National Pancake Day
Celebrate Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday with IHOP. Today they’ll give you one free short stack (three) of their famous buttermilk pancakes.
eats
Local Harvest
Local Harvest will help you find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown foods in your area.
Snooze Is Nearly Asleep
There are plenty of places to get a great brunch in Denver, Snooze isn’t one of them. Snooze has some great things going for it. Snooze also has some problems. Unfortunately, in this case, the bad outweigh the good.
My party arrived as a group of six. This may be more than Snooze is accustomed to but is by no means an outrageously sized group, particularly for brunch, which is often a friends and family affair. Sorry Snooze, I’m not letting you use that as an excuse. Despite being both seated and served quickly, our service was poor. Each of us had to ask for at least one of our drinks multiple times. We each had water and at least one more drink like a coffee, mimosa or bloody mary, but this is common for brunch too. A large party ordering multiple drinks is no reason not to bring us our order. We had a conversation that went very similar to this:
Wait staff: Can I get you anything else?
Me: Yeah, you could get me a water and him a coffee (pointing to my dad who ordered the coffee when we sat down).
Friend: I’d like a water too, please.
Waitstaff: Okay a water and a coffee then.
Friend: No, I’d like a water too.
Waitstaff: *stares into space*
Me: That’s two waters and a coffee.
Waitstaff: Okay, two waters and two coffees.
Me & Friend simultaneously: Sure.
The way our waitress was acting she must have been on the opening 1:30 A.M. shift. No excuse when you are competing with the 24 hour diners on Colfax who have waitresses sharper than Manolo four-inch heel. The best part was when she came over asking, “How is everything?” when we were still waiting on two of our orders to come out of the kitchen.
When the meals came out of the kitchen they were less than stellar. First off, choices were minimal. There are 11 breakfast choices and 7 lunch choices. This includes two types of pancakes, one item that is basically a bowl of hash browns, and the regular-old, way-too-big, breakfast burrito that everyone in town makes. All of it is simply mediocre.
Snooze is trying to make a name for itself in the imbibing department. True, they have a breakfast wine list and this is very cool and unique. Also true that my bloody mary was pink for some reason. Too much hoarse-radish I suspect. It still tasted pretty decent though.
To top it all off, Snooze is expensive. We ended up spending $170 (tip not included) for the six of us, only half of us drinking alcohol. That’s nearly $30 a person! For brunch! Yikes!
Now for the good parts of Snooze. The saving grace on the menu is the chocolate & peanut butter pancakes with chocolate chips, and the pineapple upside down pancakes. Without these two items Snooze would be sound asleep. Snooze has an incredible location in the ballpark neighborhood and is the only brunch spot in the neighborhood that I know of. Snooze’s operating schedule is of benefit as well. Opening at 1:30 AM on Saturday and Sunday make it a prime location for an after-party gorge. The best thing Snooze has going for it though, is the atmosphere. The place is so hip it almost hurts. This is thanks to the incredible work by the people over at Xan. Kudos to Xan, you did a wonderful job. Despite the food menu being weak, the drink menu is superb and the pomegranate mimosas are utterly delish.
Hopefully Snooze can fine-tune itself. Its menu needs tweaking and the wait staff need no-doze but the outfit has a lot of potential. Don’t take my word for it, go eat there and tell them what you think.
Taco House
While I’m on a recipe kick I figured I post this one that they serve at taco house:
Start with a crunchy all-beef taco smothered in nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato and our special southwestern sauce.
Wrap it in a soft flour tortilla with a layer of refried beans in between.
Wrap that in a savory corn tortilla with a middle layer of Monterey jack cheese.
Take a deep-fried gordita shell, smear on a layer of our special guacamolito sauce, and wrap that around the outside.
Bake it in a corn husk filled with pico de gallo, then wrap that in an authentic Parisian crepe, filled with egg, gruyere, merguez sausage, and portabello mushrooms.
Wrap the whole thing in a Chicago-style deep dish meat-lovers pizza.
Roll it up in a blueberry pancake, dip it in batter, and deep fry until it’s golden brown.
Serve it in a commemorative tote bag filled with spicy vegetarian chili.
Bourbon pumpkin cheesecake with pecan graham crust.
The other day Deb was bragging about a Bourbon pumpkin cheesecake with pecan graham crust recipe that she made. I decided to give it a try but of course gave it my own twist which I think made it much better. It’s best that I document it here so I can make it every holday season hence forth. Enjoy!
Ingredients
For crust
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (from five 4 3/4- by 2 1/4-inch crackers)
1/2 cup pecans (1 3/4 oz), finely chopped
1/3 bottle of Jim Beam brand bourbon whisky
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For filling
1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 bottle of Jim Beam brand bourbon whisky
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
For topping
2 cups sour cream (20 oz)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 bottle of Jim Beam brand bourbon whisky
Garnish: pecan halves
Preparation
Pour one level cup of the Jim Beam bourbon whiskey to check quality. The great majority of the time Jim Beam makes a quality product, but because this is such an important part of this recipe be sure to test it first. Plus, it’s fun. Now would be a good time to make sure your brown sugar, graham crackers, bourbon, pecans, bourbon, and nutmeg are fresh as well.
Make crust:
Invert bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan (to create flat bottom, which will make it easier to remove cake from pan. If you can’t find one of these either fuckit or borrow one from your neighbor), then lock on side. Butter pan. Check the bourbon again to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.
Stir together crumbs, pecans, sugars, and butter in a fluffy bowl until combined well. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1/2 inch up side of pan, then chill crust. While crust is chilling, pour 4 1/3rd cups of bourbon over a glass of ice. Drink one 1/3rd of this mixture.
