Food Friday - Outdoor Retailer edition

Today's Food Friday is a special Outdoor Retailer edition.

As you know from Wednesday's post, I spent the day wandering the aisles of the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market searching for cycling-related goodies to bring to you, dear readers. Here are a couple of the food-related findings..

Nuun was there giving out samples of their hydration tablets. I grabbed a bottle of banana flavored Nuun (my favorite so far!) to keep me well hydrated during my wanderings. They said that they are working on some new flavors for 2011, but they wouldn't give any hints. based on what I've tried, I can't wait.

In a clever marketing gimmick, they placed "color charts" above the urinals in the men's restrooms (no pictures, I did not want to be branded as "creepy" and risk being escorted off the premises by security) with clear being well hydrated and dark brownish yellow as severely dehydrated. It then instructed the reader to visit the Nuun booth if they fall outside of the "normal" category to take care of their hydration needs.

I did not take this off the wall of the restroom. The fine folks at Nuun gave mea card similar to the cards that they put up in the restrooms

I also visited the GU booth.

Sorry, crappy picture.

They were sampling their new flavor of GU Chomps - watermelon. My review: Yummy! it was a light flavor that wouldn't be overpowering when you are out on the bike or running. They also had a new flavor of their GU Brew recovery drink which I didn't try (whey protein). There will be a new flavor of gel coming out for 2011, to determine what it will be, they were having a "contest" between three flavors, you could sample the flavors, and vote on which one you liked best. Cherry Lime, Pina Colada, and Fruit Punch. I liked the Pina Colada the best, and didn't care for Fruit Punch. Let's hope that flavor makes the cut.

One last food-related offering for today's post. I met a friend, Martha, at the expo and we were going to meet another friend, David, for lunch at Charlie Chow's, a downtown restaurant that was about 5 blocks away from the Salt Palace expo center. Instead of driving (I took trax into town, and didn't have a car available), or walking. We took advantage of the "Park n Pedal" program that was available to show attendees. Electra bikes had provided a fleet of their cruiser bikes that could be checked out for riding around town. I chose a 3 speed cruiser with a coaster brake. I haven't ridden on a bike with a coaster brake since I was in elementary school. I probably looked like I had never ridden a bike the way I was having trouble stopping (I could stop fine, just at inappropriate times, and rather abruptly) and starting. It was still great fun riding an upright cruiser bike around downtown.

Yeah, I know.  No helmet.  (photo courtesy of Martha Van Inwegen)

Our "rides" for the afternoon.

Good food awaits through this portal. One must only pull (hard) to enter.

If you do happen to go to Charlie Chow's(you should), I highly recommend the Dragon Grill, a "Mongolian BBQ" style all-you-can-eat buffet where you put your noodles, vegetables, tofu and sauce in a bowl, and the chef will add your meat (or not!) and cook it up for you. Delicious, and extremely filling!  Our waiter, Dave, was great!

Stay tuned, more reviews from Outdoor Retailer to come!