Cafe Berlin

Cafe Berlin opened in 1995 on East 17th Avenue, giving Denver a go-to spot for hearty German fare. A lot has changed since 1995 -- for example, the restaurant is now in its third location, a second-floor space above the 16th Street Mall, where it moved in 2011 – but Cafe Berlin’s food has not. Eating in the spacious gold-and-burgundy dining room, you could be back in the ’90s, chuckling at Bubba, toting around a boombox and eating the same gravy-covered schnitzel. German-born Marlene Garrett purchased the restaurant from its founder in 1998, but she’s been a presence in the kitchen from the beginning, and under her culinary and managerial leadership, Cafe Berlin has successfully navigated a generation of boom-and-bust economies. It’s done so by playing it safe; this is not a place where you’re going to find creative variations on German classics. The jägerschnitzel and rouladen are your best bets for dinner, with housemade apple strudel for dessert.