Jax Fish House, The D- Bar, & Cheeky Monk (Denver, CO)

Our next day in Denver consisted of more eating & drinking. We were just packing on the pounds in Denver.

Our Coloradan friends took us to a happy hour in downtown Denver at a spot called Jax Fish House. This place has one mean happy hour.

First of all, they have $1 Chesapeake Bay Oysters... We'll have a dozen please. They are freshly shucked at the end of the bar.

Another highlight... 1/2 pound of peel & eat shrimp for only $10. You get a load of shrimp on what looks like a pizza tray covered in seasonings. It gets a little messy, but at these prices... who cares.


Then they had a great calamari. They are large slices of squid lightly breaded and fried. They sit on a thai chili sauce. Not bad for $5.


The next place was probably the highlight of our stay in Denver. They took us to this small place called The D Bar.

If you are a Food Network Challenge fan, you'll immediately recognize the tall fellow in the open kitchen. None other than the Challenge Host/Chef/ D Bar Owner... Keegan Gerhard. This place is awesome. You sit at the bar and watch the famous chef whip up your dessert orders. It's like a teppan restaurant minus the onion volcano.

What made our experience here so memorable was how personable Chef Gerhard was with his patrons. It seems that you can just about ask him anything, and he'll respond openly and honestly. One of the girls in our group asked for advice on some whipped dessert. I couldn't really tell you what exactly they were talking about because I was watching him piece together the desserts. What can I say? I dig watching food get "Plated" (learned that one from Food Network). But, I do remember him giving her tips and hints which included details of working in the higher altitude area. We even asked if he would ever accept a Throwdown challenge from Bobby Flay. Without hesitation, he said he'd kick Bobby's arse. What a straight shooter. Gotta love that. That would make for such a great Throwdown episode. Anyway, on to business. These desserts are plated up in a very artistic fashion. What else would you expect from a celebrity chef.
The wife went for the Milk & Cookies. He bakes the cookies fresh to order. I recommend the Chocolate Pecan cookies. Those are damn tasty. We even took some back to Cali with us.

I typically go for a molten cake whenever the opportunity presents itself. On this menu, he has something called "molten cake thingy everybody has." Nice. His definitely isn't like "everybody". My favorite molten cake used to be from Morton's Steakhouse. This one kicks that messy chocolate concoction in the pooper (have to keep it Rated G). As the cake bakes, he whips up the malbec fruit compote with the small burner and pan right there at the bar. Malbec is a type of booze, right? According to the menu description, there's a steamed truffle inside the cake. That must have been the tasty chocolaty goodness inside. I'm not sure what the 10 year vanilla is. I didn't know you could age vanilla. But, if he's referring to the ice cream, that was some damn good 10 year old ice cream. I think he makes his own ice cream because I noticed the container had a sharpied tag with the date on it. Now my favorite molten cake is all the way in freakin Colorado!!! Maybe my friend can FedEx me one? Hmmm...


And if you think the night ended there, think again. These Coloradans really know how to live it up. Our friends take us to this Belgian Beer Cafe called The Cheeky Monk. If my memory serves me, according to Three Sheets, there are monks in Beligium that make beer.



It's a really nice bar that serves all kinds of beer in various glasses. But, since we've been drinking pretty much the whole day, the wife & I shared a brew. Our friend recommended Kwak. I couldn't tell you how it tasted (because I can't remember), but it came in a nifty glass with a wooden handle.

There was a beer (Ommegang Rouge) our friend had that I do remember tasting like Sweet & Sour sauce. Very strange.


Denver is a great place to visit. It reminded us a lot of San Francisco. Where you have people wandering the streets of the city. And a bunch of bars and restaurants to discover.

Till next time kids... Peace Out.


