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Dining in Denver!
When the weather
is good, people pause for lunch at Writer's Square.
With more than 2,000 restaurants,
there's plenty of food choices in Denver. Naturally, Southwestern cuisine
is plentiful but Denver has not pulled up its original roots from the
cowboy days. Wild game – particularly buffalo – can be found
on many menus.
The most famous hitching post is Buckhorn Exchange,
an old saloon that doubles as a restaurant. It's walls are covered with
500 stuffed animal heads and has The Fort, a reproduction of a fur trapper's
post on the Santa Fe Trail. Located at 10th Ave. and Osage on the edge
of downtown (there's a light rail stop across the street), it has hosted
celebrities and U.S. presidents. A good place to use the expense account,
it holds Colorado liquor license #1.
While we're on expense accounts, The Chop House
is the best steakhouse in town. Located near Coors Field in LoDo, its
tables are often filled with players from visiting sports teams. National
Hockey League players especially like the place. It's upscale (at least
by the casual surroundings of LoDo) and also has a respected brewhouse
on-site.
Many locals regard Mizuna as the best resturant
in Denver. It's a French bistro and mong the menu items can be macaroni
and cheese with lobster, lamb, salmon and duck. Be ready to be pleasantly
surprised because the menu changes monthly ( 225 E. Seventh St., 832-4778).
Prices are in the mid $20 range.
Campo di Fiore (300 Fillmore, 377-7887) is excellent
for Italian.
The Vesta Dipping Grill, so named because of its
dishes of beef, poultry and seafood are dipped into homemade sauces
and salsa, is a locals' favorite.
The power lunch spot is The Palm (Westin Hotel,
1672 Lawrence). In fact, while PubClub was there, Shaquille O'Neal of
the L.A. Lakers was at an adjacent table (that is, if you consider the
back of the restaurant adjacent to where we are sitting). The food –
salads, seafood, chicken, steak, veal – is sensational and
the service is exceptional.
Restaurant/Bars
Some of these are covered in more detail in our bar
guide, but we'll touch on them again here.
Trio Enoteca (1730 Wynkoop) is a cool, classy cafe
wtih a soft rock/jazz band and. With a large wine and liquor menu a
lounge area in the back and a cigar room, it's more bar than restaurant.
The menu is small on the number of items bu tlarge on taste. It's tapas
style, making it a perfect place perfect for groups or a semi-casual
date. We recommend the chicken marsala and the mushrooms.
The food at The Rio Grande (Blake Street) is predictable
but the atmosphere is the best in town at dinnertime. It helps to have
some food to soak up the grain-fed margaritas. Friday and Saturday nights
it's a bar night and there are often lines after 7. Closes at 11.
Jax is a good seafood house that serves cold beer
to help wash down the 50-cent oysters (4-6 p.m., Mondays-Fridays).
On a far less exotic scale, Croc's is a low-key
bar that happens to serve surprisingly good food. We say surprisingly
good because to look at the place after 11, one would be flabbergasted
to discover the kitchen could come up with anything but chicken wings
and fries. It's a fun, super casual environment where the entertainment
will eventually literally come to your table.
16th Street Mall
There are all kinds of restaurants along mile-long 16th
Street Mall. The best may be Maggiano's Little Italy (at Glenarm). The
decor is overwhelming enough – classic Italian – and the food
is outstanding. With many entrees priced in the mid-teens range, it's
the best value in Denver (500 Sixteenth Street, 260-7708).
Appaloosa Grill (at Welton) is a cozy restaurant
offering chicken, steak and salads in the mid-teens price range, but
it's the ribs that will stick to your mind. One block away is Marlow's,
a solid choice with a variety of offerings for about the same price.
It's next door to the Paramount Cafe, a burger-and-fries kind
of place with a Hollywood theme. Basically, the Paramount has younger
diners (and a semi-active bar at night) while Marlow's serves to a bit
more mature crowd.
Toward LoDo, the Cheesecake Factory is familiar
to people from the West Coast. Talk about variety – the place gives
you a book to read through. Frequent travelers will recognize the Rock
Bottom Brewery. The food in this mini-chain (Long Beach, Portland,
Milwaukee, among other cities) is quite good and affordable. The beer
is home brewed and tasty. The staff is usually young and friendly and
for parties of one, two or even three, the bar area is the best place
to dine.
If it's a nice day, just grab a sandwich and hang out.
An ideal place to eat, watch and relax is Writer's Square at
Larimer St.s
Breakfast
There are a few places in town but the place for us is
Delectable Egg (is it a joke that it's located a few doors down
from where you may have very well ended your night a few hours before,
Croc's)? It has all kinds of large egg dishes, including big skillets
loaded with ham and potatoes. There's also another location with less
character at 16th and Court near the Adam's Mark.
 Next
Stop on the Denver Party Bus: The City in Pictures
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