Old Port, Maine

A Word from the Author:

I have had the opportunity to visit a few cities these past 2 years that have really surprised me (in a good way) and Portland, Maine is no exception. Portland is a treasure of a city, the Old Port is situated right down by the water and features some of the best restaurants in America. There are charming blocks after charming blocks of fantastic food and beverage begging to be enjoyed. I spent 3 full days in Portland and didn’t even get through my short list of places. Here are a few of the gems I stumbled upon.

Chapter 1: Coffee

There are plenty of great coffee roasters in Portland, all offering a different atmosphere it was hard for me to pick a favorite but for overall best coffee shop I went with Arabica Coffee Co. Between the friendly staff, unique dark coffee and amazing atmosphere, Arabica was already a front-runner, what put them over the top however was their toast. Yes, I said toast, like burnt bread, toast. This is no ordinary toast, this stuff is made fresh and delivered every morning by some guy named Dave. This toast changed my life, don’t quote me on this but I think it could cure cancer. This beautiful 2 inch thick piece of bread is served toasted ever so perfectly with just the right amount of butter, I challenge you to pair it with a nice dark cup of coffee and take a perch by the window and tell me your life isn’t complete. I dare you. There are other good coffee shops besides Arabica in Portland that are no slouch in their own right. Bard Coffee is a great spot with really comfortable couches and a bar that gives it a real European cafe feel. Try the iced pumpkin latte in the autumn months, not overly pumpkin like their Starbucks counterpart, which is basically a pumpkin pie puree. Portland Coffee Roasting Co is pretty good as well, they have a great lunch menu, although I did not get anything, the sandwiches looked great. Coffee By Design has a few locations throughout Old Port, they are a really good option, the two locations I saw (only visited 1) were pretty small, but they have a spectacular array of different roasts. The other place I went to that was highly acclaimed on Yelp! was Others!, Others! was like a small dirty version of The Muse Coffee Co (Lynchburg, VA), great coffee with the roaster right in the front, but they only take cash and there was no place to sit, so only go there if you want a coffee to go. All of these places are charming in their own unique way so if you have a chance to spend a few days, fight your urge to stick with one place and go visit them all.

Chapter 1.5: Ice Cream

Beal’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream is one block from the water on a charming side street/ally that has homemade ice cream and yogurt. The prices are decent and the flavors are varied. Beware they only take cash. The shop owner was very nice and there are tables outside and plenty more inside. My favorite place however was Mount Desert Ice Cream. The shop owner is a tall woman who is one part mean New Englander on part Friendly Hippie. However, Mount Desert is truly an original, serving flavors like White Russian (also known as ‘The Dude’ inspired by the Big Lebowski), Jack Daniels (yes if you get 3 scoops you will get a buzz), Ginger, and Thai Chili. I settled on a scoop of salted carmel which was perfectly concocted. I’ve had salted caramel at several places and more often than not they are just too salty. The only downfall is that there is no place to sit inside, however there is ample room to stand and talk to the shop owner which I highly suggest. She let me sample the White Russian flavor which was also delicious. Mount Desert is by far the best ice cream shop in Portland and, you may want to take a seat, the best in the country, in my opinion.

Chapter 2: Breakfast

I only got breakfast at two places place in Portland, first was a nice little joint called Hot Suppa ironically. They are incredibly friendly and have the attitude you want for a breakfast place. I got the Corned Beef Hash, I know what you’re thinking, that sounds gross. I had never had corned beef hash before but this place has won awards for this plate so I had to give in a whirl. It was great, came with your choice of toast (I got marble rye) and eggs any style. Another cool thing about Hot Suppa is that they serve Coffee By Design coffee as their house blend. I love that they are supporting other local vendors so that gets them much respect in my book. Anyway if you have a chance for breakfast Hot Suppa is where its at. Also go next door to the Portland Bike Shop, such a cool store. The other place I visited was The Farmers Table. I actually went here twice but in this section I will talk about the brunch. I love this restaurant however the brunch may have been built up by a local a little too much. I had an omelet with feta and tomatoes, that was good but not great, the breakfast potatoes however were excellent. The coolest thing about The Farmers Table is that everything they serve in the restaurant is raised locally.

Chapter 3: Lunch

As I just mentioned I visited The Farmers Table twice, I got lunch there one day and it was a truly enjoyable meal. They have a walled in patio overlooking Commercial Street which is right on the water and the weather that afternoon was perfect. I had the basic burger, a half pound organically raised beef patty on a toasted potato bun with blue cheese and hand cut fries. Although it seems plain this was is a great choice because it allowed the flavor of the burger to shine and shine it did. They also had a burger that was intriguing, called the piggy burger, it features bacon and a small portion of sweet and spicy braised pork. I wish I had enough time to go back and try that bad boy. On another afternoon I met up with a friend who took me to a sandwich shop called Fit to Eat. This is a great place to grab something to go or sit outside on the balcony that overlooks the street. The sandwiches are fantastic and features all kinds of creative options.

