Thursday, June 7, 2012

Beyond Longmont: Yak & Yeti, Elvis Cinema- Westminster/Arvada

I don't often venture toward the Denver-ish areas but on a toasty Thursday afternoon I had several reasons to take the trip.
First stop was Winchell's on Sheridan to meet my new friend Sarah. She operates Casa de Paz in Aurora and I had a coffee table and a big box of kitchen bits to donate to her house. I'm happy to get it out of the garage and happier if she can make use of stuff that's otherwise just sitting in a box.
After loading/stuffing the box in her car I had time to kill.
I went to King Soopers to grab a cold drink and saw the EZ Nails & Spa next door and decided to get my nails prettified. $10 for a manicure, if you pay with cash. Sweet!
I've learned over time that I can often to a better job on my nails than anyone else can but it's still nice to get the massage and for them to work on my sad cuticles. All things considered I was quite happy with my bargain and newly neon pink nails. She shaped my nails perfectly as well.
I hit the Big Lots down the walkway, and then decided to try and find my next destination.
I still had plenty of time so I stopped at the Unique Thrift Store, which is the size of a small city from the looks of the building. It's right after you exit 36 on to Sheridan...if you've been through there, you've surely seen it. It's surprisingly organized but needs more dressing rooms! 2 is not enough. You've got the room guys, stick another stall somewhere. I passed up a couple things that weren't quite "thrifty" enough for me but I'd go back again. There was a mountain...like, an actual small mountain, in the back of things that hadn't even gotten out of the bags yet. I'd bet you're sure to find new stuff any day you go.
Lo and behold, the restaurant I was on a search for was right in the same parking lot as the thrift store.

I give you...Yak & Yeti, serving up tasty food from India & Nepal.
I went to the Westminster location; there is also a location in old town Arvada, which may or may not be haunted!
I was meeting my pal Sister Alice, who was coming in from Kansas for the evening and soon moving even farther away so we took this chance to get together and be silly. Which is what we usually do.
I'm the Indian food fanatic usually but I know not everyone is so when she suggested we try this place I said YES PLEASE!
It is so amazing. Some of the best food I've had ever, let alone Indian food. (Most of the food you can get at restaurants here isn't quite the "home style" stuff I had when I was actually in India so I'm not comparing it to that.)
There's some vegi korma there, vegi pakora, vegi samosa, chicken tikka, saffron rice, and whatever those noodles are called. Along with that I got some raita and dal. And naan, of course.

They have a lunch and dinner buffet daily. Everything was hot, fresh, and perfect. They have white, saffron, and brown rice all in giant steamers.There were a few things I'd never even heard of before.
Alice and I both tried the Chai Milk Stout, it was also amazing. I like milk stout because it's got that creamy element to it, and it's dark, but this had the spices of heavenly chai in it as well. It's bites at your tongue a bit. It's also served in awesome mugs which I very much wanted to stick in my purse.
They have several beers to choose from that are made right at their other location.

The staff was all very nice. I would recommend this place to ANYONE and wouldn't find it at all silly to drive all the way to Westminster to eat there again. It helps that the buffet price is very reasonable. I also want to see if I can buy one of their mugs. They have a little shopping nook with t-shirts and stuff.
The only thing not really to my liking was the kheer (rice pudding.) It definitely wasn't what I'm used to. It was almost more oatmeal texture than milky. I like mine in between...not too soupy but not as thick as this was. I'm not sure if it's regional or just personal preference of the chef. So I'll pass on that next time and double up on gulab jamun and banana pakora! Yummmm

After stuffing ourselves to the breaking point we went down Sheridan a little ways to the Elvis Cinema. (Just off 64th & Sheridan, on the NE corner in a strip mall.)
As their website says, it's the best movie value in town, and they are so right.
$7 for 2 movie tickets. Honest. Had I not been so full I could hardly move, I would have bought a small popcorn for $2. I just love the place. It's a perfect combination of tacky and retro. It's like my paradise. We went to see Mirror, Mirror. It was cute, clever, and amusing. Not winning any Oscars, but perfect for our evening.

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