Category: Restaurant review

The New Graff Dairy: A Shining New Addition to Town

Graff Dairy 2.0 - worth a trip across town

Graff Dairy 2.0 – worth a trip across town

Graff Dairy, a longtime fixture in town at 581 29 Road, has gotten a complete makeover and is now a fantastic place to stop to get your espresso and ice cream fix.

Graff Dairy 2.0 is clean, spacious and bright, with tables and umbrellas on a nice front lawn where you can sit to eat your ice cream. It also now has a very welcome more sophisticated edge that this town really needs. For example, they offer free water flavored with chunks of fresh watermelon and sprigs of rosemary — a nice flair. Some local stories have reported that their ice cream is the same as it used to be, but it really seems much better than that. The old Graff ice cream seemed little better than ice milk, but the new Graff ice cream seems richer and more flavorful, like it has a higher butterfat content than it used to.

“El M7 Mariscos y Mas” is the New Hit of North Avenue

El M7 Mariscos y Mas food truck at 2856 North Ave., just east of Maxim Motors, is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

El M7 Mariscos y Mas food truck at 2856 North Ave., just east of Maxim Motors, is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

There’s a terrific new food truck in town, “El M7 Mariscos Y Mas” (“El M7 Seafood and More”) that’s camped out at 2856 North Ave., between Maxim Motors and the LeMaster Motel & Trailer Park. This terrific little place is the best thing to happen to North Avenue in a long time. El M7 specializes in mariscos, or seafood and offers deliciously different Mexican dishes like shrimp ceviche, fish tostadas, crab tostadas, fish tacos, shrimp quesadillas and burritos. They also have some larger and more awesome sounding dishes like Aguachile Camarones Ahogados (raw shrimp cooked in lime juice topped with onions and avocado slices, seasoned with salt and pepper). As a “barometer dish,” I ordered the shrimp ceviche to go. It cost $10 even. For that I got a big, 16-oz container of ceviche, a good supply of tortilla chips chips and crackers, one little container with fresh lime slices and another with a red, piquant-tasting spicy mariscos sauce, a napkin and some ketchup.

Take-out ceviche provided TWO of these bowls full of ceviche. It was delicious.

Take-out ceviche from El M7 provided TWO of these bowls full of ceviche. It was delicious.

The ceviche was truly perfect. PERFECT. Many times, especially in landlocked Grand Junction, if you can even find ceviche on a menu, it’s too fishy, or it’s made too salty, too tart or too vinegar-y. But not here. M7 really knows what they are doing and they absolutely NAILED this ceviche. It was truly delicious. The serving size was generous, too, enough for TWO of the bowls seen in the accompanying photo. They got the meal ready super-fast after ordering, too. This place really deserves your business. We are so lucky they are here!

G.J. Dining Review: Citrola’s Italian Grill ♦♦1/2

Citrola's Italian Grill's wonderful, warm ambiance makes it a comfy place for a meal

Citrola’s Italian Grill’s wonderful, warm ambiance makes it a comfy place for a meal

Citrola’s Italian Grill at 624 Rae Lynn St, Grand Junction, 81505, is located due west of the 24 Road City Market, next to the Cherry Berry frozen yogurt shop and the free-standing Starbucks on 24 Road, north of Patterson Road. There is plenty of easy parking next to the restaurant.

Citrola's humble dinner salad was nothing special, but the home-made Italian dressing it came with made it shine

Citrola’s humble dinner salad was nothing special, but the home-made Italian dressing it came with made it shine

We arrived at 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday evening to find a restaurant with plenty of open tables. The place started filling up steadily after that. By the time we were left, most tables were filled.

Citrola’s has a warm and wonderful ambiance. The lowered faux ceiling, drop lights over the tables, polished, woodsy decor and interesting, fake electronic fire places give it a cozy, upscale feel reminiscent of restaurants in much bigger cities. There are lots of tall, north and east-facing windows dressed with wooden venetian blinds which, in our opinion, should have been opened a tad more to let in the remaining evening light and beautiful views of the Grand Mesa and Bookcliffs at sunset. The windows in the restaurant face north and east, so sun shining in people’s faces wouldn’t have been a problem. Why not maximize the wonderful evening views this place is so lucky to have?