Colorado | Kansas

After a strenuous drive back east on I-70, succumbing to the erratic weather fits of the land’s high elevation, we arrived back in Denver, Colorado, a quick stop-over on our route into the Great Plains. I will happily bid the Rockies a fond farewell and look forward to the flatlands. This trip has brought, thus far, a balance of city and nature, decadence and humility, sweet and savory… After 9 days and adding over 3,000 miles on the Ford Focus, I am officially “in the zone”, a minor detail on our great country’s interstate system. But with only about 4 days left, the itinerary is beginning to wind down. I welcome back real life, static life. I want to peer out my 2nd story window in Brooklyn… and to stop eating so much. But let us return briefly to the food I am eating:

We headed to Denver’s Capitol Hill area for a late dinner after settling in at our swanky Holiday Inn. Resisting the easy convenience of the Panera Bread in the cluster of chains across from the hotel, we decided on City O’ City, Watercourse Foods‘ sister cafe in the bustling hipster area. This place really reels ’em in and we experienced our first wait to be seated. After exploring the block and peering through the window of Watercourse’s bakery space next door, we were called for our table. I knew what I wanted because I had studied the menu at the hotel room… The Sherman, “Carolina dry rub bbq tofu”, coleslaw and pickles on focaccia. Let me tell you about this tofu as the City O’ City and Watercourse family deserve high praises for their handling of seitan and tofu. It was so scrumptious: texture and flavor spot-on. They know how to work with it and infuse as much flavor as possible. Tofu on this delicious sandwich had enough heat to make my nose run, the texture… pseudostratified.

Let me say a bit more about Watercourse Bakery, which supplies City O’ City and Watercourse with all their vegan baked goods. They are, literally, the icing on the cake. With fun and decadent creations, like the Ho-Ho below, Watercourse’s family of vegan deliciousness ranks Denver’s veg-friendliness sky-high. Their food, both the sweet and the savory, are top-notch in the comfort food category far better than many eateries who attempt this back in New York. Go Watercourse!

Since morning had brought another opportunity to eat and Watercourse has amazing breakfast dishes, why the heck not go one last time? After all, I had a long ways to Kansas City and it looked as if America’s heartland hadn’t much in its center. So Watercourse it was. I ordered the Peasant Sandwich, a yummy tofu scramble with basil pesto on soy-buttered toast, served with homefries and a fruit cup. There, there… all ready to drive into state number 7!

Onward into Kansas. It would be a day of driving, easy driving. It was odd how quickly Denver’s highways slimmed down to 2 lanes and its peaks turned into flatlands. The bright blue sky seemed larger than ever along I-70 east, complementing the green plains nicely. For the first time in several days the horizon was a straight line, the land and sky a striped cross-section of vivid color. There wasn’t much to see as we headed through Kansas hoping to put a big dent in our route to Kansas City… which is in Missouri. We stopped to browse antiques and a depressing “Prairie Dog Town” which lured travelers with promises of 5-legged steer and the largest prairie dog in the country. I took some shots of the grounds, which was more a glorified petting zoo with x-rated gag gifts at the exit. I don’t know why we bothered going. It was thoroughly depressing and disturbing. 

Dinner in central Kansas was going to be a challenge. We knew that. But I am happy to report that we found a fabulous Italian restaurant who was able to accommodate us by happily altering their dishes!  Yes, not only did Martinelli’s Little Italy‘s Marissa confirm the Orzo Tuscany, Orzo with artichoke, mushrooms, green onion, carrot, red cabbage and very few capers, free of butter and cheese, but she let me know that the cook was preparing it without the usual chicken stock. I was so thankful both my server and the cook knew their stuff! Go Salina, Kansas.

Tomorrow we are off to Kansas City, home to several vegan options and just a hop/skip/jump from Oklahoma City, which would close our huge road loop and set us back down to Texas to finally light my fireworks. Godspeed!