Fuzzy's Taco Shop

While we were at the Buick Tour we test drove a Buick (go figure). The Buick representative that rode with us mentioned his friend who moved to Colorado to open a taco chain/franchise. He told us that Fuzzy's is a chain in the east and he raved about it! He described to be like Chipotle but for tacos. My husband likes tacos so we figured we better give it a try!

We walked into the new Arvada location (the only location in Colorado) and felt like we were in a collage town. The vibe here is very much focused on young people. It's fun and energetic!

Once we finally figured out where the line starts, we headed over to order our food. They have created a little hall that forms the line so it's hard to see that a line even exists. Anyway, we decided what we wanted and placed our order. They ask for your name at which point you go find a seat and wait for them to call your name over the intercom.

I had heard that their nacho plate is pretty big. I was starving and I love nachos so that sounded perfect! My husband of course ordered tacos. He got one tempera fish taco, one grilled fish taco and one pulled pork taco all with soft shells.

Within a few short minutes our came was called. It's true, the nacho plate is pretty big! I quickly dug in. My food was cold. The cheese wasn't even melted and the chicken was room temperature. I was really hesitant but I did what I've never done before. I had my food sent back and asked them if they could microwave it. I hate to be difficult but I am pregnant and really can't afford the risk getting a food born illness or something. That and who wants un-melted cheese on their nachos?

In the mean time my husband ate his tacos. He wasn't impressed that his corn taco shells were cool. Actually, he wasn't too impressed with the tacos as a whole. He compared them to Whaoo's Tacos and we all know he hates Whaoo's! I took a nibble to gather my own opinion. I thought it was tasty. I liked the flavor of the tempera fish taco.

Once my husband was finished with his meal my meal came back. I am so glad I sent it back! It was much more edible once it was warm. The giant plate of chips was topped with a white cheese sauce, shredded canned chicken, a few pinches of real cheese and a couple pieces of lettuces and tomato. There was also a really yummy cilantro sauce drizzled on a few of the chips. That sauce was the best part! Other than that these nachos lacked flavor.

Overall we were pretty un-impressed with Fuzzy's. I highly doubt we'll be back.

(Pictures coming soon)

Wheat Ridge Colorado Smash Burger

I know that I have made it very clear that SmashBurger is our favorite burger chain. On the rare occasion that my husband or I want a delicious burger just the way we want it we don't even think or discuss where we want to go. The answer has always been Smash!

This Memorial Day we wanted to have a fun evening so we planed a picnic! We would go to SmashBurger and get our order to-go and head to the coolest park we could find. I knew thought our daughter would have a blast and my husband and I would enjoy to food.

I'm ashamed to say that I have been to SmashBurger a few times so I don't even have to think about what I want. I just know that I want the BBQ, Bacon and Cheddar burger. It comes with exactly everything I would add to my own burger if I were to "build my own". The burger comes with BBQ sauce, bacon, cheddar cheese and haystack onions (my favorite)!

My husband was excited about the Avacado club and thought he'd give that a try. They asked if he wanted a whole wheat bun or the regular egg bun. He asked for the egg bun and added cheddar cheese.

We were excited about this! We have always had the best service with the highest quality at SmashBurger so I didn't even think to check our food. I should have. When we arrived at the park and had thrown out our blanket we sat down anxious and eager to dig in to our American meal! I opened up my burger (I always eat a few haystack onions off the top because they give me so many and they are so good)! I was not only unhappy with what I saw but I was in pure shock.

At first glace I noticed that my hamburger patty was black so I peeked from the bottom. I was amazed that they would serve someone a hamburger that was as black as mine was. My husband was half way done with his burger by this point and he had been complaining that it was the driest burger he's ever had. Now I understood why!

As I looked at all the things that were wrong with my burger, this is what I noticed:

• The "Haystack Onions" looked (and tasted) like the leftover scraps they had on hand. Many of them were black and others didn't even have onion. I have no idea what they were thinking when they put these on top of my burger! Who on earth would be impressed with that garbage? Like I said before, in all my past experience my haystack onions have been perfect little rings and there were so many of them that I could eat quite a few and still have plenty for my burger. This time, I was discussted that they would even put whatever that was on my burger.

