Colorado Restaurant Compendium

[pappag]

Venice downtown is pretty sweet too.

Nearby Trios Enoteca is also pretty sweet if you're looking for something very low-key with a decent wine list and food at affordable prices.

[Danno]

nice review!

[mcsquared]

Based on reviews on Yelp.com

What am I? Chopped liver?

Glad you liked it. I live in that neighborhood and have only been a couple times due to me being a cheapskate. But I have been blown away every time. However, you need to complete the mcsquared's super cool neighborhood tour and hit Little Man Ice Cream for dessert.

[Cruiser]

Rioja -- $$-$$$ -- Mediteranian / Local and Seasonal
1431 Larimer St.
Denver, CO. 80202
303.820.2282

I was invited to have lunch yesterday with Loren Trefethen over at Rioja. Initially I declined because I had a warehouse tasting in the afternoon and the GABF that night. Now I'm glad I changed my mind. I had never been to Rioja before, and had heard mixed reviews of the service. I arrived promptly at 12:30 and found 3 or 4 other wine buyers at the bar enjoying a glass of chardonnay. The space seemed fairly small and intimate, but it was well lit and had that sort of classy but rustic ambiance that seems so popular in Downtown restaurants these days. Most of the tables were full, but we were seated promptly after I arrived. We started off with a nice little Mediterranean lunch assortment of cured meats, cheeses, olives, fruit and an interesting truffle fennel salad. Our group grew to about 10 people and the wait staff got us situated with menus and wine quickly and without disturbing our conversation. As we ate our appetizer and talked about the winery and the wines the staff took our lunch orders. I hadn't looked at the menu so I told the waiter to have the chef prepare whatever she thought would best complement the wines. This was the only point when the service was less than impeccable. The server interrupted our host to ask for his order. Surely he knew that as soon as Loren finished his sentence he'd stop and give his order, but the waiter must have been a bit impatient. Either way, lunch was served and I received a perfectly rare Colorado lamb burger with house made mozzarella and a spicy tomato aioli. I couldn't have asked for a better complement to the three cabernets that were served during the main course. Chef Jen hit a home run by using simple ingredients and simple preparation to make a kick ass dish. A quick glance around the table revealed artfully crafted plate presentations and some pretty high quality ingredients. We were finished with lunch by about 2:00.

My verdict: Chef Jen is obviously someone who cares about the details. The food was top notch, and the service was quite good with a few very minor exceptions. I wasn't paying, but my burger cost $10.50 which seems reasonable enough. The tuna nicoise salad complete with fried quail egg was $17.50 which doesn't seem out of line. The experience left me feeling like I need to make some time to go back for dinner.

[Danno]

I have no eaten here, but thought I should crosspost: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...29#post2087329

[pechelman]

not quite ready for a review yet, first time there for lunch today, but im very hopeful to be able to reccomend Toast on santa fe and littleton here soon.

[lemon boy]

Ohhhhh

ohhhhhh

BTW, right now they have tons of truffles at le central and last night I had their filet with truffles and foie gras.

[pechelman]

about time one of us tried that place
sounds awesome

[pechelman]

sorry LB
this is going to be long, have fun editing it down


Opus -$$$$+
303.703.6787
275 West Main St
Littleton, CO 80120

The brief story;

Overall experience (LB, heres what you may just want to copy\paste)
Opus is most definitely a special occasion dining experience. Service is amongst the best Ive ever had, with a focus on a relaxed pace to enjoy your meal. (we were there for 3hrs)
Excellent and extensive wine list and a good sommolier.
Food is generally excellent, though requires some ability and desire to explore the different items on the plate. Items are definitely priced at a premium, but with some reason. Portions are not the skimpy haute typical sizes. Expect lots of personal attention without it being overbearing or intrusive in anyway. Another example is that not once did they come by our table when we had food in our mouths, which definitely took some doing between us


They also have 5, 9, and 25 course dinners, with or without wine pairings, for those of you who are into that sort of thing. The whole table must order them though, and the 25 course one takes a couple weeks advance notice....and its 500$/pp!!!



The full story;


About as haute as it gets for the 'burbs.
Pechelwoman surprised me this weekend by taking us here since she had been working lots of ot.
Ambiance inside is quite nice, if not a touch on the noisy side of intimate due to the concrete floors and hard surfaces. Just enough noise to make it difficult to pickup the distinctive chorus from Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island that they had playing just after we were seated....and at one of their best tables by the fire place, at the window, and in a corner.

