When I was researching Culinary Colorado, I loved visiting restaurants -- both ones that were new to me and old favorites. It was wonderful to meet chefs, restaurateurs, and sommeliers to bask in their passion for fine food and fine wine. Most of all, I loved sharing my discoveries with people who would be reading my book. In the many months since the book was published, I've continued to dining out, but I've truly missed the sharing. I'm doing so in this on-line "Dining Diary,"  begun in the last days of 2005, in the hope that you will enjoy joining me in my ongoing culinary odyssey.

Culinary Colorado is a food-oriented guidebook (restaurants and so much more), but being more immediate, my "Dining Diary" is more a collection of reviews with descriptions of and opinions about meals that my companions and I have eaten. Some write-ups are mere thumbnails, but of course, I got carried away with others. Some include prices and/or wines, while others don't. I update my "Dining Diary" with every restaurant meal or noteworthy food experience, with the most recent at the top of this page. The majority of restaurants are in Colorado, because I live here, but when my travels take me elsewhere, I share dining experiences there too. Browse the alphabetical list just below for restaurants I've reviewed and simply click on places that interest you. You can also find restaurants by location with a click of the mouse.

In addition to this Dining Diary, which was blog-inspired, I now have a real blog, because I wanted to include recipes, observations,  links to food articles, other blogs, and restaurant reviews -- in fact, anything related to food and wine. And, of course, I hope to build up a community of mostly Colorado-based foodies to swap stories, thoughts, reactions. Please visit http://culinary-colorado.blogspot.com. 

I'd love to hear from you too. Just click on "Contact" above and let me know about your food discoveries -- or tell me what you think about my reviews. Bon appétit! -- Claire Walter

I am suspending the 'Dining Diary' on this website. Since I started http://culinary-colorado.blogspot.com, I find that visits to the 'Diary' have shriveled. You can still find reviews of restaurants that I visited between December 14, 2005, and February 20, 2007, below. Otherwise, please check the blog for restaurant reviews as well as other food news and culinary observations. Thanks for checking here, and please do visit -- often.

Go to Most Recent Review

Links to restaurant reviews and other foodie topics in Claire's "Dining Diary" follow. First comes the complete alphabetical list, followed by restaurants in Boulder, Denver, elsewhere in Colorado, or outside of Colorado by location.  Also on this site are some other noteworthy culinary events and venues.  A click will take you to the right spot in the Diary.

Aji Restaurant, Boulder (second visit for First Bite Boulder)
Anthony's HomePort, Kirkland, WA
Bacáro, Boulder (two visits, here and here)
Bistro Basalt, Basalt, CO
Black Cat Bistro, Boulder
The Blue Lion, Jackson, WY
Blue River Bistro, Breckenridge
Bon Ton's Cafe, Colorado Springs
Boulder ChopHouse & Tavern, Boulder
Brasserie Ten-Ten, Boulder
Buenos Aires Pizzeria, Denver
Cafe Diva, Steamboat Springs
Café Pasqual’s, Santa Fe
Carelli's Ristorante Italiano, Boulder
Compass, New York
Coyote Café’s Rooftop Cantina, Santa Fe
Culinary Cruise, aboard the 'Westerdam'
East by Southwest, Durango
Ed's Cantina, Estes Park
El Rancho, Golden
Elways, Denver
Estes Park Brewery, Estes Park
Flagstaff House, Boulder
Food & Wine Classic at Aspen
Fiesta Jalisco, Breckenridge (also 9 other Colorado locations)
French Alps (several restaurants)
The Fresh Fish Co., Denver
Gallagher's Steak House, Denver
Gelman's Gourmet Market & Bistro, Denver
Gemini Thai Kitchen, Boulder
Golden Europe Restaurant, Arvada
Grand Central Terminal Dining Concourse, New York
Hapa Sushi Grill, Boulder
Islamorada Fish Restaurant, Denver
Istanbul Grill, Denver
Jack 'n Jill's, Beverly Hills, CA
Japango, Boulder
Jill's Restaurant, St. Julien Hotel, Boulder
Jimmy & Drew's 28th Street Deli, Boulder
Jin Chan Restaurant, Boulder  
Juanita's, Boulder
Karma Cuisine, Boulder
Kathmandu Restaurant, Nederland
Ken & Sue's, Durango
The Kitchen, Boulder (two visits, downstairs and upstairs)
L'Absinthe Restaurant, Boulder
Latilla, The Boulders, Carefree, AZ
Mangy Moose Restaurant & Saloon, Jackson Hole, WY
Mateo, Boulder (second visit for First Bite Boulder)
Mise en Place Cooking School, Denver
Monroe's New Mexican Food, Albuquerque
Mt. Everest Cafe, Fort Collins
Ocean, Denver
The Ore House at Pine Grove, Steamboat Springs
Palettes, Denver Art Museum, Denver
Pasha Restaurant, New York
Penrose Room, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs
Pesto Brothers Piazza, Flagstaff, AZ
Plaza Restaurant, Santa Fe
Il Poggio Ristorante, Snowmass Village
La Sandia, Denver
L's (Laudisio's), Boulder
Los Potrillos Mexican Restaurant, Santa Fe
Prima Ristorante, Hotel Teatro, Denver and Boulder
Proto's Pizzeria Napoletana, Boulder
Pulcinella Ristorante, Lafayette
Q's Restaurant, Boulder
Ranch House Restaurant, Devil's Thumb Ranch, Tabernash, CO
Randy's, Durango, CO
Rainbow Room, Lake Powell Lodge, Page, AZ
Remington's, Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch, Beaver Creek
Restaurant 4580 + Bar, Boulder
Restaurant Nine75, Denver
Rialto Cafe, Denver
Rio Grande, Boulder
Rosa Linda's Mexican Cafe, Denver
SASSI Ristorante, Scottsdale, AZ
Seven Eurobar, Boulder and again on New Year's Eve
The Shed, Santa Fe
Sherpa's Adventurers Restaurant & Bar, Boulder
Los Sombreros, Scottsdale, AZ
Sonoda's, Englewood
Spice China, Louisville
Summit, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs (two visits, here and here)
Sushi Tora, Boulder
Swans Brew Pub, Victoria, BC
Table 6, Denver
Tamayo, Denver
Ted's Montana Grill, Denver
Tommyknocker Brewery, Idaho Springs
Trattoria on Pearl, Boulder (second visit; scroll to Feburary 17, 2007)
240 Union Restaurant, Lakewood
Victory American Grill & Bar, Denver
Virgilio's Pizzeria, Lakewood
Westbank Grille, Four Seasons Resort, Jackson Hole, WY
West End Tavern, Boulder
Wild Cat Cafe, Snowmass Village, CO
Winona's, Steamboat Springs
Yuko Asian, Boulder
Zolo Grill, Boulder

Boulder Restaurants

Aji Restaurant (second visit for First Bite Boulder)
Bacáro (two visits, here and here)
Black Cat Bistro
Boulder ChopHouse & Tavern
Brasserie Ten-Ten
Carelli's Ristorante Italiano,
Flagstaff House
Gemini Thai Kitchen
Hapa Sushi Grill
Japango
Jimmy & Drew's 28th Street Deli
Jin Chan Restaurant
Juanita's
L's (Laudisio's)
L'Absinthe Restaurant    
Mateo (second visit for First Bite Boulder)
Prima Ristorante
Proto's Pizzeria Napoletana
Q's Restaurant
Restaurant 4580 + Bar
Rio Grande
Seven Eurobar and again on New Year's Eve
Sherpa's Adventurers Restaurant & Bar
Sol Azteca
Sushi Tora
Trattoria on Pearl (second visit; scroll to Feburary 17, 2007)
West End Tavern
Yuko Asian
Zolo Grill

Denver Restaurants

Buenos Aires Pizzeria
Elways
The Fresh Fish Co.
Gallagher's Steak House, Denver
Gelman's Gourmet Market & Bistro
Islamorada Fish Restaurant
Istanbul Grill
La Sandia
Mel's Restaurant and Bar
Ocean
Palettes, Denver Art Museum
Prima Ristorante, Hotel Teatro
Restaurant Nine75
Rialto Cafe
Rosa Linda's Mexican Cafe
Table 6
Tamayo
Ted's Montana Grill
Victory American Grill & Bar
 

Other Colorado Restaurants

Bistro Basalt, Basalt
Blue River Bistro, Breckenridge
Bon Ton's Cafe, Colorado Springs
Buenos Aires Pizzeria, Denver
Cafe Diva, Steamboat Springs
East by Southwest, Durango
Ed's Cantina, Estes Park
El Rancho, Golden
Estes Park Brewery, Estes Park
Fiesta Jalisco, Breckenridge
Ken & Sue's, Durango
Golden Europe Restaurant, Arvada
Kathmandu Restaurant, Nederland
Mina's Latin Restaurant, Erie
Mt. Everest Cafe, Fort Collins
The Ore House at Pine Grove, Steamboat Springs|
Penrose Room, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs
Il Poggio Ristorante, Snowmass Village
Pulcinella Ristorante, Lafayette
Ranch House Restaurant, Devil's Thumb Ranch, Tabernash
Randy's, Durango
Remington's, Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch, Beaver Creek
Serious Texas Bar-B-Q, Durango
Sonoda's, Englewood
Spice China, Louisville
Summit, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs (two visits, here and here)
Tommyknocker Brewery, Idaho Springs
240 Union Restaurant, Lakewood
Virgilio's Pizzeria, Lakewood
Wild Cat Cafe, Snowmass Village, CO
Winona's, Steamboat Springs
 

Restaurants Outside of Colorado

Anthony's HomePort, Kirkland, WA
Café Pasqual’s, Santa Fe
Compass, New York
Chile
Coyote Café’s Rooftop Cantina, Santa Fe
French Alps (several restaurants)
Grand Central Terminal Dining Concourse, New York
Jack 'n Jill's, Beverly Hills, CA
Karma Cuisine, Boulder
The Kitchen, Boulder (two visits, downstairs and upstairs)
Latilla, The Boulders, Carefree, AZ
Mangy Moose Restaurant & Saloon, Jackson Hole, WY
Monroe's New Mexican Food, Albuquerque
Pasha Restaurant, New York
Pesto Brothers Piazza, Flagstaff, AZ
Plaza Restaurant, Santa Fe
Los Potrillos Mexican Restaurant, Santa Fe
Rainbow Room, Lake Powell Lodge, Page, AZ
SASSI Ristorante, Scottsdale, AZ
The Shed, Santa Fe
Los Sombreros, Scottsdale, AZ
Swans Brew Pub, Victoria, BC
Westbank Grille, Four Seasons Resort, Jackson Hole, WY
 

Food Festivals, Cooking Schools & Other Culinary Events

Culinary Cruise, aboard the 'Westerdam'
Flatiron Chefs, Broomfield
Food & Wine Classic at Aspen
Mise en Place Cooking School, Denver

Dining Diary

February 20, 2007

La Sandia
8340 East 49th Street, Denver
303-373-9100
www.modernmexican.com

I am fond of Tamayo, in downtown Denver, so it is no surprise that I would also enjoy La Sandia, another Richard Sandoval restaurant -- this one located at the Shops at Northfield on the site of the old Stapleton Airport. The restaurant is attractively designed -- and I emphasize the word "designed," because it has the restaurant equivalent of "not a hair out of place." Like Northfield itself, it needs a little age to develop a patina.

