Restaurant Roundup – Hanson’s, McCormick and Schmick’s, Cafe | Bar

November 21, 2012  •  Restaurants

I was cleaning out my food photo files this past weekend – transferring around something like 100GB of photos, trying to clean them off my hard drive and organize them into files on standalone backup drives so that I wouldn’t lose them. In the process I came across a few stragglers from restaurants that I meant to write about, so let me get that done right now! The first is Hanson’s. I used to love to go to the Pearl St. Grill for brunch on the back patio, but they closed the joint and sold the space to Sushi Den to expand. Boo, I say. Fortunately Hanson’s is just down the street and makes a lovely omelet brunch and has a back patio as well for nice weather. See how much spinach is in that omelet? And see how the potatoes are extra crispy like I ordered them? I love it when a kitchen gets it right!The second photo I found was from Cafe | Bar, and I’m pretty sure this was from last winter. It was an incredible game sausage stew, a bit like a French cassoulet, and I adored it. My only complaint about Cafe | Bar is that the seating is tight, not that comfortable, and it can be a bit loud. For those reasons I prefer this place for lunch over dinner. But the food is fabulous and at lunch time they let you split any sandwich or salad on the menu – really a nice option.Finally, way back last March I took my mom to lunch for her birthday and chose McCormick and Schmick’s in the tech center here in Denver, but they have locations around the country. My mom chose the lobster cobb salad and I think this tower presentation might be the most beautiful salad presentation I’ve ever seen in my life. I originally discovered McCormick and Schmick’s when traveling to Seattle on business back when I worked for IBM (an entire lifetime ago!). They continue to be one of the most consistently high quality seafood restaurants around, and even though I tend to prefer local chefs and local farm to table spots, when I want a great selection of seafood options – tough to find here in Colorado – this is the restaurant I visit. Give them all a try!

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