Believe it or not, I’ve actually never spend time inside of Denver proper. I’ve been here to go snowboarding in the mountains, but never actually hang out in the city. I’m not counting when we came back from Vail on Super Bowl Sunday and watched the game at someone’s apt either.
My friend Matthew talked me into going to the STS9 and Ghostland Observatory concert at Red Rocks. I figured I’d make a stop on my way back to Austin from Denver.
I didn’t get in until 7:30 or so, which was fine cause Matt works late, too. We only had one goal that day: GO TO BUCKHORN EXCHANGE.
Matthew had been there maybe once or twice at most before me. We had a reservation at 8:40pm; plenty of time to stop by his apt and then take the light rail out. We stopped practically right in front of Buckhorn. After no more than 3 steps off the light rail I can smell the steak in the air.
They have all these deer, buffalo and games heads on the wall. As if that’s gonna make me feel guilty.
Of course, we had to have the mountain oysters. I’ve heard of them but never actually had them. This is probably the first time in a long time that I have had second thoughts before consuming something. My first bite was w/ the yellow dipping sauce in the picture and it was a little bitter. I thought that’s what mountain oysters tasted like and I almost stopped eating it right there. They were chewier than I thought. I thought they’d be a little squishy for some reason. When I say chewy I don’t mean though. They just have a very light snap to them, like a very light rubber band.
Someone commented on my check-in on facebook and said to get the rattle snake dip. So we did. I didn’t like it. Couldn’t taste the rattlesnake AT ALL. It almost taste like tough, overcooked catfish.
Of course, we couldn’t leave w/out trying some of their crazy steaks. I did a combo w/ elk and buffalo but decided to try the ostrich as well. The buffalo was my favorite. Very lean and flavorful but soft. The cherry reduction sauce they have on the elk was a little overpowering. The ostrich was nice but a little tough for my taste.
(clockwise from the bottom: elk, ostrich, buffalo and a rare NY strip Matt ordered)
We met up in LoDo just after the Rockies game was finished. I didn’t drink a whole lot. Honestly, my stomach just couldn’t fit anything else in after all that meat.
