Where I've been Eating

I know I've said it before, and I will say it countless time now in this post and in the future.  I love food.  Food in general is a great thing.  It tastes good, it creates memories, and gives us nutrients for our body.  Something I appreciate even more than food, is good food, ...great food.  A meal shared with a loved one is just about my favorite thing.  Food and sharing a meal is hugely social thing.  As a society I think we base lots of things around food and what our next meal is going to be.  Lately I've had some truly fantastic meals.  The food was great, the company awesome, and an original and fun atmosphere.  So I thought I would take the time to give my .02cents of unoriginal reviews, because truly all I have to say is everything was great, and the food was so tasty... but hopefully I do have some highlights that are worthwhile.
First off is Lola.  Chris and I went here a couple of weekends ago on a double date, with my new friend and co-worker Andrea along with her fiance Ryan.  I was super excited for double date experience and anxious as I wanted the night to go well.  Upon entering the restaurant I loved the atmosphere.  Very chic with Latin touches.  Not too big, not too small.  We were seated right by the kitchen which was sorta annoying, but I guess someone has to sit there.  The menu was a little bit different, but something I didn't really mind as it definitely makes you read all of the details.  We ordered drinks and tableside guacamole!  Super good.  I immediately did a scan of all of ingredients going into the guac (as I make a pretty good guacamole myself) and the big differences I saw were tomato's and garlic.  I put in a diced tomato and I don't put in garlic.  It's been awhile and now I don't even think I can remember what I had.  I just took a peak at the menu and I remember now.  I had the Pan Seared Corvina, which is a white fish.  Very tasty, and my favorite part were the rock shrimp fritters.  Chris' dish was fantastic.  He had Calbo De Mariscos, which was like a seafood stew.  Simply awesome.  The other great aspect for this dinner was the company was lovely.  We sat and enjoyed the food, but also enjoyed each other.  We were easily at the restaurant for almost 3 hours!  I love a nice long leisurely meal where everything just flows and time is of no worry.      

 The Squeak Beak: weird name, awesome food.  I do pretty extensive research when selecting a place to eat, and my dining experience at the Squeaky Bean was no different.  It recently got a 4 star (out of 4 stars) rating through the Denver Post (which in the past it have never given a 4 star rating...ever!) and lots of great reviews via Yelp.  I also learned that the original location had closed a year ago to relocate and open up at new location this past June.  Chris and I dined here this past Wednesday before the Aerosmith concert. We arrived and immediately took notice to super small menu.  The menu was categorized into three sections: vegetables, fish, meat.  The prices seemed pretty reasonable, but we were thrown off.  Our waitress was super nice and immediately opened up when I confessed that the menu was confusing, and if she could us her "spill" about the restaurant and menu.  She graciously went through each element and advised that "whatever we were to pick out we would have fun!"  We started with the Shrimp Curry, which was so delicious.  They were these little shrimp wraps with curry sauce and little lime zest puree balls with coconut.  So light and refreshing!  ...I wish I had taken pictures of our food at all of these restaurants, it's just not a habit that I have!  For our main dishes I had the Pork Loin and Chris had the Fried Chicken.  Mine was so good, with flavors of peach and onion, with this little corn pudding thing on the side (it looked like a stick of butter).  And Chris' chicken was so tender and juicy!  Fabulous flavor!  The only negative to this experience was my dish had two slices of the pork.  And one piece (the smaller portion) was pure fat.  So that was not enjoyed.  The end of the meal we got a visit from this fabulous cheese cart.  We got some (free) samples and ended our evening. 

 I've read about Linger for a very very long time, and have heard such amazing things about this place!  I had tried to go in the past, but reservations were hard to come by unless I wanted to eat dinner prior to 4pm or after 9pm.  So for this occasion I planned way in advance.  I made reservations for four at 6:45pm about two months ahead of time.  So seriously if you want to check this place out, let this be your warning: plan ahead.  I would advise making reservations at LEAST 6 weeks prior, unless you do want to eat dinner at 9pm on a Saturday night, or want a table on a Tuesday night.  This place as an amazing roof top bar with a fantastic view of the Denver City Skyline (that's unfortunately half way being covered up by nearby apartment buildings going up).  Even when we arrived at 6:45pm our table wasn't ready so we went up to experience this roof top bar!  It was gorgeous!  Once we were seating at a comfy 1/2 circle booth we immediately read the menu and wanted one of everything!  This place is a great spot to try a little bit of everything and the plates are meant for sharing!!!  This menu literally takes you around the world and is split up by countries.  So if you are looking for a particular cuisine, you'll most likely find it here! We got a ton of plates: Sesame BBQ Tacos (so flavorful), Wagyu Burger Sliders (these were actually just ok, but they come with Sweet Potato Fries w/ chipotle ketchup, and I just love sweet potato fries), Ceviche (light and fresh, w/ mango!), Pho-Real Spring Roll (super good), Me Krob (now I had never heard of this, but Michelle immediately wanted to try it as it's been referenced in a "Sex and the City" episode, and had she not suggested it, I would have never gotten it, and I'm so glad that I did.  All I can say is the complexity of the flavors in this dish is amazing, and everything mixed together is just something you'll have to try, because I can't even describe it), Scallops (just love scallops all around).  And I think that's all.  Needless to say we left this super fun dinner extremely stuffed.  I can't wait to go back and try and round of new selections!  It was great to share everything and enjoy the view (as we were right next to the window) as the sun went down.

Michelle, me,and Kari @ the roof top in Linger

 

Saturday a group of friends and I went to Zengo.  I heard of this place on the Food Network a few years ago, and have been wanting to go since.  Super fun Latin/Asian cuisine.  This place had super fun drinks and some sushi that we started with.  I had the nightly special with was a Halibut with a potato cake, mushrooms, and lentils.  The flavors were super delish.  I'll talk more about my experience at Zengo in another post, but over all everything was fantastic!  

As you can tell I've been super busy, and one of the big highlights for me in this busy craziness going on around me is the food.  Eating definitely gives me that moment to sit back and enjoy those around me and have a fun evening and experience!  I absolutely love going to restaurants I've never been to before, and these were all first experiences for me, which was half the fun!  I high recommend any of these places if you ever visit Denver, or live here and want some good food!