Nothing needs to be done to improve the guacamole, like that at Tamayo served in a lava bowl but with the addition of mix-in-your-on condiments. For lunch, I selected a very good, flavorful tortilla soup with crisp, tasty tortilla strips, and a small, equally good house salad -- not unusual ingredient-wise, but crisp and fresh. I'd go back in a heartbeat  and try some of the other offerings.

February 17, 2007

Trattoria on Pearl
1430 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-544-0009
www.trattoriaonpearl.com
 

We came here this evening with East Coast friends, and I have to confess that I was so busy catching up that I wasn't in "review mode." We drank a lot of wine. We ordered various wonderful things. One of my companions and I ordered the sensationally priced $36 chef's tasting menu. Chef Daniel Cofrides comes out and asks about food preferences and allergies, and out comes a three-course meal of his selection. We nibbled on spiced olives and the best bacon-wrapped anything I've ever had -- this time it was dates. Minestrone with scallops and mild, sweet corn was a fabulous, off-the-chart rendition of a classic Italian vegetable soup. Clams, mussels, calamari, octopus, shrimp, scallops, pastis, roasted garlic and saffron arborio rice cooked in vegetable broth and smoothed with parsley butter comprised the risotto frutti de mare -- and the only reason I know all of these ingredients is that I looked them up. I don't have to look anything up to remember a rich, succulent mix of perfect rice and seafood to match. The battle between the chocolate mousse and the crèm brulée was a tie. When I had a spoonful of one, I decided that it was the best. When I tried the other, I thought it was better. Next time, I'll pay more attention to what I'm eating -- but we all had a great time.

February 14, 2007

L'Asinthe Restaurant
1800 Broadway, Boulder
303-442-6777
www.labsintherestaurant.com

Romance is very French. Think the songs of Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf. Think of the seductive story lines of such films as A Man and a Woman or Chocolat or The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. On Valentines'  Day -- or the evening of Valentine's Day -- a French restaurant seems just right. My husband made reservations for L'Absinthe's "aphrodisiac menu," and we bundled up for the walk downtown. Even though it sports a bizarre combination of furnishings (formal table setting, modern art glass, fussy pseudo-Victorian lamps perched in odd spots, a white piano), the restaurant comes across as a place of atmosphere and charm.

We needed charm to keep us warm, because though we were seated behind a divider at the front of the restaurant, every time the door opened, we were assaulted by an icy blast. We were diverted from gazing soulfully into each others' eyes in astonishment that a young hostess in a short-short dress with spaghetti straps and high-heeled sandals didn't turn blue.

The Valentine's menu four-course menu came with a glass of so-so "champagne," actually a Marquis de Perlas blanc des blancs  that the waitress insisted could only be served with the dessert course, not as an apéritif). We also order a Macon-Lugney "La Charme Chand" and a California Clos du Bois cabernet sauvignon to accompany our very satisfying dinner. Here's a summary:

First Course (choice of five appetizers): Half a dozen raw oysters on the half-shelf were served with an assertive ginger-balsamic vinaigrette with a crunch that worked well with the pillowy mollusks. The Lobster and Rock Shrimp Ravioli featured one large ravioli (or whatever the singular is) made of thin pasta and large, luscious lobster chunks, sizable shrimp, spinach, mozzarella and sun-dried cherries in curried lobster sauce. There was a lot going on in this dish, but all the elements harmonized.

Second Course (choice of soup or salad): Salad L]Absinthe was a crisp combo of diced, roasted yellow and red beets, baby mache, candied walnuts and large nuggets of a blue cheese from Auvergne with fruit vinaigrette. The New England clam chowder was smooth, light and happily very clammy, served with a lovely Parmesan-scallion tuille.

Entrées (choice of five): The Filet "St. Valentin" was a modest-size cut of meat that was fork tender and very flavorful. Bathed in truffle sauce, it was a to-sign-for dish. Potatoes, asparagus and carrots rounded out the plate. "Rich" should have been part of the name for the Wild Mushroom Risotto entrée. It was served in a soup plate with grilled green and white asparagus, white truffle oil, cherry tomatoes and something described as Shaved Parmesan Romano. I'm not quite sure what this latter was, since Parmigiano (the Italian word that Americans translate to Parmesan) is a cow's milk cheese and Romano is made from sheep's milk. 

Dessert: Puit d'Amour was the single dessert on the menu, and it couldn't have been finer if we had selected it. The crunchy, tasty pasty shell, called an Almond Tulipe, contained fresh trawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peach and kiki bathed in a creamy, dreamy Frangelico sabayon that fore the flavors of spring on this very wintry night.

Part-way through our dinner, a trio appeared -- piano, sax, vocal -- with suitably romantic songs for a Valentine's Day dinner.

February 13, 2007

Rialto Cafe
934 Sixteenth Street, Denver
303-893-2233
www.rialtocafe.com

This restaurant in the Courtyard by Marriott isn't particularly bad, but it's not particularly good either. We stopped there on a cold night before going to the theater, wanting a light meal --  some soup, perhaps -- and a short walk to the Denver Center the Performing Arts. Staccato service and so-so food aren't great incentives for us to return. Before we even sat down, a waiter popped over and asked what we'd like to drink. We asked him to come back once we'd had a chance to take off our coats and look at the wine list. It took him a lo-o-o-ong time to return. We had a fine window table, so we were able to watch the passing parade on the Sixteenth Street Mall while we waited.

When he did, we ordered a glass of Snoqualmie Organic Riesling and a glass of Greg Norman Shiraz, and we weren't taking any chances, so we ordered our food too. It was another wait until he returned with two glasses of wine. Then, eventually, we were presented with a small cast-iron skillet of corn bread. A nice touch. Our soups and salads came quickly. We had an unusually lemony French onion soup that wasn't as piping hot as it should have been and a tomato fennel soup that tasted as if the base was tomato juice. The house salad was a predictable combination of lettuces, cherry tomatoes, almonds and onions with a choice of dressing. The shaved Parmesan that topped the Caesar salad had that soap taste of cheap, supermarket Parmesan-style cheese. We had to wait again for the check. Rialto will have to wait a while for our return too -- if ever.

February 11, 2007

Jimmy & Drew's 28th Street Deli
2855 28th Street, Boulder
303-447-DELI (3354)

We were running some errands, got hungry, and stopped for lunch at this New York-style deli with light-hearted decor tucked into the corner of a strip shopping center. When I lived in Manhattan, my apartment was one block from the legendary Carnegie Delicatessen and a 15-minute walk from the Stage Delicatessen -- so I know from Jewish delis. Jimmy & Drew's is true to form, foodwise. There's a tongue sandwich but no BLT, chicken soup but no tortilla soup, potato latkes but no home fries, cheese blintzes but no crepes. However, instead of brusque waiters in white shirts and black pants taking orders and squeezing among crowded tables to bringing food and beverages to patrons, customers at Jimmy & Drew's order at the counter, pick up their own beverages, pay and then wait for the food.

The deli's mascot, caricature of  a smiling pickle in a chef's toque and a fork in one hand, is emblazoned on the colorful tabletops, printed on the menus and inflicted on an employee who stands on the side of busy 28th Street waving people into the parking lot -- along with a guy in an Uncle Sam outfit waving people into an income tax preparation storefront.

I ordered a Ty Cohen salad -- that's sort of a Cobb salad in most contexts (Ty Cobb -- get it?). The Cobb salad as invented at Hollywood's legendary Brown Derby Restaurant also included stemmed watercress leaves, Roquefort cheese and sliced hard-cooked eggs, but adaptations across the country have frequently simplified  the number of ingredients from the original. Jimmy & Drew's comprised a bowlful of crisp romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cubes of house-roasted turkey )a bit dry, but very tasty), sliced avocado and sliced red onion, with a side of and house-made dressing

My husband ordered a Rueben, his all-time favorite. Rye bread, lean corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and a light drippy mayo-based dressing  made for a soul-satisfying combination.The sandwich was thick, but not as overstuffed as the Carnegie, the Stage and other delis in New York are wont to serve. The cole slaw he selected as his side -- a two-cabbage lunch -- was crisp and nicely sweet. Of course, there was a pickle too.

We didn't order it, but a sandwich of liverwurst, onion, spicy mustard and a fried egg bears the intriguing name, Arnold Marx n' Eggers. The play on the name Arnold Schwarzenegger tying into the fried egg is pretty obvious, why Marx and Eggers? Turns out that the Drew is Andrew Marx and Jimmy is Jarrett  "Jimmy" Eggers . Drew is a Culinary Institute of America graduate, cooked at such fancier Boulder restaurants as the Greenbriar and the late Dandelion, a Kevin Taylor restaurant, while Jimmy put in time as a manager in the Pepsi Center's food and beverage operation. The two met in Illinois, which explains why pictures of New York and Chicago sports teams decorate the walls -- along with framed coloring book renditions of that pickle mascot.

Other than the pickle, the only sour note was that vacant tables (including four booths) remained unbussed. The dining area does contain a trash can and bus pan with the expectation that customers will clear the own tables, but when they don't, someone who works there ought to step in and do it.

February  10, 2007

Estes Park Brewery
470 Prospect Drive, Estes Park
970-586-5421
www.epbrewery.net

If you're in the mood for a good beer (like the raspberry wheat I enjoyed and the Oktoberfest-style Marzen my husband relished), stop at this brewery convenient to the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. If you are hungry, go elsewhere. In this lively, noisy, multi-screen-sports-TV restaurant upstairs section of Estes Park's first brewpub, the food is third-rate. Everything is either fried, tasteless or both. If anything is house-made rather than delivered packaged, frozen or processed, I'd be really surprised.

My husband's bacon-cheeseburger was mediocre. The onion rings he selected to go with them were OK as long as they were hot, but as soon as they cooled off, the absence of flavor was evident. I ordered a chicken sandwich, requesting that the bun be toasted. It was barely warmed up. The boneless chicken breast was flavor-challenged and had an unpleasant oily film to it. Its only redeeming feature was that the chicken was neither under- not overcooked. I spread a bit of guacamole on the sandwich, but it had the off-taste of past-ripe avocado, though I really don't imagine the uninspired guac was made in-house either. I ordered a salad rather than fries (and since I "helped" my husband with his onion rings, I didn't order those). The salad consisted of iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, some sliced green pepper, and a few puny shreds of carrots and red cabbage. The honey-mustard dressing with thick and gloppy, and didn't have any distinctive flavor either. Inexplicably, the sandwich and salad came with one cellophane package containing two measly crackers. What was that all about?

When the very sweet waitress came to inquire how we were liking everything, we mumbled, "Just fine," because it was frighteningly clear that everything was lousy and that anything she brought as a substitute would be unlikely to be an improvement. We cleansed our palates with the last of our beers and left.

January 24, 2007

Mt. Everest Cafe
1113 West Drake Road, Fort Collins
970-223-8212

I presented a snowshoeing slide show (I do not live by things culinary alone) at Fort Collins' Lincoln Center this evening and had to be there before 6:00. Friends whom we were meeting beforehand for a quick bite suggested this Indo-Nepalese restaurant, and it doesn't get any quicker than helping yourself from a table laden with already-cooked food. On this quiet weeknight, knowing that there wouldn't be too much business, the kitchen didn't churn out excess quantities of anything, but there was always a bit more added to each section of the hot table -- meaning they were cooking as needed. Nice.

