Disclaimer: I do not have Celiac disease and, therefore, was not overly concerned regarding possible cross-contamination when making my selections at the following restaurants. If you have Celiac disease, I certainly recommend asking the appropriate questions of your server regarding “GF-marked” items.
And the Colorado recaps keep on coming!
I posted last week about our time in Fort Collins and Denver, and today is all about breakfast in Denver, our day trip to Boulder, and another evening back in Denver. You already know how I feel about Denver (love), but I have just as many positive feelings about the cute little city to its west. Boulder is gorgeous, has tons of fun places to shop and drink, and serves amazing (gluten-free) food. What more could you want?
Eating Gluten-Free in Boulder and Denver, Colorado
We started our Thursday morning off with a trip to Snooze, an A.M. Eatery. It is a pretty popular breakfast location, they are super GF-friendly, and Jeremy had eaten there before and loved it. Obviously, we had to go.
After some serious indecision between several items on the menu, I ultimately decided on the Sweet Potato Pancakes. All that I had to do was request that they be made gluten-free since the majority of the menu items can be. My two very large pancakes came out topped with homemade caramel, candied pecans, and ginger butter. Yes, it tasted every bit as good as it sounds. If heaven was on a plate, this would be it. And just an FYI, this was super rich and filling. I was so close to finishing it off, but did not want to be miserable all day.
It probably also did not help that Jeremy and I ordered a side of hashbrowns to share. How seriously cute are these?
And to make our stomachs even more full, the super sweet waitress sent out a congratulatory mini Strawberry Shortcakes Pancake after she noticed my shiny new engagement ring. Unfortunately, the gluten-free request was somehow lost in translation, so Jeremy had to eat this baby all by himself. I’m pretty sure he liked it since he ate every last bite.
Once we were all fueled up with a big breakfast, we drove to Boulder and met up with Jeremy’s brother and his girlfriend for the day. One of my favorite things to do in Boulder is to walk along the Pearl Street Mall. We spent several hours checking out various shops, and I somehow managed to leave without purchasing anything. I think I was saving my money for the food and drinks!
Speaking of drinks… I had to check out Rowdy Mermaid, a craft brewery for kombucha. We absolutely loved our time there. Our bartender was amazing, the environment of the brewery was super cute and relaxing, and we drank the most delicious kombucha.
Jeremy and I split a flight of kombucha, and I was so excited to feel like I could participate in the day of “drinking.” I had a hard time deciding on my favorites, but the Tangerine Habanero and Reykjavik Tea were pretty darn delicious. I am excited to go back next time we are in Boulder since their flavors are constantly rotating!
After our kombucha adventure, it was nearing 2:00 and our bellies were grumbling. I had done plenty of restaurant research beforehand, and we ultimately decided to check out Modmarket. Modmarket is all about farm fresh food, and they have tons of gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options.
I ordered a small Flatiron Salad without the cheese. It came with mixed greens, grilled steak, roasted potatoes, roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The “small” size was very large, so I would only recommend ordering the “regular” if you are super hungry or sharing it.
Since I was not expecting the salad to be as big as it was, I also ordered a cup of the Curry Yellow Split Pea Soup, which was both gluten-free and vegan. I really enjoyed it, but unfortunately could not finish it all since I was stuffed from the salad.
It is a good thing that we ate a large lunch, because our next stop was to Avery Brewing Company, where Jeremy made me incredibly jealous by drinking several IPAs and sours: aka, my favorites.
A little heads up for my GF friends. We tried to visit the New Planet tap-room, but it is only open from 3:00-8:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. So in other words, not many people care about gluten-free beer! 😉
My sadness about not getting to enjoy gluten-free beer quickly subsided once Jeremy and I arrived back to Denver for dinner at Work and Class. My former vegetarian self would not have done too well here, but the gluten-free, meat-eater in me loved this place. Like so much. It was probably in my top two favorite restaurants that we ate at during the entire trip!
Jeremy and I felt extra special because our seats were overlooking the kitchen, sort of like a “chef’s bar” as opposed to a chef’s table. The cooks treated us to complimentary Chickpea Croquettes with the most amazing sweet sauce. I forget exactly what it was, but if I remember correctly it contained either apricots or mangos. Regardless, the mini-dish was amazing!
Work and Class is all about eating family-style. You order the appetizers and meats you want, choose your sides, select breads, and then finish things off with desserts. We made sure to order enough for our two very hungry bellies.
Jeremy and I shared 1/4 pound of Jamaican Jerk Chicken, 1/2 pound of Cornmeal Fried Catfish with an amazing tartar sauce, a Brussels Sprout, Apple & Bacon Hash, and the Red Bliss Potatoes “Twice Baked.” Jeremy also lucked out and received an order of the Chipotle-Cheesy Tomato Mac (not GF) because the waitress misunderstood us when we were ordering, so he got to keep it for free!
What we really wanted when we were ordering was the Griddled Goat Cheese Masa bread, which came out shortly after. We both agreed that this was easily one of our favorite parts of the entire meal.
The dinner nearly filled us up, so we went with something small for dessert. We shared the Butterscotch Pudding with Almond Toffee, which was heavenly. I basically wanted to lick the entire bowl, and totally would have if it was socially acceptable.
If you are ever in the Denver area, you must stop at Work and Class. You can expect to wait a bit since it is small and extremely popular. But we only had to wait for about 20 minutes. The food was well worth the wait. If you are gluten-free, you will surely appreciate the number of offerings they have and how clearly marked they are.
Even after a delicious dinner with dessert, we did not want our night to end there. So I convinced Jeremy to go out for drinks. But not beer… margaritas! We stopped by Marg’s, where I ordered the House Marg. I kid you not, there are few things that I enjoy more than a classic lime margarita. I could have had the whole thing down in about two minutes flat, but I chose to savor it.
Jeremy is not a huge tequila fan, but he sucked it up and ordered the Paloma cocktail. It had a pretty strong tequila taste, so I ended up drinking half of it. Not that I minded one bit. After talking with the waiter, he ordered a second drink that he enjoyed much more. The frozen Vanilla-Coconut margarita (made with strawberries added) was unreal. I wanted to steal it from him, but I let him enjoy the goodness. He was paying, after all!
That wraps up our sixth night in Colorado. By this point, we were both starting to get sad because it meant the trip was coming to a close. But we still had one more day of fun and good eats to go. I’ll be back with my fifth and final Colorado recap next week!
Don’t forget to check out the first three recaps:
Eating Gluten-Free in Denver, Colorado {Part 1}
Eating Gluten-Free in Breckenridge and Denver, Colorado {Part 2}
Eating Gluten-Free in Fort Collins and Denver, Colorado {Part 3}
Have you been to Boulder before?
If you have been to the Denver area, have you eaten at Work and Class?
