Cafe Brulin

Well Cafe Brulin is in the same building as my shop. So i have eaten there and will eat there a lot. First off it has been there for along time. Over 10 years so it is not a new eatery, but it is great. They serve German food there. As far as I know the food is fairly authentic. But having not been to Germany I don't know for sure.

I mostly eat there for lunch because it seams like the best deal but it really is just the timing. Tuesday-Friday 11am-4pm (they are closed on Mondays) most of the time I get the Kohlrouladen. a meat stuffed cabbage roll topped with our special brown gravy. or the Wiener Schnitzel a breaded veal cutlet topped with fried onions served with lemon. Now that comes with 2 sides even tho I get different stuff. I always get the spatzle, It is so great light and pillowy. The other sides are red cabbage, sauerkraut, vegetable of the day, hot german potato salad, german fried potatoes. the hot potato salad is just roasted potatos with bacon (awesome!)

I love Cafe Brulin and i would eat there at least once a week if I could!

Up Date

To all those who actually read this...

well sorry that it has been like forever seance i have posted anything. My life has been supper busy, between watching Evelyn, helping around the house and getting my shop open. i just haven't had the motivation to write about what I eat. but I'm going to get back to it and be more regular.

Good places that i have found that I will be reviewing soon, but I want to list them before I forget. H Burger Co., Cafe Brulin, The Salad Bowl, Jimmy Johns.

Also on a side note Rachel got me a bad ass rice cooker. Now i can have good rice as I need it, YAY!

the squeaky bean

Well we went to the squeaky bean for dinner for the first time. Both Rachel and I were excited buy the Brussel sprouts salad the sprouts are Roasted, shaved, with hazelnuts, raw honey, raisins, aged cheddar. I had the Duck confiet sandwich. I don't remember what Rachel had it has been a wile seance we have gone.

One afternoon for lunch I had the beat cured lox., it was really good. Maybe a touch too much dill but thats just because i don't care for a lot of dill. sorry this is so short and vague but I started working on this post like 3 months ago and I'm now just finishing it.

But to some up The Squeaky Bean its great and i need to go back.

Bones

Well 2010 starts off with a bang. Bones is a little place off of 7th and Grant that will surprise you. I wasn't sure what to expect when we walked in. I knew it was noodles and got one of the best new restraints of 2009 in 5280. we sat down and looked over the menu, started with cocktails. I got the Green Tea Press and my wife got the Suntory Manhattan. Both were very good, not to strong and mixed well.

Next we Picked some streamed suckling pig seam buns to start. there was more surprises when they came out. I was expecting just some regular seam buns like you would get at dim sum. But it was much better, the sweet bread was folded in 1/2 and pulled pork surved with a hoisin sauce.

Then we got our noodles. I had ordered the Udon ( Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder from Salmon Creek Farms, 
Poached Egg ) and Rachel Ordered the Ramen ( Poached Lobster, Edamame, Miso Lobster Broth). The Udon; I was Surprised again with the richness of the broth and the touch of ginger but not over powering. The noodle its self was the best I have had out side of japan. They are pillowy and so good, the only thing that's bad is they cut the noodles.

The Ramen comes in this broth that is just golden and rich. It his buttery are full of lobster flavor. I never thought that I lobster stock could be so thick and hardy. The noodles for that were thick unlike most other ramen I have had.

Rachel and I traded after tasting what the other had ordered. both were very good I was so happy with both. To finish we had the Peanutbutter and and chocolate ovaltine soft serve ice cream, that's made in house. it was rich and not grainy like most soft serve can be.

I highly recommend going every thing was very good.

the best and worst of 09

so sorry i haven't been bloging in along time. 09 was not the best year and i have been busy with my daughter. she takes up a lot of my time but twenty ten well be much better. now with that aside, on to the food.

well seance April (the last time i wrote) i have eaten a lot of good and bad food. lets start with the bad. Jose's in old down town littleton is about the worst Mexican food i have had in a wile. The place caters to old people and the menu reflects that. Its bland and cheep but not in a good way you can just taste that everything is caned.

