Have only one day to explore the mile-high city of Denver, Colorado? The DishTrip.com team recently flew Southwest Airlines for a one-day trip to check out the Denver food scene and here’s what we found. Watch the video and check out our TripLine map to see a realistic one-day trip of Denver’s best eats.
[vimeo width=”580″ height=”326″]http://vimeo.com/18163272[/vimeo]
We were also the proud bearers of some Philly food gifts, which we brought to our Denver friends on behalf of Philadelphia-area foodies. The gift bag contained lots of our favorites: Jose Garces Trading Company Coffee (on behalf of Grub Street’s Collin Keefe), Victory Beer from Victory Brewing Company, Smoked Tasmanian Trout from Sugartown Smoked Specialties, Tastykakes (on behalf of PA Eats), and of course, Habberset Scrapple (from Philadelphia’s City Paper’s Drew Lazor).
The Map
The Stops
The Corner Office Restaurant Martini Bar
Recommended to us by The Me Network, the Corner Office, is a modern yet retro bar right in our hotel! Just what we needed to relax before our day of dining. My personal favorite? The Paper Shredder! Jim Beam, ginger ale and fresh ginger.
The Curtis Hotel
We had heard that the hippest place to stay in the city was the Curtis Hotel, a funky and fun Doubletree property. Fun Fact: Every floor has a different theme like the One-Hit Wonder, Fun & Games Floor and the 13th floor (most hotels don’t have one) is the Dun, Dun, Dun Floor. Also, gotta love the warm chocolate chip cookie upon check-in!
Snooze, an A.M. Eatery
We met up with @thedenverdish (The Denver Dish) for the best breakfast in Denver at @SnoozeAMEatery. When we walked in this clean, modern space with handmade, yellow mugs and fresh, hot coffee, Mike from Denver Dish said “I have three words for you. Pineapple. Upside-down. Pancakes.” We shared a bit of savory and sweet with a flight of pancakes and some classic eggs benny along with the ultimate bloody mary with spicy jalapeno and habanero-infused SKYY Vodka with house mix and the great pumpkin bellini with pumpkin puree, pumpkin spiced nectar and sparkling wine.
Coors Field
It was time to walk it off and check out this clean and beautiful city. We explored the monumental Coor’s Field, the home field of Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies. The Blue Moon Brewery, run by Coors Brewing Company, at The Sandlot is a microbrewery/restaurant inside the stadium that experiments with craft beers on a small scale. Every year, they receive awards at the Great American Beer Festival and, one of my favorites, Blue Moon, a Belgian-Style Wheat beer was invented here. Fun fact: While most of the seats in Coors Field are dark green, the seats in the 20th row of the upper deck are purple. This marks the city’s one mile elevation point.
Union Station
We got to see the beauty of Union Station at night, but it’s just as majestic in the daylight. Union Station is a historic train station at 17th and Wynkoop in the LoDo district. The station first opened in 1881 and recently has received a $300 million grant to construct three light-rail tracks and eight heavy-rail tracks for both intercity- and commuter-rail services, as well as additional storage and servicing capabilities. And…it’s a gorgeous building.
Rockmount Ranch Wear
Jay (the video guy) and I loved playing dress-up at Rockmount Ranch Wear…YEE HAW!!! This vintage-inspired Western wear was so much fun and we even found a shirt with beer hops on it! Did you know that Rockmount were the first to introduce the snaps on shirts? “The Rockmount snap shirt has been to Western wear what the model T was to automobiles” – Cowboys & Indians Magazine
Falling Rock Tap House
Oops, we never made it to Falling Rock Tap House.
Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs
Mike from Denver Dish suggested we check out Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs where they specialize in natural, exotic hot dogs made from grass-fed gourmet meats that are grilled, filled with cream cheese (from a killer cream cheese gun) and topped with Coca-Cola caramelized onions. We tried two dogs, The Reindeer Hot Dog (which was amazing — ’tis the season!) and the Elk Jalapeno Dog. Both were our group’s favorite bites of the entire trip!
The Southwest Rink at Skyline Park
We decided to burn off a few calories by ice skating and luckily, I made a new friend at the @Southwestair Skate Rink at Skyline Park and he made me look way better on the ice (despite a fall). I even got to ride the zamboni with the Southwest Air gang and after biting it on the ice we warmed up with some tasty hot chocolate, cinnamon buns and some brick oven pizza with Chef Dave at the Southwest Porch. I’m still thinking about that truffle oil, mushroom and goat cheese pizza.
Colt & Gray
We had heard about this handsome and cozy restaurant that made beer into cocktails, so we had to taste a beer cocktail made with @victorybeer Prima Pils called the Victory Circle. These guys are mixologist magicians, and in exchange for their cocktail knowledge and pig trotter fritters and blue cheese dusted gougeres we left them with coffee from Jose Garces Trading Company, Scrapple (he loves all types of meats) and smoked Tasmanian Trout from Sugartown Smoked Specialties.
The Buckhorn Exchange
We couldn’t leave town without checking out the oldest and most well-known restaurant in Denver. This quirky, historic location was filled with taxidermy and memorabilia from presidents and actors and is home to some local “specialties” Rocky Mountain Oysters (those are BULLS BALLS people!) and rattlesnake. Bill, the owner, is a Pennsylvania native so he was thrilled with his gifts of scrapple, Victory beer, smoked fish and Tastykakes!
