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Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/05/04/an-unexpected-culinary-adventure-at-the-denver-airport/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60495

What’s the deal with airline food? Jokes aside, airport food is known by and large to be rather pricey while also being not so fantastic of quality. If you fly a lot, you know your options are limited to packaged snack foods, dubious egg salad sandwiches, or the world’s coldest bowl of soup from the A gate Chili’s. A fun-size candy bar isn’t so fun when it’s $5, is it?

Why is airport food so bad? Surely there has to be another way, right? Can’t we have decent meals at decent prices, or is it truly impossible because of the fact you’re in an airport?

Well, I’m happy to report there is an airport that has the solution to our problems. The Denver International Airport.

I have flown through Denver more than a few times, but never had time during my connections to explore. Maybe a quick coffee, sure, but definitely not enough time to wait an hour on a waitlist for a speakeasy hidden behind a bookstore facade. Until now.

For a myriad of reasons, I found myself at the Denver Airport at about 11am and my flight wasn’t until 5pm. The only other time I’ve had quite that much time at an airport was a layover at Heathrow, and since I was with my father we went to the Centurion Lounge for the entirety of the five hours and I ate tons of food and binged The Bear.

Also, quick shout out to the transportation company that took me to the airport. Groome Transportation picked me up at their Monument Park-n-Ride location and I had a very pleasant shared shuttle ride. The driver was very friendly and safe on the road, and helped me with my bags. It was fifty dollars and a little over an hour to the airport. I have had much shorter drives for considerably more money when using Lyft, so if you don’t mind sharing a big ol’ shuttle with a friendly driver, Groome may be of interest to you! They have a ton of different locations and airports they go to.

Back to the actual airport, I was worried about TSA lines (despite the large amount of time I had to kill), but because I was Sky Priority with Delta and have CLEAR, I actually got through security very quickly and smoothly. Having money is a hell of a convenience.

I wanted a sit down restaurant to have lunch at, so I asked the Delta check-in agent for recommendations (there was no one in line behind me). He told me to check out Root Down in the C gates, so off I went.

Root Down is actually a restaurant in Denver, so this airport version, called Root Down DIA, is their second location. They are two of five restaurants under the Edible Beats family. Edible Beats is a 100% employee-owned business, and are committed to offering seasonal veggie-forward dishes through sustainable practices, like being 100% wind-powered and having 50% of their ingredients sourced right from Colorado.

When I got to the restaurant, there was a line to be seated, and I ended up waiting about fifteen minutes for a table for one. There’s also a grab-and-go kiosk of some of their menu items if you don’t have time to wait. I was sat at a two top table and brought water and menus.

I was offered both the brunch/lunch menu and the all-day menu because there was about fifteen minutes left on their brunch offerings. So I really had my pick of the litter.

For a beverage, I wanted something fun but wasn’t feeling alcohol (yet), so I got their Coconut Gin Fizz cocktail. It is listed as available as N/A, so it ended up being coconut milk, lime, ginger, and soda water. I thought I got a picture of it, but I guess I didn’t! It was in a short glass with ice and a pineapple frond as a garnish. The drink was creamy and nicely sweetened while still being refreshing and just a little fizzy, with enough ginger to give it flavor but not enough to overwhelm it. Very nice beverage!

For my food, I had a really hard time deciding, but I ended up going with their Green Chili Cornbread Bites, followed by their Beet & Goat Cheese Salad.

The cornbread bites came with goat cheese, jalapeno jam, and a whipped honey butter. I asked for the jalapeno jam on the side just in case it was too spicy for me:

These three pieces cost $9.60, and they were so bomb. I love cornbread, and this warm, soft cornbread really hit the spot. The jalapeno jam proved too hot for my weak self, so the cornbread was thoroughly enjoyed without it.

For their beet salad, it came with goat cheese, arugula, radish, hazelnuts, beet-sunflower pesto, and basil vinaigrette:

Okay, first off, this salad was HUGE. Secondly, oh my gosh it was so good. I have had many a beet and goat cheese salad in my day, but this one really takes the cake. Like, holy cannoli, it was seriously fantastic. The mix of regular beets and golden beets was a really nice touch, the hazelnuts provided some excellent crunch to contrast the soft goat cheese (which they did not skimp on), and the flavors were so fresh it felt like I was eating right out of a summer garden.

This salad cost $20, but honestly for the size and quality it’s a small price to pay. I am still thinking about this damn salad.

