Arepa’s House At The Big Wonderful

The Big Wonderful is an event every weekend throughout the summer in the Denver metro area. It consists of artisan vendors, local music artists, crafty cocktails and different types of food trucks. On this occasion, we attended The Big Wonderful in downtown Littleton. I walked down the sidewalk looking over menus for each food truck. The last one in the row was Arepa’s House. I didn’t know what an arepa was, but I am willing to try anything once. All of the other food trucks were pretty basic food. Ice cream, burgers, sandwiches, etc. I wanted something different. I decided on Arepa’s House and asked the man taking the orders what he recommended.  He said the Queen arepa with chicken. It tasted much like chicken salad, but much better. Wrapped in something like a pita, this Venezuelan food was pretty delicious. I truly enjoyed trying this new dish and I would have Arepa’s House again if I come across them at a festival.

Sushiritto from Ramen-Ya

If you haven’t had a sushiritto, you haven’t lived. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but I feel that way. We ordered a sushiritto and were going to split it between us.  They accidentally made another one, so they gave it to us for free.  This burrito was amazing! Great flavors throughout the burrito and great amount of spice from the wasabi.  I loved it! What a great concept.  Next time I am trying the ramen from this cute place in the Bazaar Shops.

 

ink.

I consider Michael Voltaggio my chef boyfriend, so you can imagine that while I was in LA, I had to try ink. We had made reservations for my birthday dinner and arrived a few minutes early. This is the perfect time to have a drink at the bar. The bartender was open with suggestions and hand made each drink carefully. She was awesome! We were seated directly in front of the kitchen where you can see all of the action.

We had already looked over the menu online, so we were prepared on what to order. We started with the smoked hamachi.  Yellowtail is my favorite fish, so I was really excited for this. It was extremely tender and fell apart with a touch of the fork. Next was the scallops. This dish I wasn’t too fond of.  It was kind of bland. Then came the best dish, the salt and charcoal potatoes. Provided with the potatoes was a dollop of sour cream with chives and an eye dropper of vinegar. I thought this was an interesting way to present it, but it was delicious! Everything complimented each other so well and came together for a terrific dish. The last dish before dessert came out. It was the beef tartare. Each bite was even more tasty than the one before.  Last but not least, we had to order the deconstructed apple pie that everyone has videos and pictures of online. This explosion of sweet, warm and delicious pie was amazing! It was everything I thought it would be and more. I couldn’t have been happier with my meal unless Michael Voltaggio himself came to our table. The service was phenomenal. Always being checked on, table cleaned and offering suggestions. As we left, I asked the bartender if they made any drinks with squid ink.  She stated no, but now she will consider that.  After all, the place is called ink.

 

Torchy’s Tacos

Torchy’s has come to Denver!! 

I kept hearing from friends who had been to Torchy’s in Texas and swear by it. Of course between that and the fact that it is a taco place, I had to go! I studied the menu before we arrived. Even after studying the whole menu, I couldn’t decide on which tacos I wanted.  We arrived around 9:20 in the morning and boy am I glad that we did. The line became horrendous after we ordered.  Got there right in time! There were 3 of us and we decided to share the well known queso and chips. That queso is legit! Not only is it gooey queso, but it was filled with green chile! We ate every last bit before our tacos arrived.  I could have licked the bowl.

I ended up going with the Democrat (barbacoa taco), the chicken fajita taco and the fried avocado. My favorite was the fried avocado. I was told that these tacos were like street tacos, so I figured between the queso and the 3 tacos, I would be full.  LIARS! They are much larger than street tacos.  They are jam packed full. I could only eat a half of each of the tacos. I now know 2 are my max.

My words of advice: 1. If you like avocados get a fried avocado taco. 2. Get there early to avoid waiting in line forever. 3. Don’t order too many, or be ready to eat a ton of leftovers. 4. Sit at the bar before ordering.  They take your taco and drink order and you can avoid the line. You’re welcome!

 

Bacon Social House

My girlfriends and I heard the words bacon flight for Bacon Social House and knew we had to have brunch at this amazing pork filled place! We made reservations on Opentable and were seated immediately upon arrival.  We sat upstairs overlooking the rest of the restaurant pretty much like a loft overlooks a living room. Great table! The waitress sold us on carafes of mimosas and of course we started with a flight of bacon. Bacon, bacon and more bacon. How can you go wrong? Well, I guess if you are a vegetarian.  Habanero bacon, candied bacon, garlic bacon, applewood bacon, paleo bacon and chef’s choice of bacon. Candied and garlic were my favs, but of course they were all savory. Great minds think alike, and proof of that is our table’s order.  Two ordered the Costa Rica Benedict and two ordered the King pancakes and pulled pork chile. Everything was phenomenal. The pancakes were covered in the most amazing whipped peanut butter.  This was by far my favorite dish. I would highly recommend getting at least one. Love the atmosphere. Overall, this was a fantastic experience and I must come back for more bacon.

