Table 6

I've wanted to eat at Table 6 since Ian Kleinman did a pop up molecular donut restaurant there last summer. I liked the space and I really liked the fact they had a small parking lot out back (space for about 15 cars). I'm very much a suburban girl and if you want to ruin my dinner from the get go, make me circle for 15 minutes to find parking a half a mile away. This is what valets are for and yes, I will pay for the convenience.

So we got reservations for Restaurant Week.

The space is small and comfortable and welcoming. The whole kitchen is right out there behind the bar - no show kitchen and real kitchen. This is both good and bad - good because you can see it all happening as you wait, bad because if there's a large party ahead of you, like the 12 top about 10 minutes ahead of us, you will be waiting because there are just so many burners available.

For restaurant week they were offering a number of wines by the glass at $5.28. One of them was the "wacky wine of the night", and since they're known for their wines, I figured I'd ask about it. Turned out it was an Italian Montesomething or other, and since I like Italian wines, I went for it. Lovely, one of the better wines I had, not only for the price.

I started with the "gravlox" over cream cheese wontons with dill. I'm guessing they spelled it that way because it was a mix between gravlax and lox. In any case it was cured salmon, and I like cured salmon. Others had the house made tater tots (definitely NOT Ore Ida!) and blood orange ketchup and the chopped salad, which I liked a lot. Of course we were all sharing tastes. That's the fun of dining out with other foodies.

The beast of the night was brisket, falling apart tender and luscious with fat. Brisket has to be or it's like eating burlap. It came with a baked half potato crusted with cheese, a scalloped egg, which looked fried to me, and jardiniere. I thought the jardiniere (pickled vegetables) was a weird pairing until I realized that the crunch and acidity of the vegetables (mostly cauliflower, yum) was a lovely counterpoint to all that rich brisket/egg/potato.

They also had the fish of the night and a couple of other options with upcharges. The menu had changed from what's online and it's hard to remember.

Dessert was a hard choice: chocolate beignets or coconut cream pie. Yes, I'm a chocolate first, who cares what else comes second kind of person, but I love coconut cream pie. Fortunately, someone else ordered it and it was lovely, with cocoa nibs in the crust. The chocolate beignets were plain dough with liquid chocolate centers over apricot puree. Nicely chocolatey.

It's another place I want to go back, especially now that I know how to get in and out of that neighborhood and there's a place to park.

Linger

Got reservations for Linger for restaurant week (which is really two weeks, but who's counting?)

Started off with the Roasted Beet Bhel Puri, roasted beet salad with yogurt and crunchies. I was going to get the roasted chicken bun (a special to the restaurant week menu), but the server's description of the salad made it sound so good that I changed my mind. I'm glad I did. It was.

Others ordered the roasted chicken bun, which was delightful, with a nice bit of kim chee for a little spice, and the lentil dahl soup, classically Indian spiced.

Main was salmon tagine, another special to the restaurant week menu. Very good, classic Moroccan spices, they actually bothered to cook the salmon all the way through. I'm so tired of restaurants serving salmon half cooked or "rare" because their chefs are so afraid of overcooking the fish that they don't bother to cook it all the way at all.

We were with another couple who Don't. Eat. Fish. She asked for another taste of my fish because her first response was "THAT'S salmon?!?!". Apparently her mother in law overcooked poor quality salmon and the house reeked of it for days. Hey, I don't like overcooked poor quality salmon either.

Others had the Never Ever Beef Tender, which came with mashed plantains, and the pork ramen noodles, heady with Chinese Five Spice and rich with egg yolk.

Dessert? Churros and hot chocolate. I can't resist the combination. Others had the sea salt caramel sundae and the butterscotch pudding with the lemongrass cotton candy.

Prices on the regular menu were very reasonable - dishes are meant to be shared. I am so over the lots of small dishes trend, but the food was good, and I make exceptions when they do it right, not just to be trendy.

