Euclid Hall has had great word of mouth, so great in fact that it finally overcame our aversion of downtown parking and hipsters and we gave this place a shot. And was it every worth it. Euclid Hall plays on an eclectic set of themes including it's namesake mathematician, the collegiate dorm, it's buildings Colorado gangster history, and German, American and Canadian food staples and despite the conflicting themes it all merges together into a seamlessly perfect dining experience. Oh yeah, and the food is freaking delicious.
The Pit View
It's Friday night and we must start with drinks. I got the Young's Double Chocolate Stout, great for a cold winter night when you need a sweet, creamy pickup to warm you from the inside out. The beer, wine and spirits list was fairly extensive and there is a good chance they have something that will satisfy the alcoholic in all of us.
I started out the food portion of my evening with oysters. I love me some oysters, just raw and on the half shell. Squeeze a lemon, add some tabasco sauce and I call it heaven. In this case, the accompanying sauce was tabasco based, but had it's own unique character that highlighted my succulent mollusks. Judging from the freshness of the oysters you would think we were sitting at a restaurant at a harbor, not three thousand miles from the nearest ocean.
My wife says that the Hops Infused Pickles were my second appetizer, but I fervently maintain this is just a nice palate cleanser. My first experience with this kind of pickle and I must say it was a pleasant one. They were crunchy, briny goodness with a level of savory and bitter from the hops. And at a $1.50 a plate, no pickle lover should pass this up, or you can try all four pickle flavors for $6.
For my main dish I had the Duck Duck Goose Poutine. If you are not familiar with poutine it is about the only good thing to come out of Canada. (I joke, no Canuck hate mail please!) It's basically a fancified set of cheese and gravy smothered fries. In this case, Euclid Hall made it even fancier with a fried duck egg, duck gravy and foie gras. Perhaps you could make this a richer meal, I'm just not sure how. It was amazingness in my mouth. I am a little speechless to describe the creamy, buttery, yumminess. The foie gras was melt in your mouth with a hint of char. The cheddar curds blended into the gravy in a freaky good way. This sounds hokey so I am going to stop trying to describe this to you and tell you to just go order one for yourself.
The Picky View
For my only appetizer and The Pit's third appetizer, we got the chips and dip. This is nothing like typical bar food chips and dip. The homemade Kennebec chips were covered in a lemon, goat cheese and sprinkled with dill. The main event was the two type duck, a standard duck confit and the frozen oolong tea smoked duck breast. Normally, I cringe at dishes that mix hot and cold food. I think chef's who provide you extreme temperature ranges in a single plate must be in cahoots with the local dentists. This dish proved to be more than gastronomic fluffery and delivered on taste, texture and taste. If you've read this blog before you know I love duck and this certainly didn't disappoint. I licked the plate clean and was sad there wasn't more.
I got the camembert and pear preserves sandwich for dinner and it was Picky Girl heaven! I love simple foods prepared extremely well! In this case, a grilled cheese with pear spread. And the side salad was nothing more than juicy red grapes with some basil shavings. I ate the whole salad instead of picking around whatever random vegetables the chef decides needs to ruin my dinner. If you are looking for a complex meal choose something else, if you want elegant simplicity this is the dish for you.
For dessert we split the ice cream sandwich. The butterscotch ice cream was sweet with a hint of salty. The waffle was okay, but we both would have preferred a buttermilk waffle versus the sourdough one they used. In all fairness, we are not the biggest champions of sourdough. Overall, the meal was fabulous and we look forward to sampling more theorems derived by the culinary mathematicians at Euclid Hall.
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