The thin dal didn't do much for me -- for no reason other than it didn't do much for me. As foundations, there were two kinds of rice -- plain white and pilaf -- and an assortment of classics to go with them. Curries of chicken, beef, lamb, and eggplant were tasty -- especially the eggplant, finely cut and cooked to nearly a purée consistency, sparked with hot and tasty spices. The flakey naan was excellent, the samosas less so because they were more bland and doughy than filled with anything that asserted itself, tastewise. The onion pakoris were more heavily battered than I like, masking the onion flavor, but the batter itself turned them into addictive fritters. The batter was laced with  hot pepper, which rescued them. The mixed vegetables included lots of big chunks of cauliflower, smaller broccoli flowerettes, carrots sliced lengthwise, and other sizes of other vegetables. The intention, I'm sure, was to make sure that everything  was cooked alike to the bite. There is also a small salad bar with such regular old US-style dressings as ranch, vinaigrette and French.

Like the dal, the rice pudding was thin and also didn't do much for me -- again for no reason other than that it didn't do much for me. Something that I can only describe as a chunky banana pudding was quite sweet and tasty, optionally accompanied by long slices of fried banana and chunks of preserved tamarind, a bitter fruit (or is it a vegetable?) that I have tried, unsuccessfully, to appreciate.

If you decide to ascend this Mt. Everest, know that the street address only provides a clue. You'll find the restaurant at the southeast corner of the inside of a rectangular strip shopping center on the southwest corner of Drake and Shields.  Our friends gave us good directions, so we found it easily, satiated ourselves, and made it to Lincoln Center with time to spare.

January 18, 2007

East by Southwest
160 East College Drive, Durango
970-247-5533
www.EastBySouthwest.com

Whenever I am in Durango, either to visit my son (with my husband or alone), on a magazine assignment, or both, I try to have dinner at East by Southwest, but unless we show up early, there's always a long wait. My son and I did arrive early enough (5:45 or so) on this evening to get a couple of seats at the sushi bar. The tables were already taken.

I've never figured out just what the appeal of Asian cuisine was to a couple named Sergio and Hydi Verduzco, but these culinary school grads (he from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, and the California Sushi Academy; she from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, College of Hotel and Restaurant Administration) have a knack for it. The extensive pan-Asian menu includes Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian dishes -- and some that I am sure they themselves invented. My husband is not big on sushi, and on past visits, he has ordered stir fries, Indonesian favorites, and beef tenderloin with teriyaki sauce. My son and I always dig into the sushi, which is always fresh and always good.

None of the sushi chefs on duty that evening are Japanese, but you'd never know if from the their preparation or presentation. The sushi chef passed a couple of bowls of cucumber salad over the counter while we decided what to order. We started with Popcorn Calamari with Spicy Aioli, a delicious departure from our usual that was crisp, hot, and had a nice kick -- offset by a creamy dipping sauce. Certainly not authentically Japanese, but certainly delicious.

East by Southwest's Dynamite Sauce is dynamite indeed. Sometimes made with a Japanese mayonnaise called Kewpie, some kind of hot pepper sauce, Thai chiles, and various other flavorings, dynamite sauce provides a splendid counterpoint to crisp and/or temperature-hot food, especially when the prime ingredients were once living in the sea. East by Southwest's Seafood Baked in Dynamite Sauce hits the palate as a double-whammy yin/yang combination of crisp and smooth, sweet and fiery. A long slim plate held a lineup of six cooked-just-right mussels in a fabulous kicked-up-a-notch sauce on side. We also shared a couple of plates of sushi rolls of half a dozen pieces. The Thai Vege Roll (their spelling) was satisfyingly crunchy. The veggies (my spelling) assuaged my conscience for eating so much fried food. I'd prefer to describe it all in loving detail, but the truth is that I don't get to see my offspring all that often, so conversation sometimes distracts me from the Dining Diary business.

January 17, 2007

Randy's
152 East College Drive, Durango
970-147-9083
www.randysrestaurant.com

I was in Durango researching an article and managed to book two dinners with my busy son, who lives there. He teaches skiing and especially during this biting mid-January cold snap, he wanted to refuel with a good steak. Randy's, just off Main Street, fit the bill. The small bar area was jammed, because Randy's offers Wednesday evening bar specials, but the hostess said we could order those in the dining room as well. We were seated in one of the private, drapery-framed booths -- which I'm sure are in great demand on Valentine's Day.

We shared a mango-shrimp ceviche served in a martini glass. There was more not-quite-ripe mango and onion than there was shrimp, but the ceviche "cure" helped moderate the dish's flaws. My son was happy with his tasty and tender steak, medium-rare to medium, as ordered, and served with vegetables and potatoes. I selected a seafood penne pasta in a pesto cream sauce. This combination of sea critters with well-cooked pasta was bathed in an unassertive sauce -- nothing gripping or unusual, but just fine. Served in a soup bowl, it came in a manageable portion that nevertheless did not leave much room dessert.

The service was more pleasant than attentive. I did have to ask for Parmesan with my pasta, but was half finished before a small bowl of fresh grated cheese was delivered to the table. My options were to let the pasta cool waiting for the cheese to arrive or eating half of the entrée sans cheese. Our wines were good (I'm always a sucker for a Gewürtztraminer these days, and my son is a pinot noir).

January 13, 2007

L's (aka, Laudisio's)
1710 29th Street, Boulder
303-442-1300
www.laudisio.com

Laudisio Ristorante, a North Boulder strip-mall staple since 1986, closed last September and reopened as L's in the new 29th Street "lifestyle center" later in the year. The old Laudisio's served fine Italian food in a cozy setting that had, in truth, become a bit shopworn. The new Laudisio's is officially called L's, but I'll bet no one will call it that. Whatever the name, it serves many old favorites and new dishes too, but in a bigger and far better setting.

Restaurant, bar, open kitchen, wood-burning oven (the better to make pizza with, my dear) and large wine cellar fill the high-ceilinged new place, whose decorating theme is circles -- sort-of circular room round lighting fixtures, bartops shaped in arcs, curved booths that are generously curved rather than angled. Bare dark-wood tables are set with flatware rolled into white linen napkins, water tumblers, and modern version of old-fashioned castor sets, with cruets of olive oil and vinegar, salt shaker, pepper mill, and imported bottled water. If you go, you will be asked whether you want the bottled water or tap water, but you won't be pressured. It is a welcome novelty to be able to grind your own pepper at will, rather than waiting for a server to come around, with a gigantic mill tucked under his or her arm, asking whether you want fresh pepper.

My husband and I started with a half-carafe of the house Barbera, which was so good that we ordered another before the evening was over. The bread is presented on a rectangular plate, with four different types aligned like solders between two flat breadsticks. We started with caprese salad, three slices of sad, out-of-season tomatoes, each topped with a slab of firm mozzarella and a huge basil leaf. He ordered a fine, silky tomato-basil soup, and I had a green salad in a very good balsamic vinaigrette. My risotto Milanese scented with saffron comprised flavorful, slightly al dente rice sided by a bit of truffle butter and a crisp parmigiano shell filled with shredded radicchio and a small cluster of sprouts. My husband's rich and cheese canneloni were filled with meats, ricotta, and spinach, bathed in béchamel, and baked. The waiter ground some fresh parmigiano over both of our entrées. For dessert, we ordered a Laudisio's-style banana cream pie and a rich and delicious chocolate construction: pastry and ganache and more encased in a chocolate box, surrounded by a ribbon of raspberry purée.

If you go, know that the restaurant only takes reservations for parties of eight or more. We went early to avoid the inveitable Saturday night crowd, so we hit family hour. The kids -- a couple of babies, several preschoolers, and a number of older children -- were lively but well-behaved. They substantiate my contention that children who are taken to "real restaurants" know how to behave in "real restaurants" -- and will become patrons in the future.

January 11, 2007

Japango
1136 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-938-0330
www.japonsushi.com

Japango, sister restaurant to Denver's Japon Sushi, is a mod Japanese restaurant in Boulder's sushi belt -- across the street from Hapa and around various corners from Sushi Tora, Sushi Zanmai and PanAsia. This much competition in such close proximity keeps every restaurant sharp. A friend and I both ordered the bento box lunch of the day, preceded by a cup of hot miso soup -- almost necessary on this very cold January day. The black lacquered box contained Individual compartments of sushi, salad, tempura-style whitefish, tempura-style vegetables, and rice -- a tasty and satisfying steal of a deal at $6, plus 50 cents for the soup. Can't be beat!

January 1, 2006

West End Tavern
926 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-444-3535
www.bigredf.com/westend/index.php

I can't believe I ate the whole thing! Remember the long-ago Alka Seltzer commercial, using that as the grab line? I lived it today. Not too many restaurants are open on New Year's Day, so when we wandered downtown in search of "something," the West End Tavern beckoned, and the chicken tostada, a special of the daily, beckoned even more. It was a large, messy pile of ingredients: a couple of flat tortillas layered with spicy shredded chicken, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, guacamole, chopped onions, pico de gallo and sour cream. There might have been other components that I've forgotten, because the dish got really disorderly really fast. I'm not even sure that I liked it, but somehow, it hit the New Year's Day spot, and I ate it all -- plus a couple of fries from my husband's cheeseburger platter. Burpy New Year to all.

December 31, 2006

7 Eurobar
1035 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-635-1057
www.seveneurobar.com

We returned from Snowmass today with no plans for New Year's Eve, and since sitting around at home by ourselves was simply unthinkable, we wandered downtown to see what we were in the mood for -- and more importantly, who might have room for us. We didn't have to go far. 7 Eurobar was offering three New Year's Eve options: four- and six-course dinners (plus an intermezzo) at the tables and an a la carte menu at the bar. The bar menu looked great -- and didn't seem like too much food. As a bonus, celebratory balloons nudged against the ceiling and festive streamers hung down from the exposed gridwork.

When we arrived around 7:00, chef/partner Michael Wahaltere was prowling around the kitchen, dining room and bar, making sure that everything was ready for later crowds, and there also seemed to be a sense of nervous anticipation among the staff in the semi-open kitchen. We ordered yummy martinis to start -- and another round later. Our shared portion of half-a-dozen Ravioles aux Champignons lined up on long narrow plate was a satisying starter. They were stuffed with and also topped with sautéed wild mushrooms and set on a pond of Marsala-cream sauce. Then, I ordered Capesane al Sapore, which without a translation on the menu I would not have identified as seared diver scallops atop risotto and saffron-cream sauce. There were just two scallops, but they were large enough to serve as a satisfying small entree. My husband selected the Gnocchi con Ragu d'Agnello, small potato dumplings in a spicy tomato ragu with lamb, peas and mushrooms. The portion looked small too, but the taste was also big.

We ordered two desserts: profiterolles and cazuela. The former was a trio of puff pastry orbs, split in half and respectively filled with vanilla, chocolate and pistacchio ice cream and bathed in a warm dark chocolate sauce. The latter comprised pears and raspberries baked in a small souffle dish with a crumble topping and served with almond ice cream on the side. We sauntered home, happy to be ending the year in such congenial surroundings and with such good fare. Happy New Year!

Note: Since e visited, Chef Wahaltare has left the restaurant, and the menu has changed.