The space is urban and loud. The one glitch in the evening was the young beggar who was being a pest to those waiting for valet parking.

The Copper Pot On Broadway

Finally went to use my Denver Daily Deals $15 for $30 worth of dinner at The Copper Pot on Broadway. There's a similar Yelp Deal when you check them out on the Yelp site.

For dinner: I had the Blue Burger: blue cheese crumbles, crisp bacon, grilled onions, and steak sauce. First, it had just about the right amount of blue cheese, and it had been allowed to melt so it wasn't falling off all over. The bacon wasn't crisp, which is fine by me, since I like my bacon to taste like meat. The onions also weren't exactly grilled - they were *caramelized*. Seriously. Not only the color, but texture and flavor. I could have eaten a plateful of them. And not too much steak sauce.

The bun had been grilled and probably buttered. Not an afterthought.

I skipped the fries and had a side salad - which had real greens and a blue cheese dressing that I forgot to ask if it was house made or not. I also got a side of the mac and cheese because although I usually don't eat such things, I kind of needed it. The elbow macaroni was NOT overcooked, and had not only a cheesy sauce, but real cheese on top. Nom. The side is huge (there's also a dinner sized portion available) - we both ate a bunch and took some home.

The spousal unit ordered the chicken fried steak. Not too much breading, real steak underneath, gravy could have used a little salt, but definitely flavorful. It came with green beans cooked with bacon, Southern style. Not for those who like their green beans crisp. It also came with mashed potatoes that were real red potatoes - skins, chunks, and all.

Desserts are reasonable. I had the chocolate buttermilk cake - very dense, thin layer of frosting and a garnish of chocolate sauce on top. This is for those who are looking for CAKE, not something to hold their frosting up. Spousal Unit had the rum cake that came warm, moist with rum, and nuts on top.

Service was fine, friendly, and didn't bat an eyelash at the Denver Daily Deals certificate. I HATE places that get their panties in a twist when customers have the audacity to actually USE a coupon the restaurant themselves has offered.

Yup, we'll be back on our own dime. There is a limited full bar (they serve hard liquor but from what I could see the stock is limited) and TVs in the bar and dining room. It's another place to catch a burger, beer, and ballgame.

http://www.copperpotfamily.com

Breakfast On Broadway Cafe

Found this place through a Yelp link when I was checking out the reviews of the Copper Pot, which was on Denver Daily Deals special (I bought one, we'll be trying it out sometime before it expires). I looked at the menu, thought "that's right up our alley", so we went this morning.

It has parking - a small private lot, and a larger public lot across the alley behind the building.

I had the Butternut Squash pancakes - creamy like pumpkin pancakes, but not as highly spiced. They came with maple butter. There were only two in the order, but they were large, and they were richer than I first thought - along with a side of two scrambled eggs, they were a fine and filling breakfast.

Jim had the hash, which was fantastic. I'm not a hash fan and I would have happily eaten it for breakfast. He upgraded his side to the Cinnamon Roll French Toast, which was also delicious. He also got his eggs scrambled.

A note on the eggs: they were scrambled well. I happen to like them that way. If you don't, order them scrambled soft or something.

Coffee is strong. The kind that puts hair on your chest and your back.

Crowd was half young hipster, half older folks. The younger contingent were more intent on taking advantage of the bottomless mimosas available on the weekends.

Service was a little sluggish - had to ask for coffee warm ups - and prices were a little on the high side, but not out of line with what other decent, semi-creative breakfast places are charging.

Next time I want to try the s'mores pancakes. Or the Strawberry Romanoff pancakes. Or the plain old French toast which looked lovely as it went by.

Yeah, we'll be back.

Resurrecting The Dead

I was going to let this blog lie peacefully beneath the cold ground in eternal slumber.

But I find myself in need of a place to keep notes on new restaurants that we are trying, and being a rather thrifty sort, would rather reuse something that already exists than create something new.

Creating something new is also more work.

