I enjoyed ringing in another birthday a few weeks back. As I thought about what I’d love to do I wanted to have a simple, low key day to compliment the over committed months prior. I am a person who loves all things new as well as exploring so having a beautiful meal of locally sourced food at a new restaurant in Denver, followed by some meandering in a new area sounded fun.
Two food chums immediately sprang to mind as great sources for some new venues. The first was DeAndre, a software engineer and inner city Hip Hop dance instructor I met in my Urban Foraging class. As we strolled between edible weed spottings, he’d mentioned a few great restaurants which had their own gardens or sourced locally (all of which I jotted madly in my notebook and I could not find when I needed it). His earnest and well reviewed selections reflect his commitment to clean and locally sourced food and I knew his spots would be a win.
The second was chic, urban-savvy Photog Gal Pal, Jennifer Olson (publisher of Colorado Organic Cookbook). By the time I sent my email S.O.S. to her (of course all at the last minute) I’d refined my preference to brunch spots. Same criteria; good, clean, locally sourced food, at a cool joint. I will share all their great suggestions at the end of this post but settled on Duo, in the hip regentrifying Highlands neighborhood of Denver.
Duo, was named such reflecting the joint dream of married owners Keith Arnold and Stephanie Bonin to start a restaurant together (this from the absolutely darling hostess sporting a robin’s egg blue, belted vintage shirtdress and oversized vintage-style glasses). The tone is set immediately when walking into the white-tinged brick walled restaurant. The place is bathed with natural light, streaming in from the south facing windows. Duo is housed in a building that is purported to have been a neighborhood market though to me had the markings of having been something fun like a garage by the size of the window openings, imagining them to have been large roller doors at some point in their history.
Duo is a Farm-to-Table restaurant, buying from many local organic farms I know and love. Their menu changes to reflect what is available seasonally. The restaurant and bar area are cleverly separated by vintage windows hung together like a sculpture so as to add a sense of division with minimal visual obstruction and total clever panache. Below the windows I noted a collection of vintage cookbooks placed in the hymnal storage cavity of a church pew turned hip seating. The tables were all set with different linens and laminated placements capturing ‘recipes’ from a variety of children all still considered teeny-weeny by my standard (poets nonetheless). The place is contemporary, warm, hip and sporting the vibe perfect for a friendly, relaxed meal. At our brunch friends were meeting friends with young children, trendy couples were starting the day as well as an older set taking in the morning. It’s a place for everyone.
We started our meal with freshly squeezed orange juice, French Press coffee, a Bloody Hot Mary (Habanero spiked with jalapeno stuffed olive) and a Pink Mimosa (Pink Grapefruit juice sparkles with St. Germaine Elderflower liqueur). The cocktails were divine and the perfect start to a relaxing day.
The brunch menu is extensive and plays to one’s leanings toward breakfast or lunch. Our party had a rousing response to the Pork Hash (house made pork sausage, kale, caramelized onion, roasted tomato, potatoes and sunnyside up eggs which we opted to make scrambled). It had all the attributes of traditional meat hash updated with the fresh vegetables making it an all the more sophisticated and satisfying dish.
Our other choice was Chorizo Scramble (Scrambled eggs, mushrooms, roasted peppers, goat cheese and crispy potatoes). I’m not sure there truly IS anything better with eggs for brunch than a spicy sausage like chorizo or linguica. The eggs and sausage were perfect together with a slight smolder of heat and the potatoes were crispy with beautiful seasoning.
Duo has a gluten free menu too, easily refining choices for those needing this option. We ordered a blueberry muffin from their Gluten Free Pastry options that was great. An unusual option and one that was appreciated by we who usually cannot enjoy the bread products at traditional dining establishments.
This brunch was absolutely on the money for what I was looking for. It set the tone for the rest of the day which began with a wander around the neighborhood. If you visit Duo, don’t miss this opportunity. The neighborhood is completely beguiling. There are many older homes with cottagey overgrown gardens exuding relaxed charm. We came upon brick churches, very old homes (probably needing attention but I’ve always been visually drawn to weathered and industrial buildings in disrepair) as well as full rebuilds in extreme modern architecture styles. It is a wonderful place to stroll and see what is going on in a different part of the world (unless of course you live there and if you do you already know all of this).
This write up has left me feeling the need to impart a classic Bloody Mary recipe to toast your Sunday. I spoke to the staff at Duo who was happy to share their recipe, though as many cooks will do, it was a list of ingredients rather than a recipe leaving less than a mixologist potentially bumbling through at attempt to recreate (they are better with the ambiance at Duo anyway; visit instead!). I will flag that they use a Bloody Mary mix as a base produced in Telluride called Freshies (loved that).
