Rocky Mountain High, The Food Edition

I had the best food of my life in Colorado.

And it was beyond just eating...it was an adventure!

So when I left you, after the zoo, I told you my favorite part of the trip happened next.
Here you go:

I've been reading, all my life, of restaurants that served incredibly prepared food, served up in tiny portions on huge plates and always wondered how anyone ever got full.  Could it really be THAT good? Really?  And didn't the diners race right out after that and order a pizza to quell the obvious hunger?

I can now say, with complete conviction, that it's a food lover's fantasy come true. 

So, in downtown Boulder, there's a little place called The Black Cat Bistro that serves meals made from food they try to mostly grow or procur locally.  The owner and chef has a farm, and the menu is dependant on the food in season at that moment.  You can read more about it if you hit the link, but let me tell you, the freshness nearly jumped off the plate.  It makes a difference.  You could smell the difference in the air, in the food being prepared. 

Sara and Chad are professional foodies.  They have travelled the world, trying everything and have supremely good taste, so I put myself in their more than capable hands and just took delight in the experience! 

They are also professional wine-ies. (I know.  There's just not a good word for that.) Drinking wine with them is rather an event in itself, really.  They swirl, sniff, guess, argue, taste, swirl again, peer at the color...and really and truly knew what they were doing!  I did not.  But it was fun to swirl and sniff and taste and try to find the flavors they were describing.  For instance, they would say a wine was young and rather "boozy" but with apple undertones.  I said it was bouncy and bright, a little in your face.  They would be able to tell the region the wine was from, having been there in person!  I would say I thought it was a beautiful crimson in that light.  It was a little like wine kindergarten.

The Black Cat has a tasting menu, paired with wines, in either five, seven or ten courses.  Essentially, if you choose this option, you will be surprised by the foods coming from the kitchen and they choose the perfect wine for that food.  It's very....rich, for lack of a better word. It's sort of how I imagine royalty dines.  And for an obscene amount of time, the people who are preparing and  those serving the food only have your happiness and supreme satisfaction in mind.  As though they were waiting all day for you to come and loll about like sultans, eating the very best food they could come up with. I'm pretty good at that, by the way...

The Calverts ordered the seven course tasting menu for us. (Or perhaps it was the five course and it turned into seven? Now that I type this, I'm confused.)

It took us a solid three hours to get through it.  It was the most fun I've had eating, ever! It was this huge food adventure with smarter people than I, who love food with the same sort of thrill. 

I can't remember all the dishes' names.  I really wish I did.  I just remember that the flavors and textures exploded in some dishes. They melted and teased, in other dishes.  They'd lie dormant then come out after the wine crossed my palate. There were smooth flavors, audacious flavors that made you gasp.  There were textures that surprised your mouth and just when you thought you had it exactly the way it should be, they'd shift and improve.  I can't really explain it.  But I'm sitting here reliving it.

We had duck and beef and fish and vegetables that were so perfectly prepared, perfectly presented....
My favorite taste, being the ranch girl, was the beef with mushrooms and pasta and a sauce that made us swoon....the comment that described it was, "This is what beef stroganoff SHOULD taste like!"
Just when I thought, "THIS is the most perfect food.  I love this more than anything else I've ever tasted.", I'd be served some new concoction and have to start all over with my food love.

Besides all that, I had hilarious stories from Sara H. and Chad about their honeymoon and an ill-fated, not-so-romantic-as-it-was-planned horse ride on the beach. And travel stories from the areas the wine originated.

I have NEVER enjoyed a meal more.

And, amazingly, I was incredibly full, even with the tiny tastes.  But not uncomfortably so.  Just happily, warmly sated. 

But wait....
We still have another restaurant...equally amazing, only in its own charming style.

Sunday evening, we dolled up...AGAIN....and went to L'Atelier, a French restaurant also in downtown Boulder. 

Oui!

Again, I had no idea what to do.

Well, first things first....let's order a cocktail.

This was a place that uncorked the wine, poured a tiny dab, waited for us to approve it, then and only then would pour it.  This was a place that you had to commit to a dish.  This was a place with....

CHEESE.

Oh, my GOODNESS!
Let me tell you about the cheese....

Chad and Sara ordered a cheese plate with four different kinds of cheese and I nearly stopped right there.

You must realize that where I live and grew up, bleu cheese was considered quite edgy.  We have (and not in order of availability or preference): cheddar, monterey jack, mozzarella, colby jack, and...if you are feeling VERY edgy....pepper jack or havarti.  Most people steer clear of havarti because they are worried about the pronunciation and they don't know what to do with it.  Sort of like Gerwertztraminer wine.

The cheese on THIS plate was beyond incredible.  Again, I don't remember exact names....but one of them had truffles and tasted earthy and...sweaty, only in a good way.  That's tricky.  Another was buttery and soft, and round in its flavor.  There was a sort of bleu cheese, only better than any I've ever had.  And a smoky, dry cheese.  Oh. My.  I could've stopped there and been happy.

But we also had these lobster ravioli and a pate', both of which were happy surprises!  I'm quite sure there will be lobster ravioli in Heaven.  Beyond a doubt. 

THEN....(that's right, folks, we haven't even made it to the entrees)(Which, by the way, makes no sense whatsoever, because doesn't the word "entree" mean "beginning"?  Our entrees are the Big Kahuna! I still don't get that...)

Refer to the menu for the EXACT descriptions, here...
Chad had the rack of lamb, Sara H. had the veal and I had the scallops, which I see, are no longer on the menu. How sad!  Just like before, we shared food all around and experienced all the dishes, eyes rolling and praise falling from our lips with ease.

And then there was dessert.  The Opera Cake, if you check back to the dessert menu. 

That night, I DID feel full.  Very full.  But not too full to enjoy another glass of wine at the Calvert Resort before bed!

The next part of the Food Edition deserves its own post.
Because WE made the food! On Valentine's Day!

To be continued...