Little Bites - Steakhouse 10

Steakhouse 10
3517 S Elati St
Englewood, CO 80110
(303) 789-0911

If you live in the Englewood area and want a nice place to dine without going too far... ha ha... you are pretty much out of luck. However, we do have an upscale establishment tucked away on Elati at Hampden called Steakhouse 10. The place is "cozy" (read: small and tight) and dimly lit. You can have a seat at the "cozy" bar and sip expensive martinis until your table is ready. You might be wise to call ahead for a reservation.

Our waiter was friendly with a thick accent from I'm-not-sure-where as I was seated the furthest away and had a difficult time hearing him. But he was friendly and cute and hard not to like. I can't remember his name, though.

The menu has several appetizers such as shrimp, escargot and things I can't remember. We ordered Saganaki to start (flaming cheese!) and it was fantastic and served along side some warm bread. We also ordered the only bottle of Malbec on the menu and it was a good choice and went well with everything we ordered. Pete ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu and Holly & I split the pan-seared Halibut in a basil-y sauce. It was served with rice and it was simple and delicious. The halibut was tender and the sauce added nice flavor without taking over the texture of the fish and we were both happy that we split the plate. Incidentally, they do charge $10 to split a plate but it was worth it for us after the flaming cheese and bread which could have easily been an appetizer for four or more. The meal was topped off with a complimentary shot of Oozo. Yum and O-Pa!!

So no, not one of us had steak which of course this place is known for but we were each happy with what we got. A warning to vegetarians -- there is nothing here for you -- nothing. Unless you like bread and salad and maybe some sides. The prices are high but the service is on par and you can feel swept away from the Englewood fray for any special occasion.

Parisi Italian Market & Deli

4401 Tennyson St
Denver, CO 80212
(303) 561-0234
Caroline's Pick

“Caroline picked the best restaurant, ever!!”

I can’t remember who said this, but someone in our party did. The words are even written in the official Dinnergirls notebook.

Dinnergirl Lara lives in the neighborhood, so we started out the evening at her house to have a glass of wine, see her great home and visit with her puppy dog, Jasmine.

It was such a gorgeous night we considered ordering takeout, but then decided to walk over to Parisi for the entire dining “experience”. You have to wait in line and order at the counter, and pay then they find a table for you. This is not my favorite setup, yet I am open to unique concepts and this is the casual atmosphere of Parisi.

As we drooled over the menu, it was hard to decide what to get. The cute guy behind the counter, whose name we'll put here when we remember it, was very helpful and friendly!! One issue is there was nowhere for us to sit and have a glass of wine while we waited for our table. Panic started to arise in the group!! Luckily a table opened up for as soon as we filled our water glasses. We cheered as we were seated and our wine delivered immediately!

I ordered a Caprese salad and there was plenty to share with everyone! Delicious tomatoes and huge pieces of delicious fresh mozzarella! Yum!

As the food was served, squeals of delight were heard around our table! I have had delicious pizza at Parisi before, so I decided to try the pasta gorgonzola. It was rich and delicious and again plenty to share. The pasta was cooked perfectly and just the right amount of robust sauce surrounded my noodles!

Lara eats at Parisi often and has told us about the “crack” pizza, which she and Katie ordered. The pizza features a delicious house-made sausage with addictive qualities. Lara did not lie, it was amazing!! And the crust was thin and crispy, covered with a flavorful sauce! I for one love only thin crust pizza and this enhanced all of the other flavors immensely.

Now, here’s the problem, I waited way, way too long to write my blog!! I sincerely apologize and although I know I loved every single mouthful that night, I can’t remember specifically what everyone else ordered, so they will fill in the details. I do know that Parisi is one of my favorite places and I am looking forward to going to one of their family-style dinners on Wednesday evenings, which I heard are delicious and fun! You have to call ahead to make a reservation as these special nights can fill up!! They also have a great deli and frozen meals to take home. Their gelato looks scrumptious, although I was too full to eat any that night. Everyone in the restaurant seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were! I give Parisi a 10+, A+, lots of stars, whatever!!