• Next I noticed that a side of my cheddar cheese was burnt to a crisp. Literally. I don't expect perfection. I understand burning a side of the cheese is easy to do on a grill but pick it off and throw it away or something! It looked so tacky and un-professional.

• Lastly I was pretty surprised that SmashBurger would put as little bacon on a bacon burger as they did. I've seen and heard many people joke about how McDonalds or other fast food chains skimp on bacon but I've always had enough bacon to cover every bite at SmashBurger. This is just one of the things that has made them excellent.

So, as you can tell I was left with what I thought was a pretty un-edible hamburger on my Memorial Day picnic with my family. My daughter and I nibbled on the Smash Fries I ordered. They too were the worst I've had at SmashBurger but at least they were edible. Not to be too nit picky but my husband's burger (remember he ordered the egg bun rather than the whole wheat?) came with the whole wheat bun. He was a little annoyed.

Overall we were 100% dissatisfied with our SmashBurger experience. My husband called that particular store to talk to the manager and the girl said there wasn't one. He asked for the owner's phone number. She said they were corporate owned. He asked who he should talk to about a complaint and she said corporate. So today, that is my plan. I'm going to contact corporate.

After our sit down dinner with Tom Ryan at the Boulder SmashBurger grand opening a couple years ago, I felt like I had a clear understanding of what SmashBurger stood for. He explained that his vision was to create a place that was better than McDonalds but faster and more casual than Red Robin. He wanted a place that was sophisticated enough for a date but fun enough for family night. I admire his vision and find his plan to be perfect. I can't imagine what he would say to the workers at the store we went to last night. I can only imagine he too would be appalled. As my husband said "we would have been better off eating McDonalds".

Update:

Hours after posting this review and emailing corporate I received a phone call from Greg Creighton, the COO of Smash Burger. He had called to apologize for the "horrific experience" we had. He explained that the Wheat Ridge location had a "faulty grill" and that it was being replaced as we spoke. He also offered to do what he would do for any customer who had a horrible experience, which is to offer a gift card. (As a side note, I'm confident that at other locations they would be willing to offer you a new burger if you received one that wasn't worth eating)

I am not surprised by the awesome response of Smash Burger corporate. Like I've said, Smash Burger offers quality food and quality service which is why we are proud to call it our favorite burger chain. I just hope that along with their new grill, they have chastised the cooks who put together that atrocious burger! A faulty grill is no excuse for such horrible assembly or for serving burnt food.

While I'll probably never visit this location again, we will of course visit another Smash Burger soon to hopefully enjoy the amazing burger I've been craving!

Past Reviews of Smashburger:

http://coloradocritics.blogspot.com/2010/03/boulder-smashburger-vip-event.html

http://coloradocritics.blogspot.com/2009/10/smash-burger.html

Smashburger Vs Others:

http://coloradocritics.blogspot.com/2010/06/five-guys-burgers-and-fries.html

http://coloradocritics.blogspot.com/2010/05/park-burger.html

Amazing Smash Burger Locations:

Ribs!

I've always loved ribs ordered at restaurants but my husband has never had ribs he really loved. I've made them at home and he eats them but they never WOW him.
Kroger sent us a coupon to try any one of their pork products. With a coupon, I was willing to give ribs one last shot. I purchased St.Louis Style ribs and a bottle of Jack Daniels BBQ sauce. We cooked the ribs low and slow and coated them in the BBQ sauce in the last half hour. My husband went to dish up and was in shock that his ribs fell off the bone before he could get them to his plate. He tried them, and loved them! As in, he asked me to buy them again!
I am in shock that we found a recipe for ribs that we all loved!

