Hey Joe! Espresso To Go

There have been a few happenings within the Fort Collins food scene that caused people to talk; one of them was the temporary closing of the Human Bean drive-through coffee houses. Those who were most upset over the loss were parents, mostly moms, that depend on drive-through for their coffee fix. Getting the kids out of car seats to drag them into a coffee house is sometimes more trouble than it's worth, especially in the winter. And a mom without coffee is like a bear waking up in the middle of hibernation, grumpy and sleepy. Not a pretty sight. Or maybe that's just me.

Many people were disappointed because they thought the nearest drive-through coffee house was in Loveland. Most people in Fort Collins are not going to go that far out of their way for an easy to grab Cup O' Joe. Upon hearing about the lack of drive-through options for coffee, some people that I talked to brought up questions about the coffee trolley on South College. Nobody knew much about it and I was all for checking them out to investigate.

Hey Joe! Espresso To Go has been on the south end of College, just north of Trilby for about two years, but under the ownership of Jim and Charlotte Randall since last August. Sitting on the edge of a parking lot shared with a landscaping company and an antique shop, they are a very nice couple who run the little shop together, serving up some smooth lattes with small-town friendly chit chat and smiles. I've driven by this place many times on our way to playgroups with the boys, but I've never been. This seems to happen often as Jim told me during my last visit that the location isn't that wonderful and they are thinking about going mobile next month, depending on how it goes with obtaining permits from the city.


This sparked my interest since I didn't realize that the trolley was in fact mobile. Really, it's not a trolley, but a food truck/mobile kitchen and they often deliver to the hair school near by. Jim had mentioned wanting to stop at different places around town, go to events and fairs and even offered to deliver coffee to our next playgroup. Coffee delivery? This is so much better than drive-through! Could this be something that Fort Collins will see in the near future? I hope so!


Their menu is small and simple. Aside from coffee drinks, they offer smoothies, soda, burritos, a sandwich, popcorn, hot dogs and chips. It's a menu that makes me think of carnivals and fairs. Having had their coffee during a previous visit, this time I opted to go with my usual 20 ounce skinny sugar-free hazelnut latte ($3.50) and a breakfast burrito with sausage ($3.10).


The coffee is really pretty good. It has an unexpected velvety smoothness considering that it's coming from a mobile trolley. They actually have better coffee than some brick and mortar coffee houses in town. The price can't be beat, either.

The breakfast burrito was pretty basic. There was quite a bit of cheese and the sausage had a lot of spice to it, so much that it was as spicy as chorizo. While this burrito was fairly pedestrian, I do think it was better than the breakfast burritos at La Luz (blasphemy!)

Hey Joe! Espresso To Go has some great potential if they go mobile. This will provide Fort Collins with a service unlike any other that is available now. After talking to others in the two playgroups we go to, we're going to give the delivery a shot this week. It will be interesting to see the truck roll up in the neighborhood ready with hot, fresh coffee. The kids will get a kick out of it, but I have a feeling the moms will like it better.


Hey Joe! Espresso To Go
6124 South College Avenue
(605) 391-3693
No website available

Kid-Friendly? Sure. The kids don't have to do anything other than sit in the car while you order and they have some menu items that any kid will love.

Parking: It's a drive-through in a parking lot.

Healthy Options? Not so much (other than the coffee). The smoothie is going to have too much sugar, and the burritos have a good amount of cheese that's going to increase the caloric total a bit. I think a muffin is as healthy as it gets.

Budget-Friendly? I think this may be the most budget friendly coffee besides gas station coffee, and this is a million times better than that.

Recent Health Inspection: Unknown

Mad Greens Inspired Eats

If it hasn't been evident in all of my reviews, I'm not much of a salad person. I don't think I've ever ordered "just a salad" for a meal going out and come to think of it, the only time I eat them is if they are sides or part of a course on an event dinner menu. It's not that I have anything against vegetables. Completely the opposite, in fact. I love vegetables. However, salads just don't do it for me. They are never big enough, never filling and leave me hungry a few moments later. I even discourage my personal training clients from eating salads as a meal, encouraging them to eat them as sides or snacks (because you have to eat a massive salad to get enough calories). Since eating at Mad Greens, I think my perception has changed.

