eGullet Outing at Colorado Kitchen

[Monica Bhide]

I am dying to know. I am SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOO SSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY I missed it

[cakewench]

Yeah, what they said!! We wanna hear all about it...

[hjshorter]

It was goooood.

[hillvalley]

[spaghetttti]

More, more, more!

Edited September 8, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[iamthestretch]

Whimper, moan, hurt, cry.

Bang, bang, bang goes the hammer. Clang, clang, clang goes the bell.

"Sure, why not bring two bottles of wine. We'll never get through it, but what the hell, eh!"

"Sure, come on back to my house. I've got a good bottle of Scotch in the cupboard somewhere. We'll just have a wee drop!"

I'll post some photos when I can actually see again. I do remember some GREAT food, though.

Edited September 8, 2004 by iamthestretch (log)

[Nadya]

More, more, more!

←

It was awesome. It was also the reason why I am going on a celery stick diet and will not drink again for rest of life. Or at least tomorrow.

I am just going to cover the food, because the wine, I am sure, deserves a more capable reviewer.

We started with little teasers of corn chowder and deviled eggs (I wonder if anyone took pictures? do not remember.) The chowder was excellent, with a nice texture, and very...corny, meaning it tasted exactly like sweet corn, but liquid. With corn being one of my favorite tastes in the world, no complaining from me.

Once we sat down (I was at the tall people's table in the corner, prominently featured in the picture right behind Chef Clark), the food started coming and it kept on comin'.

First course: green salad with caramelized cauliflower and a goat cheese fritter. Not a combination that would immediately spring to mind, but went very well together, with a nice tangy sauce with a bit of bite to it. P.S.: How does one fry a piece of goat cheese and not have it smeared all over the place? Is magic.

Second course: wee crabcake with mango chutney and cucumber sauce. Great dish, crabcake consisted of basically lumps of actual seasoned crabmeat (not minced) with just enough of whatever that is that holds it together. Disappeared very fast, as it should.

Third course: slice o'meatloaf with some kind of berry sauce and mashed potatoes. Here I need to stop and rhapsodize. Usually, when I see the word "meatloaf" on the menu, the message conveyed to my brain is "keep on readin'." I have NEVER ordered a meatloaf voluntarily (or eaten one, come to think of it.) The dish I had yesterday made me see the light (and I owe it all to Gillian.) It was incredibly rich. And fluffy. And tender. And all these things. A regular home dish executed with so much purity and richness that it blew my Rude Euro mind away. I regretted having only one slice...I wonder if they have it on a regular menu?

Fourth course: seared duck with mashed parsnips. I believe at this point there was a bet at our table that these were indeed parsnips and not mashed potatoes. I lost (you know who you are, you parsnip eater you). Some gastrite-type sauce for duck. Once again, done very well, just rare, juicy and tender.

Now, these dishes were all tasting-menu size, and I felt reasonably comfortable. But after the duck...you know this feeling that says "I do believe I need to explore other notches on my belt....like the one two inches looser than present"? It started to set in once the duck went bye-bye. Then hillvalley stopped by our table and whispered in my ear: "This is not the main. Get ready for the main. Main is coming."

Go out. Have a cigarette. Reconcile self to the imminence of More Food Coming. Briefly consider jogging around the block, abandon the idea immediately.

Main course: regular size pork chop with apple cider reduction (and some kind of fruit mash). I could only have a few bites, and it was very good, but my stomach was nearing the point of spontaneous explosion.

Of course, near lunchtime today I will regret not eating all of it quite bitterly. In fact, I am feeling first tinges of regret as I type this. Lunch today: raw veggies (penance.)

Dessert: cobbler and pineapple upside down cake. I had two slices of pineapple - just enough sweetness and lovely texture in the underlying sponge cake.

I recall vaguely at some point people went over next door to check out Da Sto - cute little area with aprons, kitchen thingies and whatnot. It was all a blur from that point on, some sort of food-induced intoxication. All I remember is not functioning at the summit of my mental capacity, and giggling a lot.

