Denver Eats - Shish Kabob Grill

Well what do we have here?! I had 3 drafted posts that I have not completed from way back in March when I was finishing up my Denver Eats posts. It is now almost the end of October. Yes my friends, it has been that long. I have since then changed my life course, but one thing remains the same. I love food and eating and since I now have down time to finish things up, I shall be trying my best to be consistently updating this blog. Hopefully it works out or I will be on another hiatus, which no one would be surprised about.  Well then, let the posting begin!

Day 2, dinner at the Shish Kabob Grill.

Picture of the building taken online

Shish Kabob Grill

1503 Grant St. (at Colfax Ave.)

Denver, CO 80203

Phone: 303-837-8800

Fax: 303-837-8805

So, after going to the Denver Aquarium and walking around, we went to grab dinner and we decided on Greek/Mediterranean and stopped here.

Interior of the restaurant and the restrooms,

which I became quite acquainted with.

Alright, I know it has been a while since I have actually eaten here, but I do remember what was in it and if I liked it or not, so here goes.

Mixed green salad with dressing

The Look: Mixed greens (like the mixed greens you can buy at Costco)
The Taste: For me, usually what makes or breaks a salad is the dressing and sadly I have to say that the dressing broke this salad and I did not like it. Why? Maybe because the dressing was VERY vinegary. I love vinegar on my dumplings and vinaigrette dressings on my salads, but my goodness... it was more vinegar than dressing and that is just something that I am not that used to. It was like malt vinegar and salt for fries (which I do enjoy once in a while), only on a bed of greens. Like the Charlie Brown's salad, it was not my favorite.

Hummus

Pita

The Look:  A little mashed up blobby mound on a plate drizzled with olive oil and topped with a bit of tomato and parsley to garnish served with a small basket of warmed flat bread. 
The Taste:  I have yet to have really bad hummus or pita.  I don't think you can every go wrong with this...unless they add a lot of tahini in it, in which case it wouldn't be too tasty because it would be a bit bitter.  For those that do not know what tahini is, it is just a sesame paste (yes like the sesame paste used in Asian cooking).  It is quite delicious, but I think a little goes a long way with this stuff.  I think any type of carbohydrate with spread is delicious. 

Falafel and Hummus Plate

The Look: Little fried crispy balls with salad and hummus.  Presentation wise, it could have been plated a little better because that hummus was smeared like a little well, and it looked like there was a lot, but the bottom was a very thin layer; a little deceptive. 
The Taste:  If you have not had a falafel, it is a crispy and delicious fried mashed chickpea ball with seasonings.  I find that some places have super dry falafels, but this one was pretty moist.  Good with the hummus and pita and salad.  It was like a little wrap.  I still like the ones from Falafel Drive In more, (I have yet to blog about that probably after all these Denver posts), but these ones were better than some other ones I have had.

Chicken and Rice Plate

The Look:  Chicken over rice served with some yogurt sauce.
The Taste: Like chopped up chicken kabobs over long grained rice.  We ordered this because I wanted falafels and rice and I think my friend wanted the hummus and was willing to eat the chicken.  I will admit, I love grilled meat with a bit of the char on it.  It is deliciously carcinogenic and this chicken had that nice seasoned charred meat taste.  I also really like long grained rice (I eat a lot of short grain sushi rice usually, so when I get this rice, it is like a treat).  Honestly, I think chicken and rice at almost any restaurant is usually a pretty safe thing to order.

And to the last thing that was ordered:

Chicken Kabob Wrap my friends ordered

The Look: Middle Eastern burrito.

The Taste:  The same chopped up chicken kabobs that were on the rice, but wrapped in a pita.  This was like the chicken and rice dish, but like a to go version of it.  I really like these food on the go types of things and my friends seemed to like it a lot, so I am thinking it was as good as the rice dish.

I know my thoughts on the food from this restaurant are vague and not too detailed, but really the memory I have of this place is NOT the food.  It is the restroom.  You see, in Denver, I had a hard time with the altitude and I had more bloody noses there than I have had in my entire lifetime.  So, after dinner, I believed I was having a case of the sniffles.  NOPE.  It ended up being a bloody nose and I rushed off to the restroom (I honestly dislike public restrooms, but I swear I visited EVERY PUBLIC RESTROOM on this trip), which was very clean inside. 