"You will never believe what I'm about to say," my husband tells me as we are thinking about what to eat for dinner. At first I thought he had something serious to talk about, something other than dinner. With a deadpan look, I wait for his answer. "We should grab Mad Greens for dinner. I feel like eating a salad." Can you believe it!? My meat and potatoes husband wanted a salad for dinner. Hell must have been freezing over. He jotted down the ingredients he wanted to build his own and off I went to go pick it up as fast as I could before he changed his mind and wanted Five Guys instead.

Mad Greens is a Denver-based chain focusing on made-to-order salads named after historical "Mad Geniuses". Marley Hodgson and Dan Long founded Mad Greens - Inspired Eats in 2004, with the first location by Park Meadows Mall. There are currently eight other stores around the Front Range, one being in Fort Collins on East Harmony and Timberline by 24 Hour Fitness that opened last year. They are opening a second location on College where Waffle House used to be (next to Bann Thai and Los Tarascos) which should be up and running in March.

My husband built his own salad - Romaine lettuce, steak, croutons, cheddar cheese, potatoes, corn and ranch dressing ($4.00 for the 'Regular' size, $.55 for each ingredient and $3.25 for the flank steak). And what do you know, he ordered a meat and potatoes salad. I didn't know it was possible.

I ordered the "Mad Molly Brown" - spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes, grilled sweet onions and green onions, added some citrus grilled chicken and had the sherry molasses vinaigrette as was suggested on the menu board ($6.25 for the 'Regular' size and an additional $2.25 for the chicken).

Service was incredibly friendly as we went down the line of vegetables and ingredients, each one being scooped with a measuring cup that looked to be about the size of 1/3 or 1/2 of a cup. At the end when the salad was ready to toss with dressing, I was asked if I wanted light, medium or heavy dressing. My husband wanted his drowning in ranch, so after a long squirt from the bottle, I was asked if that was enough. I opted to go for medium coverage on mine since I still wanted to taste the vegetables. I liked that they double check to make sure you have the dressing to your preference.


I came home with two HUGE salads. The 'regular' is more like gigantic, even for me needing a whole lot of salad. My husband couldn't finish his, but I was able to finish mine, considering that I had just worked out at the gym earlier. My husband enjoyed his salad though, even if it was too much.


My "Mad Molly Brown" was good, but next time I would make a few changes. I would go with a different dressing. The sherry molasses vinaigrette was not fantastic and rather bland. It needed some more acidity to it. They have a variety of dressings to choose from, many of them vinaigrette, and I probably would have to go with a Balsamic or Port.


The rest of the meal was good - fresh vegetables and everything was tasty. At first, every bite was just spinach but then I got to the bottom and all of the yummy add-ins were waiting for me at the bottom marinating in the small amount of dressing (or the large pool, in my husband's case).

On those night's where we don't feel like cooking and it's the day before grocery shopping (and we have no produce in the house), Mad Greens is a great option to have. I would totally have a salad for dinner again (I've been converted!) and my husband can still get his meat and potatoes drowning in ranch. Yum.


Mad Greens - Inspired Eats
105 East Harmony
(970) 372-6216
www.madgreens.com

Kid-Friendly? Totally! They have a great kids menu priced at $2.50 per meal with healthy options.

Parking: Small lot parking

Healthy Options? The better question is "unhealthy options?" They have their nutritional information posted everywhere, so you can make an informed decision when ordering. The most unhealthy salad is the Crazy Ivan clocking in at 572 calories, 13.41 grams of saturated fat - not including dressing (yikes). They are also a great place for gluten-free meals.

Budget-Friendly? If you stick to the menu and don't add in meats, then yes. If you add in meats, or worse, build your own, expect to pay a bit more. We payed about $19 for our two salads, and it was the add-ins that got us.

Recent Health Inspection: Excellent

New Belgium beer dinner at El Monte

"The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions" - Ellen Glasgow. This quote is so true. All too often we can find ourselves doing the same ordinary things over and over again, living a life that has lost it's spark. It happens to all of us, even the best of us. Getting stuck in the day-to-day dealings of life tends to stifle our unique creativity, the essence that gives us a sense of happiness and purpose, and when we've lost it, we might as well be dead.

This is why I love attending event dinners. It's a forum for Chefs to showcase their culinary skills and creativity outside of a regular menu, a chance to experiment and switch it up a little in the kitchen. You can taste the excitement and forethought that goes into each course, which are typically dishes you won't see on a regular everyday menu. We have some talented Chefs here in Fort Collins and I've discovered that mostly through event dinners. The New Belgium beer dinner at El Monte was no exception.

