Denver: 9/20-9/24

Mid-September, I took Bella to Denver for a long weekend to explore the city and to conduct some customer discovery interviews, as a part of my entrepreneurship class, at the Renegade Craft Fair. The city was a bit like LA, in that the downtown area isn’t huge, and a lot of the action happens on the outskirts in little districts like Larimer Square. Granted, “bad traffic” in Denver is like driving at 1AM on the 405, so that was a nice relief.

The city was super walkable and very friendly. I took a Bird, the electric scooter app, whenever I didn’t have Bella. It was about 30% of the cost of a Lyft and way quicker. I mainly frequented Larimer Street, from 10th street all the way to 35th street.

Day 1

Arrival & Airbnb

Right when my accounting class ended at 150, I headed back to my apartment, grabbed Bella, and left for the airport. By 7, we were in Denver.

I stayed in an Airbnb on N Williams and 29th ave, about a mile away from Larimer Square, and right across the street from a dog park for Bella! This was the perfect suburban location for the rest of the weekend.

Day 2

Denver Central Market

I was looking for a place to setup shop all morning and get some work done that was preferably close to some food. I killed birds with one stone.

Denver Central Market, on Larimer Street, was an awesome find to grab coffee and work or get a quick lunch. It’s a gourmet marketplace and food hall (a smaller version of Grand Central Market), that houses a variety of local vendors serving baked goods, coffee, fish, meat, chocolate, ice cream, salad, sandwiches, and wood-fired pizza.

Green Seed

I’m a huge sucker for Mendocino Farms, and Green Seed, located inside the Denver Central Market, was the closest thing I could find. Like Mendocino, Green Seed works with local farms surrounding the Denver area to source a variety of local produce.

I didn’t get a chance to try the pizza, but I almost reached over to the table next to me and grabbed some… it looked that good.

Work & Class

“Food & Drink for people who can eat.” Work & Class is a casual restaurant in Denver’s River North (RiNo) neighborhood, on Larimer Street, serving Latin & American inspired dishes. An array of slow-roasted, braised, and rotisserie meats are offered and accompanied by unique sides and appetizers.

I headed to Work & Class for an early solo-dinner because of it’s rave yelp reviews. It’s an awesome place for date nights or friends to enjoy high quality food and decent priced drinks.

My favorite dish of the night was actually vegetarian! Who could’ve guessed that. The Chile Relleno was absolutely delicious. I love complicated dishes and how incorporating multiple ingredients can combine to create a flavor so unique that it couldn’t be replicated any other way, and they managed to do just that!

Day 3

Day 3 was spent primarily at the Renegade Craft Fair. After taking Bella over to the park and tiring her out for an hour, I headed to the fair from 11-5. By the time it was over, I was exhausted and headed back to the house.

Biju’s Little Curry Shop

I have never really eaten Indian food, and I’ve always had this preconceived notion that I didn’t enjoy it, so the fact that I even ordered from Biju’s was surprising enough. But, given the accolades and the stellar Yelp review, I figured if there were a time for me to try Indian food, now was it. As UBEREats can attest (I ordered from here 3x), I was a HUGE fan.

I honestly have no Indian cuisine experience to compare this against, and I can’t tell you if I enjoyed it so much because I had never had it, but Coconut Curry Chicken was amazing. I was pretty shocked, who the hell can make lentils taste good?

Combining that with chapati, the traditional unleavened flatbread, and a tasty samosa provided me with a newfound appreciation for Indian food. Granted, this place is supposed to be the BEST, so we’ll see how I feel about some of the local spots around me in LA.

Day 4

For the last day of the Renegade Craft Fair, I headed back to the Denver Central Market to get my morning coffee and send off some emails before conducting my last round of customer discovery interviews. After another full day of work and playing with Bella, I was pretty tired, but had plans to meet a friend at Tavernetta.

Tavernetta

Tavernetta is the lovechild of Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, the guys behind Frasca Food and Wine. Employing an open kitchen concept, the restaurant is meant to be an in-between their casual pizza joint in Boulder and the fancy Frasca.

I started the night with an order of the Prosciutto ‘Casella’ which was superb and melt in your mouth delicious. Casella exclusively uses rare-breed heritage pigs, including Duroc, Old Spot, Tamworth, Berkshire, Large Black, which are pasture-raised by small family farmers across the United States. From there, I Got the Tonnato, a pork loin garnished with celery, caper, and tuna conserva.

For the main course, I opted for the special of the night, lamb 3 ways: Chop, Loin and Sausage. Each of the preparations was perfectly cooked, with my favorite being the lamb sausage. Each bite exploded with a smoky flavor that wasn’t too gamey.

I think the only disappointment of the night was that the lamb was a special and I won’t be able to get it next time I’m back!

Day 5

After our last trip to the dog park, Bella and I packed up and headed for the airport, but not without stopping to try some CBD coffee!

We stopped at Blue Sparrow Coffee, located in Five Points, for a chance to try some CBD Coffee and see if the product truly lives up to the hype.

I opted for the CBD Nitro Cold Brew ($8!!!!) and it was delicious. Did the CBD really have any effect on me? I don’t know, I felt a little different, but if you handed me a regular coffee and told me there was CBD in it I might feel the exact same way.

With or without the effect, the CBD cut the bitter aftertaste some cold brews can have. This was a smooth and creamy cold brew that I would have gotten either way! Maybe not for $8 though…

Denver Overview

All in all, Denver was a great city, very friendly and easily walkable. Larimer Street was my favorite as I’m super into food, coffee, and shopping. I’ll definitely visit again, but during the winter this time!