The Trustafarians of Colorado

I went to Colorado last week for a work-related trip but managed to have a fantastic time in the midst of all the work. Our friend S lives in Boulder, and A lives in Denver, and I managed to visit extensively with both. I arrived in Denver with a plane full of people wearing Keens and steel water bottles, so I was already looking forward to an environment of recycling and nourishing food, though I was certainly hoping for some grit and dirt as well. Luckily, I was hanging out with these friends, the perfect ones to provide that other side for which I was looking, without delving too far into any underbellies.

We started my trip with dinner and the first round of the Western finals of the NBA playoffs in Denver at the Tavern Uptown. It was a pleasant bar of dark wood and many televisions with a nice menu of many kinds of bar food. I'm generally wary of a menu that includes burritos, sandwiches, pastas, pizzas...but the meals we had were yummy. And though the Nuggets lost that one, it was fun to be in a bar full of fans at the time. And good company makes all the difference, of course.

The next day, after a day full of rockin' productive work, S and I shared margaritas on the roof of Rio Grande in Boulder. From the rooftop one can see the Flatirons in the near distance, and though the clouds hovered above us, it never rained. We engorged ourselves with chips and delicious salsa, and my strawberry margarita was delicious. The regular margarita was beautifully smooth, but the strawberry one had real strawberries! Yummy.

After that, A met us at the Lazy Dog on Pearl Street. Pearl Street is the main thoroughfare of fun in Boulder. In the downtown area it's mostly pedestrian strolling with street artisans, musicians, etc. All kinds of restaurants, bars, and specialty boutiques line the street. We again hit the rooftop for drinks and to watch the Cards-Cubs game. The Lazy Dog is a sports bar, straight-up. We didn't order food, but the bartender was friendly and we had a great time. Love that rooftop fun.

Finally, we had dinner at an Irish bar called Conor O'Neill's (of all things, it's other location is in Ann Arbor, Michigan). It had lots of steps up and steps down to trip over, but it made for an interesting feel of the place. The kind of place that feels like Guinness sent the wood over so it would feel like a proper Irish bar. We ate between the three of us two giant platters of barbeque pork pesto quesadillas. I was entirely skeptical when S suggested this dish, as the combination of barbeque and pesto in a quesadilla sounds terrible. Amazingly, it was delicious. I'm not kidding. Delicious.

Though we'd discussed karaoke, and I'm usually hard-pressed to NOT karaoke, but I was pooped after a long day of work and play, so we hit it.

The next day we had lunch at The Sink, a long-time establishment in Boulder. Robert Redford was once a dishwasher there, and his portrait (caricature?) is painted on the wall. There are many, many things painted on the walls...ceilings... It's a dive that's clearly attempting to be a dive, but the food is much better than a dive's food. For lunch, I had the meatloaf sandwich---the only meatloaf I've had with artichokes and sundried tomatoes in it, which was yummy and very filling. We returned for happy hour and had the--get this--deep friend pickles. I was again surprised to think they were delicious, and I don't care for pickles. Amazing.

We then had chips (fries) and curry while drinking British Ales at the Scotch Corner. I know...should have been Scottish Ales. Do I like beer? I remind you...no. After a rugby game we walked up and down Pearl Street a bit and popped into the Pearl Street Pub & Cellar. We both used the bathroom and decided to skedaddle. We finally landed for dinner at the Walnut Brewery, or something to that effect. They brew their own beers, as you might suspect from the title I gave this place, but the food is surprisingly good. I had the most (positively) interesting macaroni and cheese in my life. A fantastic blend of cheeses and spices. Skip the chicken...it's not necessary. This was stellar mac 'n' cheese, and I pride myself on knowing my way around a mac 'n' cheese.

All in all, it was a great time. I'll be happy to return to Colorado, whenever that time comes. I'm sure it won't be too far in the future.