Landery's fish house, is next on the bad list. Its over priced and the food came out to us just warmed up. we went there for lunch, the first people in the door and the food was still cold. you could tell that it was just frozen and warmed up.

The old Blinking light, maybe its just wasn't want we were expecting but it wasn't vary good. its a tex-mex odd fusion place. i had a posole soup and it just wasnt good and sorta over priced.

The Boat House in central park in NYC. it was just ok and over priced.

not that my cooking has been great this year. i have had some missteps. like the the famed "spite" potatoes. well i dont know why but i was making mashed potatoes. i asked my wife to taste them and see what they needed. she said more milk ( after i had already put in a bunch). well in my (stupid) head i thought "i'll show you more milk" and accidentally put in WAY too much. well then i couldn't fix them. So she tried too fix them with salt. well they turned in to a mess and it was bad. there were some other failures in the kitchen this year. like the brazed pork belly, i couldn't get it to work.

The thing that's getting me is Fast Food. I'm having a love hate relationship with it. I have been eating more fast food because my daughter is eating it. now i could not give it to her but its just the easiest thing sometimes. but that means I'm eating more. like McDonald's nuggets, there is a part of my brain that loves them. Popeyes chicken it tastes so good but makes my stomach feel bad. Arby's is the best when its just a regular boast beef but you get a side of french dip sauce. I use the word "sauce" and not ai joue because they put this wired thicker in it. Jimmy Johns isn't bad or good but i don't get why they don't have a hot sandwich?

now on to the good stuff form the last 6 months. Beatrice and Woodsley, we went there 2 or 3 times i think and every time it was amazing. the one thing that stood out for me was the BBQ pork belly with smoked oysters.

Black Pearl lunch, is great. we hadn't been over the for lunch before but it is worth it if your looking for a nice up scale lunch.

Now it NYC we did have some good food like soup dumplings at Joe's shanghai. if you get a chance check out your local dumpling house for soup dumplings they are great. Duck taco things in flushing meadows Chinatown. they are pillow sweet bread folded around duck, duck skin, and veg with a sauce. they are a great little 2 bites.

There are the regular places that we eat that are always good. Raman House, Little Inda, Toast, John Hollies, The Empress, Lansdowne Arms,

I cooked some good stuff this year as well. the hollie days have been full of good food. Thanks giving was on of the best we have had. we have the full spread with Turkey, roasted brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes (a ricer solved the potato cooking problem), stuffing muffins.

we had a Holiday dinner party, and made chicken and duck pot pies. i roasted a duck and that worked out great, for the first duck i ever cooked. the pot pies turned out good. Rachel made a challah bead and cupcakes that turned out good.

I made a fresh ham for Christmas day that turned out good, i was the first time that i had done a fresh ham.

well i'm looking forwarded to twenty ten and the food that it will bring.

well

L.A. Eats

Recently I went to Los Angeles and i didn't really see that much of it I was there for work. I was however able to find some good places to eat. The only places I found were between the the convention center and my hotel. I wanted to go eat sushi and some fine dining. but once I was done for the day I was SO tired. Going out wasn't going to happen. One night I was so tied I had a sandwich form the hotel bar. it was not not good ( to say the least), but it was all the energy I could muster. Now with that out of the way I did find some good food out there.


first place that I found was Pizza next door we just got some pizza by the slice but it was the best pizza ever. I got the Meat Deluxe - Pepperoni, Sausage, Canadian Ham, & Bacon... BACON! It was great, not just bacon bits but a whole strip of bacon. Toppings aside, the sauce as fresh and not too sweet and a real tomato taste.

It was hard to get away form the convention so I decided to get snacks for the next day. I found Famima it is a Japanese style convince store. Having every thing for soda to sushi, some of the best things are Spicy Char Siew Pork Steamy Bun, spam roll, salmon onigiri and drinks like Bubble up and Ramune.