Chapter 4: Dinner

I have been anxiously waiting to get to this part of the blog. I mentioned in the beginning that Portland is known for having some of the best restaurants in the country and the two places you will soon hear about lived up to those expectations and some. Fore Street was the most recommended restaurant I came across. To start let me legitimize what we’re dealing with here. Fore Street was ranked #16 in the United States by Gormet Magazine in their Top 50 list. If you are planning on eating here you better get there early. Doors open at 5:00 to be able to put your name on the list. The restaurant doesn’t open until 5:30. I arrived at 4:30 and there was already a line out the door to put your name on the list. So I will tell you again, get there early. Once inside you realize what the wait is for. The kitchen is open and located right in the middle of the room, all of the food is grown and raised by local Maine farmers and the menu is seasonal and changes every few weeks, however they do have a few things that are always available. One of those items is the chicken I had. Everything is amazing here, and the atmosphere is very unique. Fore Street is a must if you are in Portland. If you have an opportunity to spend a few nights there, my second recommendation would be Street and Company. They feature local seafare in a rustic atmosphere with outside seating available as well. Street and Company can be difficult to find because it is in an alley way, so you may have to ask a local for directions. Much like Fore Street, Street and Company has an open kitchen and prep area and is very cozy inside. I went with a friend who ordered Clams in White Sauce that was fantastic. I had never had clams before and I have to say that this dish was to die for. I had the Blackened CoHo Salmon which was really good and had a good kick of spice to it. Again you can’t really go wrong with anything on the menu, they also have a Lobster Diavolo dinner for two that looked tremendous for like $40. Street and Company is a great place to get seafood even for those people who don’t really love seafood.

Epilogue:

Lastly, if you have a chance you should check out two bookstores I visited when I was there. Yes Books is a great store for new books, they have a great section of staff favorites that are on point. Longfellow Books is a fantastic used bookstore with books piled on the floor and walkways barely wide enough to walk down. They store owner is a crazy Einstein looking guy who I’m sure knows where every single book in the store is. Ready for the best part? After you read the book, you can sell it back to the store for credit. So cool, I wish we had a store like that here in Lynchburg.

Cheers!

The Queen City

After a long hiatus (9 months) the blog is back. After prodding and encouragement from a friend I have decided to stop procrastinating and start writing again. If this is your first time on my blog, thank you so much for visiting and I hope you enjoy. To those who follow the blog, thank you for the continued support. I have some exciting plans to take the blog to the next level, but in order to get to that point I need to catch up on some notes that I have archived. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, no not Christmas, autumn! Not only does the fall usher in cool air, changing leaves and pumpkin themed treats, it also means peak travel season for me. Some things to look forward to from future posts are cities like, Portland, Atlanta, Toronto, and Seattle(Part 2). But as for today, I am going to start with a little trip I had last week down to one of my favorite cities, Charlotte, North Carolina.

I realize that a lot of you reading this are probably either from or very familiar with Charlotte but before you navigate away to go see who is on Facebook chat, hang around for a few minutes, I have a few places that I hope are new for a few of you.The first place I want to talk about is Cabo Fish Taco, it is located in a really cool part of town called NoDa. (North Davidson St) It was also recently featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-In’s, Dives, and is currently one of the hottest spots on Yelp for the past month. They have a decent selection of draft beer, wine and cocktails, but their obvious specialties are their margaritas.I recommend the guacamole, it was so good, and they served it chilled with warm, crisp chips. I got the Blackened Mahi -Mahi Tacos, which were incredible, all of their tacos are topped with a white cilantro sauce that really keeps the taco from being to dry. I definitely would call Cabo Fish Taco a can’t miss if you are ever in the NoDa area of Charlotte.

Right down the road from Cabo is a great french bakery named Amelie’s (pronounced like Emily’s but with an AH). I don’t know where to start with this place, the latte’s and pastries are to die for, they probably have over 30 different pastries on any given day. However if you are looking for a great cup of coffee, I will warn you Amelie’s only has drip coffee that is good but not anything to write home about. Amelie’s is not only french by name, the decor of the place is unmistakably french. It is set up much like an old house, with multiple rooms separated by velvet curtains, featuring living room furniture arrangements around coffee tables and faux fireplaces, lit by elaborate chandeliers. This place is nothing short of stunning! Are you ready for the best part? Amelie’s is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week! This place is 100% worth the trip no matter where you are in the Charlotte area.

The Common Market is a wonderful deli serving Boar’s Head meat by the pound. They also feature freshly made sandwiches and wraps as well as a cold case with fresh salads(pasta, potato, chickpea, etc.). They offer vegetarian and vegan sandwiches and salads as well. The Common Market is not only a deli, it also has a full convenience store featuring a massive wine and beer selection as well as all kinds of healthy snacks and a sitting area for you to enjoy your lunch. I stopped by for lunch one day and ordered the Turkey Capri Wrap. It comes with a sun dried tomato spread, goat cheese spread, baby spinach, and red onion all on a wrap of your choice, I got the sun dried tomato wrap. To accompany what was probably the most fantastic wrap I have ever eaten, I selected a chickpea salad with feta and green peppers that was to die for. I have to say The Common Market made a strong push for the number one spot in Charlotte for me, falling just short. Nonetheless, it is an amazing place to go whether you are looking for some lunch meat or cheese for your sandwich building endeavors, a place to grab a drink after work, carry out bottle of wine or six pack of beer, or a place to have a delectable and healthy lunch, or even a quick late night snack, The Common Market is for you!

Before I get to my favorite place in Charlotte, I would be remiss if didn’t mention Big Daddy’s Burger Bar in Dilworth. This is a great spot with indoor and outdoor seating, featuring an amazing beer selection and mouth watering, hand crafted burgers and sides. I got the Mama Ricotta’s Burger which comes topped with mozzarella, pesto, vine ripened tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil with a side of seasoned fries. A few things you should know about Big Daddy’s; all of their beef is 100% grass fed and hormone free, they feature vegetarian and gluten free options, and you have the ability to build a burger starting with your choice of 7 meats or meat substitutes. Whatever burger you get make sure you try the Big Daddy’s sauce, as a matter of fact, get a few sides so you can dip your fries in it. I have no idea what it is, but it is oh-so good! This is a great place and it is in a great neighborhood with a really cool Caribou Coffee right across the street, so make it a night out with friends and grab coffee after!