December 27, 2006

Il Poggio Ristorante
57 Elbert Lane (one level above the Snowmass Village Mall)
Snowmass Village
970-923-4292

You have to know about this Italian restaurant, or at least be told about it by someone knowledgeable, because you're not likely to stumble upon it. You climb a discreet flight of steps from the Snowmass Village Mall and then take a sharp right, and there it is. Five of us felt fortunate to score a last-minute reservation between Christmas and New Year. We stayed with friends, who are part-time Snowmass Villagers and therefore knew enough to ask for a table in the back room. This was ideal because this was the one "special dinner out" during our time there.

The front room  houses the bar, cafe with bare-wood tables and the brick oven that produces the restaurant's popular and much-praised focaccia, flatbread and pizzette selections. It was full of enthusiastic families, and while it always makes me happy to see parents bringing children to real restaurants instead of "family restaurants" or, worse, chain outlets, we were all adults and wanted something quieter. The back room is subdued both in volume and illumination. The tables are covered with white linen. Brocade fabric covers the chair seats and the generous, sink-into  banquettes.

A dish of slightly warm, small black olives and a two-pack of warm focaccia and flatbread wrapped in a linen napkin provided something to nibble on while we sipped our wine (mine was a smooth pinot noir-Sangiovese-cabernet blend) and contemplated the menu. A couple of us ordered soup and a couple ordered salad to start. The lettuce-tomato salad was crisp and fresh, but it was so tartly lemony that it required a dose of the olive intended for the bread to take it down, and the shaved Parmigiano was clumped together and secreted between two lettuce leaves. These were understandable during the busiest week of winter season and easily rectified at the table.

Our entrées included one veal dish and two pastas. One of us ordered the anti-pasta salad as the main course, and I selected the appetizer portion of cozze -- sautéed Prince Edward Island mussels -- as my entrée. Everything was pronounced excellent -- tender veal in a fine sauce, fine pasta, perfect scallops -- but the mussels merit special attention. They were small, sweet, tender and so lightly sautéed that a couple of them were even cool in the center. This was a happy contrast to the usual preparation that often results in mussels verging on the rubbery, even when the flavor is good. I wasn't worried about safety, but I was curious whether it was intentional or the product of an over-taxed kitchen in a hurry. The waitress didn't know but asked the chef, who told her that he purposely cooks them that way. No complaint  -- and my curiosity satisfied too.

December 21, 2006

Juanita's
1043 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-449-5273
www.juanitasboulder.com

Between yesterday morning and mid-day today, Boulder received about 20 inches of snow. Traffic -- vehicular and pedestrian -- was virtually non-existent. It was a perfect day to walk downtown past (closed) stores to deposit some last-minute Christmas letters in the mailbox in front of the (closed) post office -- and to find a place for a bite of lunch. Despite Boulder's abundance of downtown restaurants, the choice was easy, because Juanita's was about the only game in town. This was no hardship, since it is a long-time favorite. Behind the retro facade of glass block surrounding two just-large-enough windows is a comfortable pub-style eatery: high-backed booths for four or six along both walls and a few tables the center. We snagged one of the two two-tops right by the window, spotted friends walking by even before we ordered and lured them in.

Slightly salty tortilla chips and a smooth and spicy salsa provided a base for the day's special margarita, not the best flavorwise I've ever had but packing a powerful tequila punch. Chile con queso, my husband's favorite, appeared before us too. We both ordered tamales -- one pair of regular tamales with rice and refried pinto beans and one pair of veggie tamales with rice and lard-less black beans. Our friends respectively ordered a combo plate and soft tacos with chicken. They didn't help us sufficiently with the chile con queso, so we couldn't finish everything (how do you say "doggie bag" in Spanish?), but our friends did the clean-plate club proud. When we came home, I happily took an afternoon nap -- a perfect accent to a big snow day.

 December 16, 2006

Restaurant 4580 + Bar
4580 Broadway, Boulder
303-448-1500
www.restaurant4580.com

With a lot of holiday cooking coming up, I was happy when my husband suggested going out to dinner -- something we rarely do on a Saturday night. Even without a reservation, we were lucky to score a table at this fairly new North Boulder restaurant. Owner Martin Hammer is a Flagstaff House alumnus, which is as fine a credential as one can have in the Boulder restaurant biz. The space is dark and atmospheric, with one cut sandstone wall, two window walls, and a semi-open corner kitchen that dominates the fourth wall. The art-glass chandeliers preside stylishly over the bare cherry tables, set with stainless flatware, fine cloth napkins tied with raffia, candles, oval bread plates, glassware, and salt dishes (rather than shakers).

I'd read reviews that praised 4580's food but were unenthusiastic about its Subway-view outdoor patio and its uneven service. The outdoor option is not relevant in winter, and we were conscious of the restaurant's efforts to smooth out the service. Mike the sommelier takes some of the wine-service pressure off the waitstaff, and Martin, who runs the front of the house as he did at the Flagstaff House, and executive chef Kelly Kingsford, formerly of Brasserie Ten-Ten, both bring dishes to tables while they are still hot when the kitchen gets ahead of the waitstaff. When the check comes, so does a comment card that guests are urged to fill out. It's clear that any lingering service issues are being addressed every night.

Three kinds of bread with a white bean spread, reminiscent of hummus, occupied us while we sipped our wine and waited for the appetizer that we selected from the small plate portion of the menu -- flatbread topped with olive oil, herbed ricotta, slightly caramelized onions, and serrano ham. IOur entrées came from the enticing large-plate section of the menu. My rich and creamy truffle-kissed risotto was topped with roasted grape tomatoes and flash-fried fresh basil. My husband's osso bucco was a generous cut of braised pork shank perched atop heap of truffled mashed potatoes with cubes of pancetta, sage, and parmesan brodo.

An add-on value to Restaurant 4580's fine food, wine, and yes, service, is the Uptown Wine Shop right next door. Owned by Martin's wife, Susan, the edgy shop offers 10 percent off any bottle to the restaurant's patrons. Wine-pairing dinners, not surprisingly, are also planned. Desserts were tempting, but we know that the Hatton Creamery was en route home, so we opted to try their luscious ice creams instead.   

Note: Since we visited, Chef Kelly Kingsford has left the restaurant.

December 11, 2006

Sherpa's Adventurers Restaurant & Bar
825 Walnut Street, Boulder
303-440-7151

This visit to Sherpa's was an only-in-Boulder evening. My husband and I went there to have a bite with my colleague, Gordon Wiltsie, who was in town to promote his new book, To The Ends of the Earth, with a slide show at the nearby Boulder Bookstore. Gordon, in turn, was also meeting Tom Hornbein, renowned as a climber on the 1963 American Mt. Everest and one of a duo who ascended via the West Ridge. Hornbein and his wife recently moved to Estes Park, and it turned out that one of the Sherpas at Sherpa's is the son of  the sirdar, or head guide, who accompanied Hornbein's party 43 years ago. Gordon himself is a renowned mountaineer, guide, adventure photographer and fine writer. The conversation, though rushed so that Gordon could go to the bookstore and set up, was full of interesting twists and amazing references. This Dining Diary is about about food, but if Hornbein's Everest experience also interests you, go to http://www.everestnews.com/history/climbers/hornbein.htm for a synopsis of the expedition or to http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0305/feature1/story2.html to read about it in his own words.

Usually, I study menus and debate with myself, and even out loud, about what to order. This time  I was so humbled and awestruck at being in Hornbein's company and so delighted to spend a bit of time with Gordon that I glanced quickly and just ordered an appetizer platter: two steamed vegetable momos (sort of like empanadas or Chinese dumplings but with a Nepalese filling and several fried things that were hot and crisp and tasted good, but I ate without paying a lot of attention. Next time, without such an illustrious distraction, I'll be more mindful of my meal.

December 8, 2006

Carelli's Ristorante Italiano
645 30th Street (at Baseline Road), Boulder
303-938-9300
www.carellis.com

I'm usually hungry after long airplane flights, because I usually don't care for airline meal (when there is one), so when my husband picked me up from the the SuperShuttle drop-off at the Boulder Broker, I suggested that we stop at Carelli's "for a bite" because it was right around the corner. Besides, A) he had never been there, B) I had only been there for lunch, and C) I hadn't been there since the expansion and addition of a second dining room. It was not a hard sell.

The original, sort-of-Mediterranean-look restaurant remains as warm and cozy as ever, while the new dining room sports a smart, retro supper-club ambience. High-backed banquettes are upholstered in zebra or tiger-stripe fabrics. The lighting from several sources (indirect from behind the banquettes, filtered by fabric in fixtures that resemble upside-down tents, and from lights wrought-iron wall brackets) is subdued. Big Band era sounds play on the sound system. On a Friday night and without reservations, we were fortunate to have had just a short very wait for a table.

As usual, we started with a couple of glasses of something to toast with -- a California pinot noir for me, a Peroni beer for him -- while we checked out the extensive menu. We welcomed the basket of small slices of warm garlic bread and did it justice. I'm usually not a fan of soft breads, preferring hard-crusted varieties, but this was so good and subtly garlicky that we demolished it by the time our entrées arrived. After much indecisiveness, I selected angelhair with clams. The perfectly cooked pasta rose from the soup bowl in a tangled ball rather than in an easy-to-twirl flat portion, but I did my best to toss it in order to distribute the sauce. I was given a choice of red or white sauce (I selected the latter), which was prepared with just enough garlic plus herbs. I am always happy when a restaurant  serves clams in the shell, an assurance that the kitchen is not relying on bottled ones. At Carelli's, eight or so littleneck clams surrounded the pasta. My husband ordered an individual pizza with red sauce (he too had the choice of white), kalamata olives, and sun-dried tomatoes. The semi-thick-crusted pizza dough was puffy and tasty, and the toppings didn't overwhelm the dough. He brought half of it home, added some pepperoni slices, and reheated it the following morning. I ate every bite of the pasta, every drop of sauce, every speck of garlic, and of course, every clam -- everything, in fact, but the shells.

Along with the second dining dining room, Carelli's now boasts a crêpe bar that makes one savory and several sweet selections each evening. The savory was a chicken mole crêpe, and while the notion of a French dish with a distinctively Mexican filling served in an Italian restaurant made me smile, the $23.95 price tag seemed a little stiff for "a bite."  We'd had too much garlic bread before dinner to contemplate anything after our main meal.

December 2, 2006

Boulder ChopHouse & Tavern
921 Walnut Street, Boulder
303-443-1188
www.rockbottomrestaurantsinc.com

On a snowy night, the rare Boulder steakhouse, which is operated by a small locally based restaurant group, beckoned following the annual downtown Parade of Lights. We weren't the only ones with that idea, so instead of accepting a half-hour wait for the dining room, we were seated immediately in the Tavern. High tables and barstool-height chairs, classic cocktail and beer scenes from old movies framed poster-size on the walls, low lights, and mellow music by Sinatra and his contemporaries were perfect on a wintry dining occasion. Except for the soundless flat-screen TVs (closed caption is on) tuned to football, the ambience was 1940s.

A small iron skillet of hot cornbread with softened honey butter, a good cosmo and a better wine got us started. My husband and I shared an order of onion rings, which were cleverly stacked on one of those vertical paper towel holders. They were cut thick (too thick to easily bite into), happily served hot, and very oily -- knife and fork rather than finger food.

