Comida, Denver Colorado

This summer I escaped the humid, hurricane weather of Baja and fled to the mountains of Utah and Colorado. Very beautiful places. 

I really have nothing exciting to say about the Tacos of Utah. I was in both Park City and Salt Lake City. I tried what was available. The most famous eatery in Salt Lake City is The Red Iguana. While there is a lot of authenticity and tourist excitement about that place - the moles are very good - the taco scene is just plain old FLAT.

My friend Justin recently almost got in a fight (very unlike him) with another musician who was claiming with great misguided authority that Salt Lake City beat the pants off Los Angeles for tacos. WHAT? EXCUSE ME????? Um....... NO. NON. NIET. NO WAY JOSE. 

Simple Egg Quesadilla. Tasty and made for spice WIMPS.

Denver is another happier story entirely. 6 years ago I had some very fine tacos and margaritas at a place in Denver: Pretty sure it was www.loladenver.com. I didn't have my blog back then. Also I think I drank too much. It was sooooooo good.

This time, my highly considerate friend... A friend who hates cilantro and can't handle any spice... ANY SPICE as in Tabasco fries her pants off.... Selflessly took me to a fantastic lunch at COMIDA.

I was so impressed by every aspect. The location: Hipster RINO. The neighbors: Located in the same modern warehouse as Acorn, Mondo Market and other fabulous specialty shops. The whole building is called THE SOURCE. The food: Innovative, fresh, authentic.

The food was very, very tasty. The service was fantastic starring the Friendly Manager and the polite, sympathetic, efficient Waiter. Honestly he was a saint with the cilantro/no spice issue because let's face it, if you can't eat cilantro and you don't like chile then don't eat Mexican food.

One of the tacos, featuring Pork Belly didn't mention in the description that it was going to be HELLA HOT. We all talked about it afterwards and figured out someone must have forgotten to wipe out the Jalapeno pan or maybe thought he was making the bacon/jalapeno taco or something. It was even hot for me but damn it was so good I just kept eating it until I had to call the Fire Department.

We had a nice selection of other tacos, some of them modified (no spice, no cilantro) but still they were great. The cocktails were fantastic. I was super nosey and enjoyed checking out everyone else's food. It was mostly a business lunch crowd, but people seemed to be having a really good time.

One tiny suggestion... they could use more comfortable chairs on their patio. It's all edgy and modern looking but really not comfortable, even for a small person such as myself.

Carnitas Mexi Mess - Deconstructed. YUM.

Mushroom Tostada. Rich and crunchy. Tastes like Meat!

The "Situation." My fav. Beer infused Sirloin.

STELLA'S! Carnitas. Vivien Leigh wishes.

Eating here and seeing all the cool, healthy, fit people enjoying the gourmet Mexican fare made me want to move to Denver.

Maybe I will.

:)