Of course, I had to get some dessert. I chose their Avocado Key Lime Pie that comes with a chocolate crust and passionfruit coulis:

Holy cow that’s a lot of pie! Now, it was $12 for the slice, so it makes sense it’s a big ol’ piece. I actually ordered the pie out of curiosity more than anything, because I was wondering if an avocado pie would taste good. This pie was definitely very interesting. If you do not like avocado at all, do not get this pie. While the flavor of avocado was more subtle and not as grassy as it usually is, it was definitely still very present, just toned down and sweeter. The chocolate crust was my least favorite part of this pie, but the passionfruit coulis was the star of the show with its bright, punchy, tropical flavor that helped cut through some of the extra sweet indulgent fluff. Glad I tried it, but would probably opt for their butterscotch pudding next time.

Root Down had so many vegan and gluten-free options, I highly recommend checking this place out if you have dietary restrictions, or if you just want to have a really fresh tasty meal while traveling without breaking the bank! My total was fifty bucks before tip.

After my delicious and filling lunch, I decided to treat myself to a massage, and got a 20-minute chair massage from Colorado Oasis, also in the C gates. It was so relaxing I started to drift off towards the end. I usually prefer to get massages in between flights so I’m not so stiff from the first leg of the journey, but I was plenty happy to get one before my flight.

Finally, I made my way to the A gates, where my flight was leaving from. I wasn’t sure what to do with all my time, since I had left my new book at my friend’s apartment on accident. Just then, I ended up walking past what might have been the smallest airport bookstore I had ever seen. Just a few bookshelves in an alcove. I walked past at first, but then stopped and doubled back when I realized I saw something strange at this bookshop. A host stand.

When I went back, there were two people at the host stand, talking to the hostess about wait times. Wait times for what?! I had to know. Turns out, the bookstore was a front for a speakeasy called Williams & Graham. Wouldn’t you know it, they also have an actual Denver location only a block away from Root Down. How funny!

Obviously, I had to put my name on the waitlist. She estimated a 45 minute wait for me. Well, I certainly had the time to kill, so I sat and waited excitedly. It ended up taking closer to an hour, but I finally got escorted in and seated at the bar. It was an intimate atmosphere, with low lighting and warm woods. Once I was sat, the bartenders welcomed me by name and introduced themselves, as well. That was a pleasant surprise in formality.

I was handed this soft, leather-bound menu:

Here’s a look at the food offered at this fine establishment:

A moment of admiration for this frog legs description:

I’m willing to forgo the classiness and old-world feel of a swanky speakeasy if it means reading the words “3 thicc frog booties.”

And of course, bevvies:

Can’t go wrong with the classics, but don’t miss out on their house cocktails, either:

That being said, I did end up ordering a Caipirinha for my first drink:

(This photo was after I had my first drink of it, so that’s why it’s not completely full.)

Y’all already know I love a refreshing Caipirinha. I never get tired of that tart, acidic limes and sweet demerara sugar combo. This drink was so light and fresh and they gave me hella limes in my glass. I watched them make it right in front of me and was mesmerized by the muddling to release all that delish flavor. Great drink, no notes.

As tempted as I was to order the frog legs, I ended up trying out the deviled eggs instead:

There is no description on the menu for what comes on these, so I’ll tell you myself. Candied bacon, feta, and serrano peppers. Notice something missing? That’s right, once again my weak palette has made me opt out of the spicy ingredients in a dish! I asked for them sans serrano. I’m sorry, okay!

I did not think I could eat five deviled eggs in a row, but I definitely did and they were amazing. The filling was smooth and flavorful, and the candied bacon was the perfect mix of smoky and sweet. The microgreens added a fresh component that brightened up the heavier components, and it’s safe to say I’d gladly eat another plateful of these right now.

I wasn’t sure what to order for a second drink, but I started talking to the bartender and we bonded over our intense love for espresso martinis. About two minutes later, he just so happened to have an extra espresso martini lying around that needed drank:

Okay what a gorg martini! That foam design is amazing, I’ve never had any bar do that before. I loved this espresso martini, the sweet cream on top perfectly balanced the rich, Italian espresso liqueur and cold brew. I said I was happy to pay for the drink because I was planning on ordering it anyways as my second drink, but the bartender insisted it would’ve gone to waste otherwise and really I was doing him a favor by drinking it. I graciously accepted.

