Go Veggie!

Watercourse Foods
837 E 17th Ave
Denver, CO 80218-1467

Dinner Date: September 10th, 2009
Attendees: Katie, Jen, Ang., Rhonda, Caroline, Lara, Cat

Watercourse Foods is a Denver institution. They, without dispute, make the most amazing gravy (as in biscuits and gravy) in the world. I am dying to have it sent to some sort of culinary lab to have it decoded so I could make it at home. I have known employees and ex-employees that have sworn they don't know the secret of the gravy. It's also not your typical vegetarian/vegan restaurant...there really is something for everyone, even the most die-hard carnivore that will go on a tirade about not climbing to the top of the food chain to eat tofu can find something that will totally appease and satiate them.

Until Thursday night, I had not been to Watercourse since they moved to their location on 17th Avenue nor had I ever eaten there for dinner. Besides parking being what it is on 17th (not that I remember we had that much of a problem or a walk) the restaurant is very lovely...open and airy, with a long, wrap-around bar and the walls are tastefully colored with artwork everywhere. Which is a good thing because we spent a lot of time at the bar, waiting.

And as far as things go, we spent a lot of time waiting everywhere that evening.

I'll admit, Thursday there were 7 of us girls, an odd number, sure, but it seems doubtful that our wait would have been any less had there only been 6 of us. Looking around there didn't seem to be any tables to accommodate parties more than 4...which is fine, but our wait at the bar had to be on the closer to the 45 minutes to an hour side.

Once we were at the table things didn't seem to move at any quicker a pace. It seemed to me (and I could be wrong about this, if I am I'm hoping one of the other gals will correct me in the comments section) that we had to wait a significant amount of time not only for our order to be taken but for our food to arrive. I just remember having the thought at one point that quite possibly my napkin is made out of some biodegradable stuff that could be fit for human consumption. But, admittedly, I'll just throw in that we could have ordered appetizers at the bar, we didn't and that is our fault, so really, quit with the whining already, eh?

As for the food...no complaints. Everything was delicious and except for the gals that ordered the Portabello steak sandwiches, I tried a little of everyone's dinner. I decided to go with something I had never tried before, seitan. For those, like me, unfamiliar, seitan is sometimes referred to as "wheat meat" as it is made from wheat glutan. I had the Seitan Fried Steak with Mashed Potatoes, and smothered with that famous gravy it was fantastic. Here's what I love about Watercourse...just because it's vegetarian and vegan does not necessarily mean it's "healthy" or bland at all...like I mentioned before, there really is something for everyone, you just have to have an open mind, an adventurous spirit and be willing to try something you might not even thought you wanted to try.

Due to our wait time, we were all pretty much starving once our food arrived and our chatter pretty much died away as we ate, quickly. By then it was past nine and some of us were tired and just wanted to go home and go to bed, so we got our bill and divvied it up. And that's where things seemed to take a weird turn. As any restaurant is well within their rights (and I say I approve of this practice) Watercourse Foods adds an 18% gratuity to parties of 6 or more. It all worked out, the bill was sectioned, each of us paid our portion, including all the glasses of wine that were consumed during our wait at the bar before dinner... and then Cat, deciding she just had to have one more glass of wine, got up from the table and went to the bar and purchased another glass of wine. I don't know, maybe it is common practice everywhere but the bartender added 18% gratuity to her glass of wine purchase. It was weird and rubbed me the wrong way considering our server (who's name I cannot recall nor did I write down) did not serve her the glass of wine nor was it ordered at the table. Needless to say it ended the evening on a rather strange and sour note.

But overall and in the end, I had a great dinner in a great restaurant that I will frequent over and over...their menu is just too-too to-die-for! And as long as that gravy exists and that is the only place I can get it, well...wait or no wait, I'll be there.

xoang.