and complimentary breadsticks within seconds.    The four of us shared the Chicken Pinenut Pizza....and still took a couple slices home.   Pasquini's is casual and family friendly.   Most of all, delicious.