I found out about the first New Belgium beer dinner event for 2010 from El Monte's Facebook page. I quickly got a group of friends together (my husband's co-workers and their wives) knowing that this dinner was going to be fantastic, since our regular dining experience at El Monte was nothing short of delicious.

The night started out with El Monte's signature handcrafted guacamole, both the classic version - onion, tomato, cilantro and Serrano, and the exotic version - strawberry, mango, goat cheese, chives, habanero and as a twist for this dinner, some of the orange peel that was used during the brewing process at New Belgium was added. Both of these versions were terrific and I think El Monte has some of the creamiest, smooth and flavorful guacamole around.


The guacamole was paired with Mothership Wit Organic Wheat Ale and the new Ranger India Pale Ale. Mothership Wit is New Belgium's first organic beer. It's flavor is similar to Sunshine Wheat, although the Mothership Wit is an unfiltered beer, giving it a golden cloudy color and a deeper malt taste. Orange peel, coriander, and lemon peel are the flavors you'll get from this beer.


Ranger India Pale Ale is New Belgium's first bottled IPA that will be available with other brews in the Explore Series like Mothership, Abbey and Trippel on February 1st. When the there was much demand for an IPA from the Beer Rangers, the sales people of New Belgium, the brewery spent 5 months crafting this hops bomb that is so lovingly named after the Rangers that requested it. An abundance of hops: Cascade (citrus), Chinook (floral/citrus), and Simcoe (fruity) lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for an intense dry hop flavor. Brewed with pale and dark caramel malts that harmonize the hop flavor from start to finish. Not the hoppiest beer out there but much more so than Hoptober, a release from this last autumn and it stands strongly against other respectable IPAs. I enjoy a strong hoppy beer and Ranger IPA was a great sipping beer during the dinner.


For the First Course we were served Salmon Aumados - smoked salmon, Serrano tartare (olive oil, red onion, capers, Serrano, cilantro and chive) on a fresh house-made corn tortilla and topped with avocado ice cream. This was the dish most of our table was skeptical about (and the dish I was most interested in trying). It was a huge hit, even with my picky-eater husband, who threatened to steal my plate if I didn't hurry up and eat it. The smokey flavor from the salmon was a natural flavor combination to the spicy Serrano in the tartare. The avocado ice cream wasn't sweet, but added a nice balanced cooling and refreshing component, really making this whole little taco-type item perfect. And genius.


The beers paired with this were the Mighty Arrow Pale Ale and the Trippel Belgian Ale. Mighty Arrow, named after co-founder Kim Lebesch's Boarder Collie mix, Arrow, is the spring beer in the seasonal line-up. This sweet, medium-bodied pale ale is the epitome of spring beers with strong floral notes. I love this. It's not my favorite New Belgium brew, but it is up there. It makes me think of the days in my garden planting flowers and rather than grabbing a glass of lemonade, I'd grab a bottle of Mighty Arrow.

Matt Lebate from New Belgium hosted the event for the brewery and spoke about the details of Tripple, explaining that it's a strong Belgian golden ale. It's a multiple fermentation ale that starts with a blast of hops and finishes with a nice herbal floral character and a creamy mouthfeel. This full beer with a lot of alcohol cut the oil and fat from the salmon and avocado nicely.

The Second Course was Sopa de Calabasa - acorn squash soup seasoned with Canella, a spicier Mexican cinnamon, and Arbol Chile. The soup started out soft and creamy with a spicy kick of an aftertaste. However, it wasn't too much and added a level of complexity to an otherwise simple dish. I really enjoyed the squash seeds that were added as garnish, because they not only brought an additional nutty flavor to the soup, but a nice crunch, too. We didn't talk much at the table while eating this other than to make our exclamations of how good it was.


One of the great things about dinner events is listening to the Chef's details about each dish. I really enjoyed hearing that about 15 minutes before the dinner was supposed to start, there was a kitchen mishap and the soup scorched, making them scramble to make a new batch, which they pulled off successfully. I like hearing that professionals like Chef Manno have this happen every now and then because I've done the exact same thing in my own kitchen making Chili for a friend after she had her baby. Only, I wasn't a professional and couldn't save it, leaving me to grab Five Guys for them (lame!)

