Soy Pinoy
It’s my first time to visit Denver and I have no idea what to expect here at Mile High. I’m not sure how I will adapt to the high-altitude climate as well. I’ve been getting a few recommendations from other friends on which areas to visit and I’m really looking forward to arriving here.
First stop though will of course be to visit Soy Pinoy, James Beard award winning chef Paul Qui’s spot at Zeppelin Station. Located at 3501 Wazee Street, Zeppelin Station is a food hall that hosts different vendors with various food styles and concepts plus a full-service bar.
My flight arrived 30 minutes early to Denver International Airport which is a welcome relief after the horror show that I just experienced at LaGuardia terminal A where it took us over an hour to pass through security and this was at 5 in the morning. The airport here in Denver was organized and spacious, quite modern. A good indication that the city invests a lot in their infrastructure to the benefit of their citizens. Taking an Uber to the city was an easy task and traffic was nonexistent, I’m really starting to like this place ☺
As I settle down at my AirBnB to leave my luggage and freshen up for a bit I can now start to feel my hunger as I only had an orange juice and muffin for breakfast at the airport. On my way to Zeppelin Station, I was soaking up the sights as we passed by various craft beer breweries before arriving at the destination. Zeppelin Station looked pretty hip and even had a skate area on the back side. I met with Chef Paul Qui and we talked about food and various other topics regarding the Philippines. It’s really awesome now that I feel we are slowly building a network of Filipino chefs and we’re able to exchange ideas and hear each other’s views about everything from Food Culture to Politics.
Chef was kind enough to cook for me today here at Soy Pinoy, which I felt was the best way to start my Denver tour. We had a blast talking in the kitchen as I listened to his life story and hear where his passion for cooking came from and his family background.
As he was crisping up the sisig and grilling the lechon belly. I was lucky enough to try the
sisig with fried egg,
lechon liempo and…
coconut shrimp ceviche. The ceviche had some similarities to the kinilaw that we do in Tsismis.
After sharing some time in the kitchen with Chef Paul Qui, I immediately learned new things already. I’m so excited to try his other concepts in the next couple of days.
Stay tuned for more #KULINARYATRAVELS Denver series but before we go back to Zeppelin Station we are off to try some exotic Colorado cuisine at the famed Buckhorn Exchange…