I was in there for about 10 minutes before my friends decided to check up on me because they thought I might have passed out in there.  I, sadly was very much alive and had to listen to my friend talking to the staff about my incident.  Some more time passed, I was still in there, got check on again another time or two.  Not the best of nights for me. 

Needless to say, I was terribly embarrassed, but it eventually stopped and I shamefully opened the door trying not to be noticed.  Everyone that worked there was SUPER nice though, and they asked how I was doing and were really REALLY friendly.  I liked their friendly customer service which made a bigger impression on me than maybe the food, but I was still very embarrassed.  What a great memory right?  Good food AND nice service, who could ask for more?

Denver Eats - Good Times Burgers

So, before dinner (day 2), we decided to grab a little snack of frozen custard and sliders at:

Good Times
951 16th St., Suite 104

Denver, CO 80238

(303) 825-2160

We passed this place the first night we were in Denver, but they were closing shop. Everyone wanted to try the frozen custard. What is frozen custard? To me, frozen custard is like ice cream, but it is more airy, kind of like soft serve. It is made out of cream, sugar, and egg yolks. If you want to read about the process, click here.

So, on to the food. We ordered a pack of 5 sliders/mini burgers, fries, and frozen custard.

Our tray of food and a cone

I will start on the frozen custard first. My friend ordered vanilla in a cup, my other friend got mint and chip in a cone, and I got mint and chip in a cup.

Vanilla

Mint and Chip

Texture: Creamy like ice cream, but airy and soft like soft serve. I liked that it was not so difficult to scoop like some ice creams (Dreyers). I really enjoyed the creaminess and it seemed to really coat your mouth when you ate it (maybe because of the egg yolks).

Taste: The vanilla flavor was good; better than a lot of the other vanilla flavored ice creams I have eaten recently. The mint and chip was good, but I do have one complaint about it. I did not like how large the chocolate chunks were and how they were not really incorporated into the frozen custard. The chocolate pieces just seemed like an after thought or a topping rather than really eating them as a whole.

Sadly, I only ate a few bites and I was done, due to the fact that I cannot eat that much ice cream in general (sad). I really did like the minty custard though and it could stand alone as its own flavor, but I think other people associate it is with the chocolate and maybe it sells better that way.

And now the mini burgers and fries!

mini burger/sliders - Pack of 5
Split amongst 4 people

Can you see how mini this burger is? Bite size
Greasy, delicious, and mini. Great little snackers. I could have done with some veggies in it though, but that is just me.

Fries

Crispy and oily, like how fries should be. I don't remember eating many of these actually but I remember burning my mouth because they were just that fresh

Double the flavor, double the fun with choco-mint burger

Overall, I liked Good Times and I wish that there were a few spread around California. Guess I will just have to wait.

Denver Eats - Ink! Coffee

Okay, so walking to Denver's Millennium Bridge and we saw INK! coffee shop and decided to stop in to get something.

1590 Little Raven St., Suite #180
Denver, CO 80202
Phone #: (720) 214-1111
Hours: Monday - Friday: 6am - 6pm. Saturday - Sunday 7am - 6pm

I thought the look was pretty and they had a cool little outside sitting area. It was cold and windy and I wanted something warm to drink.

Outside seating area

So, I decided to get a hot chocolate and my friend got some blended coffee. The thing I liked best about INK! was the cup holder. Why you ask? Well let's take a look, shall we?

DON'T THROW THE COFFEE

DON'T PUT YOUR HAND IN THE COFFEE

I found this really very amusing, but the sad thing is, if the warning is there, then someone must have done these things and that is why the warnings are there. I should have kept the holder, but I forgot and tossed it. So sad.

On to the coffee. Well, since I only had hot chocolate, I don't really know how the coffee was, but my friend who is an avid coffee drinker was very disappointed because she said it did not taste good. I too, was disappointed with my hot chocolate because it was a little powdery and thick at the same time. I found it a little difficult to drink, but I drank it because it was cold. It almost reminded me of thinned out chocolate pudding and the powder mix was not fully dissolved. I was not too impressed, but it warmed me up, so I will give it points for that.

Me enjoying the view and not so much my hot chocolate

Denver Eats - Spicy Pickle

Day 2 of my Denver trip and we had lunch at:

Spicy Pickle
988 Lincoln St.
Denver, CO 80203-2712
ph: 303.860.0730
fax: 303.860.0704
Mon-Thu: 10:30am-7pm
Fri: 10:30am-6pm
Sat-Sun: 11am-6pm

The place was small, but nice. They had one table in the shape of a pickle, which I found amusing, but I think the people in there did not like us taking pictures in their store, so I just got these 2.