Buick Discovery Tour

My husband and I were invited to attend an event put together by Buick a couple weeks ago.  As a food writer I first found it a bit odd to be invited to a food event by Buick but my husband, who used to work in marketing, helped me understand.  Buick and Food and Wine teamed up and hired exquisite, nationally renowned chefs to do live demonstrations to draw people in.  As part of the event, they would also have guests test drive a Buick of their choice.  It's a really great idea!  I never would have test driven a Buick had I not been there for the food!

 

The event was called the Buick Discovery Tour and was held in downtown Denver at the Four Seasons.  We pulled up and the valet took our car and we were directed up stairs to sign in and snack while waiting for others to arrive.

 

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

Once it was time to start they directed the three groups to their own starting point.  We got to start off test driving the cars.  I loved the presentation! I looked out the second story window and noticed the entire block was filled with shiny, clean, new cars. It took me a minute to realize that they had closed off a whole block in down town Denver on a Saturday evening just for the car line up! It was an impressive site. We walked down stairs and out to the street. All the cars were already running with a representative inside waiting to guild you on the drive and tell you all about the car you chose. Since we have our second child on the way, my husband asked to test drive a full SUV (for me) or their sport car (for himself) . We were taken to the Verano Turbo, which is neither their sport car or an SUV. In fact it was pretty compact. I'm not sure if it is a "compact" car but it sure seemed like it! The interior was neat. I liked that it it had a heated steering wheel and apparently the front seats are heated too. As previous Audi owners there wasn't a lot to be impressed about. If we were interested in a compact Turbo we'd stick with our Audi A4. In any case, I did realize that Buicks are no longer your Grandma's car. They look nice and they are luxury cars which I was unaware of so I did learn something new!

 

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

 

 

Next we got to go back up stairs to watch the demo with Hedy Goldsmith. She was my favorite to listen to. She told us about her life growing up with a mother who didn't cook. She explained how she was introduced to baking when she received an Easy Bake Oven! Hedy is energetic, fun and creative. I love that she's not afraid to use unique ingredients in her food. For example, she made us a Basil Panna Cotta with Strawberry Consomme. It was so good! The fresh basil didn't taste like traditional basil. Paired with the sugar and cream it took on more of an earthy taste that really made the dish feel fresh and airy. I think the Strawberry Consomme was my favorite part though. It was delicious!

 

 

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

 

Next we went in with local chef, Alex Seidel. Alex runs a farm here in Colorado which he says is "Colorado's First Artisanal Sheep Dairy & Creamery". There they raise sheep which are milked to create dishes at his restaurant, Fruition. He showed us how to make Cavatelli Pasta with English Peas, Foraged Mushrooms and Cacio Pecora Broth. It was fascinating to listen to him and realize that there is a restaurant here in Denver that owns a farm, raises sheep, breads their own lamb and makes their own cheese! I just can't believe all the work that they themselves put into each dish they serve. It's incredible!

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

After the three stations the three groups came together in a large conference room. We were greeted by a Buick representative who then introduced us to Michael Green. We don't drink wine but apparently he's a wine genius! He spoke to us with much enthusiasm about wine pairings. He explained how different flavors will complement or ruin a wine. He was quite a character! My favorite part (since we didn't drink the wine) was eating the Lindor chocolate!

(Photo credit for this photos goes to Intersport)

Finally, we were introduced to New York chef, Michael Psilakis. We were looking forward to his presentation since Greek food is one of our favorite cuisines! He shared a little back story, explaining how he was first an accountant and became a chef on accident. I love the family history that he shares in his book too! This guy is not only a great chef but he loves food and he loves his family and I appreciate that!

He made us Gyro Spiced Sliders. You wouldn't believe the flavor one little slider can pack! It was the most amazing food experience I have had in a long time! I could have eaten a second, maybe a third. This guy is a food genius.

As the event came to a close we were given a signed copy of Michael Psilakis' book How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking. I love collecting cookbooks so I really appreciated his gift to us!