Okay so I've saved the best for last. The Liberty is a gastropub that is only a few blocks away from Big Daddy’s in Dilworth. They feature 20 craft beers on tap and 30 wines by the glass. The Liberty not only has great drinks but their food is seasonal and served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their menu changes every few weeks which is good and bad, especially if you fall in love with something like I did. I started out with a pint of Dogfish Head (my favorite brewery in the world) Punkin’ Ale, which was new that week for the fall season, and an order of BBQ pork cracklin’s which I assumed was some sort of barbecue slider, being that I was in North Carolina, the self proclaimed capital of barbecue. What I got was more of a homemade pork rind that was served right out of the fryer. They actually weren’t bad, but I wouldn’t really recommend them. For my main dish I ordered the Bacon Blue Lamb Burger that came topped with bacon, blue cheese crumbles and roasted onions with a side of their parmesan salted fries. Words cannot explain how flavorful both the burger and fries were. The Liberty serves tons of traditional pub food with a gourmet flair. If there is one place you need to go on your next visit to Charlotte, The Liberty is that place. There were so many other places I wanted to visit that I simply did not have time to try. All of these places get two thumbs up, they are all different so I hope one of them sounded intriguing to you and you have the opportunity to visit one of these great places. Also, if you are on Yelp, I would love to be friends with you on there, look me up!

No need for a cool title...it's Seattle!

So it's been a while since my last post, I took a break for the holidays (Halloween - New Years) so now I'm back on the horse and ready for some blogging. Now if you are not familiar with my blog let me refresh your memory, this blog is meant to serve as a sort of city guide (hence the name) so I will talk about restaurants, and sights to see in each city. I know I will probably miss things that you did when you were in one of these respective cities, however I can only review places that I have actually been to, but if you have suggestions of places to go next time please leave comments. Also I was not an english major nor do I claim to be a "writer" so I will have run on sentences and long paragraphs. One more thing, if I make you hungry reading this, I'm sorry! Imagine what I went through writing it! So with no further ado...

Back in October I got to experience a city I've always wanted to visit, the Emerald City, Seattle. Now I had the beautiful misfortune to have my visit fall on the beginning of the ever dreaded "rainy season", and all the terrible images of monsoon rains for months on end instantly came rushing to my mind. However, it only rained for two days and that rain was light and sporadic. Seattle is absolutely gorgeous (even in the rain), it is surrounded by water and hills giving you excellent views from almost anywhere in the city. There are several different districts in Seattle, there is the Public Market, Downtown, University, Ballard, Capital Hill, Queen Anne, and so many more, but these are the places I spent most of my time walking around and eating. In downtown there is an amazing place that I actually read about in the Delta magazine on my flight out there called Serious Pie, it was ranked the #3 pizza place in the country, behind joints in NYC and Chicago. So i figured I would head there on my first night, lucky for me it was friday and there was a 2 1/2 hour wait, so I put my name in (uh yes reservation for one...yea just me) and walked up the street a block to a great place called The Whiskey Bar, which was recommended by a guy standing in line for takeout at Serious Pie. The Whiskey Bar is an amazing place to grab a drink they have hundreds of whiskies from all over the world and bartenders that may or may not have written some sort of almanac at one point in their lives. I ordered a glass of Black Maple Hill, it was served warm, in a tumbler. This may have been the most delicious glass of alcohol I've ever tasted, hints of vanilla, and maple syrup hit your taste buds while the warm sensation works its way down to your stomach, this may also be why it cost $16 for like 4 oz of the stuff, I also had an Uptown Manhattan that was delicious. I stayed there until I got a call from the pizza place and took my seat at a table with 7 strangers. Serious Pie has seating for about 40 people and they are high tables with 6-8 stools at them, they fill the tables so unless you have a big party you will be sitting right next to random strangers, which would be cool, if you weren't by yourself, like me. Anyway, I ordered a pizza that sounded risky but definitely payed off, it had guanciale, soft egg, and dandelion greens, it was the best pizza I have ever had. I payed my bill and headed up the hill to try and get a good view of the city, after all I had just landed a few hours earlier. As I was climbing up these steep

streets I ran into a really friendly lady who told me a great place to see the city and also just chatted about how much she loved living in Seattle. I went to the place she spoke of and this is what I found. Yeah, I fell in love too. The next night I went to another place in Downtown called Lola, its actually owned by the same guy, Tom Douglas, who owns Serious Pie, as well as several other really good places in the city. I had a lamb burger with chickpea fries that was outstanding, really juicy, and great flavor, not to mention the place was cool as hell. Hotel Andra, a super swanky hotel, is attached to Lola and people were grabbing drinks at the bar and hanging out in the hotel's lounge which opens right up to the bar. If you're looking for a great place to grab a drink downtown I would definitely suggest The Tap House Grill it is really nice inside, a place you could go after a really nice dinner or show, or just a night out with friends. They have 160 beers on tap, a billiards room and a late night happy hour from 10-12. Another great place to go grab some drinks with friends is a place called Peso's Kitchen, this is a really popular spot for nightlife, I went on a saturday night and the place was crawling with 20 somethings hanging out and enjoying some great drinks and a really cool atmosphere. If you need a bite to eat after Peso's just walk across the street to Pagliacci's Pizza, they have locations all over Seattle and it's really good, and cheap! Another good pizza place near downtown, in Queen Ann is called Zeeks, and they have great deals on pizza and beer, a good place to grab lunch. Downtown is full of really cool places to eat and drink these were just the places I had time to visit.