Meats and Cheeses

Asians looking at some bottled juices

So, on to the food!

My Receipt

I got the Double Dilly-yo, a half sandwich and soup or salad combo. I decided on the 1/2 Bastille and a small Chili Bisque. What's in the Bastille? "Portobello mushrooms, roasted red peppers, smoked mozzarella, red onions, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts and sun dried tomato mayo." Sounds delicious, right? Well, I thought it did. I have to say a lot of the sandwiches sounded really tasty, but after eating that burger the night before, I figured a veggie sandwich might balance everything out. At least I told myself that to make myself feel a little better.

It came packaged like this. I was surprised when I opened it because there was...

The unveiling of my lunch

A PICKLE! Oh, I was not expecting it at all. I have to say though, it made everything a bit messier than I would have liked, but that pickle had a kick to it! It was actually a spicy pickle! I know that is the name of the restaurant and I should have known, but it still surprised me.

The Bastille

And here is my grilled Bastille Panini. The grill marks were so pretty and it made it nice and crispy. I was a little worried about the sprouts because I have had some bitter ones before, but it really worked with the sandwich and the sun dried tomato mayonnaise really complimented the rest of the sandwich.

Here's is what it looks like on the inside...
I thought this sandwich was delicious. I was sad that I did not buy a whole panini.

And now on to the soup!

corn & green chili bisque

"Southwest spices team up with plump corn kernels, jalapeños, mild green chilies and tomatillos in a golden vegetarian velouté scented with garlic and cilantro"

The Soup was somewhat harty with the bits of corn, but I think it was a little thinner than how a bisque should be. It was almost like a chili consistancy with less chunks. Taste wise, it reminded me of chicken tortilla soup without the tortilla chips. I did enjoy the soup, but the name didn't quite seem to match what I was eating.

And here is my friend's Italian Panini:

Italian Panini
"Mortadella, hard salami, capocolla, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, provolone and basil mayo"

Overall, I really liked this sandwich shop and I wish there was one closer to me in California. San Diego and Temecula are too far, but if I were in San Diego, I think I would make a special trip out just to get a panini.

Check out the menu

Denver Eats - Tony's Market

So, before we went to Charlie Brown's for dinner, my friends and I were walking around looking for a market to buy some water and we stopped by here:

Tony's Market (Picture from the site)

Tony's Market
950 Broadway
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: 720-880-4501
Fax: 720-880-4496

Store & Bistro
Sun: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Mon - Thurs: 7:00 am - 8:00 pm
Fri - Sat: 7:00 am - 9:00 pm

Live Music at the Bistro!
Friday Nights - 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Tony's Market. It reminded me a bit of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, but slightly more market like because it had a deli and things like that. They had a lot of specialty items that regular markets would not normally carry, which was neat, but I have to say I believe that we were all drawn to the pastries. They had a very large selection and I am bummed that I did not take a picture of their display, but since we were looking for bottled water and they did not carry just regular water, we decided to go get the water elsewhere and come back to get the desserts.

So the people from Tony's said that there was a 7-11 up the street that sold water, so we walked there and as we arrived to our destination...we were at a liquor store. Luckily they sold gallon water bottles, so we bought 2 and walked back to Tony's for our desserts.

Before getting the desserts, we walked around some more and I saw this:

Oh my goodness! I love popcorn and I love smoked Gouda, so I had to buy this to try. The guy at the deli department said that it was good and then asked if we came in earlier and left. I guess a group of Asians walking in and leaving and coming back does not escape unnoticed. We chit-chatted about the water we were looking for and he told us that they carried $18 bedazzled water, and here it is:

This water is manufactured in Beverley Hills. The price is inflated due to the packaging obviously, but I think he said that maybe one person had bought it...or maybe he said he had never seen one person buy it...I can't remember, but this water seems pretty ridiculous.

So after all of that, we choose our desserts and they wrap them up and we went back to the hotel. After dinner at Charlie Brown's, we cracked them open to try.

Boxed up desserts ~yay!~

Creme Brulee Cheesecake

Taste: I thought this cheesecake was pretty sweet, but then again I am not big on desserts unless it is a fruit tart (or something with fresh fruit in it) or tiramisu. This flavored cheesecake was the closest to creme brulee flavored anything that I have tried (and the last thing I tried was Ben and Jerry's Creme Brulee ice cream, which I did not particularly like because it reminded me of dulce de leche), other than the real thing. Very creamy and rich, like cheesecake should be. I could not eat more than 3 bites from it. It was a bit much for me.

