Features

Gabby Gourmet: Fuel Cafe

By Pat Miller

Fuel Cafe
3455 Ringsby Court, #105
Denver, 80216
303-296-4642
www.fuelcafedenver.com

What a total treat this place is! Fuel Cafe brings great fun and fabulous food to the Taxi building and this area on the edge of the RiNo (River North) Art District off the Platte River bike path.

As you enter, you find a very modern, casual spot with a huge bar and comfortable seating in simple surroundings that say "Welcome." The great-looking bar is the center of the dining room, with more space in another small room to enjoy your meal. High ceilings, wood and a bit of drapery set the funky scene. The patio is perfect when weather permits, but the creative, terrific food is the star.

The dinner menu changes, but you're sure to find several choices that will satisfy. Start with small plates like broccoli rabe bruschetta, divine burrata with torn croutons, smoked scallop salad, or a Pu Pu platter of feta cigars, vegetable dumplings, shrimp toasts, harissa and sweet chile. The housemade pasta is worth the trip. Entrees such as black bass with ice cream, fig jam, and crostini brings bursts of flavors with a unique presentation. Or, when available, go for skirt steak, brick chicken, wild boar short ribs or polenta torta. And do not miss the fabulous desserts.

Fuel is also open for lunch five days a week. Start with the list of sandwiches and salads. The outrageous Cubano is pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard sauce on baguette, the pulled pork brings pork shoulder, lemongrass-caramel, carrot, and radishes on ciabatta, and the Reuben is just plain great. Try the spicy lamb meatballs with hummus rolled on flatbread, the curried chicken salad or the tuna pan bagnat. If the special is the home roasted turkey with melted cheese and chutney on country bread, go for it! Choose divine housemade potato chips or the salad of the day as your side. The soups and salads are equally wonderful.

Cookies, cupcakes, brownies and whoopee pies end this feast. The wine list is excellent, and the service is as great as the food. It's very casual and very special. Fuel up that car with enough gas to get you there - and if you run out, just stay for the next super-leaded dining experience. Dinner is served Thursday through Saturday and lunch is serviced Monday through Friday.

The most fun:
The ambience is funky fun, and the experience a casual treat, while the food is upscale, creative and so original.

Don't miss:
Gnocchi, the Cubano and exciting entrees.

About the chef:
Bob Blair tells a fun story. He was second of eight kids and grew up at the stove. He went to college and says, "Never should have gone to college." His family and friends had suggested culinary school. In college, he instead started cooking in restaurants and opened a small catering company. He worked at the The Greenbriar Inn and then at Parisi, got his college degree, and went back to Parisi.

Then he opened Fuel.

"Fuel has now been open for almost two and a half years, and we were asked to start doing dinner after only being open for five months," he says. "We have survived a terrible economy and we are thriving in what some people say is a terrible location - I disagree."

Guess I do too, as Fuel is great, thriving and very popular.

Hours:
Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 5 - 9 p.m.; Happy Hour Thursday-Friday, 4:30 - 6 p.m.

Pat Miller, the Gabby Gourmet, hosts the Gabby Gourmet Restaurant Show every Saturday from 1 - 3 p.m. on KHOW 630AM. She appears every Wednesday on the 7News at 11AM broadcast with a restaurant segment. The 2010 Gabby Gourmet Restaurant Guide is available everywhere. For more fun and information, go to www.gabbygourmet.com.