The PEI mussels heaped into a soup plate with a smoky-flavored sauce squiggle on the rim weren't bad, but they weren't terribly good either. They weren't quite spoiled, but they certainly weren't fresh either, which I told our attentive waitress when she asked how everything was. The manager came over and offered to remove the mussels from our bill and asked if we wanted a substitute. Her speed at volunteering to take them off the tab means either that the restaurant is especially responsive to customers' complaints or that the kitchen knew the mussels were past their prime but had tried to get away with selling them anyway. Whichever, it was a quick and satisfying solution. The seasoned fries were good, and the prime rib was excellent -- fork tender, tasty, cooked as ordered and served au jus, the jus flavored with rosemary. We took home some meat and some potatoes -- enough for another meal, really.

November 25, 2006

Wild Cat Cafe
Snowmass Center
16 Kearns Road, Snowmass Village, CO
970-923-5990

Snowmass Center houses the Town of Snowmass Village municipal offices, the post office, the supermarket, a ski and sports shop, a real estate agency or two, assorted professional offices, and the Wild Cat Cafe, not surprisingly a locals' favorite. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served seven days a week. Portions are enormous and prices are affordable.  The fare is American and Tex-Mex. The margaritas are gargantuan, served in tall water tumblers, but they don't pack any wallop at all. Tri-color chips and good salsa are brought to the table, and if they weren't so good, I'd avoid them so as not to fill up.

Our group of four ordered a couple of soups, one build-your-own burger, one fish-and-chips, one chicken-fried steak, and one fish taco. Even after a day of early-season skiing, none of us -- not even the two 24-year-old guys who ordered the burger and the fish-and-chips, could finish our meals. The fish tacos were mine. Four large pieces of spicy fried fish, a heap of condiments (guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, tomato), refried beans, and rice were heaped on the plate. Four flour tortillas came separately in a shallow lacquered dish with a lid, more like fajitas than the usual pre-assembled fish tacos. The portions were beyond ample. The food was tasty. Although we were the last party there, no one rushed us. And that is probably another quality locals treasure.

November 24, 2006
 

Bistro Basalt
202 Midland Avenue, Basalt, CO
970- 927-2682

In the context of the Roaring Fork Valley, downstream from pricey Aspen, this restaurant on Basalt's main street  serves moderately priced food in a pleasant setting. There's a bar in front and a dining room in back. Our party of four snared the four-top table right in the front window of the bar part, which on the night after Thanksgiving was mellow. The menu is eclectic, so it can satisfy a group like ours with diverse tastes. One surprise was that the open seafood ravioli was actually less expensive than the veal. None of us had either, however. The mussels, the soup, and the salad of field greens, candied pecans, and a generous hunk of goat cheese were very good. The filet was excellent as well, cooked as order and served with mashed potatoes and an assortment of crisp vegetables. The pizzas, however, were a bust -- soggy crust and an excess of not-terribly-good mozzarella dripping off each slice, sort of like the watches in a Dali painting. I read somewhere that Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have eaten at the Bistro Basalt. I'll bet they didn't have the pizza.

November 20, 2006

El Rancho
29260 U.S. Highway 6, Golden
303-526-0661
www.historicelrancho.com
 

I've driven past El Rancho on Interstate 70 a gazillion times and been tempted by its distinctive neon sign. I once went to a privately hosted cocktail function there, but this was my first time eating at the nostalgic restaurant. My son was carpooling to the Front Range for Thanksgiving. His ride took him as far Exit 252, and by the time we connected, we were all hungry. El Rancho is right there.

El Rancho was founded in 1948, when the western reaches of Golden were still rural and U.S. 6 was the main east-west thoroughfare through the heart of Colorado. A lodgepole forest must have been felled to build the sturdy log structure, and more trees were cut to make the heavy pine furniture. The tables are set far apart, providing the rare feeling of spaciousness, comfort, and elbow room. The atmosphere was warm and congenial, and that's the main reason attraction.

The waitress brought a plate of carrot and celery sticks, cheese spread and tortilla chips to nibble on with our drinks. Entrées came with a choice of house or Caesar salad or soup. My husband praised his prime rib and mashed potatoes. My gnocchi was tossed with flakes of basil, pieces of tomato, and cubes of mozzarella, and was so filling that half of it came home in a to-go box. My son vacuumed up his cheese tortellini and shrimp with broccoli rabe, tomatoes, and peppers in a pesto  sauce. When we left, we weren't hungry anymore.

November 17, 2006

Black Cat Bistro Métropolitain
1964 Thirteenth Street, Boulder
303-444-9110
www.blackcatboulder.com

The last time I dug into chef Eric Skokan's fabulous, from-scratch meals was when he was cooking at Alice's Restaurant at Gold Lake Mountain Resort up in Ward. I knew he had left there, heard that he was involved starting an ice cream store called Hatton Creamery in North Boulder  and operating the little take-out window on Thirteenth Street , really excited that he was opening a new restaurant in downtown Boulder, and really excited when I found out that it was participating in First Bite Boulder. Just as a bit of real estate background, Skokan's Black Cat Bistro has taken root at the location previously occupied by Cold Stone Creamery. There is some justice in the food world when a local chef who founded an independent boutique ice cream store opens an independent restaurant in space vacated by an ice cream chain store.

Back to the business of dining: My husband, another couple, and I snared reservations in this delightful new restaurant whose layout reminds me of the Wild Fig, which I assume is still wowing Aspen foodies. In both places, you come in the front door and immediately find yourself in a stylish yet unpretentious space. There's a bar on one side, a few tables on the other, and a pleasant buzz permeating the whole. Black Cat Bistro's rough-wood walls give a bit of a rustic look, the dark ceiling from which hang two styles of pendant lights provides an air of feline mystery, and the open kitchen gives diners in the back of the restaurant something to look at.

In oenophilic honor of one of the epic Tour de France climbs, my husband and I ordered glasses of Côtes du Ventoux Rouge while waiting for our friends. Black Cat's gracious format for First Bite Boulder was to give diners the opportunity to order off the regular menu. This included a choice of one of the five Petites Bouchées, as small plates presented as starters; one of the seven Entrées, and one of five desserts. Anything from the Appetizer list -- larger than a Petite Bouchée but smaller than an entrée -- cost extra on top of the First Bite Boulder prix fixe price of $26. Even though three courses were promised, Chef Skokan sent out a small salad of field greens, sliced apple, toasted nuts, and cubes of English cheddar. that made four courses for the price of three.

The Blue Point Oysters with Passion Fruit Mignonette and Coriander that I started with came three slightly warmed mollusks in their shells, resting on a bed of coarse, almost chunky, salt. My husband and one of our friends ordered Explorateur Cheese with Roasted Grapes and Roasted Shallots that featured a French triple-cream cheese that is strong, soft, and creamy. The third dish at our table was Shrimp with Pistachio Tarator and Tomato. "Tarator" was a new one on me. Turns out that it is Middle Eastern emulsified nut condiment.

Two of us ordered the duck entrée -- Roasted Duck with Parsnip, Cauliflower, Leeks and Red Wine. Overlapping slices of crisp-skinned duck were laid down the middle of square plates, flanked by a banana-profile slab of puréed parsnip, crisp curls of julienned leeks, and steamed cauliflower with a bit of reduced wine to sauce the assemblage. Across the table from me was one portion of Grilled Pork Chop with Autumn Vegetable Blanquette, Pinot Noir Sauce and Smoked Bacon and one of Hazelnut Crusted Wild Salmon with Winter Squash, Mushroom Dumplings, and Red Wine. I didn't taste either, but they got rave reviews from those who selected them. With our dinner, we enjoyed a bottle of Austrian Riesling.

My husband and I had saved a bit of our red wine for dessert, which at our table meant three Warm Flourless Chocolate Cakes with Ginger Ice Cream, Passion Fruit Crème Anglais and Nutmeg and one, for me, of Seckle Pear Caramel Tart and Vanilla Ice Cream, Nutmeg and Candied Walnuts. Mine comprised a whole pear encased in pastry crust, baked, and served with the ice cream and condiments on the side. Our server put small dessert plates in front of each of us, then poured the appropriate warm sauce over each one from small individual pitchers. A nice touch. Another nice touch was live entertainment, a sweet-voiced woman who plays a soft-jazz cello and a guy on the marimbas. After such a pleasant evening with such good food in such a slightly sophisticated but still Boulder-casual atmosphere, we'll be back.

Finally, a compliment to the chef, not just for the food but for being Eric-on-the-Spot. During our leisurely meal, he usually was upfront, expediting  dishes and of course, looking at each one before it was taken to the table. But whenever he observed that the kitchen could use another set of skilled hands, he slid onto the line to plate dishes. Never did the pace of service change, regardless of where the chef had stationed himself.

Mateo (First Bite Boulder)
1837 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-443-7766
www.mateorestaurant.com

Eight of us gathered for a late dinner at this wonderful Provençal restaurant that signed on for the first annual First Bite Boulder. Each restaurant works out its own offering -- and at three courses for $26, it is a great deal at all of them. Limited menus are the rule, and most restaurants offer two or three options for each course. Mateo, however, pre-selected three of its most popular dishes, ones that it often makes for larger parties. The three-item First Bite menu is sufficiently poetic to a foodie that at first glance in the restaurants low light, it seemed longer.

First came a plate of thickly sliced, hearty rustic bread and sweet butter. The first course was lovingly described on the menu as Cure Farm Frisée Salad with a Soft Poached Farm Fresh Egg, Bacon Lardons and Whole Mustard Vinaigrette. There's little left for me to add other than that the egg was nested in a frizzle of curly lettuce that was lightly dressed and flecked with finely diced, well cooked bacon.

The main event was a Cassoulet 'à la Mateo' with Confit of Liberty Farm Duck, Braised Long Family Farm Lamb, Flageolet Legumes and Natural Thyme Juice. Perfectly cooked plump white beans housed small amounts of minced lamb and shredded duck -- not a whole duck leg or thigh one sometimes finds, or the version including sausage that I once had on a rainy day in Carcassonne, the walled city most closely associated with cassoulet. Two oven-roasted tomato halves graced the plate to provide a slightly acidic counterpoint to the rich cassoulet. I don't know whether the bean-to-protein proportions are usually different, but if they're not, I suppose the kitchen had to stretch the lamb and duck to see them through the evening.

Dessert was a small Tart Tatin with House-Made Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. It didn't seem to have been baked with the crust on top of the caramelized apple base and then turned upside-down to serve but rather assembled from a cookie-like disk of pâté briseé topped with apple and served with ice cream on the side. And, of course, we had wine -- a red and a white poured into the correct glasses. I vowed to remember the label and the year, but I didn't.

November 13, 2006

Aji Restaurant (First Bite Boulder)
1601 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-442-3464
www.ajirestaurant.com

This week marks the first annual (I hope, annual) First Bite Boulder. Forty local restaurants are offering three-course dinners for $26 for this entire week. Not every restaurant is open on Mondays, so we were a bit limited in where we could go. Of the ones that were open (and also because wanted another pisco sour fix after two weeks in Chile, see below), we decided to return to Aji. A friend joined us. The tasty, frothy pisco sours were poured into short-stemmed glasses and topped with a sprinkling of nutmeg. They hit the spot.

