WaterCourse Foods

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I had the chance to visit Denver, Colorado in June to attend a conference there. Wow – Denver is a really great city. The people are amazingly friendly. We stayed at the Denver Marriott City Center Hotel which had the friendliest and most professional staff that I have ever encountered – anywhere!

We were only one and a half blocks from the famous 16th Street Mall. It’s a great place to walk around, to shop or to have something to eat. You might even find someone playing one of the pianos the city has strategically placed all along the mall.

On our second night there we thought we would venture to the “Up Town” part of the city and try a vegan restaurant called Watercourse Foods. Great choice. It was a beautiful summer day; so we were able to get a table outside on their patio. We started our meal with an order of their Cauliflower Wings – crispy cauliflower with a spicy “buffalo sauce” and served with your choice of vegan ranch or blue cheese dressing. Wow – were they ever good. For my main course I ordered the Street Tacos – black bean and sweet potato tacos served in a soft taco shell with cilantro lime sauce.  They were really fantastic – just bursting with a medley of flavors. I also ordered a side of their homemade onion rings. If you like onion rings, you will love these.

Watercourse Foods offers a few specially selected wines as house recommendations, or you can choose one from their wine list.

Their dessert menu offers some very tempting treats. I usually pass on dessert, but if I would have tried one, it would have been the Reeses Cake – roch chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse, chocalate ganache and peanut butter icing. Tempting for sure!

If you make it to Denver be sure to visit Watercourse Foods. They serve breakfast all day, lunch, and dinner.

WaterCourse Foods – Eat the Path of Least Resistance

WaterCourse Foods
837 E. 17th Avenue
Denver, CO 80218
Telephone: (303) 832-7313
Website: http://www.watercoursefoods.com
 

The Grand Concourse

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This is one of my favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The restaurant is located in the former Pittsburgh and Lake Erie (P&LE) railroad station. The elegant main dining room is simply breathtaking.

I like their menu as it consists of one page (for me a multi-page menu is a real turn-off) and offers a great variety of seafood and land fare, appetizers, soups, fresh salads and desserts. I find the seafood entrees particularly good here and I frequently order one of their “market fresh” entrees. On this occasion I ordered the seafood trio which consisted of one of their Maryland-style crab cakes, a piece of grilled salmon, and 4 coconut-crusted shrimp. Delicious!!!

The Grand Concourse offers a nice variety of wines from arround the world to accompany your meal. If you need some help with making a selection, just ask your server for some advice. The staff at the Grand Concourse is very friendly and accommodating. My wife is a vegan. She spoke to the chef about her dietary requirements and he prepared a delicious vegetable curry over rice for her. She said it was fabulous.

If you’re looking for an excellent restaurant with a great ambiance while visiting Pittsburgh, I recommend that you try The Grand Concourse. Reservations are recommended.

The Grand Concourse
100 West Station Square Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Telephone: 412-261-1717
Website: www.muer.com

 

Lucky Leek – Vegan cuisine in Prenzlauerberg

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Lucky-LeekAre you considering making the change to a vegan diet? Are you looking for a gourmet vegan restaurant in Berlin? Then go to Lucky Leek in Prenzlauerberg.

Lucky Leek is located on the very fashionable Kolwitzstrasse, a short walk from the Senefelder Platz U-Bahnhof. The restaurant offers a very elegant and pleasant atmosphere. I really like their menu. In two pages you can see what is being offered by the chef for the day. On one side you have the à la carte menu and on the other the chef’s menu which offers a complete five course dinner. Optionally you can add the recommended wine pairings with each course. You can also select only the courses you would like from the chef’s menu, so you have a lot of flexibility in your dinner options.

We chose the chef’s menu with the wine pairings. They have a very good wine list if you would like to select something yourself. The timing and presentation of each course was absolutely perfect and the wine pairings were simply outstanding. I can’t remember when I’ve had a more pleasant dining experience. Reservations recommended.

