Where to eat in Denver?

Denver is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. Real state is booming and with the massive migration, due mostly to the promise of good paying jobs, has come the massive growth in the restaurant scene.
Denver is located in the center of the Metro area, which consist of many other cities. The city itself is divided in multiple neighborhoods, which offer different opportunities for entertainment. So the question is what to do when visiting Denver? Fun places to visit is what Denver has, however, you must be warned, unless you stay in downtown, where many great places are easy to access by foot, you, most likely, would need a car or the services of a friendly taxi company like Uber.
Public transportation is limited to the Light Rail, a train that travels from north to south along the main highway crossing the city, I-25. It also has a route which travels to Golden. The buses run around the city but the routes are long and clumsy, and your trip can take hours.With that said, let's talk about the fun.

Larimer Street
Starting in downtown Denver, a must-visit-street is Larimer Street. This street houses some of the best restaurant in the downtown area: Rioja, Bistro Vendome, Osteria Marco among some of the best. The street goes quiet for a few blocks and picks back up after 20th, near Coors Filed baseball stadium, where many restaurants have settled. Work and Class is a new favorite. A small space created from shipping containers, with an industrial meets vintage decor. However, there are many other casual places like Los Chingones or Sugar Mill.

Highlands
This neighborhood, located next to downtown Denver, offers infinite dining choices. Old Major is a big favorite. Linger with its amazing view of the city. Lola, right around the corner from Linger; and between the two The Little Ice cream, always with a vibrant crowd. A personal favorite is Z Cuisine and A Cote, next to each other, these tiny French restaurants offer great food and atmosphere.Or for more casual options visit Pinche Taco and Salt and Grinder.

Union Station
This beautifully renovated transport station, located in downtown, is the house of many great restaurants like The Kitchen next door, Mercantile, Stoic and Genuine. However, if you would like to get transported to a classic lounge with one of the best cocktail menu and wine list, then go to the Cooper Lounge on the second floor.

Denver Staples - and going strong!
Some restaurant continue to amaze diners year after year. Some favorites are:
Barolo, offering Italian cuisine with a calm and elegant atmosphere and an outstanding wine list.
Fruition, new American cuisine from chef Alex Siedel, with a lot of the ingredients coming from his farm.
Table 6, corky and delightful, offering amazing cuisine. Fun tip: Brunch on Sunday with in-house DJ.
Vesta dipping grill, a personal favorite, with a hip atmosphere and excellent cuisine.
Potager - beats to its own drum. Delicious food and great wine with a down to earth atmosphere.

Old South Pearl
This fun street offers casual dining options, coffee shops and boutique shopping. And if you love sushi then make sure to visit Sushi Den and Izakaya Den. The Sunday farmers market runs from the end of May to the end of October.

Denver is a fun city with many fun restaurants to relax after a museum visit, a hike or a day of skiing. Hope you enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLORADO

Being 138 years old can be pretty young. If you don’t believe it, ask Colorado.

That is the age our beloved Colorado will celebrate August 1st, 2014, and the party is ON.

Colorado is definitely a special state with character, history and tons of creativity of its own. For example:

•  Colorado was the first state in the union to grant the right to vote to women through a popular election in 1893.

•  Colorado is the only state in history, to turn down the Olympics. In 1976 the Winter Olympics were planned to be held in Denver. 62% of all state voters chose, at almost the last minute, not to host the Olympics; because of the cost, pollution and population boom it would have on the State of Colorado, and the city of Denver. As everyone knows Olympics are bad business for hosting cities, Am I right Sochi?

•  Colorado’s geography is unique. The state owns the world's largest flat-top mountain in Grand Mesa, contains 75% of the land area of the U.S. with an altitude over 10,000 feet, and has in Denver the largest city park system in the nation with 205 parks in city limits and 20,000 Acres of parks in the nearby mountains.

travel.nationalgeographic.com

www.myrockymountainpark.com

But not everything is so serious,

•  Colorado has more microbreweries per capita than any other state and we are investing "green

The FOOD is served.

I am obsessed with FOOD. I love food. I love eating, cooking, buying, growing (even thought at this I am a failure) but especially, nowadays, knowing where my food comes from. Since the latter is kind of a new thing for me, when I heard about the new exhibition at the History Colorado Museum named FOOD, I thought, “this is calling my name.”

The exhibit has a small extra charge, which is a bummer, but since it is a traveling exhibition it is worthy of the extra fee. Located on the 4th floor, as soon as the elevator opens, a path of tomatoes, chilies, lemons and carrots will lead your being to a magic, informative and definitely tasty world. 

