Why, oh why, did I wait so long to sit down for a meal at Urban Roadhouse?
Since it opened in February in the old Vanilla Factory location, I’ve used the funky coffee shop and restaurant as a touchdown spot: in for a large iced vanilla latte ($3.50) and the neighborhood 411 on Curtis Park, and off to the next great thing.
I paid no mind to the groovy menu boards telling the tale of thick Roadhouse Original sandwiches ($6.75), piled high with fresh sliced meats and cheeses, fresh vegetables and tangy sauces. I couldn’t even see the Roadhouse Filler-Up Salads ($6.95) or the Traditional C-Park Pizza Pies ($6-$13). Fresh-baked pies and pastries ($1.50-$2.50)? Nope.
It took the promise of a plate of macaroni and cheese, a bundle of green beans dressed with onion and bacon, and a side of crisp cucumber salad ($5.95) for me to abandon my wandering ways.
Tender noodles swimming in a not-too-sharp cheese sauce and topped with a crust of golden buttered bread crumbs – oh, Mama, I’m home for good.
And that’s exactly how owners Cindy Schumann and Marty Burns-Wolfe want their customers to feel, like they’ve found a little bit of home in the Mile High City.
Themed monthly specials, with recipes sometimes contributed by customers, help the cause.
July’s menu took an “All-American” tack. One week the special was meatloaf, the next it was fried chicken and corn. This week, it was mac ‘n’ cheese from a recipe developed by a Roadhouse neighbor, Cathy Bellem.
Next month: Off to Memphis.
“Denver’s such a transplant market,” Burns-Wolfe says. “The minute I said we were going to Memphis, someone said, ‘Are you going to have catfish?’ It’s kind of cool how people get into it.”
In fact, there will be pecan-crusted catfish, as well as fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches from an Elvis cookbook, and ribs glistening with a mop sauce imported from Tennessee.
Friends told Burns-Wolfe she was nuts when she proposed the concept of “traveling” specials. “But I’m not crazy,” she said. “People get bored. This way, people can get on the road, but never have to leave the neighborhood.”
The permanent menu is stocked with culinary treasures too. We savored Schu’s Southside ($6.75), hot pastrami with spicy brown mustard and Swiss cheese, on a thick slab of marble rye from Bluepoint Bakery. The Pacific Rim salad ($6.95) – a volcano-shaped pile of spicy grilled chicken poised on a lawn of gourmet greens – took the edge off the heat outside.
If the food doesn’t get you, there are always the comfy chairs and the siren song of free wireless Internet access calling you home to the Roadhouse.
Urban Roadhouse American|2700 Arapahoe St., 303-291-3347|$1.50- $13|7 a.m.-7 p.m. M-F, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; MC, Visa; unmetered, on-street parking.
Front burner: Top-rack pastries and pies baked daily from scratch.
Back burner: Confusing ordering situation. If you’re standing at the bar where you’re supposed to order, the menu is at your back.