I'm from LA Trick

Coors Field, North, and Buckhorn Exchange (Denver, CO)

Our weekend in Denver started at Coors Field because our Dodgers happen to be in town to play the Rockies (LAD-6, COL-5). This field is great. Nothing like the ones back home. They're not serving fancy crap like sushi or CPK pizzas like our LA ball parks. Just great beers (mainly from the Coors family of brands, of course) and awesome ballpark man-food.
The garlic fries are pretty good. The seem to taste like they're soaked in butter. Butter makes everything taste better, right? The highlight for me was the fact that they have footlong Brats. Seriously? Footlong? Yes, Footlong. I picked one up with a load of kraut and some mustard. I was a happy Dodger fan.

And for dessert, we went back up to the main concourse during the 7th inning stretch to find one of these grill carts serving up some "Denver" Cheesesteaks. They obviously couldn't call them Philly steaks. These juicy (in my case... chicken) steaks are served up with onions, peppers, and cheese all in a great soft roll. It really hits the spot.


The next day our good friend (and native Coloradan) took us around the town. We started at a place called North for drinks.

They have these great drinks called Frizzantes (foo-foo drinks... I know). They are basically sparkling white wine (not sure if they actually use "champagne") mixed with a fresh fruit puree of your choice. We went with the white peach, pear, and a passion fruit. Very refreshing (and very foo-foo).


Next on the agenda was dinner. We went to the oldest restaurant in Denver. It was also featured on Travel Channel's Steak Paradise. It's called the Buckhorn Exchange.

Be forewarned, this place can be pretty eerie for some folks. There's animals adorned all over the walls. The niche here is their variety of meats.

The wife went with the Caesar Salad and Potato Jalepeno Soup.

The salad was your basic caesar salad, but had pine nuts rather than croutons (nice touch). The soup was really delicious. It was a thick and creamy potato soup, but with a little spicyness from the jalepenos. The great thing was that the heat was not overwhelming. It was just right.

Our friend went with the half rack of pork ribs. The ribs are done nicely. The meat literally falls off the bones.

Now for the more adventurous meal of the night. I went with the combo special of the evening. This was a meal consisiting of an Elk medallion and a Buffalo tenderloin. I ordered both cuts to be prepared Medium Rare.


The Elk cooked to a more grayish color. The meat was a little tough and mild in flavor. The menu (and the servers) describe it as velvety. I really have no idea what velvet tastes like, so I'm not sure if I would agree. I would describe it as very similar to a piece of lean beef sirloin.

The buffalo cooks just like a beef tenderloin. Dark in color, juicy and tastes just like beef. Apparently, buffalo is leaner than beef. But, if you ask me, I wouldn't be able to differentiate between the two.
Although the meals look like ones served up in a typical family restaurant, the prices say otherwise. It's pretty pricey... much like your high-end steakhouses.

Till next time... peace out.

Super Mario Bros. Power Up Energy Drink

Repost from my blog at "the mobile experience" blog. This cool little finding at a local Fye music store was a no-brainer. I picked up a can of the PAC-MAN power up drink as well. I won't find out how it taste as it would become part of my 80s video game collectibles at the office.

Father's Office- The Bestest Burger EVER

What's up people of the interwebs? So, I've been hearing about this joint in Santa Monica called Father's Office. There is one thing in common with amongst all the comments I've heard. That is, "They have the best burger... ever!!!" Ever, huh? We'll see about that.



Luckily, they opened a second location with convenient free parking and ample seating in Culver City. Before delve too far into this, let it be known that this place is in fact, a bar. They do have a doorman who cards everyone ("you're just a doorman... doorman"... haha... sorry... that's a Knocked Up reference... If you don't know you better ask somebody). It's 21 and over, no exceptions.



Once you walk in you'll see the bar. It's got a bunch of beers and wine on tap. Yep, wine on tap. I'm guessing they just buy entire barrels of vino... who knows. I'm not entirely sure if its a full bar because my party along w/ everyone around us were drinking beer & wine.



