Whenever we ask where we should go for lunch in the fair city of Cortez, Loungin’ Lizard is always in the top three recommendations.
We were up in the western Colorado town on an errand run (for weed) when we had such a conversation with our budtender. Loungin’ Lizard were the first words out of her mouth, and we decided it was about time we checked this place out ourselves.
When we arrived at the downtown restaurant, the tables were still abuzz with the lunch rush. Our waitress quickly sat us though, and in no time we were staring at the menu, so overtaken with the number of delicious options it took us a minute to decide. Our waitress was kind enough to help us navigate the menu, however, and we started with an order of truffle cheese fries.
Friends, this was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
When they brought us our truffle fries, it took everything we had not let our mouths hang open like the drooling, starving idiots we were. Not one fry in that batch was without a giant helping of gooey cheese. The cheese, melted to heavenly perfection, enveloped the fries in a warm embrace of grease, salt, and fried onions. Instantly, we were fighting over the bowl in a battle as to who could shove the most of this God-sent appetizer into our mouths. We ate so much and so fast that by the time our meals arrived, we were so full of carbs it hurt to even look at our plates.
We ended up going with the green chili cheddar beef burger and some good ol’ fashioned frito pie for our second round.
The burger was instantly soul soothing – the bread was cooked to a consistency just crispy enough to add some mouth-watering texture, while the rest of the burger was a solid mix of green chili, melted cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and onion. An all-around solid, carb-heaven burger cooked exactly the way we’d requested.
The frito pie, we were told by our companion, was “baller” – a hearty mix of chips, chili, cheese, and a dollop of sour cream and pico de gallo. Regrettably, they left their leftovers in the car for too long afterward and had to sadly do away with them.
Even though we were complaining about how full we were, we also couldn’t resist trying one more item on the menu: Loungin’ Lizards homemade ice cream.
As our server listed off the different flavors, we found ourselves intrigued by the salted caramel flavor with pistachios. This was our first rodeo when it came to homemade ice cream, and we did not leave disappointed.
The ice cream came out quickly, dished up in two perfectly rounded scoops. It was grainier than store-bought ice cream, and the nutty pistachios gave it a pleasant pop of texture with an earthy crunch.
After dessert, however, it was time to cut ourselves off before we were too full of carbs and sugar to move – a win in our books.
Amanda Push
