Denver Food Tour and Review

In May, we managed to make a fun wedding weekend double as an amazing food tour of Denver and Boulder. Unfortunately, my camera didn't get much action in Boulder. I must have partied too hard to remember to snap photos. Anyway, here are my short reviews of the places we got to try in Denver:

Steuben's Food Service. 
This was a GREAT introduction to what Denver has to offer in terms of food. It was our first stop and it did not disappoint! It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (along with Sam's, below). Steuben's gives a gourmet twist to American hometown favorites. We had fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, macaroni 'n' cheese, hush puppies, and their roasted chicken with veggies. Dinner couldn't have been better. However, dessert -- a caramel apple -- was a little lacking.

My favorite part may have been the hush puppies, which were described by the waiter as fried corn muffin bites. And he was right, they were sweet, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, and rolled in sugar. Not your typical hush puppy!

The Wooden Spoon Cafe and Bakery.
I found this bakery/cafe on Yelp. It's a cute little shop serving coffee drinks and breakfast scrambles, sticky buns and macarons. They have salads and paninis too. We went for one item in particular. The Nutella Banana cake. It may not look like anything too special, but oh my, is it special. I am determined to recreate this bad boy in my own kitchen. I will. And I will show you. What's so special about it? It's two-layers of banana cake with a layer of Nutella and a layer of sweetened cream cheese in between, covered in chocolate ganache. It's brilliant is what it is. Mmm.

Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs.
This gem of a food cart is probably the one thing that would bring me back to Denver. Or even convince me to move to Denver. It's SO good. And they have a restaurant. But, you know, being from LA, I love me a food cart/truck. Sometimes I dream of having a food truck of my own. It must come from my childhood dream of traveling the country in an RV mixed with my love for food. Ha!

You'd never believe that a sausage made of such things as elk, reindeer, or buffalo could really taste that great. Well, maybe you would if Anthony Bourdain told you so. I'll admit that's what convinced me to go in search of this wonderful haven of gourmet dogs. For $5 each, you get a sausage made of some exotic meat (or kosher beef, if that's as adventurous as you want to get), sweet caramelized onions, and a delicious cream cheese  mixture on a soft bun that's a little sweet - kind of like a brioche bun - really perfect for the combo of flavors you get inside. I'm salivating as I write.

We tried three because we couldn't just decide on two. 

Here's hubby with the elk, reindeer, and our personal fave, 

the wild boar. Yes, those are the ones that Anthony B. ate too. 

I believe a good celebrity chef for almost everything...

well at least food-related things!

Sam's No.3.

Oh, Sam's No.3. Memories of...melted cheddar cheese and a side o' tots. This place was literally down the street from our hotel. They had a huge Food Network emblem painted on their window and it cried out "I was featured on Triple D!!!" Well, like I said, I believe most celebrity chefs. It might be an obsession.

We gave it a try and it was really quite good. Don't go here if you're on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet (or any phase of any diet, really). Everything is huge and everything seemed cheesy. I'm almost ashamed to share that we ate everything on the two plates we ordered. It was so much food and so filling that hubby didn't even finish his Blue Moon.

The Kitchen Sink Breakfast Burrito

The Green Chili Mexi-Burger: burger in a tortilla, no bun.

Las Tortas.
Best Torta I Ever Ate. This Mexican sandwich made my top 5 sandwiches I've ever eaten for sure. Best torta, hands down. With a big tall glass of horchata. Seriously, it made my day. If you're in Denver, go here.

Order the "Tejana:" breaded pork cutlet, cheese, avocado, tomato = perfection