We spent two nights in a cabin at Colorado Chautauqua. On our final morning, I took an early hike with my brother-in-law. Then my wife and I packed our car, checked out, and before returning to Denver, we decided to explore University Hill (or just The Hill) at the edge of the University of Colorado campus. We anticipated that it would be a funky commercial area like Dinkytown at the University of Minnesota campus.
We made a beeline to Starbucks because we hadn't had coffee yet. While we were relaxing and checking emails, we struck up a conversation with a friendly local. He had lived previously in Minnesota and after comparing notes about Minnesota, we chatted about things to see and do in Boulder. He asked us where we planned to have lunch. Up until then, we had planned to try a burger joint on The Hill. He made a face and offered an alternative - Cafe Aion. The way he described it, we thought it sounded good. So after we finished our coffee, we strolled by to check it out. From the outside, it looked fairly nondescript. But being adventurous, we decided to give it a try.
After exploring the campus for an hour or so, we made our way back and got a table for lunch. All I can say is, "Wow." What a great lunch it was.
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| Lunch at Cafe Aion |
The ambiance is very casual, as you probably would expect near campus. The cafe was fairly busy for early afternoon on a Friday. But we got a table quite quickly. The style of food is Spanish tapas and Moroccan small plates.
Probably influenced by our initial intent of finding a burger joint, my wife ordered the burger. It was Colorado beef with brie and pickled onions on a delicious brioche bun. It came with sweet potato fries. It was fantastic.
I had a hard time deciding on what to order off the tempting list of menu items. I finally chose a vegetable tagine. It was roasted squash, carrots, and cauliflower with garbanzo beans in a sauce flavored with ginger and saffron. It came with two lovely pieces of flat bread. I liked it so much that later in the day, I sent an email asking for guidance on how to replicate the dish in my own kitchen. I got a prompt and helpful reply. Watch this space for a future post on my effort to cook the tagine.
We both had a glass of wine with lunch. Linda had a Spanish Sauvignon blanc from Naia. She liked it so much that I'm going to try to find it retail to buy for home. I had a garnache which was very good as well (though I probably won't try to buy any for drinking at home).
So this was a truly excellent and satisfying way to end our stay in Boulder. I noted, regretfully, that Aion has live music on Thursday nights plus a 'burger and beer' special - the burger that Linda ordered plus a beer for $15. What a deal!
There was only one problem with our experience there. Service was slow and inattentive. For us as vacationers, that wasn't a big issue. But I could see that some of the other diners had schedules to keep and were frustrated by slow service. Of course, I don't know if the problem exists at dinner. But for me, it's not a deal-breaker. I would definitely come back for either a lunch or dinner.
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