Chef and Robin came out and mingled a little, and were as gracious as they could be. We owe it big to these ladies who opened on their off night and accommodated our unruly presence. I will definitely come back, for the meatloaf, the crabcake and the biscuits...wait, did I mention biscuits????? (loud slap of forehead)

Man oh man. They were SO GOOD. Biscuits are a great accomplishment of La Cuisine Americaine, and I really do appreciate them, and these were The Best Ever. Tiny, crusty on top, tender inside, sweet-tasting dough with salt crystals on crust (how? how?) oooh mmmmm. I had three and half, I believe. (Wish had more.)

CK does great food. No, excellent food. I really do appreciate the concept of taking a relatively simple dish, and giving it as much attention in ingredient and execution as you would expect at a white tablecloth joint. Every single thing we had was cooked at that level where it couldn't have been any better for that particular dish. Thank you, Chef and Robin, for the wonderful meal. Its memory will keep me warm through at least three ruthless lunches of cut-up veggies.

It was lovely to meet everyone in person and put names to faces!

Edited September 8, 2004 by Nadya (log)

[Tweaked]

I took notes, I took notes!

Here's the menu:

Passed aps

Deviled Eggs

Chilled Corn Chowder (more like lukewarm really, really, really tasty)

Mixed Green salad, sauted cauliflower, a round of goat cheese in bread crumbs lightly browned

Biscuits, biscuits, and more biscuits (our table had three helpings)

Meat loaf with current sauce and mashed potatoes. Colorado Kitchen takes meatloaf to a new level of culinary delight.

Crab cake with mango chutney and yogurt sauce. sorry the one dish I wasn't crazy about

Roast duck breast, parsnip mash, red wine reduction, sweet potato (?) "feathers"

"It did not suck" "I found it quite tasty"

Pork chop, apple sauce, cider reduction. Almost full...one more bite...help I'm stuffed

Apple cobbler

Upside down pineapple cake

Tour of dasto next door.

some libations enjoyed:

Titus Vineyards Chateau Woltner 1997

Domaine Berthet-Rayne Cotes du Rhone 2002

La Bernardine Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1999

Herold Bohemian Black Lager (Czech)

Rouge Dead Guy Ale (Oregon)

Belhaven Wee Heavy (Scotland)

a wee dram at Stretch's place

Thanks to all at Colorado Kitchen for a great night

[hjshorter]

Chef and Robin came out and mingled a little, and were as gracious as they could be.  We owe it big to these ladies who opened on their off night and accommodated our unruly presence.

CK does great food. No, excellent food. I really do appreciate the concept of taking a relatively simple dish, and giving it as much attention in ingredient and execution as you would expect at a white tablecloth joint. Every single thing we had was cooked at that level where it couldn't have been any better for that particular dish. Thank you, Chef and Robin, for the wonderful meal.

←

I wish I had said this, as it is exactly what I was thinking. Thank you Chef, and Robin, and your friendly staff, for welcoming us and feeding us so well.

Any chance I could get the recipe for the pineapple upside-down cake? It was better than my grandma's.

[syzygy8]

Wow. (speechless).

[babka]

in my head now, the evening was a gently raucous candle-lit dinner party in somebody's home. Chef, Robin, and the servers (I'm sorry, I've forgotten your names!) knocked themselves out in the cooking and the hosting. I'll stay silent on the food until the euphoric-daze passes out of my brain--how did that second helping of upside-down cake land in my gullet?--but the hosting was brilliant. They enticed us in with finger-food bits of green eggs & ham and corn chowder, to be eaten while mingling and matching names with unexpected faces. They ushered us out with two tables of dessert--grab yourself a plate and chat up a far-away table. and--to make sure expanded-rears left seats--opened up DaSto' a few storefronts down for poking and nibbling.

it backfired, of course--by that time, we were so comfortably and happily at home in the Kitchen that we kept returning to seats to talk instead of continuing out to cars for home.

thank you, all, for a wonderful evening!