Since I had passed up on the unique experience of trying frog legs, I decided to instead try bone marrow for the first time. For their bone marrow, it was a roasted beef bone topped with bacon jam and microgreens, with ciabatta toast on the side:

Y’all, the presentation is absolutely serving. Like it’s giving class, it’s giving sophistication, okay. You can’t tell me that doesn’t look like the most amazing bone marrow you’ve ever seen. Granted, my experience is limited but I was so ready to dive into this.

Rarely has such incredible flavor graced my tastebuds. This bone marrow had the most luxurious, buttery texture. It was like liquid, fatty gold. The bacon jam was rich and chewy, and all of these textures went perfectly on the crusty ciabatta toast. I was soaking that shit UP. No crumb went un-ate here. I was scraping those bones clean. I cannot believe this was only $23 and it’s actually only $20 at their main location. (Similarly, the main location has the deviled eggs for $10 instead of $11.)

If you have not had bone marrow, or have been too scared to try it, I’m telling you right now you will not regret giving it a shot. I have been dreaming about this dish, and honestly I’m hoping to find another restaurant soon that has it on the menu. I need more marrow in my life. I never imagined it would be that good.

My bill ended up being just over $50 since I got a drink on the house (again, incredibly generous, thank you to my bartender <3). Any time I get something on the house, I like to tip as if I had had that item on the bill. Of course, in the instance of one drink that means just a couple bucks extra on the tip, but I figure that’s a decent guideline to go by.

Not only did I have incredible service, drinks, and food at Williams & Graham, but I also sat next to a girl at the bar who was also by herself. We started chatting and it turned out we had so much in common, and she was so sweet and fun to talk to! When we both paid and left, she asked if we could get a photo on her little film camera for her travel scrapbook. I said of course, and also gave her a Colorado sticker I had bought at a gift shop so she could use it in her scrapbook. I was so grateful to have such a nice dining companion!

If you have the time to spare, I cannot recommend these places enough. It’s amazing to see that you can have high quality, from scratch kitchens that are dedicated to good food, good drinks, and good service in an airport. No longer shall we settle for McDonald’s and Dunkin’ when we can have craft kitchens and talented bartenders.

Who knew getting to the airport early could be so amazing? (Do NOT get to the Dayton or Cincinnati airports that early, you will be disappointed and bored.)

Would you try bone marrow (or if you have, do you like it?) Do you prefer your eggs deviled or undeviled? Does Root Down’s veggie-forward fare interest you? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/05/04/an-unexpected-culinary-adventure-at-the-denver-airport/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60495

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/05/04/the-big-idea-matt-harry-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60534

In his new novel Ashland, author Matt Harry posits a world that is a little bit… gooey. If you don’t know what that might mean, or what it would mean for anyone who has to live in that world, never fear, Harry is here to get you up to speed. Here, put on this protective clothing before we go any further.

MATT HARRY:

Science fiction is riddled with tropes. The mad scientist, the killer robot, the first contact with aliens. My personal favorite has always been the concept of gray goo – an end-of-the-world scenario envisioned by K. Eric Drexler in his 1986 book Engines of Creation. Basically, it centers on the creation of a self-replicating technology that grows and grows until it devours all the biomass on Earth.

It’s a pretty depressing concept, but one that never seemed particularly feasible to me. How could a single organism affect the entire globe at once? Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Everything shut down and everyone shut themselves inside. As I walked through the empty streets, I found myself pondering a simple question: How could this be worse? That was immediately answered by a follow-up question:

What if we never went outside again?

Such a dystopian idea, I realized, could be due to my own version of gray goo. I considered a lot of options: nanotechnology, viruses, alien organisms. I reached out to an infectious disease doctor and a robotics expert for inspiration. Eventually, I came across an invention that blends multiple fields – organic microbots. These tiny organisms are created in a lab and programmed to perform simple tasks, such as drug delivery, pest control, or anticancer treatments.

But what would happen if these microbots went rogue? That question led me to create the Ash. This self-replicating swarm of organic microbots is developed to destroy cancer cells, but a programming error leads it to target muscle proteins instead. Of course, the Ash gets out, and twenty percent of humanity is killed in the first month. To survive, people are forced to seal themselves inside plastic-coated buildings. If they have to go outside, they need to wear hazmat suits or use remote-operated drones.

