Denver Restaurant Week

Team Delicatessen went to Panzano for Denver Restaurant Week (restaurants across Denver let you get a multicourse dinner for two for $52.80, alcohol and tip not included.) (UPDATE: Come to find out, we could've gotten many of the same dishes for less during Panzano's happy hour. Oh, well. You live and learn. More proof that Denver Restaurant Week is increasingly not all you think it will be)  Here's the four-course menu of small plates that Panzano is offering. You get to choose one item under each course listing.

When the servers recommend that at least one person at your table get the mushroom crepe, they are not kidding! Earthy mushrooms and a delightful sauce. The fried brussel sprouts with pistachio and thin green apple slices is also tasty, and you get a nice serving size. For the second course, most of us tried the spinach salad, with maple dressing, gorgonzola, pear slices, walnuts.

For the main course, two of us got the gnocchi with rabbit, leeks, tomato, mushroom. Getting all those ingredients together in one bite is a really nice, well-rounded, flavorful bite. Mr. P discovered he actually likes rabbit. The other two got Pollo Marsala (chicken breast) on top of mushroom risotto, w/ fried prosciutto and truffle oil on top. I found the chicken on the dry side, but it is a decent-sized plate. The gnocchi comes in a small little pot. Though it looks small, it's the right proportion for a 4-course meal, but it looks so small!

 Also tiny are the desserts, though for your health, it's probably just right. The creme brulee was vanilla-flavored on the night we were there. The lemon tart had a thin crust with meringue on top, and it was laid on top of a plate with raspberry preserve ladled on it. Tiramisu: solid. Service was attentive. It's fun to watch the staff in the open kitchen.

Madeleine Peyroux

Need some music to start your morning? Unwind your evening? Wall Street Journal is streaming music from Madeleine Peyroux's new album, which is out 3/5. Check out her version of "Bye Bye Love."

How do you spell Baryshnikov

Northwestern University says Mikhail Baryshnikov will be the commencement speaker this June. He'll get an honorary degree too.

Ivan & Alyosha

You can still hear Ivan & Alyosha's new album free on NPR

Smashburger sets out winter menu

Smashburger founder Tom Ryan likes to say you start out creating a new restaurant menu with 110 percent of the menu items you need, and you end up getting about 85 percent of it right.

When he opened his latest restaurant, Tom's Urban 24, about three months ago with co-founder Rick Schaden (former Quiznos CEO, Consumer Capital Partners co-founder, Smashburger board member), the menu was intentionally large, partly because the concept was to bring all of what America likes to eat all in one place. But they were also seeing what people would like. When the restaurant opened, there were distinct breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night menus that could only be ordered during the set breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night hours.

Now, there is one menu from 10 p.m. - 4 p.m. and a dinner menu from 4 p.m. - 10 p.m. And in a concession to those looking for more of a diner feel during the dinner hours, there's always some sort of egg dish available at any time of day. This past Monday, Tom's set out its winter menu. Here's a look at the new dishes:

 

TUSCAN WHITE BEAN DIP. 

W/ cucumbers, tomatoes, grilled flatbread. Tasty, though you can see some of the oil is settling

COLORADO CALIMARI

W/ green and red chiles, grilled lemon, sauces (green chile ranch, voodoo, remoulade

URBAN COWBOY EGG BAKE. 

Slow roasted tender carnitas, red chile, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese, charro beans, baked. Topped with 2 fried eggs. Served w/ a flour tortilla. This is what you should order if you want to soak up your liquor before going home late at night. Delicious and huge, it could feed one NFL offensive lineman, 2.5 normal Americans or 3 Cherry Creek ladies watching their figures.

TOM'S FILET MIGNON POT PIE. The puff pastry topper is pierced to reveal a hot, soupy mix of roasted vegetables, mushroom shallot gravy, tender filet mignon (that has been pan seared, though you wouldn't necessarily know it.) There's also a TRUFFLED LOBSTER AND SHRIMP POT PIE (not shown, but it'll have some red garnish on top) with truffle gravy.

LOBSTER AND SHRIMP TACO PLATTER. Butter poached seafood, slaw, cilantro crema, chipotle sauce, each served on 2 blue corn tortillas, the better for lifting to your mouth for clean eating. You can't see it here, but it comes with Mexican rice and charro beans, so it's not a completely cold meal. W/ grilled lime.

BLUE CORN CRAB ENCHILADAS. Again with the charro beans and Mexican rice. The stuff on top is salsa verde, tomato, sour cream, queso fresco, cilantro, green onions.

STRANAHAN'S WHISKEY BBQ RIBS. W/ sweet potato waffle fries, crisped to perfection, and an Asian peanut vegetable slaw and Stranahan's whiskey sweet bbq sauce. That's a lot of food.

ANGUS OPEN-FACED MEATLOAF PLATTER. Toasted sourdough. Swiss and mushroom shallot gravy. With mashed potatoes and braised Tuscan kale.

FRIED CHICKENLOOPER, now with ... CORN CAKES! The Chickenlooper was on the menu previously as a take on chicken and waffles with a nod to Gov. John Hickenlooper, but the new version has sweet corn pancakes. The covering on the chicken is matzo bread. Served with syrup and butter.

I should mention, there's also an NY STRIP STEAK AND EGGS PLATTER, but BL started devouring it before I got a picture. Lots of spice and seasoning to that steak. And there's an URBAN SUPER PHO, added to the menu for those who didn't like the more Americanized, urbanized, pho options already on the menu and wanted more spice. I guess I ate that before taking a picture. It's got egg, shrimp, chicken, duck, with the more traditional additions of basil, cilantro, mint leaves, chile slices and sprouts.

