Restaurant reviews: Snooze and The Crushery (Denver, CO)

I recently spent a day touring local bookstores in Denver, and while I was at it, my fellow adventurer and I decided to make eating locally a part of our day, starting with breakfast at Snooze on Colorado Boulevard followed by lunch later at The Crushery on South Pearl Street.

Snooze is located various places throughout the Front Range of Colorado, with the most recent store opening on Pearl Street in Boulder. I like Snooze for its use of local food as much as possible. On the weekends, it's not at all unusual to find a line of customers waiting for a table, often with at least some of those customers waiting outside. I happened to visit on a Wednesday and got there at 9:00 a.m., so the line was nonexistent and the wait was minimal.

Snooze has a funky decor, somewhat reminiscent of a 50s style diner but with a touch of a George Jetson feel. The staff has been friendly and fun to talk with all three times I've been there (this was my third time, and my second breakfast there), and the organic, Guatemalan coffee is rich and flows freely and often.

I ordered the Breakfast Pot Pie, a rosemary sausage gravy served in a puff pastry with an egg on top and hash browns on the side.

Now I'm pretty fussy when it comes to sausage gravy, and it is a rare restaurant that does it right. (For the record, I have yet to find a hotel restaurant that does it right.) Too often the "sausage gravy" served in restaurants resembles a thick, heavy paste that might or might not have some flecks resembling sausage in it and is almost never seasoned properly. I am happy to say that Snooze does it wonderfully. The sausage and seasonings were in perfect balance, and the addition of veggies to the gravy in my pot pie were tender yet crunchy. The puff pastry was light and flaky; wasn't at all soggy, and the creaminess of the egg only added to the pleasure of the entree.

Unfortunately, not as much attention to detail was given to the hash browns, which resembled and had a similar texture to the frozen version found in most supermarkets. When done correctly, as is the case at Root Down, another Denver establishment that focuses on local food, the potatoes can be a wonderful treat on their own (see my review of Root Down here); the hash browns at Snooze seem almost an afterthought, and that's too bad. The potatoes were mushy and lacking in both seasoning and flavor, requiring a dose of sat and pepper with hot sauce or ketchup to rescue them from utter forgetfulness. My cohort for the day ordered the Ham Benedict, which he said was excellent and found the flavors and textures of his entree in a wonderful balance, but he agreed with my assessment of the hash browns, which also came with his meal.

Our hearty breakfast carried us over well until mid-afternoon (we were full without feeling weighed down or at all uncomfortable), at which point we found ourselves on South Pearl Street. Wandering down the street, we found The Crushery. Neither of us had ever been there but were both in the mood for something not expensive but good.

At first glance, The Crushery seemed to be your regular, cool sandwich shop, offering both paninis and bagel sandwiches of the breakfast and lunch variety, but a menu tucked under the sandwich menu quickly betrayed the uniqueness of this place: The Crushery is the first affordable restaurant to take advantage of the principles of molecular gastronomy, in this case with its offering of -321 Ice Cream, made-to-order ice cream using liquid nitrogen. There was no way I could resist this.

But first, lunch. As extensive as the ready to order menu was, it seemed lacking vegetarian options, at least on the panini side, and there weren't that many appealing options for an al a carte sandwich, so I decided to try the Reuben, another meal that is a favorite of mine but is hard to find done well. The Crushery's version was quite satisfying and tasty; the sauerkraut wasn't overpowering and the bread was crunchy and crisp. (Though the pickle that came with it was a bit on the soggy side.) The iced latte I ordered was well balanced, with smoky notes and no trace of bitterness, and as an added bonus, was served in a compostable cup. The ice cream was...well...amazing. I created a chocolate ice cream with cinnamon and sea salt combination that was far better than I thought it was going to be, and it was decadently rich with a texture that silk would envy.

The first step of the process is choosing the base, whether  a traditional ice cream base, yogurt, sugar free, or vegan. After that, there is a plethora of options to add in: various syrups, spices and herbs, nuts, fruits, and so on; almost anything you can think of is offered. The ingredients are poured into a mixer and after things are thoroughly blended, the liquid nitrogen is added in, creating a wonderful "mad scientist" visual effect as the ice cream is created. Within minutes the frozen treat is done and served. According to the staff, the ingredients are frozen so fast that the ice crystals are super small, thus creating the aforementioned creamy texture. Quite simply, this was (is...I have since gone back) the best ice cream I have ever had, period.