The beer paired with this soup was Biere De Mars and Blue Paddle Pilsner Lager. Blue Paddle Pilsener-Lager is a Czech-style pilsener, with more body than the Belgian-style pilsener. It's closer to a Bohemian style. It's crisp, clean and has a refreshing effervescent with a nice bitterness that I love in a beer. It's along the same lines as Fat Tire in the way that it's a great intro beer. It's name comes from when an employee's Grandma discovered him sneaking her beer, she threatened to paddle him blue.

Biere de Mars, an amazing Lips of Faith creation and one of my top favorites, is a wild ale made with a wild yeast strain. It has a refreshingly tropical fruity flavor with mango and lemon verbena, oats, wheat, barley malts. Slightly sour, absolutely whimsical, leaving a beautiful aftertaste.

The Third Course consisted of Cangrejo Envuelto - blue crab and cheese "packages" with lemon-guajillo crema and braised chard. Roasted Anaheim chilies, asadero, menonita, and cotija cheeses were mixed in the ravioli-like packages and the enchilada-like sauce contained lemon verbena and lemon peel from New Belgium. There seriously wasn't enough of this. I could have had an entire plate. The comforting, but unique flavors brought this dish from ordinary to extraordinary.


Fat Tire Amber Ale and Sunshine Wheat were the beers to go along with this course. Fat Tire is New Belgium's flagship beer. It's a sweet, biscuit flavored beer with some peppery complexity that blends well. However, of all of the New Belgium brews, this is my least favorite because it's not as flavorful as some of the other beers available. Really, Fat Tire hooks you in when first trying a New Belgium brew, but it's the other beers that keep you coming back for more.

Sunshine Wheat Ale, with it's coriander, orange peel, apple and honey tones is a light and easy drinking beer that was brewed for Kim and Jeff's wedding. After deciding that marketing a wedding beer to guys might be difficult, they named the beer after all of the sunny days we see here in Colorado.

The Fourth Course was Adobo Marinated Sirloin with ancho demiglace and potatoes gratinado. The triple-hopped adobo (cascade, simcoe, and hops blossoms) turned out to have the complexities of mole and marinated the sirloin for about four hours. The potatoes were layered with cream sauce and cotija cheese. A hops infused olive oil was used to garnish the plate and create a hoppy aroma. The hops that we tasted in this dish were the same hops that go into Ranger IPA.


Another solid successful plate that didn't last long, on the table or in my mouth. I'm always of the philosophy that less is more, however, the different layers of flavors in this course were amazingly fantastic. Each taste added a different experience to every bite. Much like previous courses, I gathered that El Monte takes what can be simple and comforting and elevates it to a whole new level using unique ingredients. Love it!

Taking the vegetarian attendees into consideration, El Monte offered a Chili Relleno substitute for the sirloin, which was greatly appreciated by one of the vegetarian friends at our table. She was thrilled. And after she offered a bite to me for the review, she didn't miss out on flavor by skipping out on meat. This packed some heat! But, it was very good.


Tamar, one of the Brewers from New Belgium, spoke more on hops and educated the room on how they are used in the brewing and flavoring process. Filled with factoids and interesting bits of information, I thought this was an nice added touch to the dinner experience.

The beer for the Fourth Course was 2-Below Winter Ale and Lips of Faith Dark Heather Saison. 2 Below Winter Ale started out as a small batch beer for the Al Johnson Uphill Downhill ski race in Crested Butte, Colorado. It is a heavier-bodied beer with dry hopping at fermentation. It is a beer that warms you from the inside out with peppery spices and pine notes from the hops - perfect for our hard core Colorado winter months. I really like the crisp, clean drinkability of this brew.

Dark Heather Saison is a part of the Lips of Faith series. This starts with pale and black barley malts creating a deep midnight hue with reddish highlights. The beer is spiced with cardamom, heather and black pepper for a touch of sweet that fades to a warm, peppery finish. It's similar to a chai spice flavor.

For dessert, we were served Chocolate Chili Ice Cream with lemon-canella galletas. Served custard-style, it was steeped in ancho chili and half and half with Mexican chocolate and Belgian chocolate. There was also a 1554 reduction painted on the plate. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to chocolate. I'm not big on fruit infusions (orange chocolate? Ugh), but the chili that was infused with this ice cream was not overwhelming and actually very light. It was a nice surprise.