After look for a good breakfast place I found The Pantry Cafe It has been in L.A. seance 1924 and is a cultural monument. The food it reasonably priced, I spent twice as much for the same breakfast down the street the morning before I found The pantry. I sat at the small counter, and had the Bacon and eggs, french toast and hash browns. The food, service and fell of the place was good and real. The eggs came on a plate with 6 pieces of bacon on top which was great. the ham stake ( which the guy next to me had) was huge and came the same way, on top of the eggs. the french toast was on a plate of its own and there was a separate plate for the hash browns as well.

so if your in down town L.A. there are some good places to eat and not expensive.

land of sushi

well we went to the "land of sushi" of lunch. we got there and we were the only ones there at first. witch was a little scary. we found this place on line looking for close sushi places to the house.

we started with the Gyoza it was really good. it reminded us of the Gyoza we had in Tokyo at this ilttle Gyoza place. well with that our faith was lifted. then the rest to the food came. I had the pork donbori, it was a breaded fired pork cutlet with onions, egg, and a light soy sauce. Rachel had the Maki lunch had California roll and a spicy tuna roll.

well the Japanese food was why better then the sushi. I also had a 2 Inari and Tamago (egg) and they were put together oddly and the fish wasn't the best. with the Gyoza the stand out part of the meal. land of sushi is not a good name for the restaurant

land of sushi

Toast... Gravy Cakes

Well I love Toast they have changed there menu just a bit. When I saw they had added Gravy Cakes I was all in. What are the Gravy Cakes you ask? They are Buttermilk biscuit griddle cakes filled with breakfast sausage. Topped with 3 eggs and scratch made sausage gravy covering the whole thing.

It is a Very Large (a slight under statement) plate of food. It was the best thing I have eaten in awhile. The
Gravy Cakes are so good, no GREAT. The cooked in sausage in not warped up the in pancake but it is cut up and put in to the batter. Then you add the the sausage gravy... it is a sausage over load. Top with 3 eggs, and for less then $10 its one of the best things ever.

Once again Toast has done it, a great breakfast

Toast

chicken noodle soup

Chicken noodle soup is easy i did it on Sunday and it took me about hour. In a stock pot cook off onions, garlic, celery. Once they are softened add chariots and chicken stock.

Now if you want to make it really good, use home made stock. Witch is really easy to. When you roast a chicken save the drippings and skim off the fat and there is its. But if you have boxed that will do, use the box stuff not the caned, the caned has a lot more salt in it. I used box and some home made this time.

You should be seasoning as you are going adding salt and pepper to the onion mix and then again when you add in the stock.

This time I'm using just cut up chicken breast. But the best thing is leftover roast chicken. But with the regular prepackaged, just cut up chicken (any parts that you like). And cook the chicken in a pan first just to cook it part of the way. Once the "pinkness" is mostly gone add to the pot and de-glaze the pan with some chicken broth. Then add that broth form the pan back in to the pot.

Now I like to cook my noodles separate because they don't get mushy. So just cook you noodles in some water and once soft add to a bowl and pore soup over them and it ready to go

Kokoro

I like Kokoro for fast Japanese food. Its good, there is better out there but its fast and cheep. The food is good for the price, $6-7 a bowl. They have a good Unagi and Curry bowl. The best part is that they are a local Denver chain, any chance I get to eat local.

So if your looking for something fast good and local, hit up Kokoro

Now Tokyo Joe's is local to, but they are just ok. for some reason I like Kokoro much better. I dont know if it is just because Kokoro seams more authentically Japanese, or that they have a curry sauce not just traiki or that it has Udon (it good to) on the menu or what. but Kokoro is just better. The ONLY thing that Tokyo Joe's has thats Kokoro donest is a bowl with eggs in its the "Okako bowl". I love eggs in my Japanese food specially bowls.