We had an excellent night at the Four Seasons attending the Buick Discovery Tour! I learned a little about Buick and a lot about food. If you ever get an invite don't hesitate to accept! It was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

 

Phoenician Kabob

The Phoenician Kabob will probably always be our favorite restaurant in Denver. My husband and I stumbled in here on a very snowy, cold night a few years ago. It looked like a hole in the wall from the outside but once we walked in we were impressed! Little did we know, we were about to fall in love with Mediterranean food.

Four years later we are still raving about our experience here. The manager at the time, Jamal, just brought us food. From what I recall, we hardly looked at the menu because he just brought us his favorites. He sat with us and explained the origin of Falafels and explained to us what Kafta was. He was invested in making our visit a good one, so much so that he brought out his personal tube of tomato sauce and sent us home with it. Jamal is my food hero. He welcomed us into the beautiful world of Middle Eastern Food.

When company comes from out of state we don't hesitate to take them out to dinner to the Phoenician Kabob. When my aunt and her family came they were no exception so we once again found ourselves at our favorite eatery.

We ordered the exact same things Jamal suggested to us the first time we came. My family loved it!

I won't post the details but rather, I'd love for you to read our first experience at this hidden Denver gem! Seriously, this is my highest recommendation of all time!

Diegos

I had family in town a couple weeks ago. They were staying on 16th Street so we spent a day on 16th Street. I always dread going downtown but once I am there I always love the hustle & bustle and people watching.

We were freezing and hungry so we ran to the first restaurant that looked good. Diego's. I am always up for Mexican food!

We had two toddlers in strollers with us which made us difficult to seat I'm sure. Our waiter was excellent and patient with us non the less.

Since I had my toddler with me I thought the Nachos would be an easy dish to share with her. I am a sucker for loaded, cheesy nachos despite the guilt that follows eating them. Ours were topped with chicken, guacamole, salsa, sour cream and a creamy cheese sauce. They were so good but we couldn't finish them. It is an impressively large dish that I'd highly recommend.

My aunt ordered the vegetable fajita plate. It looked and smelled great! She said it was delicious too.

If you find yourself downtown with a craving for Mexican food I recommend giving this place a try. My favorite thing about Diego's was their salsa bar! I think more places need sauce or salsa bars!

Mecca Grill

My husband and I love Middle Eastern food. It's our second favorite with authentic Mexican being our number one. With that being said, we had to try Mecca.

 

 

We went to Mecca around two in the afternoon on a Saturday and we were the only ones there for the majority of the time which was nice. Our waiter was very polite and accommodating until his friends stopped by. He then slacked off, taking ten minutes just to bring us a box. He also turned the music up so loud that my husband and I couldn't hear each other anymore. I wouldn't complain, I like loud music but the atmosphere before was calm and relaxing so to go from a relaxing meal to a night club feel was just odd. One or the other would be nice.

 

I also have to point out (because it's not obvious), you seat yourself and pay at the counter.

 

Now, lets talk food. My husband ordered their meat combo (Kafta, Chicken Shawarma, and a chicken Kabob) which also comes with two pittas, hummus, rice and a salad. I like how they bring out the pittas and hummus with the salad out as an appetizer. The presentation was also amazing. We were impressed. The food was delicious too. Our favorite was probably the Shawarma. The Kafta was also amazing but the chicken was pretty boring.

 

I ordered the Falafel plate. It came with the same sides as the meat combo and my 5 Falafels. I love Falafels! I don't think I've ever had  aFalafel I don't like but these weren't very good. They tasted a lot like flour and not much else. I thought they were a bit too dry and flavorless really. After dunking them in the amazing hummus and garlic paste they weren't too bad.

 

I highly recommend trying their meat combo! If we go back we'd probably get that again along side a Chicken Shawarma sandwich since their Shawarma was so good. I also have to mention the Mango and Strawberry juice. It was the best drink I think I have ever had! It was devine! The Strawberry juice was good too but the Mago Strawberry is the best.