The beers paired with this were La Folie Sour Brown Ale and 1554 Brussels Black Ale. La Folie Sour Brown Ale is their original wood-conditioned beer, resting in French Oak barrels for one to three years before being bottled. It's a spontaneously fermented, fruity, tart beer.

1554 Enlightened Black Ale is rich with history and taste. Brought back from ancient Belgian text, 1554 is an ale/lager (due to the use of lager yeast strains) that has deep chocolate and coffee malty notes. It has such great flavor that it goes well with a variety of different dishes, many of them desserts.

For El Monte's first New Belgium beer dinner event, this night went off without a hitch and every single course was successfully done. I liked El Monte before this dinner, claiming them to be one of my top favorite restaurants in Fort Collins and this night just sealed the deal for me. I look forward to more event dinners at El Monte to taste the creativity that comes from the kitchen. For as many event dinners as I have been to, I've never found myself in a rut. Each night is a different, delicious experience.

Pobre Pancho's

Last week the cooking club I belong to got together for our monthly theme night. This month's theme was "cheese". It was much like Iron Chef with a secret ingredient, everyone making completely different dishes - dips, cheese balls, pizza, cheesecake, home-made cheese (which was the best cheese I've had in a while) and I made beer cheese soup. It was a really fun night with great food. It was also a chance for me to hang out in my kitchen tweaking recipes and honing my palate which really helps with restaurant reviews.

Everyone was really excited about cheese being the theme, with the general feeling that cheese is awesome, you can't make a bad cheese dish and cheese makes any meal delicious. It made me think of Pobre Pancho's. Cheese is a staple at this place.

Pobre Pancho's is one of the oldest family-owned restaurants in Fort Collins. Owners Frank and Mary Perez, native Mexicans who've lived in the city since 1943, have their family members heavily involved in the day to day aspects of the restaurant. Everyone from their daughters, son-in-law and their grandchildren chip in to keep the business going.

We went for a family lunch there one afternoon and really did feel the family-friendliness of it all. Surrounded by sombrero's and service with a smile, we saw customers leaving and making sure to give members of the Perez family hugs good-bye. I don't know how often I've seen people hug chefs, servers and bus boys after their meal. Clearly, not regularly.


While Pobre Pancho's offers Mexican dishes cooked from special family recipes, I'm not sure I'd call it "authentic Mexican", exactly. It's more like "comfort-Mexican". The home-style is the same as a casual American diner serving pot roast and biscuits and gravy. There's not a lot of flavor, but lots of cheese and iceberg lettuce. I think I told my husband that it was mid-western Mexican as it reminded us of some of the restaurants in North Dakota.

After getting the kids situated, we ate chips and salsa while we decided on what to order for lunch. The chips were pretty basic and unsalted. The salsa was thin and almost exactly like the sauce my husband makes from canned diced tomatoes and the spice packets from a restaurant his family sends him when they go back up North.

The Preschooler had a cheese crisp with chicken - basically, a quesadilla ($5.40). The baby had a half order of a baby bowl - refried beans, ground beef and cheese in a cup ($2.80). My husband had a beef enchilada with a flour tortilla ($7.00) and a chicken enchilada with a corn tortilla ($4.00). I had the #22 - a flour cheese enchilada, chili relleno, beef hard shell taco and rice ($11.00).

The Preschooler was being a bit picky (as usual) and didn't eat much. Little did he know that he had the best meal of all of us. The chicken had a really great, deep, slow cooked savory flavor with a crunchy, crispy tortilla and lots of oozing cheese. My husband and I kept stealing bites because it would have been a shame to let this go to waste.


The Baby didn't care much for his baby bowl of beans, beef and cheese. He kept spitting it out. I couldn't blame him, it wasn't that appetizing.


My husband's enchiladas were buried under a layer of sauce, a mound of cheese and a thick sprinkling of iceberg lettuce. In his words, "Meh". Not completely bad, but nothing that would make him go running back for more.


My enchilada and chili relleno were also hidden under the garnish of cheese, sauce and lettuce. Again, not much flavor and it was definitely Mexican comfort food. It was the most mild/bland chili relleno I've ever had, that's for sure. The rice and beef taco were unremarkable as well. It's something I would whip up at home if I didn't feel like cooking for more than 30 minutes.