Lucky Leek
Kollwitzstrasse 54
10405 Berlin-Prenzlauerberg
Tel: +49 30 66 40 87 10
E-Mail: kontakt@lucky-leek.com
Reservations: booking@lucky-leek.com
Website: http://lucky-leek.de

 

Zula Hummus Cafe – The best hummus in Berlin!

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Zula Hummus CafeOne of the annual events that we really enjoy in Berlin is the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival). Each year my wife arranges to get tickets to one or two movies at the Culinary Cinema. Yes that’s right, the Culinary Cinema. This has been part of the Berlinale since 2006. This year one of the movies we saw was entitled, “Make Hummus not War.” It is a great movie and I recommend that you see it when it comes out in theaters. Anyway as you might have guessed the star of the movie is: Hummus!

After we saw the movie, my wife and I went on a search for the best hummus restaurant in Berlin and we found it. The Zula Hummus Cafe is located in Prenzlauer Berg at Husemannstrasse 10. It is a very intimate restaurant that serves the finest hummus in Berlin. I like the traditional hummus platter served with hard boiled egg and pine nuts. It comes with a basket of pita bread so you have swipe your way to hummus heaven. You don’t need a fork or spoon to enjoy hummus. All you need is some pita bread. Yummy!

They have several variations on their basic hummus platter, each with more ingredients and toppings. Their hummus platters are served with sides of their special garlic lemon juice, hot chillies, pickles, olives, and onions. You can add as little or as much of these as you like. Their hummus is creamy smooth and so delicious. It is made according to their own special recipe.

We’ve already been back a second time and once again enjoyed another wonderful hummus meal. If you’re looking for authentic hummus, then I recommend you go to the Zula Hummus Cafe in Berlin.

Zula Hummus Cafe
Husemannstraße 10
10435 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
Telephone: 49 (0)30-417 15 100

On the web at: http://zulaberlin.com

Le Piaf

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Here’s an intimate French restaurant near Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin that I think is fabulous. Please be sure to make a reservation as this little gem of a restaurant is normally fully booked. Once you have experienced the charming ambiance, the gourmet food and the superb wines you will understand why.

They offer a variety of two, three, and four course menus or you can choose to order à la carte. Their menus change regularly, which is something I like to see, as this keeps the dining experience fresh. They keep a few typical French favorites on the menu for the traditionalists, but they always have a few of the chef’s special creations to keep it interesting. I think the Entrecôte is wonderful and one of the best tasting steaks in the city. Pair it with a glass of Côtes du Rhône and you have a delicious meal.  And for those of you with a sweet tooth, I can recommend the Crème brûlée.

Their friendly staff will do everything possible to make your dining experience enjoyable. Check out their website for more information.

Restaurant Le Piaf
Schloßstraße 60
14059 Berlin
Telephone: +49 30 342 20 40
Website: http://le-piaf.de

 

Chez Bruno

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Chez Bruno French Feinkost
Chez Bruno French Feinkost

I enjoy a good wine with my meal and so I pass this information on to those of you who also enjoy wine, specifically French wine.  There is a lovely French Feinkost (delicatessen) in Berlin-Zehlendorf called Chez Bruno where you will find an extensive selection of French wines, spirits, cheeses and other delicacies.

Sometimes I need a little help in selecting the right wine(s) to go with my meal; as we all do from time to time.  Talk to Bruno, tell him what you are preparing and a little bit about what you are looking for and he will provide you with the perfect wine pairing(s) for your meal.

If you’re an oyster lover, be sure to stop by towards the end of the week, when they have French oysters available.  Yummy! Chez Bruno is my destination for French wine in Berlin!

More information is available on their website: http://www.chez-bruno.de/hp/

 
 
 
 
Chez Bruno
Berliner Strasse 31
14169 Berlin
Telephone: 49 (0)30 80 90 78 04

 

Restaurant Blauw Utrecht

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A friend of ours recommended this Indonesian restaurant in Utrecht to us and I am sure glad that he did.  We made a reservation for the early seating ( 6 to 8:45 p.m.).  The second seatin goes from 9:00 to 11:45.