 

We really wanted to try their Baklava but our waiter stopped attending to us as I mentioned. I suppose it's just as well. We left with so many leftovers as it was. I just wish we had as excellent service as we did in the beginning. Overall, I recommend Mecca. The food and presentation were exceptional!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Peking

I live near New Peking. I drive by it all the time. It's a hole in the wall looking place. I never thought to try it but one day, I was looking on Urban Spoon for a Chinese restaurant we could grab some quick take-out from. With a toddler and a husband on bed-rest I was too lazy to make dinner and the family wasn't up for a night out. I found New Peking and I was impressed with it's rather high reviews. I was especially thrilled that they offered delivery! Now we're talking!

Growing up my parents just ordered a family something from our local Asian eateries. I never had a choice and when the food came, there was so much food everyone was in heaven. As an adult I haven't run into many places that offer a family combo meal. I love that New Peking offers that. It makes dinner easy and for me, nostalgic too.

We ordered the Family Dinner for two. It's a little under $12 per person. It comes with one fried shrimp, one egg roll and one crab wonton per order. It also comes with a choice of one of three soup options. You then get to pick from a list of entrees and rice or fried rice as your side dish.

We ordered Sesame Chicken and Orange chicken, both with fried rice.

I was so excited! Chinese take-out is my guilty pleasure and for us, it's a rare treat. After waiting for a little over an hour, our meal was delivered to our door step. I excitedly opened the bag pulling out each of it's contents. Soup, sauces (soy sauce, sweet and sour, and hot mustard). I pulled out a white bag. I was sure those were the fortune cookies but sadly they were not. No fortune cookies for us. (What Chinese take-out doesn't have fortune cookies?!) I then pulled out our fried rice which looked promising.  I pulled out the chickens. I opened the Sesame. It looked like Sesame chicken but nothing fancy; something similar to what you would find at Panda Express. Last, I opened the Orange chicken. "What on Earth?" I thought. I was so confused at what sat in front of me. That is not Orange chicken. I tasted it. It didn't taste like Orange chicken, that was for sure. I still don't know what it was but I can promise you it was not what we ordered. I was really disappointed but again, with a toddler and a husband on bed-rest I wasn't willing to make a fuss over it.

I was obviously disappointed that our simple order was somehow messed up. Both chicken's were decent.  After getting over the fact that the one wasn't orange chicken it was good. The fried rice was what you would expect. Nothing more and nothing less. The Egg Drop soup wasn't good. I tried eating it twice (even as left overs) and I just didn't find it worth eating. The appetizers were okay. My favorite part of the whole meal was probably the Sesame Chicken. It was good but still, not exceptional. My husband and I loved that it didn't feel greasy. It felt clean and we prefer that to the disgusting, greasy stuff.

Overall, I would rate New Peking a 6 on a scale of 1-10.  I really expected more from a place with such high reviews. It was more of a disappointment than a great experience and because of that, my husband said he wont ever eat there again. I'd go back if I were in the same boat again. Maybe.

Melting Pot

For our anniversary, my husband treated me to a fancy dinner at the Melting Pot. I have wanted to go to the Melting Pot since I heard it existed years ago. It just a little pricey and we'd been waiting for a special occasion. We thought our anniversary was just the occasion to check it out.

Since it was a special occasion we went all out and ordered the "Big Night Out". I highly suggest ordering this since it comes with pretty much all the Melting Pot has to offer. You get a starter, a salad, main meal and a chocolate fondue for desert. Now that's heaven! It's $100 for two. It may sound a little expensive I promise it's worth it.

We started out with our cheese fondue (the starter). Their special at the time was a cheddar cheese with bacon. The cheese fondues come with veggies, apples and bread to dip. Oh how I wish they offered this particular cheese fondue all the time; but that just would be too much of a temptation to handle so it's just as well.

