DENVER, CO
Hooray for Sunday brunch at Denver’s original spot for vegan comfort food! Watercourse Foods has been going strong since 1998, the same year Jennifer Love Hewitt was stealing hearts in Can’t Hardly Wait, Aaliyah was rockin’ a bare midriff, and N’Sync was climbing the music charts. Crazy how time flies, huh?
Early-bird business
The breakfast menu’s mouth-watering selection includes the Chicken + Biscuit: brined, breaded, and fried lion’s mane mushroom, brown gravy, spiced honey, and a flaky, scratch-made biscuit; Souffle Pancake: thick pancake with crispy edges and a buttery soft interior, served with blueberry compote, banana, and candied pecans; and Chorizo + Polenta: cauliflower chorizo, poached “egg,” crispy polenta, sofrito, and cheese sauce. That’s not even half of it!
Buzzworthy
Watercourse Foods has a full bar and a daily happy hour. On the weekends, the bartenders are serving up mimosas, Bloody Marys, passionfruit bellinis, and Orange Maples: Conciere Gold bourbon, orange juice, and maple syrup.
Anyone else wish they had never-ending cash flow so that they could walk into any restaurant and sample every item on the menu—and the cocktails too? Ah, if only!
How cute are my dining companions? That’s my cousin Adrianne and her husband Jesse. They’ve been such troopers, driving me all around town on my quest for vegan food.
We started with the Cauliflower Wings, which you can get BBQ- or buffalo-style, or split half and half. Adrianne ordered the Orange Teriyaki Bowl, her parents went with the Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto and Caesar Salad, and Jesse and I both got the Big Rig (featured image): country-fried seitan steak, breakfast potatoes, scratch-made egg scramble, and brown gravy. Jesse cleaned his plate, but I only managed to get about halfway before tapping out.
Not knowing when I’d be returning to Denver, I also ordered a side of Mac + Cheese. I enjoyed every bit, but I’d say Adrianne’s Orange Teriyaki Bowl was the winner—it was also the prettiest.
Memphis BBQ & Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
Mac + Cheese
Orange Teriyaki Bowl
For more vegan comfort food, check out Doomie’s Home Cookin’ in Los Angeles, Graze in Nashville, and Spiral Diner & Bakery in Fort Worth and Denton, TX.
Exploring the city
Colorado is wonderful. Weed is legal, it has some of the best mountains to snowboard, and right outside the city of Denver is a magical place called Red Rocks. A couple of weeks ago I got to see ODESZA perform at this outdoor amphitheater, situated between two, 300-foot monoliths, aka giant rocks. The venue and the surrounding park, originally referred to as the Garden of Angels, is breathtaking. If you get a chance, make the trip!
Although we didn’t get any good pictures of the view, we did get these two selfies. With my cousin living in Colorado and me in California, we only get to share moments like these once every couple of years.
XOXO!