FRIED BRUSSEL SPROUTS WITH ASIAN VINAIGRETTE. There used to be a version made with brown butter. This one has some peppers, sweet flavoring. Kinda smells funny, but it tastes good.

SIA Snow Show

Some quick glimpses from this year's SIA Snow Show, where brands roll out their products for next winter and buyers decide what they might want to order.

Free tattoos at Arnette's booth

Of course! Vans and its waffle grip soles, making fresh mini waffles to order for show attendees each morning

Model Ski Lifts. Brought to you from Europe by a distributor who has a rope tow in his backyard in Rhode Island so he can take turns on the hill back there. He also has a porch swing made from an old chair from a lift.

Burton boards designed by contest entrants

More Burton boards designed by contest entrants

A Pacman design at the Academy Snowboards booth

Met Opera auditions

The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Rocky Mountain Region took place this weekend. Judges heard 42 singers on Saturday, and on Sunday, 11 of those singers competed for the chance to move on the national semifinals. The auditions are open and free to the public to listen in.

(Ever since seeing the documentary "The Audition," which followed the national finals of this competition, I've been curious to check out the regional here in Denver. If you haven't seen it, "The Audition" is fun and moving to watch.)

Eight sopranos, two baritones and a bass competed Sunday. All performed well. Isabella Ivy and Phoenix Gayles had some showy pieces with some tough high notes. Rebecca Pedersen showed off impressive tone. While the judges deliberated, the announcers told some bits of trivia about the competitors, like baritone Alex DeSocio was a former Division I football prospect, baritone Jared Bybee was on the pre-med track but decided to devote his energy to music, and Melissa Otani-Jensen was born in Japan.

At the end, an announcer listed the people who won awards. This is where it got confusing because there seemed to be a lot more awards listed than were given out. And the announcer got some names wrong, but she appeared to be saying the Colorado prize went to Marielle Murphy (of California) and the Utah prize went to Melissa Otani-Jensen. Then she announced another set of awards, saying Rebecca Pedersen got first place, Phoenix Gayles got second and Isabella Ivy got third, but we'll have to check back with the Met website to see if that's correct. Confusing for us non-opera world people, I know! But it was a great afternoon of music.

Also, this weekend: the International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge. You can find some photos on Facebook. Go, Team Mongolia.

Getting fit in 2013

Did you make a resolution to lose weight or exercise more this year? Have you kept it?

As Americans focus on reducing obesity, it makes sense that workplaces, where non-retirees spend so much time, should get involved.

So here, some food for thought:

An article on workplace wellness programs.

And tips for office fitness.

What are your own ideas for exercising at work?

Dana Schutz at the Denver Art Museum

Dana Schutz :: (Image courtesy of the artist and Zach Feuer, New York)

There are still a few days left to see Michigan-born but New York-based artist Dana Schutz's paintings at the Denver Art Museum. (Her exhibit closes Sunday, 1/13). Her work is in the first-floor gallery in the Hamilton Building. No special price beyond general admission to see it. As the exhibit explains, Schutz explores ideas that aren't always spoken or expressed. One painting is about what it FEELS like to sneeze. Another large canvas represents a men's retreat, like the corporate kind of retreat that she would never get invited to. Another, "Swimming, Smoking, Crying" depicts three activities that you wouldn't normally do simultaneously that all involve breathing. Families with kids, beware, there are some naked photos of a woman giving birth and this one, "The Autopsy of Michael Jackson," (painted before Mr. Jackson died. Note the white glove.)

"The Autopsy of Michael Jackson," Dana Schutz :: (Image courtesy of the artist and Zach Feuer, New York)

The exhibit definitely gets viewers talking. ("She has a sense of humor!" "I don't know if kids need to see that (woman giving birth))

Amerigo Delicatus

Just a quick note to say we stopped into Amerigo Delicatus one Saturday evening, and mmmm, it was good.

Don't get distracted by the bright neon sign for Billy's Gourmet Hot Dogs as you head toward 24th and Larimer _ Amerigo Delicatus is right next door.

The cozy husband-and-wife-run restaurant has small wood tables and larger hightops for bigger parties, and large painted canvases adorn the walls. Customers can sit at a table for a meal or buy readymade food from the counter.

The menu changes, so we couldn't order the pumpkin bruschetta when we visited, but we started off with a bruschetta with beef shoulder. It was OK, if a little difficult to gnaw off a bite. We also got mussels, which were well-seasoned and suitably plump. The gnocchi was satisfying and comforting on a chilly evening. Worth a repeat visit to order it again! We finished with that old Italian standby, tiramisu. Of course, all this  probably means nothing now because the menu has changed yet again, offering yet another reason for us to go back to try more dishes.

Servers were friendly and attentive.

The already reasonable prices (every entree under $20, dessert for $5 or less!) were made even more palatable with a 50 percent off deal from Scoutmob ($10 max dinner discount).

Kirkland Museum

We took another roll through the Kirkland Museum the other night, and since the museum lets you take photos without a flash, we thought we'd share a bit of the experience with you.

Vance Kirkland was born in Ohio in 1904, studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and, if his self-portrait is to be believed, grew up to look something like this:

Vance Kirkland, self-portrait, 1946 (Kirkland Museum)

The Denver Art Museum has some of his pieces, including early watercolors and later oil paintings featuring his signature abstract designs with dots. But the Kirkland Museum down the street at 13th and Pearl has more selections.

It also has furniture and other collected objects from his era (like these chairs! The one on the left is made of cardboard)

The building holds his former studio, which you can still see today, complete with the straps that would hold him above his large canvases so he could paint them. He would use a small dowel to produce the dots.

Kirkland studio, Kirkland Museum