The entree is a broth, oil or wine base. We went with a chicken broth with herbs. It was great but it wasn't nearly as awesome as that cheese fondue was. When the waiter brings out each of the fondues it takes quite a while to heat them to the appropriate temperatures so you have a little time to chat with your significant other or friends and also to digest your previous course. I like that. Finally, when the fondue is warm enough you get to dip in your choice of entree. We got chicken, shrimp, lobster, sirloin and pork. You would think we'd favor the lobster as lobster lovers but you'd be wrong. We were shocked to find that the pork was on the top of our list. It was divine!

They also bring you so many sauces to dip your food in! We were overwhelmed with the choices that lay before us. With the meat options, veggies options and the combo of sauces everyone is guaranteed to be happy.

Finally, once you think you are about to burst at the seams it is time to dig into the greatest, more decadent, delicious desert you will ever experience. You get a choice of chocolate fondues. My husband is crazy. He really doesn't like desert and he especially doesn't like chocolate so I let him pick which fondue to try since I'd love them all. He picked Cookies and Marshmallow Dream. It was an excellent choice. It had milk chocolate and marshmallow cream with with Oreo cookies sprinkled in. It was so good I could have poured the leftovers in a designer bag to save for later and not even regretted the mess. As if that wasn't good enough, you get an awesome variety of goodies to dip into the fondue. We had marshmallows, rice crispy treats, cheese cake, pound cake, brownies, strawberries, and bananas.

I had a great time! I loved the environment. We were seated in our own private little space with curtains. The waiter was a great teacher and was an awesome help. My only complaint is that I asked him if would take a picture of us and he said "later". It never happened unfortunately. I really would have loved to have a picture to go with such a fun memory.

I'm not sure that we'll go back for the whole meal again since we've already experienced it. I would however, highly recommend everyone try it for a special occasion. It's not even a question as to whether or not I'll go back. The answer is a resounding yes! But we'll be going for just the chocolate fondue next time as a special treat. If I remember correctly, the chocolate and the cheese fondues are only $16 each for two people. That's a great deal in my opinion!

Jewel of India

My husband and I have been a little hesitant to eat out since our sweet baby was born in November. You never know who is baby friendly, who has high chairs and how the baby will behave is a whole other story. Luckily we chose to come to Jewel of India on our first family date. It was a spectacular choice! We felt like we were on a date sitting in this well decorated restaurant. Our server even lit a candle at our table all the while our baby was sitting in a highchair that they provided for us.  The wait staff loved her and were very willing to do anything to help make the baby feel welcome too. 

We started our night off right with Vegetable Samosa and Chicken Pakora. I fell in love with the soft, flavorful Vegetable Samosas while my husband loved the Chicken.

In a typical Indian restaurant food is served family style. I love this as it gives my husband and I the opportunity to serve ourselves as much as we want. I'll be honest here, Indian food isn't love at first sight but once you taste it you are sure to be pleased! On the left you'll see the Chicken Saag. Chicken Saag is a creamy spinach based food filled with amazing flavor. Above the Saag is the rice which is delicious when mixed in with the sides. Then there is the Tandoori chicken. I love the simplicity of this meat. It's well flavored and was perfectly tender too! Below the Chicken is Lamb Rogan Josh which is a Lamb Curry. Finally we have the Dal Makhani which are creamed lentils seasoned with garlic and ginger.

I have a special place in my heart for Saag so I can't deny that it was my favorite of the meal. They served all of this with fresh, warm Naan. I really enjoyed their soft Naan and appreciated how fresh it was!

If I could, I would share this treat with the entire world. This here is why I write a food blog; to let people like you know that you need to stop what you are doing and go try these! They are called Gulab Jarnun which according to their menu are " Milk Balls in syrup and rosewater".

This is Kheer. It is a rice pudding with a very subtle flavor. I think my husband appreciated a dessert that wasn't too sweet.

Do yourself a favor and order a Lassi. This was a Mango Lassi which is simply a mix of mango and yogurt. Our daughter and I loved sipping on this special treat!

Jewel of India was a jewel indeed and by far one of my favorite restaurants to visit. The owner was very friendly and kind. The servers were great and the environment was perfect! If I were you, I wouldn't hesitate to try this place out! You can even order it to go!