Kokoro

braised beef

Last weekend was the first time that i have braised something. I got a bottom round roast and seared it off in a stock pot ( i don't have a dutch oven). Then took it out and added chopped onion, garlic, celery, and carrot. I used a wooden spoon to get all the good bits off the bottom of the pan, and added some chicken stock ( I didn't have beef stock). On a side note there is only one organic beef broth that is BEEF BROTH not beef FLAVORED broth. Once that was done I put the roast back in and added enough red wine to go up 3/4 of the way up the side of the roast. stured it up so all the Veg was mixed in and the roast wasn't sitting on all if them. I added saffron and salt and pepper. and in to the oven it went for about 2 hours.

So it turned out good it was a little tough it could have been that it wasn't that great of a cut of meat or that i cooked it too long. I think using the stock pot instead of a dutch oven cut down the cooking time, or that it was only a 3lb roast. But the flavors were good the only thing is that next time less saffron it was a little strong. I really liked cooking it and would make it agian and I'm going to be Braising lost of other stuff.

Well he had about 1/2 if the roast left so i turned it in to beef stroganoff, that was really good to. I made a rue out of chalots, garlic, and olive oil. Then added beef broth, beef, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream and mushrooms. season with salt and pepper and simmer till the mushrooms are warm. Serve over egg noodles, it was good.

Bistro One... first dinner

This is another place we have been wanting to try. Bistro one was one of 5280s best new restaurants this year. We finally said we need to go. We met for an early dinner.

I ordered the meatball fettuccine. It is Kobe meatballs and had mad noodles, with a great slightly spicy tomato sauce. The meatballs were light and fluffy, and not a strong "beefy" taste. the noodles are to die for. My wife order the Stake Frites, it was very good as well.

all and all i need to eat more because what i had was really good.

bistro one

Pete's Central One Restaurant... lunch

well i have driven by Pete's Central One Restaurant hundreds of times but never have stopped. One day for lunch i decided to stop in. well my first tip off should have been there was no one in there but me. i know it was late lunch but still. so after a bit of looking at the menu i decided on the Greek Style Combination lunch plate.

A combination of Mousaka and Pastitsio served with vegetables. now Mousakais a casserole layered w/eggplant, potatoes, seasoned ground beef, and cheese. Topped w/a parmesan custard and a light tomato sauce. And Pastitsio is a layered blend of seasoned ground beef and large macaroni noodles topped w/a creamy parmesan custard and a light tomato sauce. This sounds good so i could try a couple of different things and came with soup or salad, i got the soup it was a creamy chicken and rice.

Well the soup tasted like caned NOT fresh and the veg on the side tasted frozen. The Mousaka and Pastitsio both came in a "light tomato" sauce witch is code for flavorless. The Mousaka was an odd mush on some ground beef that had no flavor. The Pastitsio noodles were over cooked and pasty.

well there was a reson that no one was eating there... its just not good. so if you are driving by Pete's Central One Restaurant keep driving

Central one Greek

The Counter... burger of the month

We found out about The counter form 5280 magazine. It sounded so go so we went for lunch. It is a burger joint, but not just a regular joint. You can build your own burger form beef, turkey, veggy, or chicken, in the sizes of 1/3, 2/3, or 1 lb. There are 10 different cheeses to chose form, and you can pic 4 toppings of 18 and 10 premium toppings. Finley a sauce and a bun. so you can get any burger you like! There are a few signature burgers as well, including the burger of the month.

I had this month's burger witch is JAPANESE STYLE AHI BURGER
ahi tuna mixed with pickled ginger, topped with furikake nori, daikon radish, carrot ribbons and scallions. served on a hamburger bun with wasabi aioli. I ordered mine with a over easy egg on it. The tuna was great and fresh, the flavor of the burger was Very Japanese. It was really good, like eating a spring roll or rice bowl at a good Japanese place. The burgers my wife and mom ordered were very good as well.

Every thing was every fresh and cooked to order, with so many choices there are lots of reasons to eat at The Counter but the best is that it is SO Very good.

