Day 3: Denver

The Great American Train Ride

By Nathan Tsai

November 7^th, 2021

The Mile High City

I slept fitfully during my first night in a hotel room. Perhaps it was the excitement of finally being off the train or conversely, perhaps it was the unease of being on "land" and missing the gentle rocking of the train. Either way, I had just over 30 hours to explore and eat my way through the city of Denver.

Domo

1365 Osage St, Denver, CO 80204

Of the many restaurants I scouted in Denver, Domo Japanese Country Food Restaurant was near the top of my list. As I've previously mentioned, one of my goals during this cross-country trip was to gain some insight into what types of Asian food the average American was exposed to. Domo held high ratings online, was recommended and mentioned in forums and chat groups, and had won numerous awards locally and nationally; it seemed to fit the bill.

After a brisk thirty-minute walk from my hotel, I found myself standing in front of what looked to be a mix between a zen garden and a historical wooden building. The service was brusque and efficient and the food came out quickly and correctly. This also happened to be my first meal after two full days of the Amtrak diet so my stomach was hoping for something better than microwaved mush.

I was originally going to review this meal in a negative light, but I've since had a bit more time to reflect on this experience in particular and while I wouldn't actively recommend Domo, it was certainly more than a serviceable meal. My meal looked and tasted like someone went to the local Japanese supermarket, bought packs of frozen potstickers, ramen noodles, and pre-marinated meat.

That being said, look at the bottom of that potsticker. That is done to absolute perfection. Sure, the filling was a bit bland and chewy and the skin was a tad dry, but the delight of the tangy-sweet tamarind sauce contrasting against the perfectly crisp and toasty potsticker bottom almost entirely redeemed the plate.

The ramen (with strangely teriyaki-flavored "sukiyaki" beef) were nothing to write home about as the noodles were overcooked and the broth was forgettable. But interestingly enough, the soup came with a selection of sakana (肴). Like Korean banchan or Spanish tapas, sakana are small dishes that typically accompany alcohol, but have evolved into accompaniments to larger dishes or meals. The standout sakana was a salted and pickled eggplant.

A Walk in the Park

Tavernetta

1889 16th St Mall, Denver, CO 80202

Tavernetta was a restaurant that a chef friend of mine recommended—insisted really—that I go to when I visited Denver. It was hip. It was romantically lit, the music was pulsing, the bar had about fifteen different gins on its shelves, and the service was aggressively on-point.

Carpaccio alla Cipriani: Probably one of the best carpaccio dishes I've had the pleasure of tasting. The dish's name is a callback to Giuseppe Cipriani, a Venetian chef credited with the creation of the contemporary carpaccio dish in the late 1950's. While most carpaccio dishes served today tend to go heavy on the arugula/rocket and have a lighter olive oil and lemon dressing, Chef Cipriani created an almost mayonnaise-like sauce — similar to the anchovy mayonnaise found served with vitello tonnato — to dress the thinly sliced and pounded beef. The folks at Tavernetta created a faithful modern interpretation of the classic preparation using a mayonnaise spiked with some espelette peppers, locally raised grass fed beef, and a dusting of grana padano cheese. The end result is a beef-forward dish that has a luscious mouthfeel and enough acid and bite to rein in the fat and protein.

Asparagus Chittara with Pancetta: My notes got lost for this particular dish so I'm going off of recollection here. The one clear memory I have was now nicely the combination of the fatty pork, cream, asparagus, and cheese worked together. I've got to experiment with that combo at some point in the future.

Downtown Denver

Comal Heritage Food Incubator

3455 Ringsby Ct #105, Denver, CO 80216

Alright.

Out of all the meals I had on this trip, this may have been the best food I came across. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't cooked with ingredients that were impossible to find, and it wasn't unique for the sake of being unique. It was an honest to goodness, proper home cooked meal.