Parisi is located at 4401 Tennyson in one of Denver’s hottest neighborhoods! Great restaurants, shops, houses, and friendly people walking their puppies!! Enjoy the great music on their website: http://www.parisidenver.com/

Little Bites

Blue Moon Sushi
2188 S Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80222(303) 782-4888‎

The first few times I passed Blue Moon on Colorado Blvd., I have to admit I chuckled. Is it really an I-Hop turned into a sushi joint? If I go in there and it still smells like syrup, I don't know if raw fish will go down so easy. Anyhow...on to the review:

Jen, Dan and I decided to meet at Blue Moon one Friday evening and give it a try! Several friends of mine said it was good, cute, and worth a trip! Jen also said a few of her friends recommended it too! Dan and I arrived first and decided to grab a table since the place seemed to be filling up fast, which is a good thing! The first impression I had of the place was, CUTE. They have converted the building into a fun and hip little place! I loved the decor, beautiful fish tanks and open and modern looking sushi bar. It is important to me that sushi restaurants are clean, and Blue Moon seemed fresh and new.

Jenny arrived and said how cute and fun the placed seemed too! We quickly moved on to ordering hot saki, and I think Dan had a Tsingtao beer. We chatted and took forever to decide what we wanted. The delightful waitress asked if we needed any help and we replied by asking her what she recommended. She was very helpful and pointed to items on the menu and specials up on the dry erase board that she liked! I personally love when a good server will offer insight into LARGE menus. I just couldn’t focus. Darn saki. I have also had some not so friendly servers at sushi bars, which make you feel like a jerk for asking for more saki. This wasn’t the case at Blue Moon!

This is where my memory needs assistance from Jen! I remember we ordered some “staple rolls and pieces” including spicy tuna, unagi, yellow tail, and tuna. However, we ordered a few special rolls that were OUTSTANDING. I remember one had king crab and it was delectable. The rice was good, not over cooked nor under cooked. The rolls were cut in nice sizes, which were easy to eat in one bite. The friendly waitress kept our saki-a-flowin’ and we were in blissful sushi delight! I also sort of recall ordering a roll that was really fancy and didn’t have rice around the outside but instead cucumber and a special sauce poured on top. Did we pass that one up Jen? I can’t remember.

My experience at Blue Moon was great and I must say I thought it was very reasonable in price. I think Denver has some great sushi bars for a great value and I will definitely add Blue Moon to that list! Sure, you can go pay more at other places around town but if you have the craving as I often do for decent sushi and don’t have a fat wallet, Blue Moon will deliver!

Little Bites: Casa Bonita

Ummm... I've been teasing the Dinnergirls about picking Casa Bonita as my dinner for a couple of years now. Even though I have really wanted to go, everyone threatens not to attend. So I dare not waste my pick. You can imagine my excitement when Ang. called to say, "If you really want to go to Casa Bonita, this is your chance." It would seem her niece is in town and we'd be taking the kiddies. Awesome!

We arrived -- barely remembering how to get there. It has been twelve or so years since my last visit. The big pink tower gave it away at last.

We stood in line for what seemed like FOREVER and the memories started trickling back. We ordered a litre (each, of course) of frozen, fake, non-alcoholic, "Sangria" Margarita, nachos, gorditas and fun for all!

The excitement builds as we climb the ramp with our trays to be seated. Until we were seated in a crappy little table in an awkward corner with no view except a wall and people's backs, that is.

The food sucked -- as I knew it would -- but the entertainment was supposed to make up for that, right? Plus there is always a chance that management changed since the last time any of us were there and everything has been improved and now it is great! Fat chance indeed. Since I was literally looking into a corner that was situated behind some risers, it was hard to see past the bad, bad, really bad, food as it was the only entertaining thing in the vicinity. How in God's name can you screw up NACHOS that BAD? They are $13 and I wouldn't even feed them to my puppy! It really is a feat. The chips suck. The "queso" comes from a can and that is pretty much all there is to it. Mookie's nachos were stale so we sent them back. She still didn't eat them -- we'll assume because they sucked. Ang's gorditas were interesting to look at -- Mattie didn't seem to mind them but you'll have to read on to the comments for that review...

Incidentally, whatever you order, order it without meat and they'll make it, uh, "fresh" and bring it to your table. It won't have been sitting out under that hot light like everyone else's. Either that or return your plate when it arrives and tell the waitress it is stale. They'll bring a newer, better one. Notice -- I did not say "good" - just better.