The service was nice and the kids were offered an ice cream sandwich after the meal (which had they finished lunch, they would have been able to have). You could tell dining here that Pobre Pancho's has been in business for over 40 years because of the community support, the family atmosphere and not the food (unless comfort-Mexican is what you're going for). But I guess you need some cheese and soul food every now and then and not every meal needs to be gourmet.


Pobre Pancho's
1802 North College Avenue
(970) 482-0895
www.pobrepanchos.com

Kid-Friendly? Very!

Parking: Small lot parking behind the building

Healthy Options? Not a whole lot to choose from, but the small tacos aren't going to be too bad.

Budget-Friendly? There are some slammin' deals on the menu, but you get what you pay for with portion size.

Recent Health Inspection: Good

1,000 Facebook fans contest

Thanks to the continued support of the Feasting Fort Collins sponsors, there is going to be one big contest on the Facebook fan page. While the comments here on the blog have been great, there is a lot of activity on the Facebook fan page. It seems to be the hub of fan interaction. There are comments on reviews, information being shared on the discussion board and overall, it's a great tool to connect with readers, restaurants and the community of Fort Collins.

Right now there are a little over 400 fans and I'd like to see if we can get to 1,000. It may be a lofty goal, but I think it can be done. Not without the encouragement of Feasting Fort Collins readers, of course. In the past there were a few fan contests where the 100th and 200th fan received a $10 gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice and the friends that referred them to the fan page also received a $10 gift certificate. It was a great win-win-win situation for everyone. The fans were able to get a break on a meal out, support went to the Fort Collins restaurant scene and the readership for Feasting Fort Collins grew. Now it's time to step it up a notch!

Here are the details for the 1,000 Facebook fans contest:

1. If the fan page reaches 1,000 fans by Saturday, February 13th at 10am, the 1,000th fan, the friend that referred them to the page and a fan picked at random, will all receive a $50 gift certificate to the Fort Collins restaurant of their choice.
   
2. Anyone can become a Feasting Fort Collins Facebook fan, local people in Fort Collins or people living out-of-state.
3. The fan numbers must remain at 1,000 or more for two weeks, until Saturday, February 27th before gift certificates will be mailed. We're looking for real fans and not padding numbers.
4. The gift certificates can be used at any restaurant in Fort Collins. If an out-of-state fan wins (or out-of-city limits), they can use the gift certificate during a visit to Fort Collins. We're looking to support our local restaurant industry here.
   
5. Winners will be contacted via Facebook's internal email system.
   
6. Previous contest winners will not be eligible for the "random fan" drawing but will be able to win for referring fans, if their friend should happen to be the 1,000th fan.

I think that about covers it! New fans, loyal fans, fans who don't even participate in sharing the page with their friends - everyone has a chance to win. This is a great opportunity to check out some of the restaurants we have here in Fort Collins that you may have been waiting to go to.

This contest would not be possible without the endorsements of the sponsors of the site, which I greatly appreciate. First and foremost, I have to thank my husband for all of the hard work and long business trips he goes on, making it possible for me to even start Feasting Fort Collins. The team of people he works with are awesome in striving to make their company as successful as it is and we are very lucky to be a part of it. It's because of their success that I am able to pursue my goals and aspirations as a writer and eat out often for reviews on Feasting Fort Collins.

Get Born Magazine

get born magazine is a quarterly literary magazine by mothers, for mothers featuring smart, witty, sometimes irreverent, often sarcastic, always authentic writing for mothers. A Colorado-based publication, you can find get born at any of these local retailers or subscribe to have it delivered to your mailbox four times a year. You may even read essays from Yours Truly in the near future.

KidsTown Drop-In Child Care Center

KidsTown provides licensed, clean and safe child care, with highly qualified staff, accepting children between the ages of 12 months and 12 years. KidsTown is the perfect solution when you need to run errands, attend doctor appointments, see a movie, or when you just need a little "me” time. We use KidsTown often, especially when going out for event dinner reviews. They are a HUGE asset to us and the boys love it there!

Schonfeld Photography

Schonfeld Photography is a full service fun and contemporary portrait studio located in Fort Collins. Cheri Schonfeld has been our family photographer for years, always doing a beautiful job and we have the BEST Christmas cards every year. She is also my photographer for when I need professional head shots for my writer's bios and profiles. Experiencing rapidly growing success, you can check out her new digs at the Grand Opening of Cherry Street Studio, on February 27th from 1-4pm at 325 Cherry Street.