The kind folks at Comal have done something that I think is quite brilliant. They grew as an offshoot of Focus Points Family Resource Center whose stated mission was to try to help recent immigrants and refugees settle into the neighborhood. They provided training, language resources, and a sense of belonging for people from countries like Syria, Venezuela, Ethiopia, and Mexico. The folks at Focus Points realized that many of the women refugees that came through their doors lacked a sense of purpose and direction as they never had the opportunity to become educated or learn many marketable skills save one—cooking. Thus, Comal was born. This heritage food incubator takes women who grew up steeped in their culinary culture and trains them to apply their expertise to run a business, maintain food safety, and grow their community. As their capstone project, these women showcase their home cooking—tweaked and refined to work in a restaurant setting—and are given the opportunity to lead a kitchen team to cook their food at Comal for several months.

Puerco en Salsa Verde (above): This pork shoulder simmered in a green chile salsa was unbelievable. The salsa was smoky, deep, sweet, and savory all at once. As you can see from the close-up above, the pork was in the perfect zone where it was fork tender (even with a plastic fork!) but also still able to retain its form and provide a nice meaty texture to the dish. The fresh cilantro and the sharpness of the onions provided a sharp response to the earthy base of meat and salsa blow. The rice and the creaminess of the beans provided a perfect accompaniment to the pork.

Chicken Tinga Taco (above): A warm and soft tortilla topped with juicy and flavorful chicken and a bright lime and tomato flavors served as a perfect small bite to the bigger and bolder plate of pork shoulder.

Arepa (below): I ended up chatting with the ladies who had cooked my meal and realized that I had missed out on ordering the specialty that they had cooked for that day. It was one of the chef's home recipes for caldo de pollo which is in essence, a catch-all for a chicken soup. This was a Venezuelan variant which meant that the hearty soup was served with several freshly grilled corn arepas. Arepas are English-muffin-sized pancake-muffin-things made from cornflour (masarepa or areparina typically). Cooked properly, they're crisp and fragrant on the outside and fluffy and delicate on the inside. They can be filled with cheese or a variety of other fillings, or eaten plain. It's one of my favorite South American foods because it's a simple dish that allows for great skill expression and a diverse variety of flavors. Even though they didn't sell the arepas individually, the cooks were kind enough to bend the rules and grill and fry up a freshly made arepa for me to take on my journey.

Union Station

After my wonderful lunch, I ran some errands, picked up some Enstrom's toffee, and did a bit of work. I did this all while carrying all of my clothes, computer, and camera as the hotel I stayed at wouldn't let store my bags after I had checked out. By the time I got to the train station at 4PM, I was a bit winded and quite sweaty. There, I found out that the train that I was supposed to ride out to Chicago on was delayed by one or two hours. Luckily, the station attendants who I checked in with were nice enough to let me store my big backpack with them so I could go find some dinner.

With my extra time, I was able to explore the area around Union Station. I visited the Museum of Contemporary Art, walked in circles for about 3 or 4 miles, and ended back at Union Station where I was told...that the train was going to be delayed even longer.

Dinner in LoDo

As I had been expecting to eat on the train, I had no real plans for dinner in Denver, but given my past experiences on Amtrak, I certainly wasn't complaining. The area around Union Station known broadly as the Lower Downtown Historical District (LoDo), is undergoing some serious gentrification. There are fancy gastropubs, expensive sushi joints, and million-dollar condo units getting built within a few minutes of walking distance from the station. I avoided the conspicuously expensive-looking restaurants and as a result, the food I ate was not great, but not too expensive. Because I had so much time to burn, I was able to eat two dinners at two different restaurants, but beyond that there's really not much of note to mention.

Delay Woes

After eating both dinners, walking around LoDo even more, and then spending an hour chatting it up with the Amtrak station attendants, I got the good news that there would only be one more final delay before the train pulled into Denver. I was supposed to be boarding around 6:30PM. By the time I clambered onto the train, it was well past 10:15PM.