The first-course choice was a choice of of tortilla soup, tilapia ceviche, and empanadas filled with poblano chiles  and panela cheese. Among us, we ordered one ceviche and two empanada plates. The ceviche, heavier on diced veggies than on fish (but delicious nonetheless) came in the same kind of glass  as the pisco sour. The empanadas were large, well filled and wonderful. Both appetizers appear on the regular menu. The entrée choices were a quinoa-based vegetarian dish, Lomo de Puerco Cubano (pork tenderloin, sauced and accompanied), and Pollo Torcido con Noquis de Papas Moradas (crisp-skinned chicken with too few purple potato gnocchi and brown ale broth). We had two chicken orders and one pork. I found the chicken overly salty and satisfyingly spicy. The portions were so large that my husband and I took some of ours home. Our friend, who belongs to the clean-plate club, left nary a crumb. Two desserts -- chocolate flan and a chocolate empanada -- were both gorgeous and fantastic. No one felt deprived at not having a wider choice. And glasses of Camenère to accompany our meal completed the Chile reprise.
 

October 18-November 1, 2006

Chile
Santiago, Patagonia and Easter Island

The Society of American Travel Writers 2006 convention in Santiago, Chile, and post-convention trips to Patagonia and Easter Island gave us the opportunity to sample the fare of this long, skinny country that, thanks to a large section with California-style near-coastal valleys, has become something of a fruit basket of the Americas. The large meals and banquets that accompany any gathering of 500 people don't really count in terms of foods, but here are some dining experiences outside of the hotels and banquet venues:

• In general, I found that Chileans seem to like their seafood and meats overcooked for most Americans' tastes. Salmon is served often, and if it's not in ceviche, it is usually overcooked -- and worse, it tastes farmed rather than wild.
• To make up for salmon disappointments, fresh fruits were a welcome surprise. They were simply outstanding everywhere. 
• Pastel de Choclo is a summer speciality. In Chile and elsewhere in southern South America, choclo (not mais or similar) is the word for corn. For Pastel de Choclo, a casserole, locals told me that home cooks dice a couple of onions and sauté them with chopped chopped garlic and salt. In another pan, they sauté diced or ground beef. In yet another, they poach about four pieces of chicken in water. In an ovenproof clay pot, they combine the meat and sautéed vegetables. They top that with olives, raisins, slices of hard-boiled egg and finally the cooked chicken, which may be sliced or shredded. They shuck about 10 ears of corn and blend the kernels in a blender (with a little water "if necessary"). The corn mixture is spread on top and then sprinkled with sugar. They then bake it for about 20 minutes in at an oven setting that I could not discern, but I think must be moderate (350 to 375 degrees) until the sugar caramelizes. The hotel did it in quantity without the caramelized sugar. Other central Chilean specialties include cazuela, a soup of chicken, turkey, beef or pork with potatoes, pumpkin and green beans, also cooked in a clay pot. Empanadas filled with seasoned meat, poultry or seafood are ubiquitous, as is seafood in many forms.
• One of my favorite features of an SATW convention is the Dine Around, where attendees select or are assigned restaurants, which they visit in small, normal groups. My husband I were sent to one of a dozen restaurants in a Borderio, a sort-of mall with places to eat, drink and buy cigarettes (there is a dedicated Marlboro shop). We drew the short straw, Tabla, a steakhouse -- odd because at our table for eight were two vegans and one non-red-meter eater. The décor is contemporary gaucho, with red tile floors, cowhides on one wall, and spurs and other cowboy stuff hanging from the rafters. The waiters are costumed as for the pampas. We had a choice of two appetizers, carpaccio of beef or carpaccio of salmon. Both came sliced paper thin and arranged in circles on the plates. The beef was OK, but the salmon was drowned in so much lemon that all I could taste was the the citrus. Even the capers could not assert themselves. For the main course, we had a choice of beef or salmon. (The vegans were accommodated with plates of pasta.) For a side dish, the waiter gave a choice of soufflé potatoes or soufflé potatoes. The steak was a thick cut that was flavorful enough but not especially tender. The salmon was dipped in a batter, sprinkled with sesame seeds, overcooked and blanketed in a gravy that everyone agreed tasted like beef but we were told was soy. The side effect was to make the batter soggy. The soufflé potatoes were wonderful -- crisp hollows of French fry-size sticks -- that were the highlight of a pathetic meal.
• Salmon vindication came at an event that provided an opportunity to graze some of the offerings of the restaurants in an area called El Patio Bellavista, a traditional courtyard lined with shops and eateries. One of these Barandiaran, a Peruvian restaurant, served up a fabulous semilla de salmon. The fish was dipped and deep-fried in a batter as delicate as tempura, sprinkled with sesame seeds and glazed with a sheen of sweet sauce. The fish was fresh and not overcooked. Fabulous.The restaurant also made a wickedly good appetizer called huancaina, an assemblage of goat cheese, peanuts, salsa and chile on a soda cracker, outstanding empanadas (meat, vegetable and cheese varieties), mussels in a fabulous mustard sauce, and excellent ceviche. Barandaran's was, by far, the best food I had during that time in Santiago.
• In Punta Arenas, Chile's southernmost city, we had a forgettable lunch, and then drove north to Puerto Natales to spend a night and have two meals (OK but not great king crab at Don Pedro on the main square at dinner) and (Pastel de Papas, a potato version of Pastel de Choclo at La Ventana Azul in Puerto Natales). The main goal of this leg of our travels was Eco-Camp Patagonia in Torres del Paine National Park (impressive splayed and spit-roasted lamb, good chorizo, imaginative salad combinations considering the limitations on ingredients and cooking facilities).
• On Easter Island (Rapa Nui), we had more forgettable hotel meals but also two really good ones. An almost-waterfront eatery in Hanga Roa, the island's only town, set out an enormous platter with a heap of excellent ceviche, shredded lettuce, cabbage and carrots, sauteed slices of a tuber called camote and rectangles of a starch that the waiter called "cake of Rapa-Nui," kind of a plantain or banana bread. The best meal was at a fancy-ish restaurant called Oringo Ora, near the airport. More fine ceviche, good moist chicken and pescado al diablo, comprised of (I'm not kidding) flaky fish, buttery potatoes and frankfurters baked in foil. I ordered an excellent rice pilaf, a humongous salad and mariscos con pili-pili from the appetizer menu. Fresh shellfish, fine Chilean olive oil, garlic and herbs were baked in a small clay pot. The aroma was wonderful and the taste even better.
• A few words about the breads: Dense, tasty white bread shaped into small loaves, rolls or buns with striations or dimples incised into the crust comes with every meal.
• A few words about the fruit: It is absolutely wonderful, and Chile has become some of a fruit basket for the northern hemisphere. Fresh fruits served in abundance included strawberries, kiwis, apples, grapes and mangoes. In addition to the usual morning fruit juices, strawberry juice was often available.
• The Marcado Central, the Central Market which is to Santiago as the Pike Street Market is to Seattle, is a don't-miss for any foodie. It is located in a late Victorian dome-topped brick edifice crammed full of seafood sellers, eaters and viewers. The seafood vendors occupy stalls around the periphery of the building. Hawkers try to lure diners into the bustling, open-sided restaurants in the middle, under the dome. There's noise and energy and fresh seafood -- just what market dining should be. We were lured into Restaurant Don Augusto. A framed citation boasts that it belongs to the Schweizerische Gilde de Etablierte Kuche -- but what a Chilean fish restaurant is doing as part of a Swiss guild of traditional kitchens eludes me. The service is spotty, but it doesn't matter, because the ambience is so rich. A waiter puts a plate with three fresh, hot dimpled rolls, a small bowl of pico de gallo and some butter, and a small plate with four lemon halves on our tiny round table. We order cheese empanadas to hold us while we wait for my shellfish stew and for fried chicken for my husband, who isn't fond of seafood. The stew came in a modest-size bowl that was brimming with mussels, shrimp, scallops, calamari and small cubes of white fish that might have been conger eel. There were no potatoes or other fillers -- just an abundance of seafood in a rich broth. I happily spooned some of it on my rice pilaf. We ordered our last glasses of Chilean Carmenere -- for this trip, anyway.
• A few words about desserts: Mousse, flan and other custardy desserts were common. At the Otani Hotel, where we stayed on Easter Island, one dessert was a caramel-flavored custard -- sort of a flan with the caramel incorporated into the custard rather than over it.
• A few words about the wines: Chilean wines are simply wonderful. The industry, which like so much else fallowed under the iron rule of Augosto Pinochet, is back. At a wine tasting at the Undurraga Winery, established in 1885, I first tried Camenere. This grape, originally planted in France's Medoc region, was thought to be lost due to the phylloxera blight that descimated European vineyards but was rediscovered in Chile, where it had been confused with Merlot. It was so wonderful that I was determined to bring the big, bulbous glass home. I hand-carried it on six flights, and it now rests in a place of honor among my good wineglasses.
• A few words about the breads: Dense, tasty white bread shaped into small loaves, rolls or buns with striations or dimples incised into the crust comes with every meal.
• A few words about the fruit: It is absolutely wonderful, and Chile has become some of a fruit basket for the northern hemisphere. Fresh fruits served in abundance included strawberries, kiwis, apples, grapes and mangoes. In addition to the usual morning fruit juices, strawberry juice was often available.
• A few words about desserts: Mousse, flan and other custardy desserts were common. At the Otani Hotel, where we stayed on Easter Island, one dessert was a caramel-flavored custard -- sort of a flan with the caramel incorporated into the custard rather than over it.
• A few words about the wines: Chilean wines are simply wonderful. The industry, which like so much else fallowed under the iron rule of Augosto Pinochet, is back. At a wine tasting at the Undurraga Winery, established in 1885, I first tried Camenere. This grape, originally planted in France's Medoc region, was thought to be lost due to the phylloxera blight that descimated European vineyards but was rediscovered in Chile, where it had been confused with Merlot. It was so wonderful that I was determined to bring the big, bulbous glass home. I hand-carried it on six flights, and it now rests in a place of honor among my good wineglasses.
   

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October 6, 2006

Prima Ristorante (Boulder)
1801 13th Street, Boulder
303-247-0600
www.ktrg.net

We returned to this downtown restaurant on the Friday of the University of Colorado's homecoming weekend -- not a time for a quiet evening anywhere in Boulder. Though the sound level was higher and the service was lower than during our first visit nearly a month earlier, the food was equally excellent, and in the end, that counts for a lot. We took our time deciding first about wine (finally settling on a nice Cusumano sirah) and then about the food. We asked a passing runner for bread while we were deliberating, and the waiter soon explained that they don't "usually" bring the bread until the menus have been picked up. Good to know for next time it takes us a while to make up our minds.

Five of us gathered for a friend's birthday, and Prima is classy enough to feel celebratory. I won't detail everyone's choices, but the birthday girl was happy with her soft polenta appetizer, which our September 6 party had also raved about. I started with the fine Mixed Green Salad with Shaved Fennel, Olives and Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette, followed by the entrée portion of Home Made Soft Egg Filled Ravioli with Ricotta, Parmesan and Truffle Oil. It reads that way on the menu, but it's a bit misleading, because it seems as if the ravioli is filled with a soft egg, leaving you wondering where the cheese goes. It was, in fact, three large cheese-filled ravioli served flat on a dinner plate, each topped with a soft-poached egg. I had tried the appetizer portion some time ago at the reincarnation of Denver's JouJou as Prima. I liked it then, and I liked again in Boulder. Although we were all comfortably full, we had to order something that a candle could be stuck into. Tiramisu and five forks was the choice. The portion was square, with the mascarpone-based part sat atop a chocolate cookie-like base rather than ladyfingers -- plus a chocolate layer and a sauce and some whipped cream. 