Apple Cake

I picked out this apple cake and everyone agreed to try it. I have to say, I was a little disappointed because I was hoping that there were going to be apple bits in the cake, but alas, there were none. The layers of icing were a bit overwhelming for me as well, but it was really good because it was a cream cheese frosting. I think that the cinnamon dusting on the top was a little excessive and it would have worked out better if it was infused into the cake itself. Overall, it was a pretty moist cake, albeit sponge cake from the Asian bakeries are much more moist, and pretty tasty. I did prefer this over the cheesecake, maybe because there were apple slices on it.

And now on to the popcorn:

Smoked Gouda Cheese Flavored Popcorn from the package

The look:

Cheese popcorn, like the ones you used to buy in elementary school on Friday's from the PTA, just not as yellow.

The Smell:

Cheesy Smoked Gouda. I love that smokey ham like smell...anything smoked. YUM!

The Taste:

Smoked Gouda flavored popcorn. The taste was very close to that of smoked Gouda, just in powdered form. It was a bit salty, but I think a lot of these cheese snacks are like that because each little popcorn morsel is coated in a layer of cheese. MMMmmm...delicious

NOM NOM NOM

OH! and I forgot we bought some drinks there!

What a pretty bottle...

My friend bought this Sparkling French Berry beverage that has this really awesome top that I could not figure out for the life of me. I want to say that this was about $12, but you are really buying it for the bottle. The drink itself was pretty good. Fizzy like apple cider, but with a berry taste. I tend to think most berry flavored things taste like medicine, but this one was not so bad.


Then there were these 2. The watermelon one tasted like fake watermelon flavored things, so needless to say, I did not care for it all that much, but the Sarsaparilla I liked because it is like root beer. I guess people who don't like root beer won't like that drink.

Denver Eats - Charlie Brown's Bar and Grille

So, I am very backlogged with blogging and I am determined to get all of my Denver eats out of the way by next week, but we will see how that goes.

Day 1 in Denver and our late night pick was...

I forgot to take a picture of the place, but luckily I found one online XD Hopefully this is the same place attached to the Colburn Hotel

Charlie Brown's Bar and Grille
980 Grant St.
Denver, CO 80203
(303) 860-1655

We chose to eat here because it was the closest to the Burnsley All-Suite Hotel, where we were staying, and supposedly they had really good fried zucchini.

So we get there and the place is pretty busy. A typical semi late-night bar scene. The one thing that really got to me was how dim it was in there. I found it a bit difficult to see and it was really noticeable when I was taking pictures of the food because all you could see was this big bright flash. It was unwanted attention and then the waiter came back and asked why I was taking pictures of the food...DARN IT! And here I was hoping to escape unnoticed.

The food:

Starters: fried mushrooms, fried zucchini, and calamari, which I sadly forgot to take pictures of. They looked like typical fried foods. Though I am really sad that I did not take a picture. I must have been really hungry at that moment in time...really REALLY hungry.

Meals:

I will start with my friend's grilled ham and cheese with potato salad.

Grilled ham and cheese with potato salad

She seemed to enjoy the sandwich, but she did not care for the potato salad because it had a very noticeable mustard taste, which I am fine with, but if you dislike mustard as much as she does, then maybe this salad is not for you.

Next, the Mediterranean/Greek Salad served with pita and tzatziki.

Mediterranean/Greek Salad with an egg...

Okay, so the first out of place thing that you might notice is the egg. I have never seen a Greek/Mediterranean Salad served with an egg. It reminds me of the scene in "The Birdcage" when Robin Williams serves the soup that Hank Azaria's character (Agadore Spartacus) makes to cover up the bowls with the "little Greek boys" and he starts talking about the juevos in the soup. It just seems out of place just like the egg in this salad, but I digress...

When eating the salad, the taste of the vinaigrette overwhelms your taste buds because all you can taste is the sourness of the vinegar and nothing else. Now, I have to say, I really love vinegar and usually the sour taste does not bother me, but this was really strong, even for me. My friend's think it might be due to the altitude difference because people in Canada also like things vinegary. I am not sure what the reason is, but I know that this salad was a very difficult to eat.

