Saturday, May 28, 2005

Eating Club journey and finale

In early May, an amazing Boulder experience came to the end of its first chapter. Many of you outside CO don't know this, but I've been part of the Eating Club, also fondly referred to as "Dining Club" and "Eatboulder.com" and "Bouldereats.com" (I'm sure it will get on the web eventually...). It all started way back in October, when I had dinner with Grace at the Teahouse. We thought it would be fun to meet up and try a new restaurant in Boulder every few weeks. And so it began, a culinary tour of Boulder (with a special stint in Denver) , completely unpretentious nor arrogant, just some people that enjoy eating...a lot. Things only got better when Megan joined us part way through the year to complete the eating triumvrate. We were really great about always going to a different type of restaurant. We alternated who got to choose the restaurant. Here are the restaurants that partipated in our dining experience, in order of visitation.

1. Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse
Tajikstan (North of Pakistan and Afghanistan) - The most incredible architecture in Boulder, everything was built in Tajikstan and then reassembled in Boulder. I had the vegetarian kooftah balls and I highly recommend it.

2. Cafe Gondolier
Italian - Live music that night and some fresh pasta. Grace ordered a chicken salad and the waiter gave her salmon. I made her tell the waiter - the first step to being more confrontational. The "amaretto-meter" begins...

3. Tandoori Grill
Indian - mediocre Indian food, compared to the plethora of Indian restaurants around here

4. Ras Kassas
Ethiopian - the first of 2 restaurants where we got to eat with our hands...awesome. All the tables and chairs were hand woven. We ate tons of flatbread along with our vegetable and meat platters and had some great honey wine. At the end of our meal, the owner of the restautant, a nice old ethiopian woman, came out to talk to us.

5. Rhumba
Carribean - Busy place, but good food. This is when I discovered that Grace likes pork...A LOT. One of their specialties is their mojito.

6 - 8 were the "Fancy" eating club restaurants

6. Brasserie Ten Ten
French - This was a milestone for the eating club, not only because of the hottest (possibly underage) hostess ever; This was the first eating club night for Megan. The food was great, especially the desserts. Our tradition of delicious desserts happened to come with Megan's arrival. Coincidence? I'll let you decide.

7. Frasca
Northern Italian - Possibly the best food out of all our trips. The service was incredible and I also found out what a somelier was. Gnocci was amazing. We were approximately 20 years younger than everyone else there.

8. Mataam Fez
Morrocan - The second restaurant where we got to eat with our hands. This was not just a restaurant. It was a 3 hour eating experience. We sat on pads on the floor, surrounded by pillows. It was a set 5 course meal, complete with Belly Dancing, a precarious Tea ceremony, and rose water sprinkling.

9 - 11 were "low-key" eating club restaurants, and also open to guests...but no guests ever came...

9. Hungry Toad
English fare - An english pub, with some decent brews. I had Sheppard's Pie. Grace was limping that night and I couldn't finish my beer. Weird night.

10. Terrace Maya
Mexican - Tiny place with delicious chips and salsa. I remember we were all starving that night. Decent margaritas, but it was really cold in the restaurant.

11. Foolish Craig's
International - A creperie slash restaurant. Reminded of the good ole college days with Mr. Crepe. We even had a coupon for our meals.

12 - 14 were "Outside Boulder" eating club restaurants, which ended up being all in Denver

12. Domo
Japanese - Definitely had the coolest ambience. Authentic Japanese food in a traditional teahouse. There was also an outdoor rock garden and museum. Seafood was great according to Megan and Grace. Udon noodle soup was great according to me. I think this was Grace's favorite restaurant.

13. Yanni's Greek Taverna
Greek (in case you can't tell) - A fun, family-type greek restaurant. We started off the meal with free ouzo from the owner. I had the chicken kebab. Lots of breaksticks. I'm pretty sure we were also starving this night.

14. Red Square
Russian - A slick, modern new restaurant in Denver. We started our meal in accordance to Russian tradition with a vodka shot. I had a delicious Stroganoff, and possibly the best dessert in all eating club experience: Mango souffle that melted in my mouth. On the way back, Grace skillfully drove through the biggest snowstorm this year. Why was it snowing at the end of April? I don't know.

15. Flagstaff House
Just amazing - This was the culmination of our eating club experience, in addition to the final farewell to Grace before she left for Boston. Everything was perfect. A beautiful view of the Boulder city lights from the flatirons, two bottles of great red wine, premiere cuisine, and of course, incredible company. I had the NY Strip Steak, highly recommended. We had the last hour, more or less, of the restaurant to ourselves. We could not have asked for a better ending to the school year and eating club.

In the end, Eating Club was about more than just the food. It was about discovering the place that we live in. It was about being able to take a break from all the work and stress that we were going through. Most importantly, it was about spending some quality time with great friends. I'm grateful to Grace and Megan for being such a big part of Boulder for me.


Last eating club dinner at Flagstaff. Posted by Hello