Westword Dish 2013

We dined under the dancin dudes!

So, for no real reason, I've been entering a lot of contests lately. Clicking on those things that say "enter to win" or filling out a survey or whatever, just to see what happens. And it actually worked! Pretty quickly too. I entered a contest on the Cafe Society blog on Westword.com to win tickets to this year's Westword Dish, they asked "What do you think has been the best development in Denver's dining scene in the last 20 years?", and they liked my answer. I said

"Wow, 20 years, that's hard. There have been so many exciting developments in the food world from food trucks to craft beer to social media, just in the past decade alone. But I think the best thing would have to be the overall community spirit that I never remember seeing before, maybe because we never had the means until now. People as a whole seem really involved in where their food comes from and sharing great finds with the masses. The food network is every expanding and folks LOVE to talk about it, myself included. I'm super excited to see where we'll be in 20 more years!"

And they liked it! I've been wanting to go to Dish for the past few years but just haven't made it. It's a gathering of all of Westword's favorite restaurants in one place, the winner's of Best of Denver 2013. With good beer, wine and cocktails flowin, over 40 restaurants and food trucks handing out samples of their delights...what's not to like?

This year they held it outside in the sculpture park at DCPA. A fine spot for a gathering. As we arrived (starving, mind you), we could smell the enticing aromas wafting in our direction from dozens of sources. Where to start? Beer sounds good. We made our way over to one of the many Oskar Blues Brewery tents and got ourselves a cold one then meandered around the grassy field.

I guess it's best to just start out at one end and make your way around. I recommend bringing a tote for all of the free swag you accumulate, bring a koozie too and a blanket wouldn't hurt either. In fact, I think next year I'll bring along a picnic blanket and set us up a little home base to return to so we have a spot to chill and let it all settle a bit before goin back for more. It's definitely a food fest, free-for-all and manners go right out the window after the first few stops, just chow down while waiting in line for your next fix and make room for more.

Meatloaf and mashed potato sliders from Stoney's

Each vendor has samples from their regular menu, anywhere from bite-size nuggets to full on sandwiches (thanks Trillium!) who served up an awesome chicken salad on a small hoagie roll. Delicious! But probably not the best way to start since we chowed that down then had 39 more samples to go, c'est la vie!

The cutest lil Pink Tank girl servin up some killer waffles!

We tried everything from an amazing waffle from Pink Tank (Best Food Truck 2013) with bacon on top, drizzled with caramel and hot sauce, which was just awesome, to an incredible cuban sandwich from Fooducopia's Corner Store, which was my first time hearing of them, but I will now make my way to see them in Wash Park because it was sooo good! Probably my favorite thing of the day.
 

The Hornet's Bread Pudding was pretty stellar

as well as a perfectly cooked Green Chili Slider from the Slider Shack 303. It was awesome and I can't wait to try more of their menu.

Slider Shack 303

I was excited to try Tin Star Smokehouse which recently opened in Golden, because ever since our trip to Louis Mueller's BBQ near Austin, we've been chasin that tender-meated dragon all over the country and I heard that Tin Star may be just the ticket. We had a small sampling of their brisket on a bun and I have to say, their sauce was pretty awesome and their pickles perfect, definitely worth the trip to go see what the rest of their menu is about and if their brisket's the ticket!

Stacy D. serving up some good ole BBQ!!

Central Bistro served up some homemade sausage

The line was so long for Nile Ethiopian that we never did get to try it, but it looked amazing!!

Mmmm...just look at all that Ethiopian goodness!

 There were a few beverage pairings as well, although by the time we got to that side, we were pretty stuffed, we did try some iced coffee though and it was awesome.

Food Truck lineup

Chuburger from Oskar Blues in Longmont had some tummy burgers and fries to go with their brews

If you see this in your rear-view mirror, pull over!

The nice girls at Patxi's Pizza even handed out free tees to go with their yummy deep-dish pesto pie!

We heard everything from Britney to Justin...not nearly as diverse as his shoulder pads

 Over all, it was a pretty great event. Think I'll go again next year now that I know how to arm myself for a perfect day, blanket, backpack for swag, koozie...check!

We run into my old friend, Andrew Novick at least once a week, like he said, "Where there's food, you'll find me!"

This is what full looks like

 Until next time, fellow foodies! .......... :)