We finally put our plates to rest, munched on a cheap imitation Sopaipilla, FINALLY paid our bill, swallowed down what we could of the "margaritas" and headed toward the "cliff" that by the way has not been updated in about 30 years. I swear. Of course nothing here has been. The "skit" that was being performed was entirely too long and impossible to understand. All anyone wants to see is someone go over and they dragged it out for days -- the little kids lost interest... and finally it finished. We managed to escape this place after finally finding the exit.

I swear -- SWEAR -- I am over it -- I'm over Casa Bonita and I'll never threaten to take anyone there ever again. If any visitors from out of town are dying to visit -- I'll be happy to print out a Google map to help you find your way.

Don't say you weren't warned...

xxx

PS - Marie's comment won't post because it is a graphic. I'll post it here for her. xxx

OH! Gosh!

Steuben’s Food Service

523 E 17^th

^{Denver, CO 80203}

^303.830.6909

Attendee’s: Caroline, Jen, Marie, Ang. (the return of) Kat and Katie for drinks!

Ah…Steuben’s…finally!

We were all so very excited about this pick, and let me be the first to say, it lived up to all the that we had heard about it and more!!!

First…the drinks menu! We all had several different fun drinks and none of them disappointed.

My first was an enchanting little pirate number of Vodka, Lime Juice and Ginger Beer served in an ice-cold copper mug and for the encore a delicious, sassy, little number with Tequila, Muddled Cucumber, Cliantro, Lime Juice and something spicy…which was uber-fantastic and made me wish we were sitting outside on one of them 100 degree days when it’s too hot to even move!—I cannot remember the names of either of these drinks…but peruse the menu for a bit and you’ll find ‘em, no sweat!

Some of the other gals had fun gin drinks that were delicious as well. I’m not a fan of the gin but the taste was not overpowering in these smooth, shaken, not stirred concoctions.

(I think…someone, not mentioning any names, has a copy of the drink menu…maybe they would be delightful and fill in the blanks on a comment page???)

Anywhooo….the drinks, though a little pricey, hit the spot and were all perfectly sublime and absolutely marvelous.

Kudos to the Bartenders!!!

Second…the appetizers!!! We ordered a couple of things that make this dinnergirl say "Wow…we are so going back to Steubens!!!"

Lara warned us about the gravy fries…we should have listened. We got the gravy on the side but the massive plate of perfectly cooked fries was also covered with cheese…Lara did not mention cheese…lordy! My personal favorite...I want to go back for more right now!

Speaking of cheese…the fried cheese was excellent but the marinara would make any Italian restaurant chef weep….it was practically the best I have ever tasted in a dining establishment.

Then the calamari. I’m not really a connoisseur of seafood (ok…really, I love fish, especially the raw stuff!) but I’ll try things. This calamari, served Rhode Island style, I don't know what that means but it was something else. It was lightly breaded and accompanied with peppers and olives in a light, spicy sauce…out of this world…loved it!

And the third act…entrees!

Quite frankly, we were all a little bit full after the appetizers so we went a little sparingly on dinner.

Caroline, I believe had the barbeque, tender and scrumptious…and she went for the “famous” mac and cheese instead of potato (I’m guessing here). I can understand why it is the premier on their menu…soooo good!!! It was cheesy (I am guessing again but there were probably several different types of the fromage) and the little crusty breadcrumbs on the top…man, yum-Mee!!!

Jen and I split the trout…thank god cause it was a whole fish…perfectly cooked, light and flaky.

Marie had the onion soup and Kat had a Caesar salad, and while I tasted neither they both looked beautiful.

Then our fabulous wait-gal brought a little dessert menu to the table, and quite frankly I don’t thing a single one of us actually looked at it.

Now…I have to admit…this was one of our more “expensive” dinners, but with all the drinks and the service (the lovely Emma was absolutely awesome!!) and the ambiance…it was worth every penny.

I can’t speak for everyone but I am sure that a return engagement (s) is in very near future!

Oshima Ramen

Oshima Ramen
7800 E. Hampden Ave.
Denver, CO 80231
720-482-0264

In Attendance, Ang, Jen, Rhonda, Lara, Caroline, Carol, and Marie

My first impression of Oshima Ramen…….WEIRD. Upon entering, you feel as if you have walked into someone’s dirty office. In fact, there is a sign that says something like, “don’t sit here, this is my office.” The piles of papers and junk are not exactly inviting. However, I have been to some dives before, and tried to look beyond THE OFFICE. I rounded the corner and saw my lovely Dinnergirls smiling back at me, and felt comforted.