Of course one of the biggest tourist attractions in Seattle is the Public Market. This is where you will see guys throwing fish around, singing songs about produce and artists showing off their jewelry, photographs, paintings, clothing and nicknacks. There are some awesome specialty shops there too selling wines, cheeses, chocolates all kind of things. Of course there is also the original Starbucks store right there down on Pike Place (if you didn't

know thats why the coffee is called that). That is a must see for all you coffee nuts out there, there is also this awesome place called The Confectional that sells mini cheesecakes that will blow your mind, I had pumpkin and raspberry white chocolate. There is another place that will satisfy your sweet tooth called the Daily Dozen Doughnut Company, my favorites were the cinnamon sugar and the powdered brown sugar ones. Its really a cool experience, they hand make their doughnut holes and then put them in a brown paper bag. Then they shake them with whatever toppings you want and throw them high in the air only to catch it with the other hand in another brown paper bag. You have to make sure that no matter what you take an afternoon to check out the market in full swing because it is definitely something to see, and if you can find it, go down the stairs in the market to the back alley, there is a wall completely covered in gum, at least 75 yards long and 8 feet tall, covered with peoples names, cartoon characters, inappropriate words, all kinds of things, all made out of chewed bubble gum. Its definitely a sight to behold.

Not far from downtown lies the beautiful campus of the University of Washington. If you have the time I would take a walk around this campus, it is absolutely gorgeous. The main street right by campus has tons of bars, restaurants and stores to check out, two places I went to were Big Time Brewery and Agua Verde. Big Time Brewery is right on University Way so you can't miss it. They have a great selection of in-house beers as well as a pretty good menu. They also have a pretty amazing deal on Tuesday nights where you buy a pizza and get a pitcher of beer for $1. I tried one of their sampler and got 6 different

brews, all very good. The other place, Agua Verde, is not quite so easy to find, however it is well worth the drive. I went with a friend and sat out back on the patio, which is right on the water. During the day you will see boaters go by, and even the UW Crew team. They have great mexican cuisine, and sometimes even live music. I got a pulled pork burrito and chips and guacamole as well as a margarita. They also have all kinds of homemade salsas so try them all! Everything was fantastic and I highly recommend it. (shout out to my friend Kaite Kaminske for taking me there).

Another cool part of town is Capital Hill, this is the hippie, indie, gay pride, part of town. There are some good shopping and coffee places there, but three places you absolutely have to try are Dick's Drive-In , which is an In-n-Out type burger joint that is really good, and open late. Be careful though because they only take cash, and you have to eat outside, so go on a nice day. Second place to check out is Molly Moons Ice Cream, they have amazing ice cream obviously, I had pumpkin clove...need I say more? And last but most definitely not least, is Trophy Cupcakes. I'm sure you all are aware of the two big dessert fads sweeping the nation, frozen yogurt and cupcakes but I promise you this place is legit and their cupcakes are to die for. I had a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing that will most assuredly give you a cavity.

The last part of town I will discuss may have been one of my favorites, its a little up and coming town north of downtown called Ballard. I spent two days here walking around and checking out all the shops and whatnot. One night I grabbed dinner at a place my co-workers recommended called The Matador, this place is sick! I absolutely loved it, they have great food, amazing atmosphere and it is a tequila bar, so needless to say their margaritas are to die for. High Life is another great place to eat in Ballard. It is an old firehouse that they restored to make a really cool restaurant and bar. They have great food and a really big bar. As far as coffee places go, Cafe Fiore might be one of the coolest coffee shops I've ever been to, I just wanted to pull out a good book, or hop on my laptop and hang out there. They have really good organic coffee and amazing espresso drinks. And last but not least I have yet another cupcake place to suggest. Cupcake Royale has the self proclaimed "best cupcakes in Seattle" and I would say I have to agree. They have a ton of different flavors and you can order online and have them cater your wedding if you'd like. The place is great and if I had to pick between Royale and Trophy I would go with Cupcake Royale.

Ok I can't possible talk about food anymore, I'm going to go crazy, fortunately for me those are basically all the places I went to while I was there. So I hope this was interesting, but more importantly I hope you will use this as a resource for your own travels!

King of the Hill

Well I’m finally getting around to my trip I took to Chapel Hill, NC in September. I only spent 2 nights there but managed to do a few cool things and eat at some good places. The anchor of downtown Chapel Hill is Franklin Street; it is an awesome college area, with tons of people ranging from UNC students and professors, to local businessmen, all packing the sidewalks throughout the day and night. You of course have your basic staple chains, Chipotle, Starbucks, Caribou, Cold Stone, and all the other hip college spots. However, one of the most famous restaurants is Top of the Hill. It is located on the corner of Columbia and Franklin Streets, which is the main intersection in downtown. It’s called Top of the Hill because it is a 3^rd floor restaurant and micro brewery. They have a rooftop patio that is open all year round that gives you a unique bird’s eye view of downtown Chapel Hill. Not only do they have amazing food, they also have a great selection of in house brews. My suggestions; if you want to eat healthy, they have really good salads; I had one with walnuts, goat cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. If you go there at night and want something a little heavier, grab a burger, they are fantastic, and whatever you do make sure you get a side of their phenomenal sweet potato fries. If you only have time to grab 1 meal in Chapel Hill, Top of the Hill is definitely where you need to go. If you want to grab a cup of coffee after dinner I would suggest going to the Caribou Coffee on Franklin St, it’s across the street diagonally from Top of the Hill, it’s huge inside with multiple rooms and tons of seating outside as well.

