Re: Must-Eat, Can't Miss Restaurants/Diners/Dives
Haven't seen anything for Denver... here's my list, the majority are right near downtown or within 10 miles of it.
Domo -- the absolute best Japanese country food you'll ever have outside of Japan, very reasonably-priced for lunch (and dinner too, considering the quality... but still, go for lunch!), amazing selection of dishes you don't see anywhere else. The restaurant is also beautiful and feels like sitting inside a hollowed-out tree or something... loads of Japanese antiques and cool stuff all over the place, they also have a Japanese garden (outdoor seating in it), a Japanese historical/cultural museum, and an Aikido dojo where the head chef is also one of the only Aikido masters in the US trained by the last great teacher. Anyway, the food rules and all the other stuff just rounds out the experience.
El Taco de Mexico - Ridiculous tacos that are as authentic as you get, straight from Mexico City. Amazing green chile (it's different than most around here, traditional Mexican style rather than New Mexico/Colorado-style), amazing menudo, giant relleno burritos, tortas, tamales, etc. Just a great place... cash only.
JJ Chinese - Traditional Hong Kong food, you can get almost everything Chinese in origin that you've seen on episodes of No Reservations and Bizarre Food w/Zimmern here... adventurous eaters heaven. I LOVE their salt and pepper fried duck tongues (great at Star Kitchen too) and they offer a wide variety of unusual fish and proteins that you rarely see outside of China... they have shark fin soup, etc...
Star Kitchen - The best Dim Sum and traditional Chinese food in Denver in my opinion, though Super Star Asian is a close #2. The Dim Sum is just unbelievable, almost everything on the menu is perfect in my mind and I'm always eating about 50 dumplings and feeling like I need to be wheeled out after a meal.
Viet's - Another gem on the Federal/Alameda Strip of Awesomeness, this is my new favorite Vietnamese place and they have things like goat curry that you don't see often at other Vietnamese places. Great family-style meals for the whole table, amazing pho, and everything is very well-priced, as is typical with Asian spots.
More upscale restauranty places (Domo is pretty upscale but I grouped it with the ethnic restaurants):
Fruition - My favorite restaurant in Denver that isn't one of the spots above, you'll have some of the best meals of your life here, and they're all made in this tiny-*** kitchen. It's a popular place and I'd reserve a table beforehand, but it's simply amazing food. They also started their own farm last year and (as far as I know) have been providing a lot of their own produce starting this year. The prices are what you'd expect for fine dining ($13-$25 ish for entrees) but it's not as bad as some places and the food is the best I've had in town.
Il Mondo Vecchio Salumeria - This isn't a restaurant, but these guys make wonderful artisan salumi products like pepperoni, prosciutto, duck breast proscuittini, lamb breseola, etc. If you like salumi and cured meats at all, make a stop by here on a Friday and load up at their Dock Sale... their products are expanding nationwide to certain gourmet food stores soon. Top notch stuff and they're great guys.
GastroCart - My favorite mobile food vendor in Denver, they produce amazing food on the street every weekday (and someitmes on weekends for special events and occasions). Stuff like Piedmont, NC-style headcheese sliders, lamb gyros with guajillo peppper-mint foam, etc. and everything is pretty much around $5, with some snacky items being $2-$3.
Biker Jim's - You'll see him on the next "No Reservatoins" I believe when Tony Bourdain comes to Denver... Tony nearly married Biker Jim he loves the sausages so much (pause). He gets amazing collections of meats from all over the place (everything from rattlesnake to bacon to elk) and turns them into amazing sausages, which are then cooked on a flat top, split down the middle, and blasted with these amazing Coca-Cola caramelized onions and some cream cheese, which is dispensed from a caulking gun. Don't skip either condiment, they're essential to the awesomeness.
Osteria Marco - Pork palace, basically... they do Italian salumi, housemade cheeses, panini, pizzas, and entrees. They do a whole roasted suckling pig each Sunday, which shockingly I haven't made it to yet. The best thing in the world pretty much is the Porchetta Cubano, which is their amazing ciccioli (Italian pulled pork tossed in duck fat to finish), some prosciutto, and provolone on a panini. Un****witable pork heaven.
Sushi Sasa - Many people would send visitors to Sushi Den, but I kinda hate that place even though the fish is amazing and it's very well-prepared... just feels like a damn nightclub and it's nearly impossible to get a table without waiting outside in the heat/cold like a dog. Anyway, I always recommend Sushi Sasa because the head chef is better (IMO) and it lacks that ridiculous atmosphere. The Omakase (Japanese for "cook for me") there is always one of the best meals of my life, just amazing stuff. Wayne Conwell combines Mediterranean influences with his new-style Japanese sushi (he worked for Masaharu Morimoto in Philly for a few years) and produces some of the most inventive and tasty dishes I've had the pleasure of eating.
Rack and Rye - Weirdo menu that I love and everything on the menu is $10 or under for lunch/happy hour, including their housemade short rib pastrami and their fried chicken w/ cornbread waffle. For whatever reason it gets iffy reviews on Yelp and the like, but I've never had a bad meal here and I pimp this place to all my friends because it's inventive and delicious.
Venue - This palce is great and pretty popular... I can recommend it for the Happy Hour mussels alone, which are the BEST mussels I've ever had. $5 for am amazing bowl of mussels in a ridiculous broth complemented by over-roasted tomatoes, chorizo, and tarragon. But the real genius in the preparation is that there's a big hunk of crusty bread at the bottom of the bowl that soaks up all the goodness, which you eat with a fork at the end. Just genius...
The Squeaky Bean - Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it's an upscale cafe that has limited seating and normally is a little tough to get intno these days. Amazing lunch selections with sandwiches that rock my world.
There's Denver. There's a lot more here since we have a great food culture here, but those all get the Stumble Seal of Approval.
