Girls Night Out, And Then Some

Finally blogging about some living in the city! Last night I went out with Carolyn (my sister's sister in law - try saying that 3 times fast!) and some of her Denver friends. They do a girls night once a month and I was super excited to get an invite for October. We met up at Prime Bar down off of 16th street:

In Denver, 16th street is not open to the public for driving, but serves as a free bus route and open air mall for about 10 blocks, featuring some of the most fun places to go in Denver. It is in the heart of Downtown so it's a very popular place to go for happy hours. Prime Bar itself was fun - at first it seemed like a place that would take itself too seriously, but they ended up having a very good happy hour deal, especially for DT Denver, featuring a whole bunch of $5 apps, $3 drafts and some $5 wines. The apps were very yummy, I particularly liked the hummus, and they had a decent malbec on special as well. My one complaint was that they only had one wheat beer (my favorite kind) on tap - Blue Moon. It makes some sense since Coors is only 30 minutes outside of Denver, but in a state known for it's microbrews you'd think a nice place like this would have more selection. My beer disappointment aside, we had a great time and I got to meet a whole bunch of really nice Coloradans, who are very excited to help me come up with some sort of winter wardrobe.

After that I met up with some recent Denver University MBA grads at The Pour House. This place was in LoDo [short for lower downtown] and had more of a dive bar feel:

Instead of nicely plated apps the tables were adorned with beer buckets and hot wings. It is a fun place to hang out and features a big patio on the roof that is great for summer nights. I wouldn't take the co-workers for drinks here after work, but I definitely would meet up with some good friends to grab a beer.

The last stop of the night was at Illegal Pete's to get a late dinner. This place is Colorado's version of Chipotle, and I think they do it better:

Sorry the pics so small - I had to get one off the
internet and this was the best I could find

Maybe it's because this is the ONLY place I have found in Denver that makes a spicy queso...and that one incident of food poisoning that turned me against Chipotle a few years ago. BUT it is generally agreed to be the best option for a make it yourself burrito in Denver, and in my opinion the best "Mexican" food I have found yet. [I highly recommend putting the queso on the burrito - yum!] All in all it was a great night with 3 new places I'd be happy to visit again.