Butter Cream Cupcakery

Butter Cream Cupcakery is a fun alternative to ordinary desserts. Their cupcakes are made fresh daily and come in an amazing selection of flavors and varieties for every taste. Winners of the Best Dessert at the 2008 Taste of Fort Collins, you will surely believe that their cupcakes are like heaven...only smaller. Butter Cream Cupcakery has been a great cheerleader and a huge catalyst in the growth of Feasting Fort Collins.


And a big thanks to all of the readers of Feasting Fort Collins who email me with review suggestions, give me the scoop on inside details of openings, closings and history of restaurants, and who just email to say how much they enjoy reading the reviews. I'm thrilled to be a part of your dining experience and I wouldn't be able to take this restaurant review blog anywhere without readers. Thank you a million times!

Bann Thai

When the cat's away, the mice will play. That's how I feel when my husband is out of town on business and I have a chance to eat at restaurants he'd rather not. Being the corn-fed, North Dakota born and raised, meat and potatoes guy; venturing out to eat Thai, Indian, Ethiopian or anything remotely ethnic is not his idea of a good time. However, since he's been in Europe for the last month actually expanding his culinary horizons, I hope this changes a bit upon his return to Fort Collins and we're out together finding the ethnic experiences Fort Collins has to offer.

After making dinner plans with a friend, I decided that we should go to Bann Thai. Of all of the requested ethnic reviews, this was top on the list. I've heard good things about the place and it was high time that I finally get there to write about it.

Bann Thai is on College just north of Laurel (and next to Los Tarrascos). Owned by Suda Lapakluchai, a native to Bangkok, Thailand, Bann Thai opened on August 1, 2008 with the help of her two sisters, Maythawee and Nucharin. Working together as a family, they bring the authentic Thai dishes that remind them of home to Fort Collins.

My friend and I were the first people to arrive for dinner service, starting at 5pm. Sitting in a richly decorated small, red dinning room, I was a bit apprehensive noticing that we were the only people there on a Friday night. To me, that was not good news. An empty restaurant is the sure sign of a failing restaurant. However, our timing was only perfect, because as we were eating the placed became packed with people waiting for tables.


We started off with appetizers, getting Grilled Chicken Satay - grilled marinated chicken on a skewer, served with peanut sauce, cucumber salad and toast ($6.79). We also had the Shrimp fresh Rolls - Shrimp, shredded cabbage, carrots, celery, bean sprouts and cilantro wrapped in rice paper and served with spicy Thai peanut sauce ($7.79)

The Grilled Chicken Satay was alright, nothing too wonderful, mostly because the chicken was over-cooked and dry. The peanut sauce was good though and there was a lot of it! However, the flavor and the moisture from the sauced helped save the meat a bit, making it acceptable despite the tough texture of the chicken.


The Shrimp Fresh Rolls were terrific. The vegetables were crisp and clean, adding a very tasty and audible crunch to each bite. The spicy sauce added the right amount of heat and sweetness to compliment the vegetables in the roll. I really loved these and I was so glad my friend added them to our order.


I also ordered a cup of soup, the Tom Kha with Chicken - hot and spicy Thai coconut soup with mushrooms, flavored with galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and lime juice ($3.79).

I had the option of ordering this with the spiciness to my liking - mild, medium or hot. I opted for mild. It was a mistake. The base of the soup was good, creamy, slightly sweet with firm vegetables (not overly cooked, soggy veggies you typically get in soups) but it needed more flavor. A little more punch would have done the trick, so I recommend getting this with more heat to it. In fact, I'd say go straight for hot.


For my entree, I ordered the Pad Thai with chicken - rice noodles stir fried with egg and bean sprouts in Pad Thai sauce, topped with ground peanut, green onion, carrot and cilantro ($9.79).

This was a large dish that was easily two full meals. It was sweet with sticky noodles that had been draped with flavor from the sauce. I really liked the base flavor, but once again, it needed a little more kick. You can ask to have the spice adjusted in any meal and with my experience this night, I would suggest asking that all dishes you order to be a bit on the spicier side.


