Linger

After a year or more of almost strictly working (or staying in) on our date nights, Matt and I have resolved to get out and check out our city this year … particularly the restaurants. Last month we tried Osteria Marco (which I never wrote about, but I should, really, because it was great! – well I guess we’ll just have to go back!) and this month as we were looking for some new places to try, I happened upon an article in our local Hipster paper, Westword, listing the 10 best new restaurants of 2011. We looked through a few and Linger appealed to us the most – the concept is simple, small plates of street food from around the globe. Ummm … SOLD!

So we got on their site and tried for reservations. We were not successful. So we called and were told and luckily they thought they could squeeze us in at 5:30, but we’d have to relinquish our table promptly at 6:45. Yes, in a funny ironic twist, we were not going to be allowed to linger at Linger. Oh well. We decided to take the reservations since we didn’t know when we’d have another free night in the near future. Turns out reservations are quite hard to come by and we majorly lucked out!!

The restaurant is housed in the old Olinger Mortuary buildling. Hey … brain storm. That is probably where the name comes from. Duh, Jess. There are a few other tenants as well, but Linger got the most and arguably the best of it. It’s situated in a neighborhood that’s sort of NE of true downtown Denver and a bit up the hill and has a pretty great view of the city.

The building is old and quite funky with a nice lofty feeling. The windows in that photo are actually garage doors that can be opened to let in the breeze.

They bring you the popcorn which is a different flavor every day. We had Miso Carrot and it was very very tasty. Their water also comes in this suspicious looking bottle.

We order 5 small plates. I thought four was enough, but Matt had to try the sweet potato fries, and they were good … not greasy at all and just the right balance of crispy and soft. Also they came with Chipolte ketchup. YUM. But the other four were what I was after: BBQ Duck buns (mmmmmmmmm), Goat Tacos (good, but not my fave), Ginger Chili Shrimp (came with FRIED BRUSSEL SPROUTS – awesome!) and B’Stilla Pastry (below) – which was my fave!

We also indulged in their dessert plate, which was three teeny tiny things – something I don’t remember, one called Oreos and Ovaltine (didn’t do it for me) and PBJ Cup which was awesome.  Food came out slowly over the course of the evening, one small plate at a time, so you really could just sit there and linger a bit. You didn’t get too full because portions  were relatively small (and prices somewhat followed). It was really nice and an enjoyably different concept for us.

Just for funsies, I have to show you the toilet! The water you use to wash your hands fills the bowl for the next person to flush with! It kind of weirded me out at first, but it had a nice poser explaining the whole gig and it really is a great idea.

After dinner, we browsed around the neighborhod. Next door to linger is this awesome looking ice cream stand. We didn’t get to check it out this time since the line was all the way to the street both times we went by and of course we’d already had dessert, but we’d love to try it out later. Maybe next date night … it was rated #1 First Date in Denver.

The hood is a nice mix of old and new. Plenty of hipsters and yuppies and the people who have been there forever.

It was a really great date night and one I wouldn’t ever mind repeating. But I like my date so much he could take me just about anywhere and I’m sure we’d have a wonderful time.