Many years ago I worked in downtown Denver. I remember finding this place that had a hummus plate and also a black bean burger, so every once in a while I would swing by there. Nothing spectacular, but decent, vegan food.
This past February I started a new job and am once again in downtown Denver. A donor I work with invited me to lunch and suggested Appaloosa Grill and I said sure.
Times have changed.
The first thing I noticed is that they have steamed kale on the menu as a side dish! Hello! They also offer steamed broccoli! That's just the start!
I digress! Kale always does that to me.
I have been to Appaloosa Grill about five times in the last two months, all at lunch. I have always been greeted by a friendly hostess. Love that. As a reminder, my reviews are based on incredible vegan food and incredible service.
I have fallen in love with the Tofu Philly. If you are vegan, order it without the cheese. A couple of times the Philly has come out with cheese even though I ordered it without, but such is life. I have ordered the Philly four times, with a side of kale, and been utterly delighted each time. The other options include the black bean burger, which one of my lunch companions tried and devoured, as well as tofu being substituted for any meat in the lunch dishes.
There are a lot of options. And even though there are dozens of options for a vegan lunch in downtown Denver, this would be on the top of my list.
On the service side, it's lunch, so I am a little more forgiving when the server is not the friendliest or most attentive, as has been the case. I get that lunch crowds are in and out, so get them fed and get them fed fast. One of the things I love seeing at Appaloosa is the manager walking around and checking in with guests. That's always a good sign. I also hope that friendliness and being more welcome become more ingrained in their servers.
Definitely check out Appaloosa Grill. It is a bar/restaurant so you can go for lunch, for happy our, or for dinner. They also have live music many nights.
Appaloosa Grill is located at the corner of 16th Street Mall and Welton Street, on the east end of downtown Denver.
535 16th Street
720.932.1700
Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading! Eat well!
Zuma beach.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Run a half marathon - Check!
If you know me personally, you know that I am not a runner. Never really have been. Although I am trying my best to become healthier every day, I never imagined running would be part of that.
So imagine my surprise when I was talking with my new co-workers about using the upcoming Colfax Marathon as an opportunity to raise money for the agency we work for, Urban Peak, and I say that I would be willing to do the half marathon portion! Urban Peak serves youth experiencing homelessness, and there isn't much I wouldn't do to support our mission.
But running? And a half marathon?
I went home after work that day and talked with Mike about it. He immediately said he would do it with me.
Holy cow!
Looking back, the entire experience was amazing.
Most importantly, together we raised $2,500 for Urban Peak in support of youth experiencing homelessness.
And there were so many other awesome parts of doing a half marathon. Mike and I got healthier. We are on a continual path of getting healthier and this really helped. I actually began to enjoy running. Just east of us is a city park called Sloan's Lake, and that is where I trained. Once around the like is about 2.5 miles. I would plug in my Latino hits list on Pandora and just run. It certainly wasn't easy at first, and there were training runs through the three months I trained where I thought I just couldn't do it.
And I kept at it. I checked in with other vegan runners around the country and I reached out to friends here who are runners. I learned not to over do it, and not to give up.
The day of the half marathon Mike and I arrived around 6:00am. We were both nervous, which is something we hadn't really felt until the day before the run. As the time came for the half marathon to begin we gathered with a few thousand others and waited our turn to start. One of the things we both loved were the continual references to "athletes", referring to us! We kept laughing about that.
Mike is a faster runner than I am so we knew before we started that we wouldn't run together. As we began I blew him a kiss, turned up Pandora, said a little prayer (basically asking that I not die during this attempt) and took off.
At first I thought of how far I had come. Then I started to think about how the money we raised would help others, folks who are challenged every day just to find shelter, food, acceptance and many days hope.
The last two miles were tough for me. At mile 12 a bunch of the firefighters from the Colorado Firefighters Calendar were lined up, shirtless, cheering us on. That helped.
I crossed the finished line and had tears in my eyes. Oh yes, I'm that kind of guy.
It was an incredible experience. I am pretty sure we will do it again next time. Sending a HUGE thanks to all of you who donated to our fundraising efforts and who gave us love and support!
Thanks for reading!
So imagine my surprise when I was talking with my new co-workers about using the upcoming Colfax Marathon as an opportunity to raise money for the agency we work for, Urban Peak, and I say that I would be willing to do the half marathon portion! Urban Peak serves youth experiencing homelessness, and there isn't much I wouldn't do to support our mission.
But running? And a half marathon?
I went home after work that day and talked with Mike about it. He immediately said he would do it with me.
Holy cow!
Looking back, the entire experience was amazing.
Most importantly, together we raised $2,500 for Urban Peak in support of youth experiencing homelessness.
And there were so many other awesome parts of doing a half marathon. Mike and I got healthier. We are on a continual path of getting healthier and this really helped. I actually began to enjoy running. Just east of us is a city park called Sloan's Lake, and that is where I trained. Once around the like is about 2.5 miles. I would plug in my Latino hits list on Pandora and just run. It certainly wasn't easy at first, and there were training runs through the three months I trained where I thought I just couldn't do it.
And I kept at it. I checked in with other vegan runners around the country and I reached out to friends here who are runners. I learned not to over do it, and not to give up.
The day of the half marathon Mike and I arrived around 6:00am. We were both nervous, which is something we hadn't really felt until the day before the run. As the time came for the half marathon to begin we gathered with a few thousand others and waited our turn to start. One of the things we both loved were the continual references to "athletes", referring to us! We kept laughing about that.
Mike is a faster runner than I am so we knew before we started that we wouldn't run together. As we began I blew him a kiss, turned up Pandora, said a little prayer (basically asking that I not die during this attempt) and took off.