Haven't seen anything for Denver... here's my list, the majority are right near downtown or within 10 miles of it.
Domo -- the absolute best Japanese country food you'll ever have outside of Japan, very reasonably-priced for lunch (and dinner too, considering the quality... but still, go for lunch!), amazing selection of dishes you don't see anywhere else. The restaurant is also beautiful and feels like sitting inside a hollowed-out tree or something... loads of Japanese antiques and cool stuff all over the place, they also have a Japanese garden (outdoor seating in it), a Japanese historical/cultural museum, and an Aikido dojo where the head chef is also one of the only Aikido masters in the US trained by the last great teacher. Anyway, the food rules and all the other stuff just rounds out the experience.
El Taco de Mexico - Ridiculous tacos that are as authentic as you get, straight from Mexico City. Amazing green chile (it's different than most around here, traditional Mexican style rather than New Mexico/Colorado-style), amazing menudo, giant relleno burritos, tortas, tamales, etc. Just a great place... cash only.
JJ Chinese - Traditional Hong Kong food, you can get almost everything Chinese in origin that you've seen on episodes of No Reservations and Bizarre Food w/Zimmern here... adventurous eaters heaven. I LOVE their salt and pepper fried duck tongues (great at Star Kitchen too) and they offer a wide variety of unusual fish and proteins that you rarely see outside of China... they have shark fin soup, etc...
Star Kitchen - The best Dim Sum and traditional Chinese food in Denver in my opinion, though Super Star Asian is a close #2. The Dim Sum is just unbelievable, almost everything on the menu is perfect in my mind and I'm always eating about 50 dumplings and feeling like I need to be wheeled out after a meal.
Viet's - Another gem on the Federal/Alameda Strip of Awesomeness, this is my new favorite Vietnamese place and they have things like goat curry that you don't see often at other Vietnamese places. Great family-style meals for the whole table, amazing pho, and everything is very well-priced, as is typical with Asian spots.
More upscale restauranty places (Domo is pretty upscale but I grouped it with the ethnic restaurants):
Fruition - My favorite restaurant in Denver that isn't one of the spots above, you'll have some of the best meals of your life here, and they're all made in this tiny-*** kitchen. It's a popular place and I'd reserve a table beforehand, but it's simply amazing food. They also started their own farm last year and (as far as I know) have been providing a lot of their own produce starting this year. The prices are what you'd expect for fine dining ($13-$25 ish for entrees) but it's not as bad as some places and the food is the best I've had in town.
Il Mondo Vecchio Salumeria - This isn't a restaurant, but these guys make wonderful artisan salumi products like pepperoni, prosciutto, duck breast proscuittini, lamb breseola, etc. If you like salumi and cured meats at all, make a stop by here on a Friday and load up at their Dock Sale... their products are expanding nationwide to certain gourmet food stores soon. Top notch stuff and they're great guys.
GastroCart - My favorite mobile food vendor in Denver, they produce amazing food on the street every weekday (and someitmes on weekends for special events and occasions). Stuff like Piedmont, NC-style headcheese sliders, lamb gyros with guajillo peppper-mint foam, etc. and everything is pretty much around $5, with some snacky items being $2-$3.
Biker Jim's - You'll see him on the next "No Reservatoins" I believe when Tony Bourdain comes to Denver... Tony nearly married Biker Jim he loves the sausages so much (pause). He gets amazing collections of meats from all over the place (everything from rattlesnake to bacon to elk) and turns them into amazing sausages, which are then cooked on a flat top, split down the middle, and blasted with these amazing Coca-Cola caramelized onions and some cream cheese, which is dispensed from a caulking gun. Don't skip either condiment, they're essential to the awesomeness.
Osteria Marco - Pork palace, basically... they do Italian salumi, housemade cheeses, panini, pizzas, and entrees. They do a whole roasted suckling pig each Sunday, which shockingly I haven't made it to yet. The best thing in the world pretty much is the Porchetta Cubano, which is their amazing ciccioli (Italian pulled pork tossed in duck fat to finish), some prosciutto, and provolone on a panini. Un****witable pork heaven.
Sushi Sasa - Many people would send visitors to Sushi Den, but I kinda hate that place even though the fish is amazing and it's very well-prepared... just feels like a damn nightclub and it's nearly impossible to get a table without waiting outside in the heat/cold like a dog. Anyway, I always recommend Sushi Sasa because the head chef is better (IMO) and it lacks that ridiculous atmosphere. The Omakase (Japanese for "cook for me") there is always one of the best meals of my life, just amazing stuff. Wayne Conwell combines Mediterranean influences with his new-style Japanese sushi (he worked for Masaharu Morimoto in Philly for a few years) and produces some of the most inventive and tasty dishes I've had the pleasure of eating.
Rack and Rye - Weirdo menu that I love and everything on the menu is $10 or under for lunch/happy hour, including their housemade short rib pastrami and their fried chicken w/ cornbread waffle. For whatever reason it gets iffy reviews on Yelp and the like, but I've never had a bad meal here and I pimp this place to all my friends because it's inventive and delicious.
Venue - This palce is great and pretty popular... I can recommend it for the Happy Hour mussels alone, which are the BEST mussels I've ever had. $5 for am amazing bowl of mussels in a ridiculous broth complemented by over-roasted tomatoes, chorizo, and tarragon. But the real genius in the preparation is that there's a big hunk of crusty bread at the bottom of the bowl that soaks up all the goodness, which you eat with a fork at the end. Just genius...
The Squeaky Bean - Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it's an upscale cafe that has limited seating and normally is a little tough to get intno these days. Amazing lunch selections with sandwiches that rock my world.
There's Denver. There's a lot more here since we have a great food culture here, but those all get the Stumble Seal of Approval.
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