Chocolate Espresso Torte (above), is a wedge of deliciously dense velvety chocolate with just a hint of espresso.

Classic Chocolate Cake (above) is moist and fluffy with a light and creamy frosting, not too sweet.

• I love mint chocolate chip ice cream.
• I can’t eat dairy products. (I am lactose-intolerant and allergic to casein — the milk protein.)
• Soy ice creams are pretty tasty, but I try not to eat too much soy because it’s hard for me to digest.
• Rice milk ice creams are okay, the texture isn’t super good, and the sweetness is never quite right. Seems a little thin and a little too sweet.

And now, let me tell you about something wonderful: Coconut Milk Ice Cream.

This is from the Purely Decadent brand. They have several totally dairy-free products. This line of “ice creams” comes in mint chocolate chip. So I of course, had to try it. And it is INCREDIBLE. If you’ve had coconut milk much before, you may recognize a hint of that flavor, but it is not very strong. It’s delicious, rich and creamy. Yum!

Here’s what I recommend if you go there:

Drinks:
-Pink Blossom – Hangar mandarin blossom vodka, St Germaine Eldeflower Liquer, Cointreau & cranberry juice.

-Shoshu Smash (and you can really get smashed on these, so watch it) – muddled orange, lemon, lime, vodka, Iitomo Shochu, fresh yuzu juice & seven.

Food:

-Roasted Red & Yellow Beets – with green tea smoked mozarella in a baked lemon-basil vinagrette.

-Grilled Panzanella Salad – with jumbo lump crab, Colorado goat cheese, pistachio & plum wine vinagrette.

-Baked Spicy Roll
-California Roll
-Vegetable Tempura Roll
-Red Dragon Roll

(the above rolls all have cooked fish for those of you who are sushi wimps!)

Izakaya Den
1518 S. Pearl Street
Denver, Colorado 80210
303.777.0691

Starting off with the “short cut” part of this: BUY PRE-MADE FROZEN WHOLE FOODS BRAND PIZZA DOUGH FROM WHOLE FOODS. They make the most out-of-this-world dough and it’s only about $3. Set it out until it reaches room temperature and then divide the dough in half (makes 2 medium pizzas). Roll it super thin and place it onto a pizza pan (my pan has little holes on the bottom to make the dough crispy). Then drizzle about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil onto the dough and add 2 crushed cloves of fresh garlic–now spread that around the dough, covering all of it. Next, top the dough with a layer of fresh baby spinach leaves. Then add slices of mozzarella fresca and top that with freshly grated parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Preheat oven to 425°. Place pizza into your oven for about 10-12 minutes. Enjoy. I recommend pairing this pizza with Vinyard Block Estates’ 2005 “Block 312″ Cabernet Sauvignon.

Last night I treated some new friends from LA to one of Denver’s finest restaurants, Sushi Den. We dined on spicy firecracker rolls and Bincho (seared tuna) accompanied by chilled sweet plum wine and ice cold Kirin. Our tuna appetizer was drenched with a light and tasty Ponzu-like sauce — yum! Nat & Rob suggested that I try the roe (slightly salty fish eggs) which was probably the only thing that I wasn’t a fan of. Good food, great company and fantastic weather. See you at Sushi Den.

…turn into this yummy stuff that makes my french fries delicious!

Redmond Real Salt is my favorite salt. Strictly speaking, this salt doesn’t come from the Utah Salt Flats in the photo — it comes from ancient sea beds in Utah that are underground and protected from environmental pollutants. About as local as it gets for salt.

What’s so great about sea salt?

• trace minerals
• great flavor
• no additives
• larger pieces make it great for sprinkling it on top of baked goods (bread, potatoes)

Note: I think you can find this sea salt at most grocery stores and natural food stores.

positives:

• fresh, fresh, fresh. and yummy sushi.

• their space has a very nice clean design. lots of white. lots of natural light.

• they were very accommodating to our friend with special dietary needs. His special-request dishes were artfully laid out on his plate. It didn’t seem to be any trouble at all.

• good value. 8-12 bucks for a roll.

• edamame came with some type of spice mixture sprinkled around the edge of the plate. If i had to guess, I’d say it might have had cayenne in it. quite a tasty detail.

negatives:

• We were there for 2 hours! It seemed like an awfully long time to wait for our food. But, to be fair, I’m not sure how this compares to other sushi joints when you’re talking a party of 13.

• Our friend Mike pointed out that there were no fish tanks — something of a staple in sushi joint decor. But it didn’t bother me. Fish tanks are so 2007 anyway…