My favorite place to eat had to be a wine bar I went to called 411 West, located on the west end of Franklin St. I had a great pasta dish with pesto, asparagus, and pine nuts, pared with a crisp Pinot Grigio recommended by the bar tender. A great feature about this place is that you can order full and half portions all day, not just for the lunch menu, which allowed me to have the most amazing dessert I have ever had. It is a seasonal plate so you should probably go there really soon to be sure you don’t miss out. It was a pumpkin cheesecake on a walnut crust with homemade whipped cream and a caramel cookie, which is just thin piece of caramelized sugar in the shape of a cookie that they stick right in the top of the cheesecake. It’s seriously to die for, as a matter of fact if anyone goes, please bring me a slice back. Not only was the food good here, but the restaurant is beautiful inside and out and has a great atmosphere along with a tremendously knowledgeable wait staff. It’s also very reasonably priced; a glass of wine, half portion of pasta and dessert was just under $25!

Another good restaurant is Lantern, also located on Franklin St. Lantern is especially cool because all of their produce and poultry is purchased from local North Carolina farms. I had a 2 delicious chicken thighs, cooked perfectly, and asparagus on a bed of rice and vegetables. I would definitely recommend Lantern however, it is a little pricier than 411 West. After dinner I walked across the street to a little dive bar/concert venue called The Cavern Tavern or “The Cave” for short. This place is unique, the inside is decorated like an actual cave, with the walls and ceiling both mimicking actual rock. The place is 100% dive bar and for that reason 100% awesome. Old school cash reps, tabs on post it notes, $1 PBR, even a little Chihuahua named Beast behind the bar guarding the joint. I saw some incredible talent that night for a $5 cover charge, Ernie Halter, Keaton Simons, Curtis Peoples and Andrew Hoover all played unplugged set lists to a good sized crowd given the size of the venue. If you don’t know who those guys are, go buy their albums on iTunes.

One more place to check out is Foster’s Market; I went to the one in Durham right by Duke University. Foster’s is in a word awesome. For those of you who have read my previous blogs, it’s a combination of Fido (Nashville), The Market (Denver) and Magnolias (Lynchburg). This place is has unbelievable food, cold sandwiches, hot sandwiches, cold deli case, salad case, dessert, baking goods and supplies, wine, old fashioned candy, seriously everything. The Durham location was crawling with Duke students, studying and hanging out, and there is plenty of seating inside and outside. You can eat out on the side porch, back patio, or even front yard, where they have 20 or 30 old school wooden beach chairs. I had a Panini that was out of this world but you seriously can’t go wrong, and it’s only a short drive from downtown Chapel Hill.

The two days I spent on Franklin Street were great, and I only scratched the surface, there are so many other places that I wanted to check out that I simply didn’t have time to explore. My suggestion go search for your own hidden gems, and if you can’t find one, or don’t have time for exploration of your own, go to one of the restaurants I tried, they’re all good, and all different.

Rocky Mountain Oysters

I spent the last 10 days in Colorado mostly in the Denver area, however the first city were going to talk about it Fort Collins. Colorado State University is located in Fort Collins which sports a very cool downtown/college area (very Charlottesville-esque), tons of great restaurants and coffee shops and my favorite, the New Belgium Brewery. That’s right for all you beer nuts out there I’m talking about the company that brews some of your favorites like Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat. I of course could not pass up the opportunity to take a tour so I went up with a few friends I met in Denver. The tour is pretty lengthy, it was about an hour and a half long, they take you through the entire process of the Belgian style of brewing beer. For those of you who don’t know, Belgian style has a lot more freedom in the brewing of the beer, they add different spices and flavors that traditional beers do not which allows for a wide array of flavors in the beers. The tour guides at New Belgium are not only knowledgeable but are really fun and amazingly cool. Throughout the tour you taste all kinds of beer, from the staple Fat Tire and Sunshine Wheat, to a wood aged sour beer (for the record I loved it, most did not) as well as a beer made with dandelions, which was my favorite. All in all I tasted 7 different beers on the tour, so my advice, definitely eat before you go!Not only is the beer amazing but the whole company is incredibly environmentally conscious. After 1 year of employment you receive a New Belgian beach cruiser so most of the employees ride their bikes to work. The parking lot is arranged from closest to the building to furthest with your car’s MPG determining how far you park. Bikes and scooters park right on the sidewalk, hybrids a short jaunt to work, you drive an H2 you say? Well bring your walking shoes because you’re in the back lot! The entire plant is wind and solar powered and all of their wort is donated to local farmers to use as feed. It seriously has to be the greenest brewery in America. After filling up on beer I headed to the old downtown area to grab a bite to eat, I decided on Coppersmith’s a cool restaurant/pub with indoor seating as well as a huge patio right out on the downtown square. They have amazing food, a huge local beer selection, to go along with an awesome atmosphere and friendly wait staff (I suggest the Turkey Guacamole Burger, delish!). All in all Fort Collins is a great town, with a great feel and its located only 60 miles north of downtown Denver.