Now that I had the what and the why for my dystopian world, I needed the where. Since I’ve lived in Los Angeles longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, I decided to make my hometown the main setting for Ash Land. LA is a sprawling, sunny, outdoors-oriented city, so it felt particularly brutal to trap everyone inside.

Finally, I needed a who. What sort of character could I toss into this dystopian nightmare? A romantic seeking connection? An action hero? Eventually, I decided that a detective would be a fun choice. Trying to solve a mystery while the protagonist is unable to collect evidence or interrogate suspects in a normal manner immediately gave me lots of ideas. To make things a bit easier, I imagined someone pretty similar to myself: middle-aged, father of two boys, loves pop culture and solving a good puzzle. Unlike me, I decided to make him a divorced ex-cop and a pain in the ass. (For confirmation on that last part, you’ll have to talk to my family.)

Every day during the pandemic, I would drive around my then-five-year-old son, trying to get him to fall asleep so I could write for a couple hours. I would park somewhere scenic, and look out over the empty City of Angels while imagining a scenario much worse than my current one. It was oddly therapeutic. The concept of Ash Land led me to develop all kinds of near-future trappings: air locks on every entrance door, transport pods nicknamed coffins, a dangerous gang of scavengers known as Scrappers, and a system of sealed walkway tubes that leads to Griffith Observatory.

Ultimately, I tried to create a gray goo scenario that is plausible, unique, and will hopefully remind readers of humanity’s resilience. After all, if our world can weather Covid-19, I believe we can find a way to fix our other problems, too. Ideally it won’t take a swarm of flesh-eating microbots to make us do so.

Ashland: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powell’s

Author Socials: Web Site|Facebook|Instagram

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/05/04/the-big-idea-matt-harry-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60534

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/05/04/and-now-i-reveal-the-contents-of-my-fbi-file/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60503

Turns out… it’s nothing.

I sent in a Freedom of Information Act request in April, after the unpleasantness regarding the Correspondent’s Dinner attacker, because I was curious if it or indeed anything else had gone down on my permanent record. Nope! If you believe the FBI — admittedly more difficult in these latter days than it was before — I have no record in their files. Apparently despite my three decades of writing in the public eye and two decades of being reasonably well-known author, nothing I have done (or that others have said about me) is cause for the FBI to say to itself “maybe we should keep track of him.”

Which, I guess, good? I had assumed there might be something, even if it was tangential and/or primarily related to other people with bigger and more substantial files. People have had FBI files for even less suspicious activity than I have ever offered to the world. But no, there’s nothing of note. At least now I don’t have to pay the extra that would have been required if the search had needed more than a couple of hours to dig out everything the bureau had on me. My search was quick! And cheap!

I suppose the FBI could be lying about having a file on me, but in all sincerity I doubt it. I know my own past and it is both law-abiding and, from the perspective of law enforcement, boring; I’ve never been cited for anything worse than speeding, and even that was more than a decade ago. And no matter how much certain right-wing bile-spewers on the Internet want to paint me as a flaming socialist threat to decent society for writing books they don’t like (also something that peaked more than a decade ago), in reality there’s nothing in my political beliefs or actions that paints me as terribly subversive. The most “subversive” thing I’ve done is donate money to the Southern Poverty Law Center, and even that doesn’t rate, not even now when the current administration is (laughably) trying to go after them. We all have to live with the reality that I am, in fact and officially, a step below “mostly harmless.”

It’s never too late to get an FBI file, I hear some of you saying. You are not wrong, and also, I’m not sure how I would be going about doing that. I am not, as it turns out, getting more conservative with age, which is a thing people used to say would generally happen. My rather unremarkable principles turn out to be more radical as I go along, if only because the political center in the US has shifted so wildly right while I have mostly stayed in the same place. But clearly that’s not enough to rate interest in itself. My own revolutionary action, such as it is, is less about taking it to the streets (Bradford, OH is not a hotbed of protest marches) and more about openly donating money, both individually and through our family foundation. The IRS has a file on me, for certain. I’ve seen that.

So: No FBI file after all. Which, fine and good. I don’t suppose if the FBI or any other “alphabet” organization in our government really wants to find out more about me, that they would lack public information to do so. They could start here, the official repository of my thoughts for the last 28 years. Hello, FBI and everyone else! There’s a search function here! Have fun!

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/05/04/and-now-i-reveal-the-contents-of-my-fbi-file/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60503