Rialto Cafe

Hello good folks out there in blog land and all you coming over from myspace facebook and twitter. Yesterday June 2nd, Tuesday at 6 o’clock found me at Rialto Cafe at 934 16th street, Denver Colorado 80202 with the group Denver Taste Casting which I just joined last week as a way to meet some Denverites.

I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into the place, I had wanted to go since I got here; their ads are all over the touristy magazines I read. It is a very nice place, very classy. It had been raining all day and it was a bit on the cold side. But they open the big windows in the front on better days. I loved all the big posters of those old wine and liquor ads. They had some nice bar seating up front which seemed good for those power lunches and early dinners and on a better day outside would have been nice to watch the people walking on the mall. There was also a lot of romantic seating in the back and side, nice if you want to be alone to talk. And some upstairs seating which over looked the bar area, that area seemed like the only place where a “Nemo” art show could take place. Plus there was a big star on the wall and that put this Texan right at home.

Hannah and I were shown to the taste casting area where I came face to face with a twitter friend Kyle and he looks just like his picture. Note to self must try to meet more twitter people face to face. Also met Chad another twitter friend and the person behind all the Rialto Café tweets. All in all about 16 people showed up and boy oh boy did they treat us good.

Then J. Allen Adams, the regional director, came out to talk about all the lovely food we were about to eat. J. Allen was the type of person who really loved his job. This food crazed man talked about everything from where the meat came from (happy cows), to what went into building a recipe to picking a recipe to go on the menu. He talked about how when the restaurant opened they wanted to bring back an old classic feel to Denver and although the times have changed with the food they still keep that old classic feel found nowhere else in Denver.

We started out with a few appetizers: bruschetta, empanadas and calamari. Both Hannah and I agreed that the calamari was the best we ever had, mmm I can still taste the calamari now and for 10 bucks I can see my myself eating that again real soon.

Then salad time - the “warm roasted chicken salad” was again both our favorite salad but the “baby spinach salad” was also well made and vegetarian (oh and to all you vegetarians out there almost everything on their menu can be made without any meat since they add the meat last, just go in and ask). The best cornbread came out next and they weren’t kidding it was the best. I wanted to take it home with me.

Then came out the main event oh yes this plate had a little bit of everything, grilled ahi, gorgonzola cannelloni, braised short ribs, petit filet mignon and seared salmon. I didn’t pick a favorite one, it was getting too hard to pick, everything tasted so good and everything, although in half size, was presented very well. Hannah’s favorite was the “filet mignon” and the “ahi” (which is tuna, don’t worry I didn’t know either).

And right when you thought it was all over and you had to leave such a perfect place to eat drink and be merry, they hit us with dessert: praline pound cake, chocolate mousse, cheesecake bites, bread pudding and tiramisu. We both liked everything about the dessert. So save room for dessert and have the sampler and try any 3 for only 9 bucks. Check out the menu and plan your meal ahead of time.

Also good stuff to note, they give 50% off any wine bottle on Mondays, they have 2 happy hours from 4:30 to 6 and from 9:30 to 11, it’s like every day something’s going on but my favorite one is the twitter special, on Fridays if you go in there and say you saw Nemo tweet about them your 1st beer is free, so grab a loved one and head down to Rialto Café, I’ll save you a seat.