Today Forbes announced that The Broadmoor’s Penrose Room got its top rating, too.

Wow..

The coveted ranking for the restaurant makes it the only one in Colorado or the Rocky Mountain states to carry a five-star rating from Forbes as well as a five-diamond rating from AAA. Forbes’ is an exclusive club. There are only 21 in the country. Here’s a list.

The hotel itself also got the big five stars, which marks the 50th consecutive year the resort took that honor.

A few years ago, our reporter Dave Philipps did a terrific project about the efforts The Broadmoor was going through to get that five-diamond. You can read it here.

I’m ashamed to say, I haven’t eaten there. (Been to all the other eateries there, but never felt I had the money to go for the top of the hill. Now, they’ll probably raise their prices and I’ll never be able to afford it. Maybe it’s worth taking out a loan.)

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I tried the test-market item, the Colorado Burger, which pairs pepper jack with sliced jalapena on top, and I found the whole thing way, way too greasy. They’re served on metal boats with wax paper and the paper was sopping wet by the time I was done. The flavor was OK, but I felt like I was pouring the grease right into my arteries.

I’ll probably give it another shot because my first experience was so good.But there’s a line between a juicy burger and a greasy one… and in this case, grease is the word.

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Now, as I mentioned on the previous blog, my wife has a spectacular aversion to gluten. One crumb and she’ll get joint pain like she’s been in a car wreck. So, you may think Panera, a place that builds everything around yeast and flour, would be a terrifically stupid place to take her. OK … yeah.

I started with a bagel, which is merely passable and not nearly in the same league as Brueggers, and then went onto a bacon and spinach souffle, baked into a pastry and served in this cute little tin. It was wonderful.

Jane ordered an egg.

That’s it. An egg. You’d think we’d marched into Rush Limbaugh’s show touting socialized medicine. The looks we got.

Yes, they serve eggs in sandwiches. But they had no button on their cash register. (I almost pulled a “Five Easy Pieces” here and ordered an egg sandwich, hold the bread.) So, one worker talks to another who talks to another.. and they look up things in a book, and then they hem and haw… and in the end, I don’t remember what they chanrged, but it wasn’t much.

But then they forgot to make it. I reminded the prep guys … and then they saw the ticket. A few minutes later they delivered an egg sandwich.

“No, just an egg. On a plate.”

“Oh, oh, oh, right.”

Ten minutes later, one fried egg.

Whew.

Jane enjoyed it and didn’t have an averse reaction.

Then we went to Costco for some real eatin’ (free samples!)

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My wife is GF, so I know what a big deal this is for people with allergies, aversions of celiac. Some of my favorite local restaurants have poisoned her. (One of my wife’s favorite New Yorker cartoons shows Lois and Clark at a restaurant and Louis says, “Come on, it only has a trace amount of Kryptonite.” to which he responds, “Which part of ‘It will kill me’ do you not understand, Lois!’”

Certainly, the more upscale chains do well. PF Changs as an entire gluten-free menu. Some others do, too.

But what about the independent restaurants?

The new Sunflower Cafe behind the Poet Lofts off South Nevada has a lot of GF sandwiches and baked goods, and they’re probably as good as you’ll find.

Italian may be the most troublesome cuisine, because so much is built around dough and pasta.

We have had good wheat-free pasta at Fratelli’s. And the new Rasta Pasta on Tejon and Boulder has wheat-free pasta.

Borriello Brothers on 8th street now serves pizzas from Deby’s in Denver. It’s prepared extremely carefully in a separate room, and if you’re sensitive enough to react to airborne wheat, you can eat in that room and be OK.

Mexican places are usually safe if you avoid the flour tortillas. But places that get too fancy with the Southwestern sauces can be problematic. My wife has had problems at Sonterra a year ago, but, since then, the chef has gone to extreme lengths to alert everyone in the staff about gluten issues. (Beware their chips and any chips that might be fried with breaded things.)

Some Asian places also can be difficult because they use soy sauces with wheat. Why they don’t all just go to a wheat-free soy or tamari, I have no idea. Of the Asian cuisines, we found Vietnamese noodle bowls among the safest entrees.

The more upscale independent restaurants generally have chefs trained well enough to advise you on what’s safe and what’s not.

The Pikes Peak Celiacs group has hosted some special GF dinners at the Warehouse, and I know they’re always looking for other places. Please send me ideas.

And you can keep up with the Celiacs group by clicking here.

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You can read the Indy’s here.

Our’s here.

Each found things to like and things to knock.

Our guy, Nathaniel Glen, praised the stylish Manitou vibe; their gal, Monika Mitchell Randall, found it too coffeehouse.

Both loved the dessert crepes and the choice ingredients.

But Monika was put off by services issues and crepes that were served on the dry side, while Nathaniel was delighted by just about all the crepes he tried.

Both agreed that prices are a bit steep.

I’m a Manitoid, and I’m crazy about Coquette. The family running the place is so friendly and so genuine in their efforts to please guests. I see Coquette as fitting in nicely with the town’s other eateries, especially as they begin to host arts events in their second room. It feels like it belongs.

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It looks like one of those midwestern yam casseroles with marshmallow on top. But it’s actually rich, savory pumpkin with a yogurt topping. I’m loving this place. It’s similar to the local Indian buffets but with some nice distinctive differences.

Another great veggie dish is a sweet potato curry on the buffet at Little Nepal on 8th Street. It’s our favorite Indian place in town, and I used to love the shrimp or chicken marsala the best. But, lately, their veggie dishes are better than the meat.

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It fits into the hippy vibe of North Tejon, and the food is fine. Not exceptional. But inoffensive.

A waitress made a point of warning us about the heavy spices, so we refrained from getting our dishes kicked up. But we should have ignored her. Nothing was very spicy that we tried at the one or two pepper level. (I believe it tops out at three.)

The chicken pasta dishes were a bit skimpy on chicken and abounding in pasta, but, as a friend commented, the place is called Rasta Pasta, not Rasta Chicken. The dishes cost nearly $8 for lunch. I would prefer less pasta and a smaller bill. (I took home leftovers.)

I’m a big fan of Jamaican cooking. This isn’t it. It’s inspired by jerk spices but doesn’t quite hit it. I don’t really care if the place is authentic. Fusion can be even more fun than traditional at times. But I just haven’t yet found anything better here than I’d find at Noodles & Co.

But that’s just a first impression. I’ll try it again, and maybe ignore the waitresses spice warnings.

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Opening next week: Bara Sushi, a Denver restaurant opening a second location at Promenade Shops at Briargate.

I’ve been impressed with our landlocked sushi places, particularly Fujiyama, which, despite, service problems, continues to improve its sushi. But we still don’t have anything that can touch Denver’s Sushi Den.

Still, I have hopes for Bara Sushi. I’m seeing some things on their menu I haven’t seen elsewhere:

On the appetizer side:
Lobster Dynamite
Mouthwatering lobster, shrimp, mushrooms, corn, and onions
topped with our signature spicy dynamite sauce

Prawns with Nest Style Potatoes
three fried shrimp wrapped in hash browns

I want to try those right now.

There also scads of rolls, of course, including some with bacon (I think AI Sushi was the first to bring that idea to the Springs), mango, and cooked egg. This one sounds tasty:
Centennial roll
(crunchy and spicy crab meat, cooked eggs and spicy tuna)

Mmmmmm

If anybody has tried these places in Denver (or Rasta here), please let me know if they’re worth my salivations.

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I’m continuing to like this place.

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