September 30, 2006

Elways
2500 East First Avenue, Denver
303-399-5353
www.elways.com

If I really cared for steakhouses as a dining category, I probably would love Elways. Retired Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway is a partner and the marquee name in the restaurant just north of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. It is spacious, stylish, elegantly masculine, quiet enough for conversation yet buzzy enough for the see-and-be-seen crowd. Clientele is a mix of beautiful Denverites and regular folks who love a good steak, can afford the tab, and hope to spot No. 7 or some of his glamorous friends. I would have been thrilled as anyone if Elway had been at Elways that night, but the best-known person was chef Tyler Wiard, who appeared to describe the artfully presented and refreshingly non-steakhouse-y amuse. Seven Spice Big Eye Ahi Tuna Tartare, Guacamole with Avocado and Watermelon, and Rock Shrimp Tempura with Pear Salad were nicely spaced on a square plate, accompanied with three sauces -- creamy wasabi, ponzu, and spicy crema -- in miniature bowls that sat shoulder to shoulder on a little tray. They complemented each other well.

Because Chef Wiard sent this out, my companions and I declined to order appetizers. If we had, I would have ordered either the duck tacos and the ceviche, which both caught my eye. I was a rather put off to see Chilean sea bass and farm-raised salmon on the menu. Both remain on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch list as a fish to avoid (www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=6 and www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=17). It was even more disturbing when the waiter recommended the sea bass. At least they get their giant shrimp for the shrimp cocktail from Mexico, which has developed acceptable and sustainable shrimping practices. All the seafood seem to be butter-poached and served with half a lemon wrapped in net and tied with raffia.

But it's a steakhouse, so where's the beef? The selection of prime beef ranges from 8-ounce strip ($25) or an 8-ounce filet ($29) to a linebacker-size 33-ounced Porterhouse ($47). The consensus among my companions is that every cut was delicious, tender, and perfectly cooked. What more can a steak-lover want? Side dishes, each available at an additional cost, were good to excellent. The towering salad of heirloom tomatoes and sweet onions was served with a hunk of gorgonzola. The fries came in paper but weren't crackling hot. The sautéed asparagus, sautéed green beans, sautéed sugar snap peas, and potatoes au gratin were all very fine. That was a lot of fat for one meal (not my choosing, but family-style portions were ordered for the table), so I was glad for excellent bread and good red wine to blot and cut it. Elways fresh chocolate chip cookies more than sufficed for dessert.

September 29, 2006

Palettes Contemporary Cuisine
Denver Art Museum
100 Fourteenth Avenue Parkway, Denver
303-534-1455
www.ktrg.net

On this red-letter day, I attended a media preview of the new addition to the Denver Art Museum (www.denverartmuseum.org). Über-architect Daniel Libeskind, the museum's director, and the chairman of the Board of Trustees were there, of course, and the museum's knowledgeable curators showed off their collections to small groups of press. In addition to seeing the museum's stunning Libeskind-designed Frederic C. Hamilton Building, we previewed the reopening of Palettes, the Kevin Taylor Restaurant Group's expanded and remodeled location on the first floor of the original museum (now known as the North Building).

The restaurant has roughly doubled in size. Cooks now perform their magic in a relocated open kitchen. Other than that the room is spare -- white walls, loft-look open ceiling, simple table settings -- the better to showcase the artworks that hang on the walls. Executive chef Kevin Taylor's signature has always been artistic presentations, so the combination of art on the walls and art on the plates comes naturally. Chef de cuisine Dan Brown and his cooks are formed in the Taylor mold.

The lunch was a two-course teaser -- a sparkling, multi-hued salad (Lemon Grass Poached Shrimp and Melon Salad with Avocado, Grapefruit, Sesame Crackers, and Spiced Vanilla Dressing) and a pale and soothing dessert (Lemon Ice Box Pie with Toasted Meringue, Gingerbread Cookies and Blueberry Compote). The rolls were good, the butter sweet, and the beverages limited to water, iced tea, coffee, and decaf, so that the audience could pay full attention to the speakers and ask intelligent questions. A full-bore Taylor feast would have rendered many comatose.

I have no idea whether either or both of these dishes will ever appear on the regular menu, though similar salads are on the regular menu and a similar dessert is shown on the private party menu on the website. In any case, both courses were gorgeous and delicious. Palettes will initially be open in coordination with museum opening days and hours.

September 17-24, 2006

Culinary Cruise, aboard the 'Westerdam'
www.hollandamerica.com

Seven days, four pounds. That was the damage done aboard the 'Westerdam' on a weeklong Culinary Cruise to Alaska. There were two cooking demonstrations by celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez and one hands-on class with Marcus van Santen, chef for the Pinnacle Grill, the ship's upscale, dinner-only restaurant. Additionally, an army of cooks put out three meals a day with a vast choice of foods in one self-service restaurants, one two-level waiter-service restaurant, several specialty light-fare outposts, and one smaller fine-dining restaurant.

Seven days, four pounds. And I didn't really pig out. Here's how I ate: my husband and I had breakfast and lunch in the Lido Restaurant, the enormous self-service feeding trough that dispenses three meals a day. I restricted myself to a light, healthy breakfast (fresh fruit, a teeny unbuttered croissant, a few slices of smoked salmon, a cup of tea) and a light lunch (mostly sushi, perhaps a bit of salad, water or iced tea, a small cookie). Of the potential of a five-course dinner (appetizer, soup, salad, entrée, cheese plate, dessert) served nightly in the Vista Dining Room, I usually ordered just three, one of which usually was a salad, either an appetizer or a soup, an entrée, dessert). We and our tablemates consumed a bottle of white and a bottle of red with each dinner. We had blow-out dinner in the Pinnacle Grill, the ship's fine-dining restaurant, near the end of the cruise. Modest by cruise standards, and yet seven days, four pounds.

Although there were nonstop cocktail opportunities, I had only one drink or one glass of wine a handful of times. The poolside burger grill and the chips/salsa taco bar just drew me once just after boarding and once to grab a handful of chips while passing. We never visited the midnight buffet, and we didn't even stop at the late-night chocolate extravaganza to look at or photograph. I even went to the gym when I could. And still, seven days, four pounds.

Was it worth it, foodwise? With few exceptions, not really, although so many people seem to cruise in order to eat. All dishes are preplanned and designed by the corporate chef in Seattle -- no margin for creativity in the galley. It would be impossible to serve some 8,000 meals a day to 1,800 passengers otherwise, so the cooks absolutely must precook and reheat many items. They do a very good job in terms of quantity and variety -- and considering the demographics aboard and the necessity for a baseline of simple tastes and many passengers' special dietary concerns for religious or medical reasons. The result of these constraints is that the food, just tastes OK. "Bland" is the adjective that came to mind. Bottom line: The studied consistency and intentional absence of the on-board chefs' and cooks' personal input gave the meals a robotic quality. When every recipe is developed and even the presentation is designed in a corporate kitchen, you find yourself eating in a group of floating chain restaurants, day after day.

The Lido Restaurant particularly is institutional. Self-service breakfasts and lunches there don't really warrant extensive attention here, but dinners in the Vista Dining Room do, where the fare is a tad peppier. The presentations are appealing too, but tastewise, the dishes still don't address the desires of adventurous eaters. Overall, the consistently best offerings over five dinners were the cold seafood appetizers, the cold fruit soups, the crab cakes, the French lentils that accompanied one of the salmon dishes, the mashed potatoes, the crème brulée, and the cold desserts. Most disappointing were the grilled and baked salmon dishes (freezing and precooking aren't the preferred preparation methods), pastas that came from a flavor-free zone, and the Dungeness crab legs that had an off-taste -- not spoiled, but not fresh either. The beef tasted good but could have been more tender. The Vista Dining Room sets each place with white linen, a water tumbler, red and white wine glasses, an armada of appropriate  flatware, and Rosenthal's commercial-grade china.

The Pinnacle Grill's truly elegant tables were decked with Frette linens, Bulgari china, Riedel stemware, and stylish flatware of a brand I could not identify. An amuse of bruschetta, small mushroom tart, and salmon tartare appeared while we studied the menu. Having had such success with the cold fish starters in the Vista Dining Room, I ordered the Smoked Pleasures of the Sea -- black cod, salmon, scallops, and wasabi cream, -- that proved simply wonderful. The Cedar Planked Halibut with Alaskan King Crab and Crab Hollandaise rated several stars for the fish and none for the Dungeness crab leg. Everyone who had the Bone In Rib Eye Steak, the petite cut Filet Mignon, or the Grande Wild Mushroom Ravioli raved. Five of the six of us at our table ordered the Pinnacle Crème Brulée loved it. It was served in a three-channel dish, respectively filled with chocolate, coffee, and vanilla bean custard with the sugar perfectly torched. The lovely meal was perfectly served in a fine, civilized fairly intimate setting, but I can't get past the notion that every dish, even there, was designed in Seattle. Chef Marcus's name doesn't even appear on the menu.

I can't heap enough praise on the service -- attentive, caring, cheerful, gracious from everyone and especially solicitous to passengers who needed extra help. This was true in every eatery and from every level of servers, including the fellows who steer the coffee and tea carts around the Lido Restaurant, the stewards in the Vista Dining Room, the correct and formal Pinnacle Grill waitstaff, everyone. It couldn't have been improved upon. The wine steward was knowledgeable and correct as well.  Each night's menu includes a recommended red and a recommended white, mostly priced in the mid-$30s at the Vista Dining Room, considerably more in the Pinnacle Grill.

The only spontaneous cooking aboard was in the Culinary Art Center -- and it was done by people not on the company payroll. Guest chef Aaron Sanchez is not bound by Holland-America's lock-step cuisine, so he freely substituted, changed proportions, and deviated slightly from his recipes. The dozen of us who cooked under the eye of Pinnacle Grill chef comfortably did the same. We made two salmon dishes and a huckleberry cobbler, tweaking the recipes according to our tastes and our cooking experiences. And all three were very good indeed.

We ate two off-ship meals as well. Before embarking in Seattle, we and a friend went to the casual pub atop the Kirkland outpost of Anthony's HomePort (135 Lake Street South Suite 135, Kirkland; 425-822-0225), a popular local restaurant group. Sunset over Lake Washington seen through the enormous picture windows was wonderful. Diners may order from the dining or pub menu. Our shared caprese was made with fabulous heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. My pan-fried oysters were perfect. The accompanying green beans were crisp and green (i.e., not overcooked), and the pilaf was decent. My husband and our friend ordered big burgers that came with good, hot fries or a choice of other starches. We were too full to contemplate dessert.

We arrived in Victoria, one of our favorite cities, on the last evening of the cruise. We gravitated toward Swans Brew Pub in Swans Suite Hotel (506 Pandora Avenue, Victoria; 250-361-33310, www.swanshotel.com), where we happily stayed last year. My husband finally got the fish and chips he had been craving and a glass of dark beer.  Because I was in the mood for something Asian, I had the pad thai salad and a glass of wine. Had we not ODed on fancy dinners on board, we would have tried to get into the adjacent Wild Saffron Bistro, where executive chef Richard Zinger creates beautiful dishes with a magical combination of distinct flavors. And he doesn't need the permission of someone in a corporate office to do so.

