Death by Lucille's Biscuits and Bone Marrow Shiitake Butter
Colorado brilliantly cooked its way into my heart. My hunger was so often graciously met with such an immense offering of cuisines, each of which I was absolutely willing to dive into a 48-hour food coma for.
My Colorado food tour began with an introduction to Boulder's food scene via Snarfburger, a small dive (shack?), that delivered the most classically grilled burger you could hope to find. They served no frills, in the slightest, just an incredibly delicious, purest's dream - the type of sandwich that reminds you that burgers are good just by virtue of being burgers.
The next few days consisted of outrageously good brisket burnt ends at the West End Tavern, a mammoth turkey pot pie eaten at the top of a mountain in Vail, and in my most unique experience, a Tibetan steak dish at the most stunning tea house. As a self-proclaimed tea-drinker who is staunchly anti-coffee, coming across this ornately decorated, seemingly out of place, shrine-esk tea house presented itself as an adventure designed especially for me. Not only was the experience of recieving my miniature personal teapot and steeping my choice of green tea, one of probably twenty offered, the perfect cure for the chilly day, but the food was astoundingly yummy. A feast of steak and aged green tea is officially my new breakfast, lunch, and dinner of choice.
Oh but wait! There's more! The place that even had the tea house beat was Lucille's Creole Cafe. We ordered an outrageous spread of biscuits with jam, biscuits with gravy, freshly squeezed orange juice, and our own heaping entrees. My pan-fried trout with poached eggs, béarnaise, and fried potatoes almost sent me to the floor. That meal was exactly what I needed in that moment, and honestly, in any other moment I'd have the good fortune to be alive at present at Lucille's. This cafe was modest and delivered exactly on the deliciously prepared promises its founder (assumedly a Lucille of Creole dissent) intended to fulfill. I love Lucille's, and I believe everyone else should love Lucille's, too.
Despite biscuit and gravy withdrawals, in true fashion, I could only end my trip the way it started: with another burger. As a bit of a warm up, we devoured a plate of salty, battered and deep-fried cauliflower florets with a heaping side of artisan ranch for dipping. Delicious, groundbreaking, and maybe even a bit healthful. Then there was the main event. This time, my sandwich was dripping with the richest condiment probably ever known to have topped a beef patty, what Eureka! themselves describes as "shiitake bone marrow butter" if you can even believe that. I've never had anything close to it and I dream of the day I will again. This burger was outrageous, absolutely insane, and again demonstrated so perfectly how good a burger can be just by virtue of being a burger.
I was fortunate and adventurous enough to make as many food stops as possible in my own corners of Colorado. With that being said, there were about five more restaurants that I was desperate to try for each one that I fell in love with. So, I've decided to plan my very own Colorado food tour, modeled off of the very chic and expensive food tours where one may cook her way through Tuscany or southern France. Stay tuned, I think it's going to be life defining.