At first I thought of how far I had come. Then I started to think about how the money we raised would help others, folks who are challenged every day just to find shelter, food, acceptance and many days hope.
The last two miles were tough for me. At mile 12 a bunch of the firefighters from the Colorado Firefighters Calendar were lined up, shirtless, cheering us on. That helped.
I crossed the finished line and had tears in my eyes. Oh yes, I'm that kind of guy.
It was an incredible experience. I am pretty sure we will do it again next time. Sending a HUGE thanks to all of you who donated to our fundraising efforts and who gave us love and support!
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Two years of The Gay Vegans
My how time flies.
In June of 2011 Mike and I were headed to Florida to go visit his mom. I had posted a little something about that on my fundraising blog. Then I decided that I didn't want to get personal on that blog so maybe I should create a blog where I could be totally personal. The Gay Vegans blog was born.
In the past two years this blog has become a huge part of my life. I have been able to share the ups and downs of my personal life, my activism, my politics, my goal to be a voice for the voiceless and my struggles.
Since June of 2011 there have been just over 77,000 visits to The Gay Vegans. That number blows me away. I know that there are sites and probably blogs that get that many reads in a day or a week, and for me it's huge to think that that many people take a minute or ten out of their lives to connect and read my latest post.
Here is a brief synopsis of the last two years:
We are a gay, married (not legally, yet) couple in Lakewood, Colorado. That's a west suburb of Denver. And we vote.
Being a voice for the voiceless can include many things: getting to know your state representative; writing to a letter to someone in power over a situation you support or don't support; boycotting an organization; making a donation; practicing a random act of kindness; going to a protest; speaking out.
We love to eat. We have our favorite places to eat and we engage restaurant owners in creating amazing vegan dishes.
We encourage building bridges amongst communities that may disagree on things.
We constantly speak out against hate, against religious extremism and against violence, even amongst those in our gay, vegan and animal rights communities.
We try to promote engagement, civil discourse and just basic conversation under the premise that we all have more in common than not.
Did I say we love to eat! We also love getting to know restaurant owners and supporting them in adding delicious vegan options.
Lastly, we use the blog to promote those rocking it in our world, products we love, people we love and restaurants we love.
It's been an amazing two years. We are grateful to all of you who have supported us and our calls to action!
Thanks for reading!
In June of 2011 Mike and I were headed to Florida to go visit his mom. I had posted a little something about that on my fundraising blog. Then I decided that I didn't want to get personal on that blog so maybe I should create a blog where I could be totally personal. The Gay Vegans blog was born.
In the past two years this blog has become a huge part of my life. I have been able to share the ups and downs of my personal life, my activism, my politics, my goal to be a voice for the voiceless and my struggles.
Since June of 2011 there have been just over 77,000 visits to The Gay Vegans. That number blows me away. I know that there are sites and probably blogs that get that many reads in a day or a week, and for me it's huge to think that that many people take a minute or ten out of their lives to connect and read my latest post.
Here is a brief synopsis of the last two years:
We are a gay, married (not legally, yet) couple in Lakewood, Colorado. That's a west suburb of Denver. And we vote.
Being a voice for the voiceless can include many things: getting to know your state representative; writing to a letter to someone in power over a situation you support or don't support; boycotting an organization; making a donation; practicing a random act of kindness; going to a protest; speaking out.
We love to eat. We have our favorite places to eat and we engage restaurant owners in creating amazing vegan dishes.
We encourage building bridges amongst communities that may disagree on things.
We constantly speak out against hate, against religious extremism and against violence, even amongst those in our gay, vegan and animal rights communities.
We try to promote engagement, civil discourse and just basic conversation under the premise that we all have more in common than not.
Did I say we love to eat! We also love getting to know restaurant owners and supporting them in adding delicious vegan options.
Lastly, we use the blog to promote those rocking it in our world, products we love, people we love and restaurants we love.
It's been an amazing two years. We are grateful to all of you who have supported us and our calls to action!
Thanks for reading!
Monday, July 1, 2013
Will you take 10 seconds for homeless youth?
My day job is as Director of Development and Public Affairs of Urban Peak, a 26-year old non-profit organization in Denver whose mission is to support youth experiencing homelessness on every level.
Urban Peak rocks.
Will you help us? I swear it only takes 10 seconds!
Urban Peak employee (and Americorps volunteer) Alex Vaassen won the Community MVP for the Colorado Rapids! This is an annual award and a huge deal for us at Urban Peak.
The next step is national voting. Each of the 19 MLS teams have a Community MVP. Now everyone can vote to see which MVP wins the national Community MVP.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Imagine what it will look like for Urban Peak, for our mission and for youth experiencing homelessness around the country if Alex wins. A win for Alex would put the conversation of youth experiencing homelessness on a national stage. For the MLS All Star game, where the national winner will receive her or his recognition, over a million people will be watching! This can be a huge opportunity to not only support Urban Peak, but all organizations that serve a mission like ours.
Voting started this morning at 9am. It will go through July 12th and then a winner will be announced on July 15th.
Please vote. Please vote often. Please send the below link to everyone you know. Please ask them to do the same. People can vote as many times as they like.
Imagine Alex on mid-field at the All Star game on July 31st in Kansas City!
We can win this. We have the most amazing staff around. We have committed donors, volunteers, supporters and board. We can spread the word throughout the country to get the most votes.
Here’s where you can vote, right now: http://www.mlssoccer.com/mlsworks/community-mvp/vote
Votes can also be made on the MLS Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/MLS/app_398709353508343
THANK YOU so much for your support with this. Please forward this to all of your friends. Voting literally takes 10 seconds!
P.S. You can vote as many times as you wish!
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