Both of these restaurants are happily different from any establishment that offers similar fare, and both are very affordable. Ultimately, both only reinforce that eating at locally owned, independent restaurants is always (or at least as much as possible) the way to go.

Restaurant review: Root Down in Denver, Colorado

I recently had the good fortune to not only go out to brunch for the first time (yes, ever...shh.), but also to enjoy quite a tasty meal at Root Down in the Highlands neighborhood in Denver.

Root Down is located on the corner of Osage and 33rd on the site of an old service station, and the part that was the service station has been cleverly incorporated into the building's design, including a separate section for families with small children. The overall feel and atmosphere of the restaurant is one that enables diners to feel equally comfortable in jeans and t-shirts or button down shirt and khakis.

The Root Down is a unique and interesting restaurant, from the setting and atmosphere to the menu, which changes seasonally and features local and organic produce (as well as meats, cheese, and coffee) as much as possible. Fortunately, while other restaurants charge a premium for local and organic food, the brunch menu at the Root Down is priced well within the budget of most people.

When we arrived, we were greeted quickly and told it would be a 30-45 minute wait for a table; the place was bustling for sure. We ended up waiting about half that time before being seated on the covered deck (the covering  was a definite bonus today since it was 90 degrees and sunny).

Our server appeared pretty quickly, and was friendly and energetic. We didn't see her a lot, but I attributed that to the crowd there rather than slow service. We placed our orders and while my blood orange mimosa and coffee arrived fairly quickly as did my son and his friend's orange juice, the food was rather slow in coming out (again, I'm attributing that to the size of the crowd that was there).

The food was absolutely worth the wait. There were three of us in the group, and we all ordered something different and sampled each others (of course) before digging into our own.

My son's friend ordered the Hazel Dell omelette with goat cheese, mushroom duxelle, caramelized onions, sage sour cream with organic home fries. The mushrooms were cooked tender without being soggy or slimy; the onions added a nicely sweet tang to the fluffy and well-cooked omelette. (Comments on the home fries to come.)

My son ordered the house made chorizo omelette with smoke mozzarella, tomato compote, micro cilantro & organic home fries. I found the chorizo flavorful with a nice slow burn in the mouth, complimented nicely by the smoked cheese, and the compote was a sweet counterpoint to the spice and smoke.

Eggs Benedict has long been one of my favorite breakfast entrees, and I am a fan of shellfish, so I got the Avocado Crab Cake Benedict with Herbed-Creme Fraiche Hollandaise, served with lemon dressed greens and organic home fries. In three words: Oh. My. Gosh. The Benedict was wonderfully rich and ever so slightly decadent. The egg and crab blended well and the creaminess of the avocado added a wonderful layer of both flavor and texture. The greens provided a nice cleansing to the palate between bites, enabling each successive nibble to be as interesting and exciting as the first.

We were offered and accepted both ketchup and hot sauce for our home fries but ended up using neither. These were the first home fries I've ever had that were absolutely perfect just as they were. Crisp exteriors and soft interiors were joined with perfect seasonings that stopped them just short of french fries but put them well on the other side of your stereotypical home fries.

I had just enough room for a dessert, and after looking over the dessert menu, was glad I did. I decided to try the banana "creme brulee" pie with peanut butter-chocolate crispy crust and sweet whipped sour cream. The banana flavor was not overpowering, which can often happen with banana desserts, and the crunch of the crust offset the silky texture of the brulee and whipped cream perfectly. The green chartreuse I chose as my drink to go with the dessert didn't sour the flavors in my mouth at all, and in fact, offset the treat quite well.

The Root Down possesses a wonderfully casual elegance that makes for an excellent start to a weekend morning. The very reasonable prices for their brunch menu makes going to the Root Down easy on the wallet, and the presence of both the familiar and slightly exotic spins on favorites provides culinary interests for both the fussy eater and the enterprising foodie. Whether a local or a visitor to Denver, the Root Down is not to be missed.