out and about: nine ten summer 2025

God, we love nine ten. It’s been a decades long love affair. Through all iterations. Locals happy hour. A food forward bar menu. Disparate mercy of the chef meals.

And through it all, we (and the hamachi sashimi) have stayed strong. Thank goodness for jay, and his constantly evolving and always engrossing menu.

Thanks to our insurance sponsored stay during the great slab leak of 2023 it’s also one of the kiddo’s favorite haunts. Many a girl lunch have avy and I had at the bar high top tables. (We prefer the corner table near the front window, if anyone’s asking).

And many a birthday, date night, anniversary have jamie and I spent. With a constantly evolving menu, there is no reason to stay away.

Which leads us to our most recent visit.

jardÍn del sur: hendrick’s gin, tomatillo, mint

harland hazy: ipa

Y’all know harland hazy is one of jamie’s fav’s. He may try other things… but it’s always harland he falls back on.

Now, can we take a pause? Because this cocktail, is beyond. I’ve been obsessed with tomatillo in drinks lately (still figuring out a way to make it myself), and this is just sheer perfection. Shout out to jacob! It’s clear, not overly sweet, but definitely not bitter, and the perfect meld of flavors.

house-made sourdough country bread: served with whipped salted butter

So hear me out. Yes, this sourdough is fantastic; and the salted whipped butter is, as always perfection… however, we miss the house made parker rolls. The sweet taste, the kids’ obsession, they were just different than the norm. And while the new bread handily competes with any other restaurant out there, and is delicious in its own right, the parker house rolls were on a different level. But I digress, since it makes no sense to miss something that is no longer there. All that being said… had one never had the parker rolls, and stumbled upon this sourdough… you would be in absolute heaven.

tuna crudo: compressed watermelon, pickled purple ninja radish, charred baby onion, amaranth, nori yogurt, sumac, cilantro oil, watermelon & verjus jus

So, currently obsessed by watermelon… and watermelon plus tuna crudo? Kinda the best combo out there.

Talk about fresh, light, vibrant? This is that dish. Every component had it’s place, and that place played very well with all the others.

The onion in particular? Charred to perfection. Which, let me tell you is hard to do. One second over, and it’s burnt toast on a plate. But, the perfect char? Adds such great flavor and depth to a dish. Nailed it.

melon prosciutto salad: farmer's market honeydew & cantaloupe, muscat grapes, burrata, ginger, lime, oxalis, hyssop, red muscat & ginger jus

Okay, so melon, prosciutto, burrata… some of my favorite flavor combinations. How avant garde did we think we were at our wedding serving prosciutto wrapped melon… and this was 23 years ago. We thought it was so innovative, and one of the best flavor combos we’d ever had. And have loved ever since that tasting.

But hello? Grapes? Say what? Game changer. Add in ginger, lime, burrata, and all the things? and this is your prosciutto wrapped melon on steroids.

Our only “complaint” was that it needed more than two pieces of prosciutto, so you could enjoy it throughout the salad.

eppig brewing: ipa

earthly delights: malfy arancia gin, peachcello, italicus bergamotto, lemon

Cheers.

10:45 to denver has long been one of jamie’s fav’s. Just a classic ipa, although not as hoppy as he would prefer. But classic none the less.

Okay.. earthly delights? Is absolutely delightful. It’s not overly sweet - yet the hint of peach carries you through without being overpowering or heavy handed. Can we please make peachchello a treading moment?

lemon ricotta agnolotti: heirloom tomato jam, blistered sun gold cherry tomatoes, lemon breadcrumbs, ricotta salata cheese, basil

Agnolotti is prolly one of my favorite pasta. Forget ravioli and tortellini… agnolotti is the best stuffed pasta around. Love the fresh tomatoes, basil, and the tomato sauce.

I did think it was almost too much lemon? But jamie disagreed and thought the lemon amount was perfection.

grilled prime ribeye: maitake mushrooms, roasted spring onions, lettuce, shaved cipollini onions, burnt tortilla purée, guajillo demi

Hold the phone. So nine ten always has some sort of steak (usually ribeye) iteration. And this one? This one takes the cake. Incredibly tender, topped with the best, and the squeezed lime over top? Game changer. Like seriously, hard stop. I could eat this all day, every day.

rosé of cabernet franc, pierre & bertrand couly, brut crémant de la loire aop, loire vly, fr

half baked chocolate cake: caramel sauce, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Super dry champs. Which in my book equals perfection.

And let’s not get started about the dessert. It’s the kiddos favorite. They order it all the time, devoured it when we lived in house, and ask for it all the time. Yet somehow, jamie and I hadn’t ordered it all for ourselves.

Our original intention was to take a few bites, and bring it home for the kids.

And yet, the second we tasted it. Yes, okay, we ate it all, and had no remorse.

Get the half baked chocolate cake. Period.