I need to write this stuff down because I can't remember everything anymore. I'm not doing formal restaurant reviews. I'll probably post pictures from time to time, but not all the time.

If anyone is reading this, and I can't imagine why you would, it's probably best to subscribe through one of the gazillion services out there. Because I'm not likely to be updating on any kind of regular schedule.

Las Vegas Food, Part 2

Each time we go to Las Vegas, we like to go out for one big meal, where we dress up and have a fine dining experience. I'd like to do it more, but there are budgetary considerations to, well, consider.

Since the last time we were there we were not able to get a reservation at Circo in the Bellagio, we made reservations somewhat earlier this time. Not only was it one of the best meals I've ever had, the service was stellar, and it was the kind of place that while they do have a dress code, I didn't feel at all out of place taking pictures of my food.
My husband started with the starter portion of the spinach and chicken cannelloni with tomato and parmesan on top and basil oil underneath. It was good and quite rich.


My starter - cream of cauliflower soup with scallop ragu. I don't know that it was a ragu, but there were lots of sweet pieces of scallop in the soup. That's white truffle oil on top for proper gilding of the lily. This was a special of the evening.


My dinner, another off the daily specials menu: bone in rib eye with roasted cipollini onions and a truffle risotto cake stuffed with fontina cheese (in the back, can't see it so well). It was all fantastic. In the foreground you can see a bit of the bread basket. Those who know me know I love Il Fornaio's ciabatta. Circo's ciabatta blows that out of the water. Yes, it's that good, and the grissini are even better.


My husband's entree: venison chops on butternut squash puree and...um...we can't remember what the white slices were. Hey, it WAS two weeks ago.



My dessert: chocolate with gelato and a banana "beignet" in the background (banana battered and deep fried). I'll edit when I go look up the proper name.

My husband had the cheese plate that came with walnut cranberry bread and two housemade "jams" which we can't remember what they were. There's a nice chunk of gorgonzola there, but again, can't remember the cheeses.

Las Vegas Food Pictures, Part 1

So, we're back from Las Vegas and I'm finally getting around to uploading some pictures. It's only been two weeks since we got back. That's pretty good for me.


Lunch at Dragon Noodle Co. in the Monte Carlo. Kung Pao chicken on the right, Mongolian Beef on the left. I just really like the food at this place. It's California style Chinese rather than whatever it is we have here, and I miss it sometimes.


Pastrami at the Stage Door Deli in the MGM Grand. You can see that it's got a proper amount of fat. If you want lean, get the turkey.

Then it was on to dinner at the Wynn Buffet. It's definitely up there, but I think I still like the Bellagio's better for both depth and overall quality. Not that this sucked. No, far from it. Here are the three plates I had, and please note that I did not clear them. I still adhere to the laws of the buffet. And a lot of these dishes were shared with my husband - not shown are his plates.


Clockwise, from top: pepperoni pizza (average), smoked trout (yum), lamb tbone (awful, rubber), mushroom in butter, some kind of chicken I can't remember, smoked trout salad (eh), cooked white fish (a little overdone, but tasty), and in the center, broccoli rabe.



Crab legs (oversalted, but very nice when dipped in drawn butter), smoked salmon, some kind of hand roll (salmon?), currant tomato caprese salad in the little glass, cucumber and seaweed salad (one of the huge hits of the night, it was fantastic), another salad next to it, a glass of cocktail sauce, and entirely too many shrimps for shrimp cocktail. That's the problem with shrimp cocktail on a buffet - how much shrimp cocktail can I eat? How much you got?


Housemade soft pretzel, an herb/cheese bread/muffin, more crab legs, more California rolls, another handroll, Gorgonzola cheese (very, very good) and some...um...havarti cheese? More of the cucumber/seaweed salad underneath. I did mention it was good.

Of course, I completely forgot to take pictures of dessert. Suffice it to say they were great. One of the highlights was a no sugar added pecan pie that was just fantastic.