TheMatt

Well, for tacos, I'm a fan of El Taco de Mexico, at 714 N. Santa Fe Drive. Their cabeza tacos are great as are their carnitas. And they do it the correct way, on two corn tortillas. I know some people who love their brains taco, but I just can't do it yet. As for breakfast burritos, the best I've had are the ones you get downtown from the Burrito Ladies. I'm sure you can get them from places like Don Ramon's in Thornton, but I might need another person to point this out to you.

Sure there are, although it depends on the exact style you're looking for. I seem to gravitate towards New Mexican, and that means Jack-n-Grill. It's located at 25th and Federal, you must get a cup of corn there. If it's still there, El Mercadito at 31st and Federal always had good Mexican food. There is also the Brewery Bar II at 2nd and Kalamath, which has great green chili. I'm sure others might ring in with other suggestions. Oh, and there is always Casa Bonita if you hate life.

Oooh, maybe it's me. I am a whiz with rice cooker and toaster.

So they are open for lunch? Didn't know that. I'm more of a lunch man than dinner, so it's nice to have a new place to try. As for Khow Thai and Ping's, I agree. In fact, I just went to Ping's and had the Pork with Dried Winter Cabbage. So good...

Sigh. How much of my money will Wynn get when he opens this place? C'mon Powerball!

Well, I know Bombay Bistro's site is up. You can look at a menu. Haven't been there, and with no bindhi to be seen, I'm not sure when I would (I need bindhi if I go to an Indian restaurant). The Bollywood Sunday sounds interesting. Maybe they'll get Veer-Zaara so I can finally see it. Oddly, the movie starts at 8 and they close at 10. I'm not sure I've seen a Bollywood movie that ran under two hours...maybe I've only seen long epics? As for L'Absinthe, haven't seen much yet.

Hmm...guess I'm too young to remember that. Thanks.

So, did they used to be farther out on Arapahoe? Their place at 75th and Arapahoe always seemed pretty far out there to me. Or has that location closed? I liked that location better than the Broadway one, so I'd be kinda sad at that news. Of course, I'm not that big a connoisseur of BBQ. Not that I don't like it, I do, I just usually find any BBQ to be good. I liked Tony Roma's, Bennett's. Heck, I didn't mind the McRib. My favorite is probably Daddy Bruce's in Boulder, though. It must be the sauce...

Well, I hope they do have it all. I always like the place. Hmm...I do need more rice... Where is this market at? I'm always up for investigating new markets, but I hadn't heard of one opening in Longmont.

You can see this if you ever watch a something taped at Tsukiiji. Those blocks of tuna (and, heck, whole tuna) are pink. Yeah, you have to be careful. I mean, I know I'm gonna be paying for my rice, shoyu, et al. It's all those other things like their candy, or the dinnerware that pads the bill. Have you tried the unagi at the fish counter at Whole Foods? I find I like it just as good if not better than either canned or frozen unagi you seem to find in markets. Heck, I usually prepare it just by nuking it for a minute. Yes, microwave. I've heated it simmered in kabayaki sauce, but you know, the microwave tastes just as good and is faster.

Pacific Mercantile is in Sakura Square in Denver: 1925 Lawrence Street Phone: 303-295-0293 Where TheMatt gets his rice.

Well, I know Whole Foods often has sushi-grade sake and maguro. They also carry some very good unagi. The big Wild Oats in Superior might also be a place to look at. My first place to call and ask would be Pacific Mercantile. They carry some fish that often looks good as well as more Japanese fish like saba and hamachi. They'd also be the best bet for odd roes. Beyond that, the Korean markets in Aurora and the Chinese/Vietnamese markets on Federal have very good selections of fish. Sushi-grade, I don't know. If mongo_jones reads this, he's been to these places more often, and knows more about fish, than I, so he'd have a better idea. I know Pac Merc used to get their prepared sushi from a place in the Komart, but I don't know if they do anymore.

OK, da grad student reports. Cue soaring music: Watakushi no kyoku ga tashika naraba... We arrive for our 5:30 reservation and are second in the place (and yes, we are early birds. In fact, this is a late dinner for me). Also in there is the server my family has had/seen at L'Atelier, conversing with his brethren. Good to know there isn't a cross-street war occurring. We get seated at the AmyH memorial four-top, I believe, next to the slicing station. Now maybe it was a slow night, but it wasn't bad or noisy in my mind. In fact, I *liked* seeing the desserts being served. By 6:30 the place is full and not too noisy. Maybe it's because we don't have one table to the side, but I felt it was quieter than, say, L'Atelier. Now, for the food. First off, the dishes may not be exactly correct, but as I remember them (forgot to ask for a menu). Also, my father and grandma had some wine, but as I don't drink alcohol, I can't comment. It was an Anselmi white, I think. FIrst up, the starters. The parents, olive lovers, get an order of the olives and the table shares an order of frico(?). They are the parmesan-romano cheese crackers you find and very good. The bread guy makes frequent appearances throughout and has good bread. Then, the Ma and Grandma get the "house' salads which are quite good I think. My father has the roasted fig and fennel salad. Were it not for the figs (which I think are meh) and fennel (main reason to think Mother Nature hates humanity, freaking anise-flavored devil bulb), this could be good. I have the Valencia onion, apple, and cinnamon soup. This is very good and not at all what I expected. Sort of a light...bisque? Someone here might know a better description. Entrees. My mother gets the pork loin served with apples, leeks, and Matsutake. Nothing spectacular, but perfectly cooked loin. My father gets the risotto which I think is good. If I think a risotto is good, it must be spectacular since I'm usually not a fan. My grandma gets the tagliatelle with the pumpkin pie brodo. This I thought was great. Sort of like what fettucine alfredo wishes it could be. Not heavy at all, yet with that same creamy texture you get with alfredo. I have the off-menu "special", the (trendy) Tasmanian sea trout. Spectacular. Tastes a lot like wild salmon, but lighter, and had some sort glaze that made it. If it's there, I recommend it. Finally, dessert. My father and grandma share the pecan torte which I thought wasn't too awful. Seeing as I'd rather pound nails in my tongue than eat pecans, I gather it must be the best pecan dessert ever. My mother and I share the eG dessert, or so it seems, the Hot Chocolate. Mmm...chocolate. Valrhona if my cocoa taster tongue should be believed. Very good, not too rich. I could care less for the coconut foam, but it wasn't intrusive at all. All in all, a very good meal. Probably up there with some I've had at L'Atelier as the best meal I've had in Boulder, and overall.