In this world, visitors will find how small corn used to be. You will learn how the juicy, sweet, refreshing watermelon was everything but at its beginning, or which cultures shape square this beloved fruit for storage purposes. Moreover, you will swim through smells like chocolate, lavender, oregano, and I hope you like garlic. At the same time, you will realize what happens when you can not smell your food.

Movies play throughout the exhibit taking you on a trip to different cultures, flavors, colors and traditions around the planet. Showing the importance and differences in the relationship between humans and food.

FOOD takes you on a journey of products, from the moment they are strewed to the moment they are placed on your table. Helping to recognize the changes food has gone through, from size, color, taste, forms of production, ways of trade or acquisition, and the ways humans have changed their eating habits.

Initially, the exhibition might seem a little too academic, because there is a serious amount of reading. However, as soon as you are out of that curve, all of your senses are called to be part of this magnificent experience.

While navigating this exhibit you can:

• Learn how to make hollandaise sauce or tamales on a virtual kitchen
• Challenge your chopsticks abilities
• Taste the product of the day in the kitchen
• Discover the diets of Gandhi, Phelps and others.

Guess whose breakfast this is

At the end of the day, what I liked the most about FOOD was that in a very entertaining way, it educates goers about the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. 

I left the exhibition questioning myself about waste, abuse, eating habits and food shortages. Moreover, I left thinking of ways to help solve these problems. Simple solutions as Urban farming, food sustainability and the consumption of Earth’s resources.

I firmly believe in the saying “we are what we eat”. However,  in the process of feeding ourselves better food, we have to consider that food and humans are part of a larger ecosystem, that has to be healthy in order to provide us with a better life. 

TAKE CARE OF YOUR FOOD, LOVE THE PLANET.

Bring your kids for special Global Kitchen Family Days.

History Colorado Museum

Museum Hours: Monday - Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday Noon to 5pm

FOOD exhibit: Extra charge $5

Bring a receipt from any Whole Foods Market for $2 off.

By Loren Escandon

VALENTINE'S DAY TIPS

Even though Valentine’s day is now days pretty far from its religious origins, and very close to the perfect capitalistic celebration. Where the amount spend in the gift measures the love of your valentine.... I still think it is the perfect occasion for couples to find the excuse to enjoy each other.

Most people wouldn't think that Denver is the most romantic city in the world, and honestly they may be right. However, there are tons of activities that could make your Red roses and heart shape chocolate box day a unique, exciting experience.

For the ones with Olympic potential:

Start training right now for the next Winter Olympics by the hand of your love one. Head to downtown to the Southwest Rink at the Skyline Park, this is the last weekend you will have the chance to grab your partner and make fool of yourself while pretending to be Meryl Davis & Charlie White. This is a FREE activity so take your Valentine for a cup of Hot Chocolate after to The Market at Larimer Square.

For the Gluttons:

A culinary Date Night can be the best option for you. Spice up your Valentine with a dinner for two, cooked by each other. If you are not a good cook, no worries, first of all you are there to learn; second it is time for your partner to find out that painful true, third, there is wine involved so by the time you finish stirring up that date, he/she might not notice your seasoning abilities are not right on.

BACK TO #DEVERLIVING

Ok, I am not going to pretend that almost 6 months hadn’t passed since the last time I wrote a word in this blog. However, I have very powerful reasons for the abandonment. 

First, I was traveling non stop with my show Montera, Russia, Spain, Cuba. I am going to assume you all read about it in this blog, since Paula took the time to spread the news.

Cuba theater Festival Poster

Solo Festival Moscow

Then I moved to our house, which for a New Yorker transplant is a big event. I have never had a HOUSE, you know. In that part of the country people live in tiny places where the bedroom has a queen bed and a mounted T.V. that’s it. A Living room, you might ask... forget about that, most people have a sofa bed so when parents come to visit they don’t have to go and rent in airbnb the same sofa bed in some else’s house for a low rate of $60 a night. So as you can imagine I had to spend some time decorating my house... my house... I still cant believe I have a house.

Stencil painting 

Then by the time the moving/decorating madness passed, my beloved Mother was visiting from Colombia. I had to show her Denver, Boulder, Vail and all those amazing places Coloradans are surrounded with.

Without even noticing it was January, and then the Christmas hangover sat in, leaving me incapable of writing anything.

However, after this very long hiatus, here I am ready to talk about my favorite subject... 

Fun in Denver

Lets start with Love in the Mile high city.

I am happy to be back :)

By Loren Escandon