I would kick myself if I spent a week and a half in Colorado and didn’t do any hiking or mountain exploration. Located about 30 minutes west of Denver is one of the most famous natural amphitheaters in the country, I’m of course talking about Red Rocks. Aside from the actual venue, there are all sorts of trails with great views to downtown Denver. I spent a couple hours up there taking it all in. Just a short drive away is Lookout Mountain which has several rock outcroppings giving you some amazing views of Golden, Colorado and the Coors Brewery, Rocky Mountain National Park and its snow capped peaks, and the Denver skyline. I also took a trip up to Breckenridge which may have been the most beautiful drive I have ever done. It was snowing hard the whole way up. We went over one specific pass which crosses over the continental divide. For those of us that are geographically challenged, the continental divide is the 14,000+ foot ridge where the rivers in the United States stop flowing east and start flowing west. We continued on to Breckenridge and grabbed lunch at this great burger place in town called Empire Burger. They are all handmade burgers, ground fresh daily; they also offer buffalo and turkey burger substitutes. I got the Guacamole Bacon Burger (ok so I love guacamole get over it) and, no exaggeration, the best onion rings I have ever had in my life! Seriously they were phenomenal. You also get a choice from 15+ dipping sauces for your onion rings or fries (which are also great). Empire Burger has an awesome location at the end of town, and a really cool atmosphere, I strongly recommend it. After lunch my aunt and I walked around downtown Breckenridge with the snow falling around us, and the Rockies towering over us. It was amazing! We walked all around, explored all the local shops and popped into an amazing little coffee shop/bakery called Clint’s. This place was so good, all organic locally grown coffee and amazing baked goods. Not to mention it was really cool inside, it had a ski lodge feel to it. I got a great cup of coffee and an amazing peanut butter/white chocolate cookie bar with chocolate chips and chopped peanuts on top that was incredible. Let me also add that Breckenridge is just as much a summer city as it is a skiing town. There are tons of restaurants with outdoor eating on the river, so don’t miss out if you happen to be there during the summer months. On the way back we took a little detour at this cool outcropping that overlooks a beautiful lake which provides a lot of the drinking water to Denver. The coolest thing about this place was that if you had sunflower seeds you could put your hand out and the chipmunks would come right up, sit in your hand, and snack. The best thing about going up there was the ride, going up, over and through the Rocky Mountains is something everyone needs to experience.

The majority of my trip was spent in Denver. There are a number of really cool neighborhoods in Denver, one of my favorites being the University of Denver area. I spent an afternoon there reading at Starbucks and people watching (one of my favorite past times). I did grab a bite to eat at a really cool place called Garbanzo. It is basically like a Chipotle but with Mediterranean style food. You start with a pita and go from there, adding lettuce, veggies, hummus, falafel, chicken, goat cheese, yada, yada, yada, you get the picture, it’s really good. They also bake their own homemade potato chips which are pretty good as well. Right around the corner from Garbanzo is Chipotle, but it’s not just any old Chipotle, it’s THE Chipotle, that’s right the very first Chipotle ever opened is there right next to U of D, try to avoid it at lunch time because the line still goes out the door and down the block. For all you Chipotle addicts out there (myself being the self-appointed king) this is a must see.

Now on to the part you all have been waiting for (or at least I have been waiting to write about), Downtown Denver. There are two major hubs in Downtown; first you have Lower Downtown or LoDo. LoDo is awesome, a lot of old historic brick buildings that have all been renovated into office space, restaurants, boutiques, salons, coffee shops, loft apartments, and all things cool. I started at Union Staton which is the original train hub in downtown, which is still used today. From there I walked through Commons Park, bustling with walkers, hikers, runners, bikers, and even the occasional pre-school field trip group. Commons Park is bordered by trendy new apartments and the Platte River. At the Northwest end of the park is a really cool REI store that is in an old historic warehouse. If you are a serious outdoor sports person or if you like Northface Jackets, even if you don’t like either and you like coffee you’re in luck, because there is a Starbucks attached to REI, I would definitely recommend visiting. There is a huge rock climbing wall and several floors of gear, plus it’s worth it just to walk through the park and over all the cool foot bridges to get there. From there you can walk back down 15^th Street and stop at the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art right by the park. From there walk one block over to the 16^th Street Mall, which is the second major hub of downtown. For 16 blocks 16^th Street is a pedestrian only street, besides the Free Ride mall bus service that stops at every block up and down 16^th Street. The street has flowers and trees all along the inside with lampposts, benches, and even a little chess park. I ate a really good place down there called Mad Greens, they specialize in salads but also have Panini’s and sandwiches. All of the salads and sandwiches are named after authors; I had the Edgar Allen Poe, which consisted of greens, walnuts, blue cheese crumbles, apples, pears, and a port vinaigrette dressing. For dessert I suggest going over to Kuulture for frozen yogurt, it is pretty outstanding (although not as good as Pinkberry, still the heavyweight champion of the world of frozen yogurt.) For dinner you must, I repeat must go to Larimer Square, which is right down the road. There is one block on Larimer with a bunch of great restaurants, one of which is The Market. Walk through the rod iron fence, onto the slate dining patio, up the steps and you find yourself in an amazing little coffee shop with old wooden floors, and a huge coffee bar. Up two more steps and you’re in the deli portion of the market complete with a sandwich area, dessert case, cold case, and salad case. They have wine by the glass or by the bottle to carry, and a great assortment of local bottled beers. You really can’t go wrong here, for you Lynchburg peeps, it’s like a way bigger, even cooler Magnolia. I got the Turkey and Cream Cheese sandwich with cranberries, a side of potato salad, and a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie for dessert. Definitely make sure you eat out front on the patio because the street is laced with lights creating a canopy over the street and sidewalk. It’s pretty darn amazing.