Pita bread and yogurt dip

And now, to the side. Pita bread and Tzatziki dip. The pita was pretty soft and fluffy and was almost the same texture as naan bread. The tzatziki dip was mostly just yogurt with little or no cucumbers. It was okay, but I did like the bread.

Onto my dish! A regular hamburger with sauteed mushroooms and swill cheese, served with a side of onion rings.

Mushroom Swiss Cheese Burger with Onion Rings

I have to say, I was expecting my burger to be kind of dry, but it was pretty juicy and greasy and delicious. I topped it off with all those veggies, but was sad to find out I had eaten the last bit of my onion a little more than half way into my burger. Luckily, my other friend did not touch his onions and gave them to me. Oh happy day! The onion rings were really good too, but that is just my opinion. I really love onion rings, but I hardly get to eat them, so when I do, they are almost always delicious...except for those horrible Burger King ones I had ordered one time because I was craving them...those were sadly disgusting.

And lastly, a buffalo burger with bacon and guacamole...

Buffalo Burger with Bacon and Guacamole

It looked like mine but there was that smell of bacon was coming from it. I want to say my friend said it was a little dry, being buffalo is a pretty lean meat, but I can't really remember. I mean he ate it all so it must have been decent at least, right?

Overall, the food was pretty good and the atmosphere was pretty neat if you are into the whole bar scene. I have to say this is better than the usual bar food though.

New year, new posts - Denver Eats - Two Fisted Mario's Pizza

Oh man, I have not blogged AGES! And since it is the new year, I suppose I shall start up once again with the first trip of the year: DENVER. What exciting eating places did my friends and I encounter there? Well, I shall start with day 1 - late lunch at Two-Fisted Mario's Pizza.

1626 Market St
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 623-3523

Atmosphere:  The place had a hole in the wall feel to it and was decorated sort of like a basement (at least that is the vibe I got from it).  There were the retro game tables, which, though novel, I found to be a little confusing because I felt like I should not order food and sit there to eat for I feared spilling liquid on the game table and messing it up...but they seemed to be using them like tables, so I don't know.  They placed them right by the booth seats, which was a great spot for our luggage, but (1) our bags took up too much space and (2) the whole eating over electrical tables was quiet worrisome.  

Some people watching the football game on the TV which did not have the best clarity.

Also, there was this curtain that separated the restaurant from the other place next door that looked like a bar (I believe it was called Double Daughters)?  I didn't take a look, but I thought it looked interesting.

But for me, the most interesting part was watching the guy spinning the pizza dough.  I cannot say there are a lot of places in LA were I can see that, but then again, I don't go to many pizza joints either.

Okay, so about the food...

The Look:  Mushroom and Spinach Pizza (I seriously cannot remember the name the gave it, but that was basically what it was).  Looked like a really fresh out of the oven pizza.

The Smell:  I love the small of fresh baked bread and that is the smell that I noticed the most.

The Taste:  So,  I really do just eat pizza for the bread and I have to say it was pretty good.  Thin and crisp, but soft on the inside.  I did like the fact that there was no corn meal at the bottom of the pizza like some other places have.  I don't care for that added texture.

Next, the sauce.  It was sweet, but the most interesting thing about it was the fact that there were slices of garlic in it.  I did not know there was supposed to be garlic in the sauce until my friend said that he got a chunk of garlic in that bite he took.  Then later, in one of my bites, I got a chunk of garlic and so did my other friends.  I have to say, I really did love the slices of garlic because it gave it some bite, but then again, I really love garlic.  It was a nice surprise.

And lastly, the toppings.  Mozzarella cheese, spinach, and mushrooms. What else can be said about it other than those are basically my favorite toppings.  If there were artichoke hearts on it, it would have been like heaven.

The only thing I did not really care for was this sign they had up by the pizza cook.

Dollar to talk to the cook

Why not just ask for a tip guys?  It is kind of funny, but kind of not at the same time and I am sad to say it, but the tone I got from it was Douchebags.

Don't get my wrong, the pizza was actually pretty good and I am pretty sure  I am not just saying that because my friends and I had almost nothing to eat until about 4:30/5:00 pm, but that sign really did bother me.  Would it bother me enough to not go there again?  If they gave me attitude about it, then maybe.  If I go back to Denver, would I eat there again?  Maybe not, but that is because I would like to try different places, though Spicy Pickle was pretty impressive, so I think I would eat THERE again.