Caitlin’s Restaurant – Denver, CO

I’ll never understand why restaurants are named after people with common names. You’re basically declaring that the food is so boring you can’t think of anything better to name it than “Joe”. Caitlin isn’t that common a name, and believe me, the quality of the food at Caitlin’s isn’t all that common either.

Breakfast isn’t exactly a new concept, and aside from slabs of bacon as thick as my thumb, there’s nothing unusual or innovative about breakfast at Caitlin’s. But it also happens to be one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. I said it was boring, but I never said that boring was bad. The pancakes are perfect, fluffy pillows of battered buttermilk at its best, the hashbrowns are crisper than Waffle House and far superior to the soggy mess at iHop, and there’s nothing better than mixing them with the gooey yolk of a goopy over-easy egg. And thank you, Caitlin’s, for actually understanding the definition of “over easy”.

Caitlin’s is the kind of blissful boring you can only hope your daily life will be. It’s consistently delicious and amazingly tried-and-true. Everything errs on the delicious side of standard and that’s what makes it memorable. Breakfast at Caitlin’s feels as much a household name as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and although I don’t know who Caitlin is, I definitely think she deserves to be a cult classic too.

Little Anita’s – Denver, CO

Don't be fooled by the name. It doesn’t look like much from the first glance, the small counter with a four-table dining area is scarcely superior to Subway, and there’s nothing less sexy than Styrofoam. Little Anita's may be little in every other way, but when it comes to flavor, it packs some punch with all the attitude of avant-garde (i.e. New) Mexican.

The combinations are ideal for the indecisive, and my #2 Combination was a sampling of pretty much every item on the menu, $10 for enough food to last me a week. Each item was a meal in itself, a reallyreallyreally tasty meal. The chewy cheese enchilada is gone in a matter of seconds when combined with chili, the tamale is a tempting tablet of cornmeal and pork, the taco is just a taco, and the chile relleno is easily the best part of this plate. I don’t even like chile relleno and I ate that part first.

At the end of the day, New Mexican comes down to a single decision. There's red chili and there's green chili and that’s when you’re asked to choose. Good news is, you can't go wrong with either, especially at Little Anita’s, and when in doubt you can always go with Christmas. And after a few bites of this fatty, fast-food-fabulous fare, you'll feel like Christmas came early.

Brunch & Beer at Bull & Bush – Denver, CO

Less would have been more at Denver Biscuit Company, but more is more at Bull & Bush. The beer selection is amazing, and the more of it you drink, the funnier the name of this place gets. As if the beer weren’t motivation enough to go, the food is fantastic as well. Beverages have never been enough for me to bump up a rating, but believe me, Bull & Bush deserves the full 4.5.

Bull and Bush boasts Denver’s best brunch, and if you have the balls to make that claim, you better have the sausage to back it up. Good thing the beer-banged bangers here are no ordinary breakfast sausage. Soft and almost too smooth to be ground, these tender, juicy links are hands down the best sausage I've ever had. As if the sausage alone weren’t enough, the Extra Special Bangers and Hash is served sizzling on a skillet to give you the most bang for your buck.

The Enchiladas and Eggs are a wake-up with a south-of-the-border spin, with all the comfort of chewy cheese enchiladas, a humbly house-made sauce, all topped with eggs and sided with rice and beans. An ideal combination if you’re having brunch after last night’s beer.

The Bull & Bush brunch feeds my inner glutton while the beer waters my never-ending thirst. Pretty much anything I could know to want is on the menu, and I can order pretty much anything and know it’s going to be good. I can even control how good my beer will be with Whole Hop Infusion, hopping out my beer with the special hops inciter. That probably doesn’t make sense to you so head over to Bull & Bush because believe me, you want to know what I’m talking about. If I’m not convincing you, head over anyway. Everything becomes more clear after you have a beer.

Denver Biscuit Company - Denver, CO

It's been a long time since I've been to Denver and I may never get to go back. But I've eaten my weight in the mile high city way back when, so why not give it some justice, however belated? 

I love the mile high city, but I can't say I want skeptical about a biscuit company bearing its name. And why wouldn’t I be? I was a southern girl sitting down to biscuits in a city where I wonder if the altitude even allows them to rise.

Reservations aside, I still had to try the Dahlia on biscuit French toast. It’s a plate piled mile-high with all the good stuff: crumbly biscuits thicker than my mouth is wide, a solid house-made sausage patty, topped with a gooey yolk and drowned in maple syrup. Every ingredient was great, and so many great things in one place make a mouth water in theory. Unfortunately, so many great things in one places makes a stomach nauseous in practice. This picture was taken after I couldn’t stomach any more…it didn’t take very long.

My friend got the regular buttermilk biscuits, which are actually quite good and definitely good enough to make this critical southern girl want to have more nice things to say about this place. But as much as I loved the concept of this place, I can really only say I left more sick than satisfied.

Hearing Irori Roar – Marina del Rey

With Katy Perry on the radio, my stomach picketing an empty protest, and my hangry mood exerting itself, you were gonna hear three kinds of roars in my car while I was searching for the doorway to Irori, one of several shops set around a small, strange rotunda.

