Lucky for us, some recent dining trends dovetail quite nicely with our current family situation. Namely: fast casual. It's always ok to take children to a place where you order at a counter. And it's even better when it's a fast-casual eatery that has multiple options. Enter dining trend #2: the "food market hall."
Shortly after it opened, we tried Denver's newest such establishment: Zeppelin Station. Located in north RiNo, it's nestled amidst ongoing construction across the street from the 38th & Blake light rail station. Fear not, Denver drivers, there's a parking garage. There are also a few spots out front. It seems, regrettably, wholly inaccessible to bikers. I do hope I'm wrong on that point, though.
Zeppelin Station boasts an impressive lineup of global cuisine. Mostly Asian though, so if you don't like Asian you shouldn't go and we can't be friends. There is, also, one Canadian place. Poutine! Get it. Always delicious. But this poutine wasn't especially remarkable. The Indian place, however, was. The Korean place? A bit of a miss.
But enough chit chat. Let me cut to the chase. From what we tried and my general critical analysis of food here's what I think you should eat:
A) Vinh Xuong banh mi, preferably their spicy tofu and avocado
*or*
B) Namkeen's methi chicken
And if you do get food from Namkeen (or something besides Vinh Xuong), you should get "The Gelato Boy" dessert at Gelato Boy which is gelato on one of Vinh Xuong's sesame buns. SO GOOD. Zoë thought so too.
Last but not least, big props to Zeppelin Station for being very waste conscious! Most of the food containers are compostable and the rest are recyclable. Gelato Boy was a true delight because I almost always make my kids get ice cream in cones so there's no plastic, but this time there were compostable cups! (They still chose cones.) However, the spoons were only compostable in industrial facilities, which is of questionable environmental value, so good thing I'd brought my own.
Unfortunately, it appeared people weren't totally "getting it" quite yet. I'll spare you my photos of the bins, but the "LANDFILL" one was full of compostables and recyclables. C'mon people! Be more like me. Kidding. Kind of. Go to Zeppelin Station!