The place has no real wait staff. It's open seating, every man for himself. Here's how it works. Since there's no waiters (or waitresses... boo) you order everything from the bartenders, and take a number back to your table. All the food items are as they are written on the menu. No substitutions, changes, etc. It is what it is, so to speak. What I noticed when glancing the strict menu was that there was only one burger. This must be it. The holy grail of burgers... The Office Burger.



This burger is loaded with caramelized onions, bacon, gruyere cheese, maytag blue cheese, and arugula on a french roll. Simply amazing. The way the sweetness of the onions (I swear they've gotta be using maui sweet onions because they've got that maui onion chips flavoring) mixes with that saltiness of the swine (bacon), then you get that pungent hit from the blue cheese, and the smoothness of gruyere (ooohhh-weeee), finally a little bitterness from the arugula (no lettuce or tomato in this bad boy) brings a tear to any burger lover's eye. This is a man's burger... well, a fairly well off man's burger. This booshie burger comes with a booshie price tag of $12 (add $2.50 if you want fries-regular or sweet potato). All I know is that it was all worth it to me.



So there you have it folks. Arguably the best burger... EVER!!! I'm officially playing the banjo on the Office Burger Bandwagon. But, because the burger costs a pretty penny, it'll have to be a special occasions only meal for this dude. Looks like "Happy Saturday" is coming up. Oh, and "Good Sunday" is right around the corner too. Just call me the booshie hamburglar. I've got some more special occasions to create and celebrate.
(FYI, Booshie means too rich, extravagant, ballerific, etc.)



Till next time kids...

Peace Out.

I'm from LA trick

Vito's Deli in Hoboken NJ, its a serious Sandwich!

When I first moved into Hoboken NJ, some friends familiar with the neighborhood told me a few staples that I must visit. Amongst them are Amanda's, Arthur's Steakhouse, Napoli's Pizza and of course, Vito's Deli. Since I don't have too many experiences with Subs outside of Subway and Quiznos, I didn't know what the big deal was. That is until I tried it over the weekend and I was hooked. I ordered two sandwiches (the Sopranos and Vito's Special) for dinner tonight and took some pictures for you.

Vito's sandwiches are loaded with cold cuts, mutz and other toppings, each sandwich felt like a 5-lb. dumbell. The cold cuts (Roast Beef, Salami, Smoked Turkey, Pepperoni, etc...) are loaded with explosive taste. The red pepper offers a tangy (sweet/sour/peppery) taste which creates a unique contrast to blend out your palate. The freshly made mozzarella are thick and rich in flavors and best in town. The bread is nice and thick, just tough enough to give it a good texture but soft enough to chow down the entire hero w/o tiring your jaw bones. When taking a big bite into the sandwich, the combination of all the explosive flavors makes you appreciate how amazingly delicious a simple food can be.

If you are ever near Hoboken, I highly recommend Vito's Deli as a quick grub stop.

xooro, The Apple Pan and Bossa Nova

Today the wife and I took the day off to take out our younger cousin on his last day of spring break. So, we started at Santa Monica near the 3rd Street Promenade for a snack. The spot is called xooro (pronounced Sure-oh).



You walk in and see these two flat-screens with the menu.



They basically serve fancy-shmancy churros. A little pricey (about $4 each). I ordered up a Mississippi which is a churro filled with peanut butter, dipped in chocolate, and covered with crushed peanuts. My cousin picked up the Jordan's Special which is a churro filled with Nutella and covered with white and milk chocolate.



The Mississippi was not bad, but not great either. You definitely taste the peanut butter filled center, the chocolate, and the crushed peanuts. But, you don't really get anything from the churro itself. It was more like eating a Reese's Cup but with a melted center (now wouldn't that be a tasty treat) but shaped in the form of a churro. All I kept thinking was...I could'a went to Costco, bought one of their gigantic churros for a buck, melted some Reese's in the microwave, and went to town. Would we hit this place up again? I wouldn't count on it.