While considering which recipe to share I did a smidge of research on the Bloody Mary’s origin, pondering the gruesome name for such a standard brunch cocktail. It seems to have really come into fashion in the 1930’s in the U.S. though was originally quite bland with only vodka and tomato juice. Roots of the spiced up version are mixed. I’ve read it happened at the hand of the barkeep at the Harry’s New York Bar in Paris though when moving to New York City his patrons requested a spicier version. Also read Hemmingway may have been the originator. The naming though traces to the Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII, whose persecution of Protestants when becoming Queen was not missed by historical bystanders or mixologists it seems.
Recipe
Classic Bloody Mary
A classic Bloody Mary is the perfect partner for brunch!
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Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 154kcal
Ingredients
- 2 ounces vodka (substituting infused vodkas of a spicy nature can be fun too)
- 4 ounces tomato juice
- ½ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon horseradish (preferably freshly grated)
- 2-3 dashes Tabasco sauce
- 2-3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a shaker with a cup of ice and shake vigorously to blend.
- Fill a highball glass with ice and pour strained cocktail into the glass.
- Garnish with any of the following: celery stalk, lemon wedge, dilled green bean, spicy olives on a cocktail skewer.
Nutrition
Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 70mg | Potassium: 259mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 510IU | Vitamin C: 27.7mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 0.5mg
Did you make this recipe?Mention @boulderlocavore or tag #boulderlocavore!
DENVER DINING SUGGESTIONS with a local food focus
Jen’s Recommendations (local/organic and really thinking about Brunch which might exclude others she’d suggest, many of which can be found in her cookbook):
Duo: Jen says ‘A perfect brunch spot for your criteria. One of my personal favorites for brunch and some of my favorite chefs in town!’
Root Down: Jen says ‘Not sure about brunch option, but Chef Justin sources much of his food locally. Hip, cool and a fabulous patio.’ (BL Personal note: this is on my short list as I’ve received several recommendations to visit)
Highland Garden Café: Jen says ‘Super cool Victorian houses converted to a restaurant. Beautiful gardens!’
Bistro Vendome: Though their focus is not as much local/organic, they have a fabulous courtyard and are in the charming Larimer Square district of Denver.
Rioja: Jen says ‘Always a favorite for any meal. Beth and Chef Jen (the owners) are some of my favorite people and the whole experience is fantastic from food to service!’ Boulder Locavore says: I can affirm this recommendation fully having loved their food and written a review on this blog about the restaurant.Panzano: Jen says ‘Chef Elise has been dedicated to sourcing as many local products as she can in a high volume restaurant for many years.’
Olivea: Jen says ‘A sure bet. Owned by the great people from Duo.’Steubens: Jen says ‘Just a cool place. Same owners as Vesta Dipping Grill. Killer, indulgent brunch. Good for the kiddos too!’
Gallup Café: Jen says ‘Sweet little café with great food and massive Bloody Mary’s. Next to Duo’.
Fruition: Jen says ‘Best to run, don’t walk. Chef Alex (owner) is the best, and has his own farm to source great produce and cheese from. They do not do brunch.’
DeAndre’s Choices also with the locally sourced food focus:
Domo: Traditional Japanese country food and an Aikido school. I believe they harvest from their own garden.
Lucile’s Creole café: 5 locations and they grow their own produce on a farm in Niwot.
Z Cuisine: Again in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver. Their menu changes daily to accommodate their locally sourced ingredient list.
Lea Ann says
We went to Duo for my birthday brunch in April. Loved their apple cider glazed benedict. I've got to try and recreate it at home. My husband is a native and grew up in that area. I can't remember what we were told the building used to be, but it wasn't a market. I'd love to search old history records and find out. And lastly, those placemats inspired my “no recipe required” posts.
Torviewtoronto says
lovely clicks enjoyed it
Mama's Gotta Bake says
Great review, and spectacular photos!!!
Chef Dennis says
what a wonderful brunch and such tasty cocktails! Thanks for letting us live vicariously thru you and for your bloody mary recipe!
Hope all is well in your world
whitney says
Not to be a debbie downer, but they use RedBird chicken at Duo which is very much not local, humane, or sustainable. I do love their food and eat their fairly regularly, but you just need to be careful about what you order.
Barbara | Creative Culinary says
Oops…I missed your birthday? Well, let's do lunch soon and recreate as best we can or at least…let's do lunch! Happy Belated Birthday!
So many great choices..I need to get myself out more don't I? 🙂
highplainsdrifters says
Love, love, love Duo.
Lisa @ Tarte du Jour says
I could just suck down that bloody Mary right now! I'm so excited to have a list of restaurant recommendations for Denver for when I'm back there to visit my sister. Yea, thanks!!