Well, I have gone to the Rattlesnake Club, Al Fresco (in that oh-so-80s two-story building they had), Tante Louise...that's about what I can remember. The parents probably didn't feel like take kids to any other places. Now the 90s I can recall, 80s...nah. Of course, I still never went to them in elementary school. Went to the Jolly Rancher factory, though.

Even elementary school kids eat at Frasca before da grad student: http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/food/articl...3246831,00.html Somehow I can't remember going to Strings or the Rattlesnake Club in my elementary days. (I'm trying to recall the hot places in the 80s. Need Warren Byrne or someone in here...)

I suppose, but I've always wondered, unless menus are handwritten or spoken (which they might be at Frasca) or on a tray like desserts, they're usually typeset on a computer and I've known some restaurants who do them in an office on site. So, why can't the menu be uploaded by SFTP each time it is changed? I can think of ways to script it via Perl, PHP, Ruby, or LaTeX->HTML, and then you'd have "realtime" menus on a website. Jus' wonderin'...

Next time rlm, give us some *details* please. Sheesh ;) Man, I go to a restaurant and one hour later I'm usually like: "I had fish and soup...I think". Well, my guess is my Pa will get the tagliatelle, but we'll see. My mother, the pork loin, my Grandma, the rib eye. Et moi? I don't know. Oh, and I'm sure one of us (maybe me) will get that Hot Chocolate. When we do, I'll tell my mother, from Poplar Bluff, MO, that you called it "chocolate gravy". She's mentioned that from her childhood and I'm guessing this'll be a bit more haute than what she is used to. I'll file a report on the weekend. Now, if we can only get them to hire a webmaster. I mean, Radek has his menus up, these guys need the same.

Since I don't want to incur the wrath of rlm (q.v., Mizuna thread), I am going to Frasca. That's right, your friendly neighborhood eG theoretical chemistry grad student is hitting the big time. I'm going with the Ma and Pa to celebrate my Grandma's birthday next Saturday. But, I have a couple questions for rlm, or whomever, about Frasca, since their menu isn't online. First, one of the party is vegetarian (and I am often as well). Are there good options for a veggie, or should we move the location? I doubt they'd start a restaurant in Boulder without some, but better safe. Second, any recommendations on the recent menu? Third, anticipating the meal, anyone want to contribute to TheMatt's "I'm a poor grad student" fund so I can go back again?

Well, if you go to Google with terms like woodlands indian restaurant, you find a lot of links to about four restaurants in London that are vegetarian Indian. There are 3 in Virginia as well. Sounds like there is a story behind this name somewhere.

Since I'm not sure what Italian-style fries are (the mind boggles), I'll say American-style since they don't seem to be anything different than I'm used to. They probably aren't a gourmet's fries, but as I said, they remind me of the type my Ma used to make back in the day. Probably use the same oil temperature and potatoes that she did... If you've never had 'em, I'm guessing you've never had one of their sandwiches (come with fries or pasta salad). They're pretty good, as I'd hope since Greg Carelli opened a sandwich shop to begin with, I think. The Chicken Parm is probably my favorite, but the Italian Sub is a close second.

My favorites of all time were those at Mazzio's much-missed Triana. Not a traditional fry, but I loved 'em. That said, the fries at Mateo were good the last time I was there. Of course, by now they probably cost $2034 like everything else there. I also quite like the fries at Carelli's in Boulder. They remind me of the fries that my mom used to make in the ye olde days. So, I can't really give a critical view of them, nostalgia just makes them good to me.

Speaking of German food, does any one know if Golden Europe is still around in Arvada? That place had the best pork loin I've ever had and probably the best gravy to boot. The Jager Schnitzel was great, and their strudel? drool... In the olden days (few years ago), German food in Denver was usually said to be Cafe Berlin, Golden Europe and Chinook Tavern. Of course, the owners were/are Czechs, so maybe the cuisine isn't strict German, but I don't care. Everything there was so good. --- Well, after a trip around Google, it seems that Golden Europe will at least be catering something in October, so I have hope it's still around. Maybe it's time to head down to ye olde hometowne.

mike, yeah. The problem is usually getting the right age of potatoes. They can't be too young or old or the moisture/starch contents is way low. And who knows what high altitude can do to it. Fries are a lot more forgiving. Of course, you can take my approach and do a 5# (or whatever size it was) bag of them. I can tell you, I learned how to do 1/8" slices on the mandolin that day.

patti, is it any type of curry? Thai? Chinese? The myriad of Indian? Just wondering. I'm the kind of person that hate coconut curries, but loves just about all the others.

How can you not love goat cheese? Man...I probably eat more of that than any other cheese. My fave is chevre en marinade. Mmm. I also like goat, the meat. Lots don't like that. And I can't believe how many people don't like bananas. I'd eat one every hour if I could. Best fruit out there right along with tomatoes.