fabulous Denver: Cherry Creek North Food & Wine
So not even a week after my return to Colorado, I already had an excuse to put myself together again and sip on some wine and no, I am certainly not complaining. I was pretty much back to normal (read: no more jet lag) so I could actually enjoy the evening without needing to break for a mid-event nap. Cheers for that. So I popped on my seemingly popular T-bags maxi dress, a pair of flat beaded sandals (because as I previously learned, alcohol and heels do not mix for me) and headed out to the event. I made an immediate beeline right for one of the wine tables. The folks at Vinue Food & Wine Bar had a fabulous spread for the evening where I was able to try my first Cabernet Franc which was super yummy and had my second or third encounter with a Malbec, now probably one of my faves. It was a very effective reminder that a girls night at Vinue is in order very soon.
Now let me tell you about how I then proceeded to eat my way through the event which, of course, is the only way to do it. That's the main draw of the evening! To sample a bit from each of Cherry Creek's best restaurants and hopefully find a few new favorites to frequent. Well I definitely had a bit of everything and I'm happy to say that most of the options were pretty healthy so the night wasn't much of a diet buster after all. My favorites were the ceviches from Pikkas (both traditional fish and vegetarian mushroom ceviches!), the spinach pie from Starbucks (yes, STARBUCKS), the albacore tataki from True Foods, the cookies from So Perfect Eats and chocolates from Enstrom Candies. My favorite Sugarlicious was also there (remember them?) with their fabulous gourmet gummy bears and amazing peanut brittle. In fact, I was so impressed with my new favorites that I ran out the next night to have dinner and drinks at Pikkas (more on that in my next post) and am planning a lunch at So Perfect and dinner verrry soon at True Foods. The awesome thing about dining in Cherry Creek is that it gives you an excuse to step up your fashion game a bit. Dressing up for dinner is not unusual there while the rest of Denver is typically pretty laid back and casual fashion-wise, even a little eclectic. In Cherry Creek there's still a laid back vibe but nicer and more put together, if you know what I mean.
It's a sipping selfie.
And just as all that wine started going to our heads, the 9-piece band (Azucar Latin Ensemble) started up to play us into the night.
If you've never been to the Food & Wine, I recommend that you join me and make it a point to go to next year's event. It's well worth the money and time - proceeds go for a good cause (more info on that here), there's tons of good food and drinks, live music and a great crowd.