Restaurant Blauw offers a variety of Indonesian specialties.  They offer a trio of rice tables (rijsttafels) – meat, fish, vegetarian which are very popular.  My wife opted for the vegetarian rice table.  I selected the Daging Rendang, which is one of my favorite Indonesian dishes.  Both meals came with a variety of Indonesian side dishes, vegetables and rice which literally covered the whole table.  The Rendang was unbelievable – delicious chunks of beef that had been marinated and slowly cooked in Indonesian spices.  It was hot and spicy – just the way it should be.

If you would like to try authentic Indonesian cuisine, I can highly recommend restaurant Blauw.  They have locations in both Amsterdam and Utrecht.

Restaurant Blauw Utrecht
Springweg 64
3511 VT Utrecht
Netherlands
Telephone: 31 (0)30-234 24 63
Website: www.restaurantblauw.nl

 

 

Brasserie FLO Amsterdam

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Located just a few steps off the Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square), Brasserie FLO is a wonderful French restaurant with an excellent menu and wine list.  If you like fresh seafood, i.e. Le Plateau de Fruits de Mer, this is the place.  When entering the restaurant you will pass the display of all the fresh seafood of the day.  Yummy.

I had the French onion soup for a starter.  It was excellent with an aged cheese baked over the top and filled with onions in a hearty broth.  I selected another appetizer as my main course, a house smoked salmon served over warm potato salad with a mustard sabayon.  Delicious!  If you like smoked salmon, you will love this dish.  My wife had the vegetarian cannelloni with spinach and mushrooms and a morel sauce.  She thought the dish was amazing.  It was artfully presented and the taste was superb.

They have a very nice French wine list.  We started with a glass of Chablis and then enjoyed a glass of Cote de Rhone with our main courses.

We used all the restraint we could muster not to have dessert.  But I must say the dessert menu was filled with lovely French specialties.

When visiting Amsterdam, I can highly recommend a visit to Brasserie FLO.

Brasserie FLO
Amstelstraat 9
1017 DA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Telephone: 31 (0)20-890 47 57

Visit there website at: www.floamsterdam.nl

 

Gasthaus Fabecks

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If you are looking for an outstanding German restaurant in the southwest part of Berlin, I highly recommend Fabecks restaurant.  Traditional German dishes with a great selection of German beers and wines combined with super service and ambiance make for a unforgettable dining experience.

Fabecks offers a daily menu (die Tageskarte) with a fresh selection of appetizers, soups, main dishes and desserts.  I particularly like their selection of fine German beers.  I’m especially fond of the Tegernseer dunkel.  Prost!

I enjoyed a meal of Veal Goulash with Sauerkraut and Mashed Potatoes.  It was a delicious meal. The Sauerkraut was mixed in with the gravy.  Wow, it was really good.

When you are looking for a German restaurant in the area of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, be sure to make a reservation at Fabecks.

Gasthaus Fabecks
Altensteinstraße 42 / Ecke Fabeckstraße
14195 Berlin
Telephone:+49 (0)30-26 07 97 67
Website: http://www.fabecks.de/

 

Lutter & Wegner am Gendarmenmarkt

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I had a friend ask me the other day if there were any good German restaurants in Berlin.  Sure – there are lots of good German kitchen restaurants in Berlin.  Here’s one of my favorites – Lutter & Wegner am Gendarmenmarkt.

I love German food so when I go to Lutter & Wegner I am always delighted by their well known German specialties.  I am a big fan of their award winning Sauerbraten served with Semiknudel and red Cabbage.  This is a delicious and hearty German meal.

They a great selection of German and Austrian wines.  Please ask your server for recommendations to pair with your meal.  They will give you a recommendation that pleases your pallate and fits your budget.  The servers are very attentive and will go out of their way to make your experience at Lutter & Wegner both pleasurable and memorable.

The restaurant is located on the Gendarmenmarkt, which is one of the most beautiful and historic spots in Berlin-Mitte.  Reservations are recommended.

Check out their website: http://www.l-w-berlin.de/

Lutter & Wegner am Gendarmenmarkt
Charlottenstraße 56
10117 Berlin
Telephone: 49 30 20 29 54 15