Assuming its because we were first timers, they brought us a complementary taste from the chef. The smoked buffalo with cruchy roasted corn on soup spoon (since when did describing food without articles become the norm?!) was absolutely amazing.

For dinner we decided to start by sharing the "Ducks on the Pond" app, the apple cider poached salmon and old bay shrimp for the woman, and the veal chop stuffed with cranberries, manchego, and something else chef special for that evening.

Pairing wine was tricky, but their Sommelier was very helpful and knew his winelist. My first instinct was to go for some Rose Champagne, which he though was excellent, but suggested that if we wanted to try something a bit "off the beaten path" that we give the d'Arenberg Peppermint Paddock a shot....it was also significantly cheaper. Its basically a sparkling red wine that doesnt suck. It took a bit to open up, but the typical red wine, with violet and berries, with the yeasty nose and mouth feel of a sparkling, finished with very well integrated tannins and acidity at the end was really unique and quite a good pairing for my entree. The woman thought it worked well with her food as well.

Worth noting, the waiter took special care to minimize the "Pop" from our sparkling wine, which is always nice imo as the other loud pop just seems rude and ostentatious in this type of place.

Dinner was continued after the taste from the chef by their quadfecta of breads accompanied by their housemade butter and olive tampenade. They had rosemary, olive, and sesame ciabattas and a really tasty corn muffin that was light, airy, had a touch of citrus, and what tasted liked it was cooked in bacon grease.

Breads were followed by our ordered ducks on the pond appetizer.
which is "Foie Gras Torchon with sliced pear, warm cranberry seared foie, and peppered duck breast finished with apple cider duck French press consomme." Definitely a bit out of the norm of our usual ordering, and the first time we ordered anything that had foie gras as the featured item, but we have liked it in everything else we've had.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but was left frustrated with it because of the consume it was served in. It became more soup half way through.
Id much have preferred the ducks sans the pond, but it did impart some flavor to the potato cake? the seared fg was served atop.
The 2 kinds of FG, the Duck meat, and the pairings of fruit were all excellent.
Overall, 7/10 imo. Probably a 9/10 minus the consume.
Next time we'll go for the cheese plate probably.


The entree i had, really showcased the chefs creativity, inventiveness, and keen sense of taste. Presentation was also incredible as both entrees were served on a cinema screen 16x9 like white china platter.
Nothing in and of itself, i felt, was suberb, though each item was definitely above average, some approaching excellence. Things, I thought, were lacking something or had too much of something. The real experience I think came when mixing the different items on the plate and making "ultimate bites" and finding the favorite version. The brussel sprout, pickled red cabbage, veal with stuffing bite was ridiculously amazing. Portions were also a-typically large for a place like this imo. pechelwoman had nothing but glowing statements, such as "wow, this is the best hollandaise ive had in my life" or "this salmon is cooked perfectly" etc.

Lastly, both of our entrees were placed on the table at the *exact* same time. The servers had to work for it, because one had to pause when lowering the one plate to adjust my dinnerware. Just one small example of the excellent service.
Overall, entrees seemed to be about 9+/10.

For whatever crazy reason, we decided to get our own desserts, as if we didnt have enough food yet.
I went for the coffee creme brule with white russian mousse and she went for the Autumn Apple which is a "petite granny smith tart tartin, butternut custard, hazelnut candied gala apple".
I ordered the 20yr Taylor Fladgate with mine and she ordered a Nivole Moscato d'Asti with hers. I was pleasantly surprised that I had been upgraded to the 30yr, which I had never had, and was amazed by. Probably took me 30mins to drink a 2oz glass it was so guhd.

The desserts were just like the entrees. Large "widescreen format" plates and a presentation, forcing you to decide what items you want to mix and match in a "choose your own adventure" type of culinary experience. This time however, each item I had on my plate was superb. The creme was the best coffee adaptation one ive ever had. The brulee was not your typical sugar that was torched, but was my preferred technique of making the caramel in a pot and then pouring it over. The ultimate bites were $$$.
the wine pairings we chose were excellent imo...especially that 30yr, o-m-g.
overall 10/10 imo.
I would come back here just for dessert and drinks.

Somewhere in the middle of dessert, we lost power at the restaurant.
Within 3mins, the wait staff brought out tea lights for each table.
We didnt mind at all and heard the other few tables still seated (4 others?, it was almost 11p) say what we were thinking, that it was more romantic this way.

At this point, the house brought us and everyone in the restaurant, complementary Tattinger champagne to toast Xcel energy. woot!
I think this was glass number 5 of wine for the evening

[Cruiser]

Wow! That sounds like quite a meal. Mrs. Cruiser went there for lunch (on someone else's expense acct) a few months ago and came back raving about the quality of the food and presentation. May have to go try it out soon.