 

Wing Hut in Aurora

Wing Hut has become my go to place for wings.  They have an ish ton of flavors and let you mix match to make your own concoction. My favorite is the basic buffalo hot wings, all flats. That is my order every time I go.  I tend to try different sides such as fried zucchini, curly fries, or jalapeno poppers. This particular time however, I tried a dessert. I don’t normally get dessert but the lady serving the beer convinced us to try the funnel cakes fries. The selling point was when she said chocolate and peanut butter.  Two of my favorite things together on funnel cake fries? Yes please!!

They came out glowing. Words cannot describe how delightful this dessert was. They almost melted in your mouth with better flavor than a Reese’s peanut butter cup. This is the best dessert I have ever had in my whole life. Even if you don’t like hot wings, or you are a vegetarian, go to Wing Hut and get the funnel cake fries! NOW!

 

 

 

Rosie’s Diner

What a cute little diner! This place is adorable and I love it. Super friendly, upbeat staff. Large menu to choices to pick from. I can’t get enough of this 50’s diner. We settled on the La Bamba skillet and the strawberry stuffed french toast. Both were served with a smile. The french toast was smothers with strawberries and cream. The La Bamba skillet was exactly what I wanted. Potatoes, covered with diced ham, onions, bell peppers, eggs and smothered with green chili. Delish!! I love everything about this place!

 

Ophelia’s Denver

My girlfriend’s and I are part of Bitches that Brunch Denver and are constantly trying new brunch spots.  We had heard about Ophelia’s and wanted to check it out.  We had an issue with seating right off the bat. All of their tables could really only accommodate a table of 4 and we had 6 girls. We had to all sit side by side, which made it difficult to have a conversation. They were playing a samurai type movie on the screen with a lot of blood shed and grossness.  Not exactly the type of movie you would like to see while eating. The server came over and took our drink and food orders. The specialty cocktails were very good. A little pricey, but well made.  I ordered the chicken and waffles served with slaw. It was interesting.  I felt it was pretty dry.  It had barely enough syrup to cover the chicken, leaving nothing for the dried waffles. I wasn’t impressed by the food and from what I could gather from everyone else, they weren’t either. We couldn’t find our server for another round of drinks, so our glasses sat empty. We were all done with our meal and ready to leave by the time he came back around, so we paid our bill and went elsewhere for drinks afterwards. I would maybe suggest this place for a show and drinks, but otherwise, I feel like it was a bust.

 

Avery Brewing

Brian and I were checking out the Celestial Seasonings tour and heard that Avery was a few blocks away, so of course we HAD to go. Found ourselves a few seats at the bar and were greeted immediately by an awesome bartender.  I feel horrible because I cannot remember his name for the life of me. He had red hair and a beard.  Look for him! He is amazing! Great suggestions on which beers to try, which to get a full drink of and recommending food to pair with it.  We settled with beer and gumbo. What a pair and not disappointed! The gumbo was pretty close to what you would get in New Orleans. My only complaint about the beer choices are that there are too many to pick from. That was my struggle. After trying what seemed like 20 beers, we were approached to see if we would enjoy a free tour.  Would I?? We jumped at that opportunity and off we go to tour the facility, beer in hand. After the tour, they give you more samples to taste. I felt like I was in beer heaven. What a great staff and beautiful building. A few days later, I even got a thank you card for coming in.  Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like their beer.

 

Sushi Totoro

We walked in expecting to get a few rolls, some miso and maybe a drink.  We ended up getting all you can eat sushi with some awesome rolls and tons of nigri. The menu with all of the beautiful pictures, got us. They sucked us in and said, you must eat me! Or at least, that is how I felt. The server was awesome.  Very upbeat, asked questions, suggested different things on the menu. He was super helpful. We ordered a bit too much, but were able to scarf it down to avoid the cost of leftover pieces. The menu has a ton of special rolls that are included on the all you can eat menu. Great sushi, not the best nigri, but amazing rolls. I will definitely be back and I will be hungry!