If you think The Market sounds cool, then you must check out The Tattered Cover bookstore. It is one of the coolest bookstores I ever seen. Once again it is in an old restored brick building in LoDo with old wood floors, a coffee shop with baked goods and seating everywhere. There were people all over the place working, reading and studying, it was a really cool vibe. It would be a great place to grab breakfast and check your email or even grab lunch and catch up on some reading. Whatever you do make sure you stop in and check it out, it won’t disappoint. If you head south out of downtown on Santa Fe Blvd. you will pass through the art district. I got to experience First Friday in Denver. There were anywhere from 30-50 galleries, unfortunately I could not make it to every one of them in during the 4 hour event. Most of the galleries had wine and cheese available as you browsed. I spent the night walking around looking at all sorts of art; landscape photography, sculpture, urban photography, portraits, paintings, abstract, even one exhibit entitled bra art, which was exactly what it sounded like, artwork on bras. There are some incredibly talented artists in Denver and this was a very well attended event, the sidewalks were crammed for 6 or 7 blocks with people of all age, race, and creed. It was definitely a rich cultural event that I am lucky to have had the chance to experience. If you happen to be in the area during the first Friday of a month be sure not to miss it!

Denver is a great city with the perfect blend of natural and architectural beauty. I would have to give it two thumbs up for sure. If you have not yet been to Denver I urge you to bump it up to the top of your list. On another note, for those sports fans out there, I got to go to the Broncos v Cowboys game on Sunday and let me tell you, Denver loves its sports teams and the stadium is awesome! You can see downtown and the snow-capped Rockies from your seat. Not many stadiums can boast that kind of view.

You're the Only Ten I See

Monday evening I found myself driving through the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains on my way back to Virginia, my windows were down, the sun was setting and I was content. A friend and I spent this past weekend in the beautiful city of Nashville, Tennessee. We went to visit some of our college friends that live out in the Music City these days. Let me start by saying this was not my first time in Nashville, this same friend and I had actually been out in January to visit the same group of friends. The first night we got there we decided that we would head to East Nashville, which for your NYC-ers would be the equivalent of the Williamsburg area. We headed to a great Mexican place by the name of Rosepepper Cantina which boasts the most amazing margaritas I have ever had! We sat at the bar, inhaling chips and salsa and drinking these margaritas at a staggering rate (pun intended), when our table was ready we were escorted to the back porch, because like I always say, food just tastes better outside. I ordered 2 chicken tacos that were amazing, we also got the queso dip for our chips which was great as well. If you like good Mexican food you will love Rosepepper! The food was great, drinks were awesome (you could get margaritas by the pitcher!) and the service was excellent! After dinner we headed over to a bar in East Nashville called 3Crow. It is a really cool little dive, I went to the bar and ordered a local beer, I got the Yazoo Heifeweizen which wasn't bad. A friend and I played some darts (a favorite bar game of mine) and talked while others hung out at the table over drinks, after a few more friends met up we headed out back to the beer garden for the rest of our night, catching up and enjoying the beautiful Nashville evening before walking back to a friends house in East Nashville.

Day 2 in Nashville was beautiful, the weather was crisp and I actually thought for a moment that we had slept right through September and woke up October 1st. We went downtown for lunch to a great little cafe called Fido. Fido is definitely a Nashville hot spot, it has been voted best coffeehouse in town for the last 11 years running. They have great organic foods, desserts and coffee. We hung out there for a while, then headed down to The Gulch to do some shopping at Urban Outfitters and Nashville Clothing Company. From there we headed to Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel. This is not a normal hotel, there are 3 huge gardens in the center of this hotel with a huge glass dome, there is a canal, a waterfall, rotating restaurant, all sorts of bridges and walkways, all in a cool air conditioned room! Its a really cool place to check out and afterwards you can walk across the parking lot and go to The Opry Mills Mall and the Nashville Aquarium, yes there is an aquarium in the mall.

We headed to a friends birthday party in for the most of the night eating and enjoying all the sangria we could drink. After the party we headed down to the coolest bar I have ever been to in my entire life, no really this place was bad ass. The Patterson House in Midtown is named after a Nashville Governor named Malcom Patterson who vetoed the statewide reinstatement of prohibition in 1909, a veto that was later overridden by state legislators. This place instantly takes you back in time, as soon as you walk through the velvet curtain separating the foyer from the bar you are met by a huge polished bar equipped with fresh fruit and other ingredients, flanked with 2 floor to ceiling bookcases, the dim glow of the chandeliers showoff the beautiful woodwork inside this speakeasy style bar. All the drinks here are a flat $11 and they are all handmade by very skilled bartenders, who, by the way, play right into 1920's feel with bow ties and vests. Our waitress was amazing and basically picked our drinks for us based on what we told her we liked, you really can't go wrong (get the Juliet and Romeo or the Vodka Cobbler). One of the coolest parts of the drink was the round ice cube (pictured above). This is one of only a dozen bars in the country that offer this feature. The molds for these rare ice cubes come from China and are extremely expensive, they claim that the shape of the ice can make a drink taste totally different, one of my drinks had this spherical delight and I can't say if it tasted better because of it, but it sure looked awesome. The overall atmosphere, quality of drinks, and knowledgeable bartenders and waitresses make The Patterson House a can't miss spot in Nashville. Afterwards we headed down the street to Tin Roof, the local Vanderbilt watering hole. It is everything you would expect from a college bar, good beer selection, an overabundance of 20-somethings and a live band. We had an especially good time watching all the crazy fraternity brothers "dance" or as everyone else called it, stumble around like a drunken idiot.

Day 3 may have been my favorite day of all! We headed to Historic Downtown Franklin and had lunch at Puckett's Grocery where I had an amazing Pulled Pork lunch with sweet potato fries (maybe my favorite food ever) and an amazing redskin potato salad. Puckett's is an awesome place to grab some home cooked food, grab a drink or see a local music act. After lunch do yourself a favor and walk around Historic Downtown, its beautiful and I promise you won't regret it. From there we headed to Centennial Park which is the home of an exact replica of the Parthenon built in 1897 for Nashville's Centennial Exposition. There is a really nice pond in the center of the park, with great running/walking trails, a venue where you can catch a performance of Shakespeare in the park on a nice summer evening and plenty of open lawn for ultimate frisbee, soccer, or just lounging. After the park we headed out to grab some frozen yogurt at Krave right by the Green Hills Mall. For all you SoCal folks Krave is just as good as Pinkberry, I love Pinkberry as much as the next person but Krave is every bit as good, I recommend cheesecake yogurt with fresh kiwi and strawberries.

