THE MED
The MED has been serving Boulder for over 20 years. It is located at 1002 Walnut Street in Boulder. This Mediterranean-inspired restaurant is well known for their paellas, pizzas from their wood-burning oven, fresh seafood and tapas. Tapas is another word for appetizers. They serve these delicious tapas at a great price from 3-6:30 pm. during their happy hour. This makes it a great place for adults to go.....but what happens when the kids get dragged along? "We have had to do this before", think the kids. Many kids remember watching their parents drinking wine and laughing with other adults, while the kids gloomily sit in the corner so bored they could die....wasting away, hour by hour, chins resting on their palms, looking enviously at the freedom of the pedestrians outside. The parents are enjoying happy hour, but this can frequently be a dreadful experience for the kids. Our goal of this review was to find a way to make happy hour HAPPY for KIDS! Read along to find out how this impossible feat can be accomplished. You'll be happy you did!
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MARYN'S OPINION
We walked in on a chilly night excited about how we were going to make happy hour happy. The hostess cheerfully guided us to our seats at the pizza bar. I recommend that you sit here if possible because it is entertaining to watch the pizzas being made. I looked around the restaurant and observed these cool little blue fairy lights. These lights added a nice mystical ambience. This large and warmly decorated restaurant was welcoming and energetic. The waitresses enthusiastically explained the happy hour menu items to us.
I started with a can of Oskar Blues Black Cherry soda. I liked that it was not overly sweet and had a strong cherry flavor. While I was sipping on my soda, we ordered off of the Happy Hour menu using a pencil to mark what we wanted on this disposable sheet. We ordered a variety of food, but only some of the items were vegetarian. The things that I enjoyed were the Tzatziki $2.50, Spanakoptia $3.95, and the Patatas Bravas $5.95 While we were waiting for our food to arrive, the pizza chef gave us each a hunk of pizza dough to play with. It was just like a squishy stress ball! It was actually super fun to squeeze this and make it into shapes to help pass the time. This certainly made happy hour happy! The first thing that came out was the Tzatziki sauce. This sweet dip was made out of yogurt, fresh mint and other ingredients. This dish was served with cucumbers, carrots and celery. Tzatziki is one of my favorite things so my expectations were high. The Tzatziki was super addicting and really refreshing. I really enjoyed this. It is a great tapas, and I recommend this for anyone. I really suck at being a vegetarian. I hate cooked vegetables especially when they become slimy. So ordering anything with cooked spinach in it is a risk for me. However, the Spanakopita was an exception. It was extremely delicious. A spanakopita is a spinach stuffed phyllo dough triangle. They put a lemon slice on the side, and I drizzled it on top. My face glowed up with sunshine. The whole world started to melt away... it was just me and the spanakopita dancing in the clouds. Ok ok, back to the real world. In conclusion it was amazing! Two thumbs up! We also ordered the Patatas Bravas (crispy potatoes). They were crunchy and sweet and very well seasoned. The potatoes also had a mild red pepper dipping sauce. I like these potatoes and recommend them for even the pickiest kid. Last, but definitely not least, the dessert! We had the Chocolate Almond Tower. This little chocolate cake was filled with lava-like chocolate. The inside was hot and gooey. It was dressed with salted carmel ice cream and a carmel drizzle. This little bundle of goodness also had candied almond slices. The cake was super rich and chocolaty, and the creamy ice cream balanced it out perfectly. The candied almonds were crunchy and sweet. This dessert was so amazing! I am totally obsessed. We all fought for the last bite. I was very satisfied with the food. The waitresses were very attentive and kind. The food came out super fast and was presented superbly. I really enjoyed the MED and had a very happy happy hour. |
GALLERY
Sitting at the pizza bar.
Do-it-yourself Tapas menu.
Pizza dough to squish!
Ginger beer on the rocks.
Patatas Bravas: potatoes and red pepper puree.
Truite Fumee: Smoked trout.
"Kritiquing!"
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COLTER'S OPINION
We selected this restaurant because it is a very popular happy hour destination. We arrived about 4:30 thinking we would beat the crowds, but the place was already fairly packed. The hostess brought us to the pizza bar. Sitting at the bar we could watch the chef construct the pizzas and bake them in the wood-fired oven. This was a good start to making happy hour a little more interesting.
We could have been these poor kids who are slowly dying inside while their parents have fun. Well, the MED is different. You'll be pleasantly surprised if you make a special request. I recommend sitting the pizza bar so that you can watch the chef assemble the pizza. Plus there is a waft of delicious smelling pizza baking. You can also ask your server if you can have a ball of pizza dough to distract you from the potential black pit of happy hour boredom. You can form the dough into anything you want! Or you can use it as a stress ball and squeeze the life out of it! That might help to get through happy hour! Time to look at the menu.....Do I want lemonade? ginger root beer? cherry root beer? Lots of different and intriguing items. I decided on ginger root beer from Oskar Blues, and it was surprisingly good. Our server kicked the meal off with our beverages and assorted breads. We dipped the bread in delicious olive oil and set about looking at the happy hour menu. When we ordered, the menu was the kind that we marked on ourselves. I liked this way to order because it made this process pretty engaging. The first tapa to arrive was the Burrata Caprese. This was a really good appetizer, and I recommend it for everyone including kids. Burrata is a mozzarella ball with ricotta inside. It is thickly sliced and served with tomatoes and basil. I recommend putting balsamic vinegar on it. I really savored this appetizer. Up next came the Moules au Parmesan. Aren't we grown-up throwing out all the fancy foreign words! This is a elegant way of saying Parmesan mussels. Generally, I'm not a huge fan of mussels, but these were pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised, and I think kids could handle it and should definitely try this tapa. The parmesan cream broth was really delectable. It was smooth and rich, and we dipped the bread in this. YUM! The Patatas Bravas are crisp potatoes. These are served with a red pepper puree. I liked this dish, and it reminded me of breakfast potatoes. The green onions really added a nice fresh flavor to the potatoes. This is a definite, must-order item on your next trip to the MED. Next I sampled the Spanikopita. This is a baked spinach and feta savory pastry. It came with lemon and tzatziki sauce. The phyllo dough was flaky and crispy with a nice texture. This dish is a good tapa for spinach-lovers. The Truite Fumee dish is another fancy way of saying "trout plate". This smoked trout reminded me of a good smoked salmon. I dipped this fish into the citrus-herb aioli. I enjoyed this on the house-made potato crisps. I think this is a dish for a kid with a more sophisticated palate. Overall enjoyable. The last tapa was the Tzatziki sauce with a variety of vegetables. Tzatziki is a yogurt dish made with fresh mint. This was a delightful end to the meal because it was cooling and cucumber-y. This would just hit the spot on a hot summer day. It also worked on the cold day that we went to the MED. I think kids would like this tapa. Finally, we had our dessert. And what a dessert it was! We had the Chocolate Almond Tower. It caught the attention of the other diners as the server carried it to us. On the plate was a circle of moist, rich chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache core. On top of this dessert was a huge scoop of salted caramel ice cream with caramel drizzled all around the plate. Candied almonds were circled the base of the cake. This delectable cake was so amazing. |