[SkiMonster]

Damn this thread is huge.
You can see every Aspen choice of eatery @ http://restaurantsaspen.com/

[pechelman]

Los Portales - $-$$ - Mexican
3483 South Logan Street Englewood, co 80113-2629 Phone: (303) 789-6092
Los Portales is a pretty normal little strip mall Mexican place. They have really good food though. Don’t bother with the burritos or any of your normal Americanized items: Tetamado, Albondingas, any of the seafood etc…Go, eat, be happy.

its safe now to go ahead and add their Chile Rellenos en el Estilo Colima de Pollo to the list

had it 3 times now and its solid.
beans were not as good this last time, but first 2 were consistent.
The relleno also comes out hit or miss with respect to crispiness. Next time I might ask that they not pour the sauce over it, but just under.

[Rontele]

Mizuna, 7th and Grant, 303-832-4778, $$$-$$$$

We had the luxury of dining here on Saturday night. Mizuna is top-notch offering up a new menu every month. Food is well portioned (not huge, but enough) and unique. I had the lobster mac and cheese (which does not ever leave the menu) and the lamb. Both were delicious. Deserts were equally good.

Its pricey, but not outrageous and in the end, for a special occassion, probably worth it. My only complaint is the lack of affordability on the wine list. Generally, I will never ever never ever never spend more than $50 on a bottle of wine at a restaurant. If you're like me and you go to Mizuna with that idea, you won't be drinking a bottle of wine. I think a restaurant owes it to its patrons to put at least a few affordable bottles on the wine list.

Just because it is expensive, does not mean its good and vice versa, just because its cheaper doesn't mean its swill.

[pechelman]

the problem with their wine list is that its a snooty place that marks up their cheap wine exorbitantly.
I checked out their wine list, and most of their "cheap" wines are marked up between 3-400% over retail instead of the typical 200% most places charge.
ie most of Mizuna's 50-75$ wines are 15-20$ in any given store at full retail prices.

the "bargains" on their wine list seem to be in the 90-120$ range. (i did not bother to investigate any higher)
I found one barolo that retails for about 70-80$ for 96$ on their wine list.

Also, each glass of wine, instead of being the typical half price of the bottle's retail price, is closer to 75%.

just posting this for anyone who should go there and would like to order wine.

[Rontele]

the problem with their wine list is that its a snooty place that marks up their cheap wine exorbitantly.
I checked out their wine list, and most of their "cheap" wines are marked up between 3-400% over retail instead of the typical 200% most places charge.
ie most of Mizuna's 50-75$ wines are 15-20$ in any given store at full retail prices.

the "bargains" on their wine list seem to be in the 90-120$ range. (i did not bother to investigate any higher)
I found one barolo that retails for about 70-80$ for 96$ on their wine list.

Also, each glass of wine, instead of being the typical half price of the bottle's retail price, is closer to 75%.

just posting this for anyone who should go there and would like to order wine.

pechelman, ftw. and ragging on a restaurant for marking up wine prices is nothing new--I agree; I paid $13 for a glass of Boxcar Syrah, which the bottle retails for $26. It is where they make their money. But in reality even if the markup on the more expensive bottles is less, it is a snowballs chance in hell I'd pay $96 for a bottle of wine absent an exceptionally special occassion.

Some restaurants do it right. Take India's Pearl on S. Pearl for example. They do not crush the consumer with their mark-ups and offer A LOT of wine under $25 on their list.

[pechelman]

add to that list of places that do it right, sansone's bistro....especially on wednesday nights where they offer 15$ off per bottle.

or alas, a chain restaurant, that always has kickass wines on special for under 30$...bonefish grill

on a related question about mizuna, did they staff a sommelier \ did you ask for his\her assistance?
sometimes snooty places do include a premium for this service, especially when they have a very large selection and an excellent sommelier (like Opus)

[Rontele]

add to that list of places that do it right, sansone's bistro....especially on wednesday nights where they offer 15$ off per bottle.

or alas, a chain restaurant, that always has kickass wines on special for under 30$...bonefish grill

on a related question about mizuna, did they staff a sommelier \ did you ask for his\her assistance?
sometimes snooty places do include a premium for this service, especially when they have a very large selection and an excellent sommelier (like Opus)

They do have a sommelier. I did not ask for his assistance because I wasn't going to spend over $50

[Cruiser]

On the subject of reasonably priced wine, I've always admired Le Central for including some simple inexpensive wines from the Rhone and Provence on their list. You can get a nice little bottle of French table wine there for $25 or so. I really respect that. Too many places put such a significant mark up on wine that they preclude regular folks like me from having wine with dinner. IMO a restaurant should encourage their patrons to have an apropriate wine with their meal by offering a wide range of products AND pricepoints. [/rant]

[thaar]

Mizuna is excellent. I have never had a bad meal there. I just wish I could afford to eat there more often.

