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So I'm off to Vail next Thursday for a week for a friend's destination wedding. I usually can't stand destinations, but I'm using it as an excuse to get some skiing in and check out Denver a little. We're flying in at 2:15, going to do the Great Divide Brewery tour at 4, but that puts us out at 5 so I need to either decide to hit the road and hope Denver traffic isn't as bad as DC's or stick around and grab a bite to eat. I saw a few suggestions above, but we'd really like to hit something with local flare along the way-Fruition looks great, and we might just eat there if there's nothing else that piques our interest, but I'd much prefer to hit a random little dive along the way to Vail. Does anyone know anything west of the city or along I70 that might fit the bill? Cheap, probably greasy, but surprisingly delicious? I'd love to check out some of the apparently great Mexican south in Colorado Springs, but that's too out of the way. And maybe the best spot to pick up some good beer along the way to avoid what I'm sure will be Vail's drastically inflated prices?

Ok, so I know it's been a while, but it was a hell of a trip-saw so many places, took so many pictures, and, of course, tried so much darn awesome food it's taken me a while to get my thoughts in order, so let me start from the top: New Haven: We were only here for a night and a morning, so we didn't get a lot of time to really see the city. So our hosts suggested we stop by one of the best combo destinations in the city: Bar. Homemade beer, awesome pizza, and a dance club all in one. Seems a bit overblown, and I guess taken individually none of their aspects were the best they could have been, but the beer and pizza really stood out. I didn't have anything to compare it against in the city, and I was a few beers deep when we got to the pizza, but it was exceptionally good. We tried the mashed potato & bacon white and hot cherry pepper pizzas. Both had excellent thin, crispy crusts that weren't soggy or overly salty. The mashed potato/bacon was a bit different-was laid out like a classic margarita-just lumps of potatoes around the pizza-took some getting used to, but I got to relish those little pockets of creamy, potatoey love by the end of my first piece. The hot cherry pepper pizza had us all sweating in no time-not exactly your average banana pepper topping, but very good and helped showcase the tasty tomato sauce that thanks to the beer and my lack of notes I can't quite remember more of than it was good and didn't taste straight out of a can. So while I'm sure Bar isn't the best place for any one thing, the combination of great beer, great pizza, and the option for dancing with college students made it a pretty solid one-stop destination. (That said, they have a separate restaurant section where you can enjoy just the first two and avoid the latter). Boston: To be honest we didn't really get very culinary here-I couldn't even tell you where we ate both nights-we wandered around the South End, but everything seemed overpriced for what it was-I think we cooked one night and got something fast the other night. That said, we did check out Mike's Pastries, which we only heard of thanks to the scores of labeled boxes being carried around the streets by tourists and locals alike and the half-block-long line in front of the shop. I got a canoli and the girlfriend got an eclair. The canoli was very tasty-although it was pre-filled they must go fast because the shell wasn't soggy at all. Filling was spot-on, though not earth-shattering. Though I'm not an eclair fan, the GF reckoned it was the tastiest one she'd ever had. I took a bite, but creamy/chocolaty/too-dry crust was all I could get, but that's the way I feel about nearly all eclairs, so I'm not the best person to ask. All in all, though, worth checking out if you're in the area. Portland: Absolutely awesome town! So quaint, so neat, and so full of great food. Unfortunately we were on a budget, so while we would have liked to do, say, Fore Street, we couldn't really afford it. So one day we did Duck Fat. All I have to say is wow, but there's been enough said about it elsewhere I'll just confirm-it's as good as everyone says. The dipping aoilis are amazing and the fries are nothing short of heavenly. I'll leave it at that for praise-go there if you're in town. Wait for a seat in the pounding snow-you'll thank yourself. The next night we went down to the fish market, bought ourselves two lively fresh caught lobsters, suckered our hotel into loaning us a big 10 quart pot from their kitchen and whipped up some chopped lobster tail in a local white wine cream sauce served over some fresh-made pasta we got at an italian deli in town. I wish we'd dabbled more around there-needless to say we can't wait to go back. And if you're into beer, check out Alagash Brewery and Geary Brewery just outside of town. Alagash was small corporate shop that took us around and gave us far too much beer. Geary's, on the other hand, didn't have 'formal' tours, so we got there to find 3 ancient chocolate labs greeting us at the door, immensely friendly staff, and a private tour led by a brewer who kept topping his glass off the tanks as he filled ours as well-great people, solid beer that's been around since the late 80s. Well I have to break now-more to follow on Montreal (Fairmont or St Viteur), the trip through the Thousand Islands, Toronto's Chinatown, and Niagara Falls!

