Monthly Archives: October 2011

High Dynamic Range

It’s official. I’m obsessed with HDR. Ever since I found a picture of the Salton Sea in all of its high dynamic glory, I’ve wanted to take HDR photos. If you like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you already got a preview of what’s to come.
Can you see why I’m in love? This was the view out back yesterday afternoon as the clouds slowly began rolling in.
The day started off with a hike through the national park that is my backyard.
It was perfectly cloudy and chilly. The first cool day since summer began!
Ahhh, I’ve missed the park.
I woke up this morning to pouring rain.
Time to retire to the couch with a bowl of spicy butternut squash and leek soup, a mug of vanilla chai tea and a book while the downpour continues outside.

Bliss.

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The Dillinger

Remember how I said that my pictures would be getting progressively better? I forgot to mention that first they have to get progressively worse… “It’s gotta get bad before it gets good.”

Without further ado, I give you the restaurant that made this ridiculously-high-temperature-wanted-to-pass-out-don’t-like-this-place-at-all town bearable.
The Dillinger: a restaurant in Boulder City, Nevada that had their grand opening on August 19th. After visiting the greasy diners and eating art fair food, I was thrilled to have stumbled across this while walking the town.
They have some good beers on tap, if you choose to ignore the PBR (which did win best large brewery at GABF this past weekend. Weird.).
They carry Dogfish Head! That alone would be grounds for me to LOVE THEM. I got Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on tap and Ora grabbed a bottle of the 90 Minute. My boss is a hophead. Awesome.
The inside is spacious and open – something you don’t find anywhere else in town. The local diners cram as many tables into the room as they can which makes for an obstacle course if you’re trying to navigate in or out of the room. The Dillinger is airy and serene with soft lights accenting the marbled floors and tiled decor. Amy, our server, was ridiculously helpful and knowledgeable about everything on the menu, AND the drinks! Anytime we started to need anything, there she was! AMAZING service without being in-your-face. Amy, from the bottom of our stomachs, thank you for your help and conversation!
To start, we ordered the fire roasted artichoke. Not something I’d usually go for, but I’m so glad we did!
Tender leaves of artichoke, drizzled with lemon and dipped into this zesty, smoky tomato-chipotle dip. I could’ve eaten the dip on its own with a spoon! Actually, I did eat the dip with a spoon. I’m not ashamed.
I had to order the namesake – The Dillinger. If there’s an item on the menu that is named after the restaurant, GET IT. There’s a reason they name it after the place!
A hamburger, cheddar cheese, crispy bacon and brisket encased between the fluffy buns that are as soft as pillows. The combination of smoky bacon and the sweetness of the barbecue sauce they drizzle over the brisket brought tears of love and joy to my eyes. Why don’t all burgers include bacon and brisket? My new obsession!
Other obsession – their sweet potato fries. I’ve had sweet potato fries before. No big whoop. THESE sweet potato fries, however, are tossed in a mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar, making every crevice of the crinkle cut fries explode with the delicate whisper of warm sugar and sweet potato pie. Exploding with delicate whispers. Try to find fries that can do that anywhere else.
The grande finale. This is the best bread pudding I’ve ever consumed in my entire life. Like sweet potato fries, I’ve eaten a LOT of bread puddings. This one makes any other bread pudding embarrassed to be called bread pudding. This is the manager’s mother’s recipe – peaches and raisins ensconced in layers of warm, silky, sweet custard-soaked bread, drizzled with more rich custard and topped with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce.

I was so full after this meal that I had to waddle back to the hotel, cradling my leftover bread pudding with all the love and care I could, before devouring it for breakfast this morning. This meal and The Dillinger –  what dreams are made of.

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Filed under Restaurant Review, Uncategorized

Boulder Dam Brewing Company

Boulder City, Nevada. What can I say about it? Not too much…
There are some historical arches…
The sky’s really pretty in faux-HDR…
There’s a nice little bistro with a great wine and beer selection. Getting better…
The Coffee Cup is a landmark diner that found (even more) fame when Guy Fieri featured it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The line was around the freaking block for this place! I don’t have that much patience for greasy diner food. I ate at a similarly greasy place a few doors down.
Aaaand, that’s the town! It really is a street with a handful of diners, two or three antique stores and an “Area 51” store that has plastic aliens stuck to the stucco. I thought I was a small-town girl, but this town is TOO small!
On a street with diners and antique stores, they have a brewery! Who would thunk!
The Boulder Dam Brewing Company was packed so I didn’t really get the chance to look around too much. The fermentors sit behind the bar and have the taps coming directly out of the sides.
I got their sampler which consisted of the Belgian Wit, just-tapped Marzen, Hefeweizen, IPA, Chocolate Caramel Stout and their guest ale, Lobotomy Bock.
Props to Boulder City for having their own microbrewery! My favorite was probably their Marzen. Overall, the beers that Boulder Dam serves are all very light, in flavor and ABV, which probably suits the normal “hotter-than-hell” Nevada temperature well. The locals sure seem to love the place! There was a band playing outside in the sprinkling rain and the patio was jammed with pint glasses and people in shorts. Every single bar (all two of them) had loud music blasting and people packing the places.
Boulder City is relatively cute, extremely quaint, and just not for me. The temperatures that reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday didn’t do it any favors in my eyes. I’d whine more, but I was able to get Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on tap at a new local place, The Dillinger, which I’ll do a write-up on soon. The Dillinger is what made this trip bearable!

Whine whine whine too hot whine whine whine Dogfish Head Happy.

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