September 13, 2006

Islamorada Fish Restaurant
Bass Pro Shop
7970 East 49th Avenue
Denver
720-385-3600
www.basspro.com

The behemoth Bass Pro Shop rises like a mirage in what was once Stapleton Airport's northwestern outback, which is bigger than adjacent big box stores and other chain businesses and, I think, even a mall. "Shop" is a misnomer for this monstrous structure, whose interior is awash in Rocky Mountain rusticity -- log walls, big beams, and beefy pillars that purport to support the soaring roof, though they surely cover steel and concrete. Trophy heads and an entire zoo of stuffed wildlife loom over acres of shelves and racks. Even boats are diminished in the huge space. It's as if a Teddy Roosevelt poseur decorated an airplane hangar.

In one corner is the Islamorada Fish Restaurant, which would be a spacious restaurant in any other context, but here, it seemed puny. To underscore the fish message, it features a wall-length fish tank and a plastic sea monster. I met friends for lunch, luxuriating in the generous space between tables but rightly suspicious that such a corporate-designed atmosphere would surely mean corporate-designed recipes and ultimately corporate-approved  food on my plate.

The waitress put on the table a small board that held a loaf of Wonder bread-soft white baked stuff that had been topped with a sprinkling of sugar for reasons that I cannot fathom. (Fathom. Get it?) Suspicions confirmed with just one bite of sweetened but unbearably mooshy bread. Hot was its only redeeming feature. One bite was enough for me.

I ordered a small Caesar salad and a cup of New England clam chowder. The salad overflow the gratin dish in which it was served. It was not a standout but a solidly standard pile of romaine lettuce with inoffensive but uninteresting dressing -- most likely commercial manufactured and not made on-site.

If my expectations had been higher, I would have said that the chowder was a disappointment. But I expected little and got even less. The creamy, flavorful white chowder that I grew up on was full of fresh clams, onion, potato, perhaps bacon, and certainly parsley or some other herb. Islamorada's version was thick as library paste and had absolutely no flavor -- not even in the sparse clam fragments. When I requested some fresh-ground pepper, the waitress assumed it was for my salad and was ready to grind over the greens. I had to redirect her to the chowder, hoping pep it up. The result was a curiously soapy taste. I have no idea whether it was from the fine-ground pepper, the soup itself, or an underperforming dishwasher.

In all, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised  at any of it, since the closest Bass mega-stores to New England are in Auburn, New York, and Baltimore, Maryland -- and most of them are actually south of the Mason-Dixon Line and west of the Mississippi. I didn't ask my friends what they thought of their salads, sandwiches, or fries, and they didn't volunteer any evaluations. My reluctance to ask was because I'd have to acknowledge how icky my meal was, and I wasn't in the mood to spoil a pleasant lunch if they liked theirs. They never would have known from my clean plate and bowl, because I was really hungry and ate it all -- terminal mediocrity notwithstanding. Initial suspicions confirmed to the very last bite.

September 11, 2006

Prima Ristorante (Boulder)
1801 13th Street, Boulder
303-247-0600
www.ktrg.net

When Kevin Taylor transformed his French-ish JouJou in Denver's Hotel Teatro into Italian-ish Prima Ristorante, we found the menu descriptions raised our expectations but the execution of the dishes dashed them. The service was underwhelming as well. Still, we were happy to give the Boulder version a try -- and happy just to have a Kevin Taylor restaurant back in Boulder. Perhaps a quiet, rainy Monday guaranteed the attentive and consistent service that was lacking before the theater in Denver, but the food was better balanced, which has nothing to do with the day of the week or the weather.

We shared three appetizers, including the standout fritto misto (a melange of clams, calamari, shrimp, and scallops, dipped in polenta, lightly fried, and served with a subtle, yet gorgeous aïoli) and the soft polenta served in an adorable Le Crueset lidded pot. We skipped over the pasta course, but I commend Prima for offering pastas in both appetizer or full-size portions. Broiled salmon, seared diver scallops, and sliced Angus sirloin vied for our attention. Each entrée we ordered was beautifully prepared,agenerous portioned, and well matched with just the right dishes. We passed bites. We shared two bottles of Italian wine that I didn't participate in ordering and therefore can't remember. Uncharacteristically, I didn't take notes. I simply enjoyed every sip, every bite, and the companionship of very good friends.

September 9, 2006

Q's Restaurant
Hotel Boulderado
2115 13th Street, Boulder
303-442-4880
www.qsboulder.com

A special occasion lured us into the warm, welcoming cocoon of Q's Restaurant, sleek and tailored in a style evocative of the Art Deco period with flattering lighting and peach-toned walls. My husband and I started with a split of Perrier Jouet Grand Brut, a favorite champagne, as we studied the menu. I knew I wanted the three-course tasting menu -- appetizer, small-plate entrée, and dessert. I just didn't know which three dishes I wanted. In any case, I view $35 as most reasonable for the quality ingredients and care of preparation that are par for Q's course. Excellent and correct service is also part of the experience. John Platt, the owner/chef personally brought out the appetizer and entrée courses. It's always a pleasure for guests to see and interact with a fine chef, but his shuttling between kitchen and dining room is smart too, because it's a discreet way for him to keep tabs on what's happening on both sides of the kitchen door.

I finally settled on the Lobster and Wild Mushroom Cake with porcini duxelle and truffled leek. The cake was a thick puck where the lobster and wild mushrooms complemented each other, futther enhance by the discreet duxelle mantle and thin slivers of subtle flavored leek. We're heading for Alaska, so I decided against salmon and halibut, two of my favorites in favor of Grilled Hawaiian Ono with toasted shallot-basmati Rice, sweet and sour eggplant and tomato coriander. Like other Q's dishes, the presentation was a carefully layered construction of flavors, colors, and textures. Even the small portion that is part of the tasting menu was as filling as it was satisfying. A glass of Louis Jadot Macon Village white Burgundy complemented both courses.

My husband ordered the caprese salad, now something of a cliché salad that nevertheless which shines at Q's, thanks to the organic tomatoes and house-made mozzarella, and the pork chop special. He isn't fond of the sweet potatoes part, so he asked for the fingerling potatoes instead. He was delighted with the McLaren ValeTintara Shira from Australia.

Dessert? Ah, dessert. I selected the pastry chef Todd Garston's Crisp Dark Chocolate Dome with blackberry filling and blackberry sauce -- small, rich, and another perfect balance of harmonious flavors. My husband decided that just a bit of caramel ice cream would be fine. And so, happily, we floated home. 

September 9, 2006

Gemini Thai Kitchen
1630 30th Street, Boulder
303-447-3321
www.geminithaikitchen.com

We running errands today and got hungry right about the time we reached the intersection of 30th and Arapahoe (Sunrise Shopping Center, where King Soopers is), so we hooked a turn into the parking lot to try this Thai restaurant, successor to another Thai restaurant in this very space. Gemini is sparsely decorated (green carpet, wood-rimmed green Formica tabletops, glass and wood hanging fixtures, mostly unadorned white walls, and seven small pit-and-platform alcoves with sunken tables that provide the illusion but not the discomfort of sitting on the floor, Asian-style. Luncheon prices are low, service is prompt, and the food is fresh and hot, which really is all that we cared about.

We started with a Curry Puff, an empanada-shaped half-round of pastry filled with potato, onion and curry. The potato dominated, the onion was caramelized to satisfyingly and flavorful sweetness, and the curry was subtle. The modestly sized entrées were tasty. My Pad Kra Pow was a stir-fry of red and green peppers. onions, bamboo shoots, and tofu cubes in a piquant sauce. A scoop of rice -- choice of white or brown -- was off to the side. My husband's Khao Moo Daeng, one of the house specials, consisted of roasted pork in a red-tinged Thai peanut sauce served over rice, with two thick slides of cucumber and half a hard-boiled egg as garnishes. All dishes can be ordered mild, medium, spicy, and "Thai spicy."  The hot tea of the day was jasmine; the Thai iced tea was spiced, sweetened jasmine with a thick float of milk on top.

Note: This restaurant has now closed.
 

August 23-30, 2006

Queenstown, New Zealand

For years, New Zealand skiing has beckoned me during the North American summer. The North American SnowSports Journalists Association (www.nasja.org) offered a well-priced trip this year, which my son Andrew and I happily joined. Queenstown, located on the southern end of the South Island, reminded me a lot of Boulder, but with a lake as its front yard rather than a university in the middle. It is young, sporty, energetic, and beautifully set on Lake Wakatipu with snow-capped mountains all around. Hiking and biking trails are right at the edge of town.

Although we were a group of writers, photographers, and guests, our trip was not unlike a ski club's -- well priced and organized for the group. We stayed at the Novotel Gardens (www.accorhotels.com.au), which has a perfect location just a couple of blocks from the heart of downtown shopping, dining, and partying. A major expansion is scheduled beginning later this year, and while the hotel plans to stay open, anyone staying there will be accommodated in a construction site with all the predictable noise and dust.

Because we were a group of more than 30, we often ate at self-service buffets, where the food was abundant and good, but not great. On our first night, we rode the Skyline Gondola to the eponymous Skyline Restaurant (www.skyline.nz.co). Huge windows looked down upon the city, the lake, and the gondola itself. One evening we cruised across a portion of the lake on the 'TSS Earnslaw,' a historic steamer that locals like to point out was launched the same year as the 'Titanic' but is still afloat. The destination was Walter Peak High Country Farm (www.realjourneys.co.nz), a popular attraction that includes a restaurant and a farm where we watched a sheep-shearing demonstration. I am not sure how anyone who saw those adorable lambs nursing from their about-to-be-shorn or just-shorn mothers will ever be able to eat a lamb chop again, though these sheep are raised primarily for their fine merino wool, not  for their meat. One table-service dinner was at Winnie's Gourmet Pizza Bar (www.winnies.co.nz), which was way more "bar" than gourmet.

On a free, non-skiing morning, a colleague and I escaped the hotel's buffet for pastries and espresso at The Bakery Cafe, and on the last morning, I scooted over to Flavours Deli Cafe for a similar non-hotel treat. My son and I also had one lunch at The Speights Ale House, with pub ambience, pub food, and a bartender from Vail. Other lunches dinners were at a fish-and-chips joint, a Thai restaurant, a sushi bar, and at Dux de Lux (www.thedux.co.nz), an attractive but overrated seafood restaurant and brewpub.

We took a half-day tour of the Central Otago Wine Region, known for its pinot noirs and, increasingly, for other grapes as well. Our first stop was the Gibbston Valley Winery (www.gvwines.co.nz), which started as a small hobby winery and has grown considerably, including vineyards near Cromwell, which is a little lower and a little warmer. Our visit included a vineyard tour, a visit to the cave blasted from the schist rock where we tasted six wines, a large restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating, and a cheese shop/deli that I poked into. Our second was Peregrine Winery (www.peregrinewines.co.nz), housed in a futuristic building by Chris Kelly of Architecture Workshop, which won awards for the design -- a fitting setting for Peregrine's internationally honored wines. The winery ships under three labels, its own and also Saddleback and Wentworth Estate.

The nearby Waitiri Creek Winery (www.waitiricreek.co.nz) is located in a restored 120-year-old church, built by Presbyterian separatists. They are know for the pinot noir, of course, and also for their excellent chardonnays, which are barrel-aged to soften the flavor but not in oak, because the winemaker doesn't want to change it. Our fourth and final stop was the Amisfield Wine Company (www.amisfield.co.nz), the largest and slickest operation. The tasting room is in the winery's cellar. Upstairs is a large shop, a restaurant/wine bar/dining terrace, and even a lawn bowling set-up and play area for those who are below drinking age.

August 20, 2006