Boulder: The Buff | Mountain Sun | Med

On our first morning in Colorado the girls and I took our time waking up and getting ready. We had big brunch plans at The Buff Restaurant.
Have you ever heard of a breakfast joint offering 99 cent bloody marys and mimosas? Well, now you have!
P.S. Everywhere you turn the view of the mountains surrounding you is nothing short of spectacular. This is Colorado livin' my friends.

The restaurants slogan is "Eat in the Buff"

They had a pitcher of water and 6 empty mason jars waiting for us when we sat down. This is a key detail I can always appreciate.
We were all intrigued by the the Pecan Caramel Quesadilla made with brown sugar streusel and cream cheese in a flour tortilla, so we decided to split it.This sweet quesadilla was the perfect few bites of crunchy, nutty, sugary and cinnamony goodness before the real deal.
Off the Griddle Collection menu I ordered the Two Step. Why hello, two slices of french toast, two eggs, potatoes and two sausage links. The waitress let me substitute in the banana bread style for the regular french toast. Best decision I've made yet.
This is, quite possibly, one of the best breakfasts I have ever savored stuffed my face with. The eggs were cooked perfectly to my liking. The french toast was thick and moist, bursting with banana, cinnamon and toasted nut flavors. I managed to consume all of my eggs, the majority of crispy potatoes, 1 out of 2 sausage links and about 1 whole slice of the homemade banana bread french toast. We finished a second round of drinks - they actually have a limit of three, but two at this hour was just plenty.
I wasn't the only one packing up a to-go carton after this insane meal. Food as good as this can not go to waste.

The Buff is in the opposite direction of downtown from Laura's apartment so we dropped the car (and the leftovers) off and continued our day on foot. Bliss was the first store we wandered into. I wanted to buy every journal, soap dish and pair of earrings I saw, but I stuck to browsing and snapping a few pictures instead.

After a few more stops at some neat clothing stores and boutiques we came upon Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery.
Let the day drinking continue! The staff at Mountain Sun were extremely friendly and since it was the majority of our parties first time here we were offered a brewery taster with six ales to sample before deciding on our own. 
I drank a Retro Ale, delish!
As I rounded the hallway the friendly brewmaster saw me taking pictures from behind the glass walls and invited me behind the scenes. We chatted it up about Boulder and my blog. His name is Nate.

We finished our beers and continued to the heart of downtown. Pearl Street Mall is where evergreen trees line the center paths and today the bright sun streamed through the branches.

There are bright flowers and exotic plants in bloom.

You'll find plenty of park benches, newspaper stands, local flyer boards, mountains in the distance and even some live entertainment.

Loving life!

Colorado has 8.16% sales tax - it is quite a shock the first time you purchase something! My favorite store was Peppercorn. 
Dirty hot sauce collection anyone?

The consensus echoed that it was time for more drinks. Happy Hour at The Mediterranean Restaurant awaited us. One of the coolest things about Boulder is the drink specials from 3:00 to 5:30pm. I was jealous to learn about this citywide deal when Laura first moved here. Happy Hour in Boston is non-existent so this was a treat!Entering through a funky teal green door into a bright space with leafy potted plants to one side and a sprawling bar to the other, where multiple dining rooms span a massive space and an enclosed outdoor patio resides. 
I enjoyed the view from our round table which looked up at the elevated open kitchen.The drinks are inexpensive to begin with and Happy Hour at The Med is $1 off the listed price. I enjoyed a refreshing White Wine Sangria.

We ordered a few tapas to hold us over until dinner. First, a slice each of the Margherita Pizza.

We shared Artichauts which are fried artichoke hearts with aioli and Bistecca - grilled hanger steak with blue cheese. My personal favorite of the bunch were the Datiles - bacon wrapped dates in garlic sauce. And then you can't go wrong with wedges of Fried Mozzarella topped in marinara sauce and basil.

Everything was delicious. We settled the ridiculously inexpensive tab (happy hour = love) and headed back to home base to get ready for another evening on the town!