After Krave we headed back to the house to regroup and make our final assault on Nashville. We headed out to a bar called The Flying Saucer which I realize is a chain, so for everyone out there reading this, go to google maps, find your local Flying Saucer and go! For those of you who don't have the luxury of going to experience this wonderful establishment in a city near you, stay with me. They are a self proclaimed Draught Emporium, and I would agree with their claim, they have a ton of beers on draught, including the full line of Yazoo brews (the local beer from 3Crow Bar) as well as Sweet Water which is a brewery out of Atlanta that makes great beer. This place had a really cool patio that was inside but had huge roll up doors for windows which really gave you the best of both worlds. We took a seat on a few leather couches arranged in a circle around a coffee table making me feel like I was at home, if my home had 20 foot brick walls, 70 taps, and a wait staff. My recommendation, grab a brew of your liking and get the soft pretzels! They are out of this world and they offer a plethora of dipping sauces, I enjoyed the honey mustard and the queso, I mean seriously can there be a better pairing than beer and pretzels? I didn't think so. After leaving The Flying Saucer we headed for The Patterson House for one last drink (or two) and a recap of all things Nashville.

Nashville in my opinion is one of the best cities in America (when its not 100 degrees), make sure you bring a lot of money because you won't have a problem finding a place to go, the problem will be choosing which ones to leave off the list. Nashville you rock five stars!

Shout out to all the people that made our weekend in Nashville so phenomenal!

Skip to My Lou

So about a week ago I had the chance to visit a city that I had never been to, and a part of the country, the midwest, that I haven't spent much time in. I worked an event the took place at the arches park in St. Louis, MO, if you haven't seen this American landmark, I strongly suggest you make it a stop on your next road-trip. It is something that is so simple but for some reason you can't stop looking at it. You also have the opportunity to travel up an elevator and get a great view of Downtown St. Louis and the Mighty Mississippi River. (does anyone else still spell out Mississippi in their head like they teach you in elementary school) I met a friend for dinner and we walked to Union Station, which when it was built in 1894 was the busiest terminal in the world. It is now a really cool retail and dining area that also holds a free summer concert and movie series. We tried to go to Hard Rock but it was a long wait so we went to Houlihans which was a pretty good restaurant with a really cool patio which always makes the food taste better. I would definitely recommend stopping there if you are downtown, its about a 30 minute walk from the Arches Park but it is a beautiful walk strait up Market Street and you get to see a lot of beautiful architecture like City Hall.

Day two in St Louis was amazing we went to the St Louis City Museum (look at the picture gallery) which I guess is more for kids but we had an amazing time there. This place is truly imaginative there is a school bus hanging over the edge of the roof, a rooftop ferris wheel and a 5 story spiral slide. This place pretty much substituted stairs for slides on all of its seven stories, there was a room that was a huge cave, they had an outside play-place that made McDonalds look like, well McDonalds. Everything was made from rod iron or steel or some sort of metal all recycled from the city's buildings. After that we went to grab a slice or 6 of Imo's Pizza, a St. Louis legend. It was as good as any pizza I've ever had. If you are downtown you have to get a pizza from there, and do yourself a favor, get the pizza to go, walk across the street and have it at Kiener Plaza, trust me. After lunch we went to the St Louis Zoo which is a gorgeous zoo, full of animals and FREE! That was the best part, the price of admission was zero and everything in the Zoo was priced reasonably unlike the usual airport-like prices you would find for food and drinks at other city zoo's. The zoo is located in a really cool park called Forrest Park which has a golf course, art museum, plenty of walking trails, and is right across the street from Washington University in St. Louis which is an absolutely beautiful campus. You could walk around the zoo, park and campus for hours and not feel like you were still in St Louis at all. That night we went to a really cool part of town known as the Central West End of St. Louis. Yes it's as cool as it sounds. We went to a really cool place called Culpeppers Bar and Grill, we sat on the patio and had a few local draft beers, ate some delicious burgers and had a St. Louis delicacy known as Toasted Ravioli, which is basically deep fried ravioli, that just happens to be delicious!

Day 3 we went on a tour of the Budweiser Brewery. We went to beer school to become a certified Beermaster where they brought us into a classroom with 8 other people and showed us the ingredients of their beer, the brewing process, and how they manipulate the ingredients to make their different beers. Throughout the lesson we got to sample 4 different beers that Budweiser makes, Shock Top, American Ale, Bud Light Lime, and Amberbach. They teach you the proper way to pour a beer (hint its not down the side of the glass like you might think) how to determine the body, and pick up on the different aromas and flavors of the brews. It was awesome. After graduation, really you get a certificate and all, you go on a tour of the grounds, you get to see the Clydesdales, and the all the processes you just learned about in the classroom, they take you through all of the buildings on the premises. After that we got lunch at a little deli called Mom's Deli in the St. Louis Hills which has great fresh subs. The last thing I did before I went to the airport to head back home was stop at another St. Louis legend, Ted Drewes for some custard. I got cookie dough with vanilla custard, but the oatmeal cookie one was definitely way better.

All in all St. Louis was a great city to spend 2 or 3 days in I give it 3 out of 4 stars, a perfect destination for a long weekend.