custom house: An ode, a lament

After living 10 years in the NYC area, I refused to believe that after moving to Denver I'd be able to keep dinning in fantastic, unexpected restaurants all the time. I was actually surprised that, after arriving in the Mile High City, we were not disappointed. Without friends to suggest new, cool places and with a lot of help from discount services such as Living Social, Weekly Plus, Groupon and Restaurant.com we started to get a little taste of the city.

One of the best surprises, so far, has been City O' City, a tiny vegetarian restaurant/lounge/bar that's in one of the best neighborhoods in town: Capitol Hill. City O' City shares the block with cool thrift stores, vintage jewelry stores and deserts joints filled with the only hipsters in town - the kind that will wear sunglasses indoors. The atmosphere is great, relaxed, always featuring amazing music, thanks to the DJ booth they keep by the bar.

Besides the main sitting area, there is the City O' City bakery, with amazing coffee and all sorts of sweet temptation waiting for you. For those who are not there to sit down, a quick stop at the bakery is a must. And finally: the food. My vegetarian boyfriend has offered me the opportunity to try a lot of vegetarian food and City O' City - which is owned by Watercourse Foods (known as one of the best Vegetarian restaurants in town) - does not disappoint.

This weekend, to honor Valentine's Day, my new owl ring and my boyfriends' professional achievements we decided to go to a celebratory lunch there and ordered their Buffalo Seitan Wings, made of tofu. They are one of their top items in the menu and the taste is amazing. Since I don't eat birds (but any other meat os very welcome in my stomach), I'd prefer their tofu version any day.

For lunch, I had the Brie Plate and my boyfriend chose The Sherman sandwich. Both were a hit. The Brie Plate is just fantastic, it must be extremely caloric, but it's 100% worth it. We also ordered their Meat Lover's Pizza to go, and were very pleased with it. They do an amazing job with the tofu, I completely recommend the place. Their beer selection is also incredible. They keep beers from all over the state as well as a variety of great wine. It has definitely become our favorite hangout in Denver!