Yup, definitely meant to type Toronto, not Ottawa there-long day at work-I'll check out the Toronto topic unless anyone has any updates/specifics

Thanks all-the suggestions have been enormously helpful. I think we've decided to cut out Pittsburgh and instead drive through west-central PA on the way home, though, camping somewhere in the Allegheny National Forest, so while it's a long shot if anyone knows of some spots there that'd be great. For some inexplicable reason I thought this trip would be light on my waistline because we wouldn't be cooking typically extravagant and rich meals every night and couldn't afford a week and a half of nice dinners out, but clearly I don't know myself very well... Definitely trying pizza in New Haven, the Duck Fat in Portland, bagels and poutine in Montreal, and wings in Buffalo. Keep them coming-especially more suggestions for Ottawa and Toronto-does anyone have any good recommendations for a Chinatown stop in Ottawa? If it's supposedly as authentic and bustling as San Fran's I'd love to get a real meal, nothing like Gallery Place downtown here...

The girlfriend and I were talking about making a cross-country trek, but budgetary constraints and the practicalities of being employed forced us to whittle that down a bit to a northeast, early fall tour. As we're a bit limited in terms of funds, but still both insatiable foodies, we're trying to find the best of the cheap as well as a few, nice, can't-miss dinners along the way. Our itinerary looks something like this, with all **starred locations places we're planning on stopping in for the night, the other spots just places we're passing through but could use good breakfast/lunch/snack thoughts: DC> **New Haven, CT Providence, RI **Boston, MA **Portland, ME (Through NH and Vermont-not sure what's worth seeing here besides leaves) **Montreal Ottawa (Might spend the night) **Toronto Niagara Falls Pittsburgh We're not wedded to the route-if there's something really worth eating elsewhere along the way we'd be happy to detour, but the main sleeping spots are things we'd prefer to keep. So does anyone have any recommendations? Little dives with amazing clams? Historic diners with greasy awesomeness? The best poutine in Montreal? Lobsters so fresh they nearly crawl off the plate? We want it all-thanks in advance!

Hey all-I have an overabundance of green onions from my CSA-essentially immature white onions, but I'll call them 'green' for the fact that they're the full plant and most of their bulk is essentially of scallion consistency. I've made a bunch of stir-frys with them, but I'm looking for something different-does anyone have any suggestions? Ideally it would be something that incorporated other things abundant from the season (garlic scapes/fava beans/asparagus).

So for the past month I've been gorging on delicious, local, seasonal asparagus. Largely broiled or sauteed, but of late I've gotten a little bored of the old standbys and wanted to branch out. I tried an asparagus soup (essentially just a potato/onion soup base with asparagus, blended and creamed) which was tasty but still a bit uninspired, so was looking for a better option. I found quail eggs at the Dupont market (for $4 a dozen) and though I'd give them a try. A quick google turned up a recipe over at epicurious for Asparagus Salad with Celery Leaves, Quail eggs and a Tarragon Vinaigrette. Now I didn't have any tarragon vinegar, nor celery leaves, but we adjusted with some nutty lettuce from my CSA and mesclun from the market, skipped the tarragon entirely for some sorrel and rosemary from the garden, and used olive oil instead of safflower/grapeseed. Now the olive oil was just a touch overpowering but given the lack of tarragon it ended up complementing everything well, and the quail eggs were the perfect match-you could certainly sub in chicken eggs, but the creamy yolks of the quail eggs were so much tastier in here! The steamed asparagus matched up with all the flavors perfectly, and was something completely different than what I've been using asparagus for of late. Paired with some sage-crusted pork chops on the grill, this made a great little meal! So I've rambled on for a bit too long now, but just thought I'd share a different idea of how to use seasonal asparagus because if you're anything like me, you still want to eat it every day it's in season, but want just a little variety in preparation!