If you really want to hear this authentically Japanese establishment roar, try wearing your shoes past the foyer. But after the shoes were off, it didn't take long to find our table, and it took even less time to order. Hanger is pretty good motivation for the indecisive.  

We started with Soy Miso Eggplant that roared with the flavor of something bitter and something burnt. The soy is sticky, the miso is sweet, and the eggplant is soft without being mushy. But somewhere in the process of combining these seemingly harmless elements, a weird, bitterly charred aftertaste snuck in.

The only thing that made me roar about the Eel Avocado Maki was the price tag. The eel was some of the softest, sweetest, among the best I've had, but $7 for a 6-piece maki is only worth it if the eel you’re eating swallowed a pearl.

Expertly cut and crafted, the Sashimi roars on the tastebuds as each smooth slice slides along. The salmon is sweet, the snapper is snappy, and the tuna is tender. There really is no better option anywhere if it’s raw stuff you’re craving.

My stomach wasn’t roaring in hunger anymore by this point, but it started roaring in protest when the server offered me the dessert menu. But my slightly-sweet tooth still couldn't resist some slightly-battered Sweet Potato Tempura.  

I’ve had plenty of good sushi, and I’ve had plenty of great sushi, but I rarely have such authentic sushi despite living in a mostly Japanese neighborhood. Irori’s ambiance draws on the composure of the culture it’s modeled after and is conducive to classy conversation while your feet dangle under the floor height table. The key word here is classy so try not to roar too much, even if you’re raving about your food.

Praising Public School 310 – Culver City

Just because they call themselves public school and have a host of communal tables where you get to sit next to the cool kids…or the kids who got there first doesn’t mean they should be believed. I’ve been to public school and private, and I dare say even the preppiest of the prep schools can’t make food this good.

On your first day of school, (way back when), you never knew what to expect. Every cafeteria promises to be equally terrible, but there’s usually some sort of variation in what kinds of terrible things they buy in bulk. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have ordered a Cutting Board back then? Then you could have tried a sampling of your school’s meats and cheeses so you’d know what to expect for the rest of the year. The thing is, if you try any of the heavenly ham n’ cheese on this crazy cutting board, you’ll never touch your bologna again.

While we’re on the subject of samplers, why not taste the grown-up version of chips and dip? The Mezze Plate’s pita points are more filling than greasy Lays, and when dipped in hummus, baba ganoush, tapenade, or marinated feta, they’re almost better than my favorite apples and caramel. The hummus is smooth, the bab ganoush is smoky, the tapenade is salty and savory, and the feta is crumbly but firm. Pop some crispy chickpeas between bites to give your palate a break. Like your favorite can of Pringles, once you pop a couple, you really can’t stop.

What public school cafeteria doesn’t serve fish sticks at least once a week? I made that fishy, soggy breaded mistake way more than once. But I made no mistake about the Salmon “Pastrami” Carpaccio. There’s nothing fishy about the soft slices of cured salmon that slides straight down.

The Cauliflower Gratin is the one thing that almost looks like something you’d get on the side of your lunch tray, usually in the vegetable section. But this little casserole of grainy-gratin-y cheesiness is so sweet and smooth you can almost forget you’re eating your vegetables.

Nothing that came on a public school plate was going to make me eat my vegetables growing up, but if I had gone to Public School 310, maybe things would have been different. Seriously, I never thought I’d find positive things to say about a public school cafeteria, but for food this good, I might have almost enjoyed sitting through an entire morning of classes. 

La Free Day at La Farm - Cary

One Thursday, two careerwomen tried to enjoy their day off.

Me: Soooo...what do people do when they don't work?

Bobo: I don't know...Let’s be ladies who lunch?

We ladies lunched at La Farm. It was amazing. A sweet, rustic French country café with all the simple staples and a few fancy favorites, just an hour-long lunch was vacation enough for us. We ordered the things we just couldn’t resist…after we restrained ourselves from sampling the entire menu.

Bobo: Sooo…we’re pretending to be ladies who don’t work, right?

Me: Right.

Bobo: Sooo…are we allowed to eat or are we supposed to be watching our figures?

 

It didn’t matter. My Proscuitto Asparagus Tartine was too good not to eat. The menu description makes it sound like a hot mess, but it ends up more like a masterpiece. The asiago parm bread is moist without being soggy, the proscuitto is a salty savor atop a chewy mess of mozzarella. Olive tapenade adds bang for your buck, artichokes with balsamic drizzle add some sour to the sweet. Creative combinations that balance each bite brilliantly. 

We finished lunch. It didn’t take long.

Me: So now what?

Bobo: I dunno…what do women do when they don’t work?

Puzzled silence.

Lunch was a great start, and we figured out the rest pretty quickly...it only took half an hour of heated discussion...which was a little sad. In the end, mani-pedis and retail therapy were added to the agenda but not before we devoured the sweetest, lighter-than-air Salted Caramel Macarons, possibly the only thing sweeter than a girly day off.