[bbq4meanytime]

Good notes on the food. The event was really fun, I had great table mates. Thanks to Hillvalley for organizing and thanks to the Chef, Robin and all the staff at CK for a nice evening.

[iamthestretch]

OK. I've put up a gallery of pictures here. Unfortunately, you have to view them in reverse order to get the sequence right, 'cause I didn't know ImageGullet rather perversely sequences things that way. Plus, did I mention how worthless I am this morning? I'll put some group shots in the main thread, so that people can edit the captions and identify themselves if they choose to.

[giuinha]

truly a wonderful feast! thanks to hillvalley and babka for their organizing skills, and to all at CK for making us feel welcome and feeding us so well! i will surely be back and i'll be sending all of my friends as well. superb!

[Nadya]

OK. I've put up a gallery of pictures here. Unfortunately, you have to view them in reverse order to get the sequence right, 'cause I didn't know ImageGullet rather perversely sequences things that way. Plus, did I mention how worthless I am this morning? I'll put some group shots in the main thread, so that people can edit the captions and identify themselves if they choose to.

←

Thanks for the pics! Now you can see that much fun has been had by all. Yes, that grin widens as the evening unfolds ;)

[mdt]

First off many thanks to Chef, Robin, and the staff for a wonderful evening!

The details on the food has already been posted, but I will add that those were the best damn biscuits I have ever eaten. Chef, how do you make them?

As you can see from the posts and pictures it was another great eGDC outing. Of course how could it not be, good food, wine, and people! Thank you Hillvalley and Babka for organizing!

[DCMark]

Wow. Lots of wine.

Was DonRocks there?

[Rachel Perlow]

Great pictures, funny captions.

[iamthestretch]

So, who's who then? (Left to right. If you please.)

Front:

Middle:

Back:

[rosebud]

As far as the food went, I will simply ditto what everyone else has written. I loved, loved, loved both the salad and the crabcake. It didn't dawn on me until I read the reviews that the deviled eggs represented "Green Eggs and Ham!" The green part was AVOCADO! Who knew?

There were about twice as many courses as I was expecting and this was clearly a "gimmee" on the part of Gillian and Robin. There is no way they could put on that spread for $30 a plate.

If this restaurant was in our neighborhood, we wouldn't bother going anywhere else to eat. Good ingredients treated very well. I don't know another definition of good cooking. And the price is right.

This was my first outing with egulleteers and I couldn't have been made to feel more welcome. Thanks Nadya for providing transportation for my husband and me and two others. And the guys at Firefly for also welcoming us. Quite a few of us were new to this group and I think we all had a good time. Certainly, nobody went away hungry.

Thanks Hillvalley and Babka for organizing this. And special thanks to Gillian and Robin and their wonderful staff. May you thrive and prosper for a very long time.

Rosebud

P.S. The only fly in the ointment (and it was a small one) is that the table we were supposed to gather at in FIREFLY for happy hour was already occupied when we got there. I was even more confused because one of the usurpers was the guy who lives across the hall from me. Go figure.

[iamthestretch]

Wow.  Lots of wine.

Was DonRocks there?

←

He was in spirit!

[DonRocks]

Man, I feel like I'm finishing up the last chapter of War and Peace.

[raisab]

It certainly looks like it was fun. I wish I could have gone!

Okay so when is the next outing? Someone volunteered to organize it last night , right?

[spaghetttti]

Whew, I think I neeeeed a cigarette, and I don't even smoke!

I grew up in that area and when I come back, CK will be one of the first places I'll head for!

Thanks all for that amazing dinner report....I was there with you in spirit, too

Edited September 8, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[cakewench]

Whew, I think I neeeeed a cigarette, and I don't even smoke!

I grew up in that area and when I come back, CK will be one of the first places I'll head for!

Thanks all for that amazing dinner report....I was there with you in spirit, too

←

yeah. Me too. I'll be dragging the husband to the States this fall, and you can bet CK is going to be on our list of places to go.

It looks like you all had a great time. soooo jealous.