[pechelman]

Bernie's Hotdogs - $
1601 Mayberry
Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
Dont be too scared when you walk in and notice this place looks like a hybrid of sorts between a hot dog place, a chipotle, and fatburger, because as far as I can tell, this isnt a chain and its the only one I found online.
The place just opened, so ive only been here once, but just by the looks of the place, the quality\selection of ingredients, and the owner of the place coming over to me and asking how things were, ive got a very good feeling.
Ordered a footlong michigan ave, which was definitely the largest dog ive ever had. Definitely a true 1' long and nearly 1" in diameter. Quality of the frank was pretty darn good...not the best ive had, but up there, complete with a casing that snaps when you bite into it.

[JoeStrummer]

On the subject of reasonably priced wine, I've always admired Le Central for including some simple inexpensive wines from the Rhone and Provence on their list. You can get a nice little bottle of French table wine there for $25 or so. I really respect that. Too many places put such a significant mark up on wine that they preclude regular folks like me from having wine with dinner. IMO a restaurant should encourage their patrons to have an apropriate wine with their meal by offering a wide range of products AND pricepoints. [/rant]

+1. The concept of inexpensive table wine (i.e. just a simple drinking red) is an idea I wish restaurants would import from Europe more often. Nothing dumber than ordering peasant food like coq au vin and a bottle of wine and blowing $80-$100.

I have been in Buenos Aires Grill twice in the last week, 22nd and Arapahoe. Lots of malbecs for around $40, steaks are fucking succulent, bossa nova is a nice touch, and they make a mean caipirinha. Highly recommended.

[pechelman]

buenos aires is lots of fun, espec with the flamenco dancing
be sure to get the fried rice pudding next time too

[PowTron]

I ain't followin' no template, as I am a free souled individual...

But I just want to say that Cuba Cuba in Denver (close to 12th and Speer) is the best restaurant in Denver

Great prices, amazing food, and handmade drinks that will get you feeling quite fuzzy.

[endoverender]

El Taco de Mexico - $
714 Santa Fe Dr
Denver, CO 80204
(303) 623-3926‎

I'm not really a foodie, but I'm always on the search for good tacos. This place delivers, and has quickly become one of my weekly destinations. Some of the most authentic tacos I've found in Denver. Double wrapped with a corn tortilla, your choice of meat, a slight mix of lettuce and onions, and a little salsa. Try the marinated pork, it's delicious. Burritos are also a strong choice.

This place is cash only, and you'll probably have to wait to place your order during dinner hours. You're out for under $10, with tip.




Unseen Bean
Coffee Shop
2052 Broadway St, Boulder
(303) 447-2326

Forgive me if this is skirting the rules, but I thought some of you Boulderites might enjoy the recommendation. I'm kind of a caffeine head, and this place serves some of the best coffee I've ever tasted. Gerry and Paul are the owners, and they know their stuff. If you don't have a particular taste in mind, just ask for whatever is freshest. It will not disappoint. They'll also press your cup for you, or grind it coarse for your press at home.

They also do fresh sandwiches...so maybe this does fit in the restaurant compendium.

[pechelman]

I ain't followin' no template, as I am a free souled individual...

But I just want to say that Cuba Cuba in Denver (close to 12th and Speer) is the best restaurant in Denver

Great prices, amazing food, and handmade drinks that will get you feeling quite fuzzy.

meh
i thought there food was average for cuban food and amazingly overpriced for cuban food.

this is coming from someone who grew up in a cuban family in tampa florida where you can find numerous cafes that offer everything they do, and more, in better quantities, quality, and preparation for half the cost...
I mean, gmafb, 18$ for picadillo?


They used to be open for lunch, which is the only time id ever go or reccomend people to go.

If i want cuban food in denver ill cook it myself.




edit: if anyone goes to tampa, try this place
http://cuban-food-usa.com/tampa_arco.html
its not the best i dont think, but it is the closest for me and has a great selection and awesome specials.
see all that food on the table in the first photo, that probably costs about 8$, lunch or dinner...all of it. Its also much better and more authentic than cuba cuba. Also not shown is all the cuban bread you want with your meal.