The Counter

Fontana Sushi...

well Rachel and I went to Fontana Sushi before her Christmas party. We had been there many times before, this time there was only a few people there. Rachel thought i was just early on Saturday night. But Fontana has taken a down turn.

I will eat bad sushi but this was really bad. The rice was bad, and rice is the base of sushi. you can put bad toppings on good rice and is ok but it doesn't matter what you put on top it will still be bad.

Fontana was good but lately has taken a bad down turn. so i would pass on if you can

my favorite breakfast

Its simple but so good. Rice, egg (soft boiled or fired) the yolk should be runny, and any left over protein laying around. this morning it was teriyaki chicken meat balls. well you just layer rice, meat and and egg. break the yolk and mix it up and eat, its so good.

ThanksGiving day supper

This is one of my Favorite holidays. for 2 reasons first I cook the meal in my moms nice kitchen. Second i get to see me brother and sister. whom i don't see that often.

The turkey was a heritage, organic, locally framed bird. We stoked it in a brine of salt, sugar, whole pepper corns, all spice berries, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme chicken broth and ice water. you start buy dissolving the salt and sugar in the chicken broth. once it simmers you add the spices, and pore it over the ice in a cooler. once it is cool you add the turkey and soak over night.

As sides you had sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, cranberries sauce, turkey gravy, squash rolls.

the sweet potatoes were baked cooled, pealed and cut up. then the chunks were covered in a layer of brown sugar, butter and bourbon, and baked off. 20 min before you serve them cover with marsh mellows.

the mashed potatoes were just straight up nothing fancy so was the dressing and the green bean casserole.

the cranberries sauce was fresh cranberries, bourbon, orange juice, pomegranate juice, sugar and vanilla. you simmer the cranberries, sugar, and the juices together then add the bourbon and vanilla. once the cranberries have broken down you cool and serve.

The rolls are made with fresh squash that my wife made form scratch. all i know is that she cooked the squash and ran it thought the blender, and they are good.

she made a pumpkin pie form scratch as well and my sister made a punpkin cheese cake.

all and all it was a great thanks giving

Domo lunch

For the best traditional Japanese food there is none better then Domo. Domo is traditional all around form the thatched roof and large stone tables. To the great food, there is no soy sauce on the tables because the chef seasons it as it should be.

Lunch is the best value. you can get a great meal for $10. Dinner is more pricey but it is so worth it. Both are served with sides of pickled veggies. that are great. I took my mom there for her birthday lunch this last time.

I had the Toji Donburi witch is Choice of meat or seafoods with vegetables smothered in cooked eggs . I got the Salmon and it was so good. The Donburi is Served in a bowl with three country side dishes and the miso soup of the day. Your choice of brown rice or white rice with barley.

Try to get down there if you but if you go call a head for setting. I was a Tuesday afternoon and it was packed. so i would call if you go at any time.

check them out Domo

It will be worth it

Toast... big breakfast

We went to Toast and we have been there before. It is always good. I had the the Big Breakfast this time. It comes with 3 eggs, 2 sausage links, 2 pieces of bacon, home stile potatoes and your choice of pancakes or french toast. It is a lot of food and very good. The sausage are fresh and good and bacon is apple smoked. The potatoes are served with peppers and onions.

the bottom line is that Toast is great and one of the best breakfast paces around

Saigon Bowl... #83

We went to the Saigon Bowl with my Grandma for the first time a few weeks ago. I liked it but Rachel didn't so much but she didn't have a noodle bowl.

This last time I went for lunch, I had the #83. It was egg noodles, duck and dumpling's, served with bean sprouts and herbs. It was quite good and the service was good as well. There are other things on the menu but I haven't tried them. I stick with a big bowl of soup, there menu is big. Every time you go you could go something new and it would take you a wile to try them all.

so for a quick lunch or dinner that's cheep and good, Saigon Bowl is a good choice if your in the aria. \

Saigon Bowl