Make filling and bake cheesecake:
Put oven rack in middle position of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Remember to shut oven door. Repeat the word oven to yourself a few times and laugh about how weird of a word it is. Have another slug of bruboun.
Get out bowl. Throw togever pumpkin, brown sugar, and other stuff, and liqueur (if using) in the bowl. Whisk or whatever with a mixer until it all mixed up good. Put other stuff in bowl too. Put two leggs in bowl and pick up egg I dropped off the floor but don’t put in bowl. Drink boourb….booze from bottle, don’t measure. Stir all up with hands.
Sthir together graduated sugar, cornstuffarch, cinanimanamon, and salt and good stuff to bowl. Stir cream cheese or something with your nuts and beat with an electric mixer. Add one table. Test bourbon. Then, with a spoon of suger or somefink till smooth and creamy. Who cares. Try to grease the oven.
Pour whatever is on the counter into crust, smoothing top, then sloppily chuck it all into the oven while trying not to fall over. Slam oven door. Slug remaining. Pass out.
Cooks’ note:
Bake until center is just set, 50 to 60 minutes, or whenever you wake up. Transfer to rack and cool 5 minutes.
Baked cheesecake can be chilled, covered, up to 2 days.
Makes 12 to 14 servings.
I think I’m In Love
I think I’m in love.
Last Wednesday Kate Stelnick drove 5 hours to Denny’s Beer Barrel to attempt the Denny’s Beer Barrel challenge. Young Kate Stelnick was the first ever to have won the challenge. What was the challenge you may ask? To eat an 11 pound hamburger in under three hours. This includes six pounds of meat, 1 1/2 pounds of cheese, two gigantic buns, a river of mayonnaise, mustard and catsup, two entire tomatoes, two entire onions, and tons of lettuce. Don’t forget the pickles.
Though many have tried this challenge, professional eaters included, none has accomplished the feat. That is till Kate stepped up to the plate. And with Kate weighing in at a mere 115 lbs. (126 lbs. now) the accomplishment seems even more impressive. The chick can eat. Lots. She finished the challenge with five minutes to spare and prepared with two days worth of fasting. Sonya Thomas has nothing on her.
“I had no strategy,” Kate said. “None. I probably should have, but I just tried to eat as much as possible before I felt full.” Her friends joke that she has a fat kid living inside her. She reportedly didn’t even go to the bathroom during the entire challenge. An accomplishment in itself really.
Denny is planning vegetable and turkey-based versions of the challenge.
Kate, you have my email.
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Sweatpea
Homegrown fresh-from-the-garden peas
My mom has always had a garden. And from that garden, for every summer in my memory has come a bountiful harvest, or at least enough vegetables for a bunch of plentiful salads throughout the summer months. Lettuce (usually a few different types), carrots, green onions, tomatoes (of course), radishes, cucumbers, green beans, and my favorite: garden peas. As a child, I would sit on a towel at the swimming pool or scabby-kneed under the shade of a backyard tree or with my shirt off in the recliner chair and in my lap I an enormous bowl full of peas that I would devour the in an afternoon. Now of course, the peas have to be eaten fresh, uncooked, straight off the vine. Cooked pees are pretty much gross, in fact most cooked vegetables are pretty much gross. To this day, homegrown peas, fresh off the vine, remain one of my most treasured summertime snacks (right up there with frozen grapes). When I lived in Platt Park I grew my own, fairly successful, batch of pole peas. Last night I got myself a big old bag of peas from my moms garden. My bag is much smaller because my brother, Pandy, and I, immediately started gorging on the yield and didn’t stop till we were half way through. We slowed down once we realized that my brother was going to be the winner of the “most peas per pod contest” with a grand nine peas. Not to mention I was hoping this bag would last me through the weekend but I’m beginning to become doubtful.
Stay Away From Here
I’m thinking this bean and green chilli burrito combined with this large spicy V8 might be a dangerous combination but I’m going for it anyway.
I Just About Exploded
I just about exploded eating wings last night. They were the good kind. I’m kinda picky about my buffalo wings. They have to be crispy, none of that soggy crap. I like ’em so the skin crunches a little bit. And the sauce has to be good too. I don’t want it to be on fire but they have to bite back. Also, any of you pussys out there using ranch instead of blue cheese to dip with, you can leave right now. I prefer to have about one celery stick for every wing too, but I’m a little more flexible on this point.
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Sweet Goodness
I’m still feeling sick. Now I’m starting to get congested but the fever has passed. The mornings are tough, but after I’ve been up for a while I start to feel better. Somebody in our office has recently acquired an account with Otis Spunkmeyer. With the account Otis provided us with an industrial sized cookie baker and a freezer (literally the entire freezer is full) of cookie dough. Now every afternoon the whole office smells like a chocolate chip cookie factory.
But I can’t keep away from the uncooked dough.
I’m not normally a huge fan of sweets. I hate cake, not a big fan of chocolate (I hate that flemmy film that [particularly cheap] chocolate leaves in my throat), will only eat hard candy on rare occasions. I have a pantry full of Whoppers, candy corns, and Oreos. And it will probably stay that way because I won’t eat them. But there are certain things that make my mouth water. I really enjoy ice cream, coke, whipped cream (from the aerosol canister), orange juice concentrate, mousse, and cookie dough.
I’ve come in every morning for the last two weeks and have eaten a chunk of cookie dough the size of two ping-pong balls. And then, sometimes, I have another chunk in the afternoon. This couldn’t be good for me, but I so seldom indulge in sugary sweet goodness that it feels justified. And it tastes ooooohhhhh-so-gooood!