Dinner at Bann Thai was decent - very friendly and quick service with adequate food. It's worth going back again knowing that everything can be spiced more than what I had that night. If I had just a bit more excitement to my meal, it would have been great, not just decent. Fort Collins also really needs the type of variety that Bann Thai offers. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Now that the cat's back from his adventures in London, Oslo, Frankfurt, Brussels and Hoegaarden, I'll try to convince him to explore the worldly culinary treasures Fort Collins has to offer.


Bann Thai
626 South College Avenue
(970) 797-2707
www.bannthairestaurant.net

Kid-Friendly? Yes, they have a fantastic kids menu that will introduce kids to varied flavors yet also appeal to their picky tendencies. All kids meals are $5.79

Parking: Street parking on College and lot parking next door where Waffle House used to be.

Healthy Options? There are many healthy options, gluten and wheat-free dishes as well as taking precaution for those with nut, wheat and seafood allergies.

Budget-Friendly? I would say it's average. Dinner averages $10-$12 per plate.

Recent Health Inspection: Good

Silver Grill Cafe

We moved to Fort Collins from Denver years ago because it was friendlier, slower-paced and a great place to raise a family. My husband grew up in a small town where everyone knew each other and kids went to school with each other from preschool all the way to high school graduation. I've always lived in bigger cities and longed for a tight-knit community, but not small enough to beMayberry, just like Fort Collins.

When I think of restaurants that exude that small town feel, Silver Grill is the first to come to mind. Located on Walnut Street right there in Old Town Square, The Silver Grill Cafe has deep rooted history in this town going all the way back to 1912, although after a few years of management changes, it officially became the Silver Grill in 1933 resting in the hands of Flossie and Millie Widger (Flossie had been there for a while and left in 1918, coming back in 1933). In 1979 the grill was sold to John Arnolfo, who still owns the Silver Grill today, along with his sons and partner, Carrie Hartwell (check out the Silver Grill's website for a detailed history. I love that they have this on there).

The Silver Grill is a revitalized greasy spoon that is well-known for their cinnamon rolls. The recipe was perfected by a German hand baker and many people in Fort Collins bring their out-of-town visitors there for a must-have breakfast. Not only do they bake the cinnamon rolls in house, but dinner rolls and hamburger buns, too. Back in May of 2009, Rachel Ray's magazine (the Food Network cook) included the Silver Grill in a feature on best places to eat in Fort Collins mainly because of these cinnamon rolls.


The afternoon I went, I had my boys with me along with a couple of friends and their kids. We sat ourselves at a long table next to large, bright windows and surrounded by evidence of the Silver Grill's history.


The kids were antsy and very hungry, so we ordered for them first while we looked over the menu. The kids all had freshly squeezed orange juice and pancakes to come later (which I didn't get a picture of because they were hungry savages, drinks were $.99 and pancakes were $1.99).

I decided to go with breakfast as well, but rather than go for the full sugar of cinnamon rolls, I opted to try something on their "Lighter Side" menu because we all know their cinnamon rolls are to die for (and they make cinnamon roll french toast, too!) I had "Ellie's favorite" - Texas style french toast, one egg scrambled and a sausage patty ($4.99).


First, let me say my breakfast was alright. It had great flavor, the sausage was really good with really bold spices, the french toast had a nice sweet, buttery taste, the eggs - not impressive. It was a decent home style breakfast. But, the best piece of advice...stick with the cinnamon rolls. It's pointless to order anything else for breakfast, really. It's what made them famous.

My friends had sandwiches and thought they were pretty good, even with the heavily buttered bread.

Despite my grumpy Baby and antsy Preschooler, we had a nice meal out with friends. Our table service was friendly, although our cashier's service left more to be desired. Splitting our bill didn't seem to make her day easy, apparently.

Despite this, I'd still come back. It's a staple of Fort Collins, a cornerstone to the local breakfast scene and it should be here for many more years to come. Just make sure to order the cinnamon rolls.


Silver Grill Cafe
218 Walnut Street
(970) 484-4656
www.silvergrill.com

Kid-Friendly? Yes, and they have really great pricing for the kids' menu items.

Parking: Old Town street parking

Healthy Options? The have a light menu, but it's smaller portion sizes, not necessarily healthy foods. However, they do have some great options (oatmeal, fresh fruit, etc) in other sections of the menu.

Budget-Friendly? Yes, very.

Recent Health Inspection: Good