After we had enough of Santa Monica, we headed over the Century City to meet up with another cousin (we're Filipino, we've got huge families) for lunch. She showed us this joint called The Apple Pan.



This is one seriously old school burger joint.

So here's the deal. You walk in and all you see is a three sided u-shaped counter. There are two super old school registers on each corner. And there is an old dude (the waiters) on each register. In the center behind the counter is the big grill of burger goodness.



The counter has about 20 chairs going all the way around. The customers come in, and wait for a spot to open. We eventually get four chairs, and took a look at the simple menu.



About 30 seconds after sitting down, the old guy comes over and asks "what'll it be." It's no nonsense in this place. Get in, grub, get out. Is that how the lunch counters were back in the day? So, my little cousin and I went for the first two items on the menu. He chose the Steakburger, and I went with the Hickory Burger (Steakburger w/ bbq sauce)....both with cheddar cheese.



These burgers were pretty awesome. Nothing fancy with the toppings, unlike some of these "gourmet" burger joints I've been to. Just your typical lettuce, tomato, pickles, etc. What makes these burgers so great is the burger patties. They have such great flavor. It's like they're grinding really good steaks or something. Maybe its the super old grill they're using. In any case, my cousin and I were both impressed.

At this point, you're probably wondering if we ditched the wife. Well, back at the churro spot, she just had their hot chocolate (yawn). And in this place...remember how I said its a counter w/ registers on each corner? Well my cousin & I were on one side of the register, and she and my other cousin were on the other side. So, all I know is those girls had ordered a tuna sandwich and another steakburger.

The cousin who took us to this place said they're really famous for their apple pies (hence the name). If we didn't scarf down those tasty burgers, I'd probably give you insight on the pies as well. We'll have to do that next time. One side note, the old school registers don't take credit cards... cash only.

Now we get to the evening time. What could we possibly have done? You guessed it... met up with yet another cousin. She took us to a Brazilian joint called Bossa Nova in Hollywood on Sunset.



We started off with their Pao de Queijo which are cheese filled bread balls. I couldn't tell you what the cheese was, but its a lot like melted mozzarella stuffed in these light fluffy puffs. Good stuff.



We also asked to get some of their table bread.



Yeah, that's the house bread...damn, we should'a just stuck with the free stuff. It was great. It was focaccia with some garlic, tomatoes, herbs and parmesean toasted on top.

The wife went with the Bossa Salad with shrimp.



This was a chopped romaine salad with tomatoes, almonds, gorgonzola, homemade croutons and red onions. The salad was light, fresh and really flavorful. Their homemade balsamic dressing is awesome. It's not really overpowering but rather enhances the flavors of the fresh ingredients. The shrimp are described as "Five Shrimps sautéed with white onions, tomatoes, parsley and salsa." I just had a sample of the salad and shrimp. With or with out the protein, this salad was really good. The portion is pretty huge too.

I ordered up a steak the waiter recommended called Coulotte Steak "Picanha." Apparently its a steak prepared traditional Brazilian style. Again this is what our waiter told me. He had an accent...I'm guessing Brazilian (er, Portuguese), so I went with it. I also decided to go with the sauteed veggies & fried plantains as my sides.



The big loin looking thing in the top left corner was the steak. I know this isn't really a steakhouse or anything, but they served up a pretty damn good steak. I always go medium rare, and this one came out perfectly. Nicely seasoned (Brazilian seasonings...the waiter said), it was juicy and tender. What more could a guy ask for? But let me tell you, not to go pansy on you, but the sauteed veggies were really flavorful. They had this mustard-y tang to them. It was unique enough to make it the most memorable item on my plate. All in all, pretty damn good steak dinner for only $16 (and we were on hipster central...Sunset Blvd).

Till next time...Peace out.

xooro
125 Broadway
Santa Monica CA 90401
(310) 260 2919

The Apple Pan
10801 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 475-3585

Bossa Nova
7181 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 436-2749

I'm from LA Trick