It didn’t last long. We were sitting at a corner table as we usually do. The Dinnergirls are known to get a bit rowdy when we are having a good time! The table was dirty, I mean DIRTY. There was ground in dirt all over the plastic checkered tablecloth. I scanned around the rest of the restaurant quickly, and noticed that the whole place was somewhat grungy. Again, I kept telling myself that dives have some of the best food its okay, its okay, forget it! I kept looking down at the tablecloth and didn’t even want to touch it, eeeccck, and gross! I did enjoy the funny Asian cartoon posters on the wall!

Now to the food! The menu was interesting. I had never eaten ramen at a restaurant before, so I for one was excited. Ramen was usually something I ate at home curled up on the sofa and it was a wonderful college meal. There were all kinds of different broths, meats, and veggies to go choose from to go along with your ramen noodles. Honestly, I was scared to eat any kind of meat there, so I stuck with vegetarian ramen. Other girls were more adventurous and ordered meats and seafood in their ramen. Each ramen meal came with gyoza. I LOVE gyoza, but wasn’t looking forward to eating meat that came from a dirty kitchen. Oh the horror!

I almost forgot that before during and after ordering, we enjoyed mass quantities of hot sake! You can’t really screw up sake and it was fantastic! Our servers were very friendly and even helped us with the menu and figuring out what we were doing. The service at Oshima Ramen was good.

The gyoza starters arrived at our table. They were a bit different looking than any gyoza I have tried before. All the dumplings were stuck together and had a strange fried crust all around them.

Oshima Ramen has a bunch of different sauces and spices at each table apparently to use on your gyoza or ramen. I won’t go into how dirty the dispensers were, and I stayed away from them. A few girls were brave and smelled them, but didn’t look like they enjoyed the aromas. I stuck with soy sauce. I tore off a gyoza with my chopsticks, dunked it in soy sauce, and popped the whole thing in my mouth. I hesitated to chew. However, I was delighted with the taste that filled my mouth! I thought the gyoza was great! The gyoza dumplings were very tender and filled with very flavorful meats and veggies. I was ready to give Oshima Ramen the benefit of the doubt! The other girls seemed happy with their gyoza, as I recall. I think a few other girls ordered different appetizers, but can’t remember what they were in my sake haze.

Finally, our ramen appeared at the table. The bowls of hot and steamy ramen were enormous! My bowl was as big as my head. We all dug into our ramen and started commenting.

First off, mine was bland. Maybe I was used to the kind that came in a package, cost a $1, and filled with MSG to add flavor. The vegetable broth in this fresh ramen had no flavor at all. I dumped in at least a cup or two of soy sauce hoping to bring out some flavor, but I ended up with a bowl of bland soy sauce soup. I noticed a few other girls desperately trying to add flavor to their ramen too. The noodles in my ramen were very good compared to the broth. The noodles were fresh and tender. I was slow with my chopsticks, but finally learned you just had to shove in a mouthful of noodles and cut them off with your teeth. It was fun to slurp and twirl the noodles. My ramen also had some veggies added in and they were cooked perfectly, but had the same bland flavor as the ramen broth. In one word, the ramen was just boring.

Unfortunately, I don’t recall if the other girls liked their ramen or not, so I will leave it to them to add some comments!

I also want to say that if you visit Oshima Ramen, beware of the bathroom and the toilet paper weirdness. I imagine they think that they might run out, or they are too lazy to check and see if the bathroom is ever out of toilet paper so they stockpile it! There are literally 5 to 10 rolls of toilet paper shoved behind the toilet in between the toilet handrail. It also looks as if the toilet paper had once been wet and in the toilet. It was nasty in there and I couldn’t get out fast enough. I will leave the bathroom critique at that.

I am sorry to say, but out of all the Dinnergirls picks this one was mine and it was my least favorite. I don’t think I will have any reason to go back to Oshima Ramen and the funny office space in the corner. I might be persuaded to order some to-go gyoza, but that’s about it! I was very disappointed, especially after reading so many great reviews. I will stick with my 10 for $10 ramen at the grocery store, thank you!