WaterCourse Foods Denver

A stop in Denver was not originally on the itinerary for our vacation in Boulder, but a friend convinced us that we should not miss the opportunity to go to WaterCourse for breakfast before heading on to Boulder.

WaterCourse is a cute and casual "100% vegetarian comfort food" restaurant. My friend mentioned in particular the biscuits and gravy, tempeh chorizo and seitan strips. Mr. Eats however opted for the Pepe scramble: eggs scramble with roma tomatoes and smoked mozzarella and topped with green chile with a side of refried beans and sweet potato home fries (and his own biscuit, thankfully). I didn't try the scramble, but the home fries were perfect.

I did take our friend's advice and had a biscuit and gravy with seitan strips. It didn't seem like much for the price, but it turned out to be quite a substantial meal. The biscuit was large and had bits of veggies in it which gave it a very savory flavor, some good texture and a bit of oomph. And the gravy was just spicy enough to taste like what I remember of sawmill gravy made from sausage drippings. The side order of seitan strips were fried and very flavorful. And there was definitely enough to share. Why doesn't seitan I make at home this good?

And when I say this meal was substantial, I'm not exaggerating. We finished up around 10:30am and headed to Boulder. Our room wasn't ready, so we walked over to Pearl Street. And walked. And walked some more. Next thing we knew, it was 6pm and we still weren't hungry. I think that might explain why we saw a number of bikers loading up before a day out riding!

WaterCourse Foods
837 E. 17th Ave
Denver, CO 80218
303-832-7313
Mon - Thur 7am - 9pm, Fri 7am - 10pm, Sat 8am - 10pm, Sun 8am - 9pm

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Actually, this post will just be about the bad and the ugly. More posts to come will tell of the "good" from our vacation to Boulder, Colorado. Unfortunately, the bad and the ugly came together at the tail end of our trip.

A 2:25pm departure out of the Denver airport yesterday meant an airport lunch. Rarely is an airport meal worth writing about, but this one is truly the worst experience I've ever had.

I almost got pizza. But I didn't want garlic breath, so we went to the Einstein Brothers bagel cafe for a little something different. First thing you notice is the pricing. Holy cow. They only show "combo" pricing which is a sandwich and a drink, most of which are nearing $10 or more.

But they were also promoting "sandwich thins" (on a thinner bagel), including "asparagus, mushroom and swiss." Okay. That sounds good. I didn't notice that it came with an egg white disc on it, too (it was on the breakfast menu). Eh, I can take that off, right? Well, I get the thing and first, it's soggy from being in an insulated wrapper. Then I notice some orange-red sauce on it. Was this mistakenly added? I don't know (it wasn't included in the description) and it was covered in it. And it was bad. The soggy bagel and terrible sauce rendered the sandwich completely inedible. Luckily, Mr. Eats's Tasty Turkey sandwich came without the tasty turkey. So I ate that and he went back for a replacement. To their credit, they let us keep the not-turkey sandwich and cheerfully gave him his original order. Despite the fact that there was a long line and a lot going on at this little bagel place.

So I didn't starve, but man oh man, that was the worst tasting thing I can remember having. Ever. I didn't take a picture, thinking it would be on their website. It's not. Nor should it be. Dearest Einstein Brothers, stick with the bagels, mmkay? You do that well. Leave the sandwich-making to others.

Nuvo Burrito

I first heard about Nuvo Burrito on Twitter from a few friends who are fans. I have to admit, I wasn't very interested; burrito joints are springing up as often as cupcake joints so it's difficult to get excited. But I was in East Nashville on a Monday during lunch (when I discovered that Allium is closed on Mondays) and so my friend and I decided to give it a try.

The first thing I noticed is the lack of Subway-style prep line common at a lot of burrito places. Hrm. Next thing I notice was beer (and cocktails). Hrm. And then I saw the menu. Whoa. Nuvo Burrito is not like the other burrito places at all! Could this be why they call it nuvo?

After reviewing the menu, and reviewing the menu, and reviewing it even more (you can substitute tofu for any meat in the burritos and quesadillas, so I had a lot to choose from), I settled on The Berkeley with the corn relish on the side. My friend, however opted for the 90210 "ques-idea", which was a close runner-up to my pick (it's said to be good with tofu).

As you can see from the picture, this is a substantial burrito and the quesadilla portions are just as generous. I made it through half, but had to take the other half home, thinking it would be good for lunch the next day. But no kidding, I couldn't wait that long. A few hours after lunch, I had a little room in my tummy and I finished it off. It's amazingly tasty for what seems like a fairly healthy burrito. I really enjoyed the cilantro pesto and I used the cumin corn relish as a salsa for the complimentary chips.

It's got a nice, clean interior and during our visit, VH1 Classics was playing a nice assortment of videos from the 80s that kept Baby Eats very entertained. And the service is fast, friendly and helpful (particularly for first-timers surprised by the refreshingly different menu).

Nuvo Burrito is located at 1000 Main Street (Five Points in East Nashville), which is the building that Marche occupies up front; Nuvo Burrito is directly behind Marche.