Short road trip reveals Delta and Montrose gems

Ijust want to say I had good intentions when I started out on a day trip to Delta and Montrose. I mapped out a plan of all the restaurants I wanted to visit and foods I was going to try. It was a beautiful day and my husband and I love spending time together in the car exploring.

However, we were quite hungry.

Which you might think is a positive thing when you are planning on eating at a variety of places in just a few hours. But in this case, it was not optimal because we ate a bunch of delicious food at the first restaurant and then couldn’t eat more the rest of the afternoon. Oops!

I had been craving the deep-fried mushrooms at the delightful A&M Creations in Delta, so I wanted to stop there first and just have an appetizer and keep going. (They are located at 305 Main St. downtown.) Of course, once we entered the welcoming and hopping café and settled into our cozy booth, that was impossible.

Everyone was so kind and the menu looked delicious and comforting as always. We ordered the mushrooms and I decided a glass of white wine paired with them sounded perfect. Then we ordered things like a massive salad with fried chicken on top that my husband was going to only eat half of, but then managed to eat it all. And I decided the fried shrimp and mashed potatoes would be terrific because we really were very hungry and it seemed silly not to order more.

Needless to say, our lunch was yummy and we had such fun chatting with the terrific owners Elena Windedahl-Simms and Manny Sena. It was great to see how packed their restaurant was on a Saturday at noon and it was nice to get time with my husband to talk about the upcoming summer.

We left happy and pleasantly full. After lunch, I noticed a new restaurant coming in on the other side of Main Street called Golden Wings & Fish Co. I am curious about their menu and future opening date, but I don’t know anything about it except the sign was intriguing.

We wandered around Delta for a bit and I photographed some of their beautiful murals.

(They are called the “City of Murals” for their more than 20 large outdoor artworks.) The one of the newspaper carrier boy outside the Delta County Independent newspaper building was adorable!

After our walk, we headed to Montrose figuring we would surely get hungry again at some point. Montrose has a variety of new and new-to-me places that I was curious to see.

One restaurant we checked out was Eatery 66 North. It was closed (luckily we were still full), but I peeked in the window and it had a modern, yet warm, feel about it.

It’s at 232 E. Main St. and I’ve heard a number of people talking about how much they enjoy it. The menu looks yummy and has items like hot crab dip, white bean hummus, French onion soup, pork belly BLT and blackened shrimp on the menu.

Prices seem reasonable too and I definitely want to go back and try it.

I have also been hearing nice things about Nomad Cuisines. It’s located within the MADA (Mexican American Development Association) building at 17 N. 6th St. that has a culinary incubator. Nomad Cuisines offers items like Chennai Chicken Biryani and Tamarind Red Shrimp for dine in or delivery.

We were too early to try it, so will need to return someday.

We then peeked at the former Phelanies speakeasy tucked away next to a pawn shop at 19 S. Junction Ave. The owners are changing the concept into a tiki bar and are hoping to open soon. It is called Phelanies Tipsy Tiki Bar and will feature tropical cocktails, beachy music and lots of fun.

Moving on, my husband wanted to show me a restaurant called Tacos & Beer at 3410 Williams Dr. (They have another one on 1135 E. Main St.)

He had been there before and liked their tacos. The place smelled terrific and was inviting. I loved their wall of paintings honoring the artist Frida Kahlo and the liveliness of the place. However, we realized we were still too full to eat so we made a note to come back in the future.

Lastly, on this culinary adventure that involved exactly one meal, we swung by the Bluecorn Candles Café & Mercantile.

I heard they had great food and drinks and was curious to see what was inside this place that I thought was focused solely on making candles. Wow were we in for a surprise! Stepping into this large building was such a delight for the senses!

Vibrant music was cranking out, comfortable chairs and couches were placed throughout the building, and you could smell delicious foods.

In addition, there was a beautiful store featuring hand-dipped, nontoxic beeswax candles and a variety of gift items. We bought some candle holders and enjoyed watching a man make candles in the artisanal side of the space. I was told that the breakfast sandwich is a customer favorite and saw they had a variety of baked goods, coffee and a full bar in addition to their menu. This would be a great place to tuck away with a book or join friends on leather couches to have a drink, listen to music and catch up. It really was an unexpected and delightful surprise and we will definitely return.

Even though we ended up only eating at one restaurant, we had such a fun time together exploring and look forward to returning and dining at these other places too.

I like seeing people’s creativity — be it with food, art, music, literature and even candles!

If you have any food and beverage-related events or information you want readers to know about, please email me at AllThingsFoodChristine@gmail.com.

This adorable newspaper boy mural is on the Delta County Independent building.

This fried chicken salad at A&M Creations was huge and my husband devoured it all despite good intentions of taking half of it home.

Photos by CHRISTINE GALLAGHER PHOTO

Montrose’s new Phelanies Tipsy Tiki Bar will be opening soon.

Such a cool wall of Frida Kahlo paintings at Tacos & Beer in Montrose.

In addition to their menu, Bluecorn Candles Cafe has a variety of baked goods and a bar.

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