Denver Do-Over

Friday, January 15

Mr. E and I took advantage of the MLK, Jr. holiday long weekend for a re-do of our truncated Denver trip from the end of the year. We had a late afternoon flight on Friday and got to our hotel via taxi just before 9pm. We stayed again at the Warwick Denver in the same type of suite, but this time our room was on the 11th floor and the other side of the corridor, so our view out over the city was a bit different compared to last time. I unpacked and settled in while Mr. E placed a room service order and then headed off to the nearby Uptown Wines and Safeway to procure some snacks and drinks for the weekend. Our grilled octopus, butter lettuce salad, and salsicca pizza offerings from the hotel restaurant Gattara were just as yummy as we remembered, so we had a lovely dinner in our room to wrap up the first evening of our return visit.

Saturday, January 16

I did my usual Zumba room workout in the morning followed by laps in the wonderful outdoor heated pool on the rooftop of the hotel. Then we headed a few blocks away to Steuben's for brunch. We had noticed the night before that indoor dining had returned to Denver, which was a bit of a surprise since that hadn't been the situation at the end of December. At Steuben's, we were seated in the big heated tent that the restaurant had set up in its parking lot, which was a nice hybrid strategy for sort of indoors but still outdoors. Mr. E ordered the sausage and biscuits, and I had a veggie eggs Benedict. Very large portion sizes!!! We also appreciated the option to add on a donation to our bill to support local first responders.

However, neither of us enjoyed the house coffee, so after a quick stroll down the street to get some snacks and wine at Marczyk Fine Foods, we stopped by Toasts n' Roasts on the way back to the hotel to pick up two Americanos. We sipped our coffee in the room before heading out to the Denver Art Museum for our 1pm general admission entry. Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to secure tickets for the special exhibition on Mexican Modernism, but we really enjoyed The Light Show exhibit that was scattered across several floors of the general gallery space. Quite a bit of the Museum was closed off for ongoing renovations, so it will be interesting to visit again once all of that work is done to see the new spaces and new works.

Given our large brunch, we weren't really hungry for lunch after our Museum visit. Mr. E went to work out when we got back to the hotel, and I did my daily yoga practice in our room and then had some time to check email and read. We tried to grab drinks at 54Thirty, the rooftop bar at Le Meridien Hotel downtown, but the limited capacity meant that the spot was closed to any non-hotel guests. Instead, we had cocktails and snacks at The Lobbyist bar. I have to admit, it felt a bit weird to be eating indoors!!!

For dinner, we opted for takeout to eat in the room. I got a yummy shrimp and veggie with zucchini noodles bowl from Noodles & Company, and Mr. E picked up a burger and fries from Colorado Campfire.

Sunday, January 17

I repeated my morning workout, and we decided to have brunch in LoDo near the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), which was our destination for a 12pm general admission entry. We had a fabulous meal at Delectable Egg, with a Cowboy Benedict for Mr. E and a Portabello Mushroom Benedict for me. 

The coffee here was far better than at Steuben's, and I enjoyed it so much that we bought a pound of beans to take home! When we arrived at the restaurant, there were a bunch of people waiting for tables. But I discovered that they were trying to get seated inside, so when we opted for an outdoor table with a personal heater, we got seated right away and started a bit of a trend.

We were a little early for our museum time, but we were able to enter and head up to the cafe on the third floor, where Mr. E ordered an Americano, which we could enjoy in the sparsely furnised indoor cafe. Our visit around MCA was quite interesting and thought-provoking, as the entire space was devoted to a range of exhibits related to democracy. 

For lunch, we grabbed some items from the Whole Foods near MCA and walked back to our hotel. Our afternoon activities were similar, and we then debated our options for dinner. Once we discovered that Manzo Lobster and Oyster Bar offers Happy Hour on Sundays from 3pm onward, we realized that was an obvious choice! We had wanted to try this place during our previous visit but hadn't had the chance. When we arrived, the restaurant was pretty quiet, and we opted to sit at the bar, which was a great choice since the bartender, Anthony, ended up being super friendly and also super knowledgeable about all of the seafood offerings. We started with cocktails and half a dozen of the $1.75 Happy Hour oysters, Pemaquids from Maine, plus a few of the more delicate New Brunswick Beausoleil oysters that I remembered fondly from our family dinner at Shore in Austin when we were there for Christmas.

Our main dinner was diver scallops with roasted carrots for me, lobster poutine for Mr. E, and a side of grilled asparagus to share. All amazingly delicious, and no issues at all to accommodate my allium allergy throughout the entire evening.

We were just a few blocks from our hotel, and on our way back, we stopped at d Bar to pick up some sweets for dessert -- the best French macarons I've ever tasted!!! I wish I had saved some of them to bring home...

Monday, January 18

I wasn't able to do a final lap swim in the morning as several people were already in the pool by 8am, but at least then I didn't have to deal with wet swim stuff to pack in my suitcase. I suggested to Mr. E that we needed to make a visit to Blue Bear, our favorite piece of public art in Denver, so we walked over to the Convention Center to greet him.

Then we stopped by different location of the Delectable Egg for brunch, which was much closer to our hotel. Yes, we had enjoyed the food so much that we wanted to return, and the menu was definitely large enough to give us many options for something different to try! 

We got back to our hotel with enough time to pack and check email before we walked to Union Station to catch the train to the airport. Snow flurries! How perfect!

On both of our flights, we managed to snag the 2-seater exit row so we didn't have to be concerned at all about having someone in a middle seat. The flight home was especially full, and I'm glad we could just be with each other.

The do-over trip was definitely a success. I got my art fix, we found some awesome local restaurants, and we had some quality couple time together away from home, which we hadn't really had since our Lassen adventure last August. I'm certainly hoping for more travel options and possibilities in 2021...!