Best Pizza -- Connecticut Style 2003 | Papou's Pizza | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Pizza -- Connecticut Style

Papou's Pizza

Up-and-comer Papou's Pizza has cornered the Denver market for Connecticut-style pizza -- primarily because it's the only place in town making pies this way. The toppings are high-quality and laid on with a generous hand, but what really sets this pizza apart is the way it's cooked: pan-baked in a brick oven. With thick, soft, chewy crusts on the bottoms and crisp bones, Papou's pies fill that space on the pizza spectrum between the thin-crust New Yorker and the deep-dish Chicago variety.

Best Pizza -- Connecticut Style

Papou's Pizza

Up-and-comer Papou's Pizza has cornered the Denver market for Connecticut-style pizza -- primarily because it's the only place in town making pies this way. The toppings are high-quality and laid on with a generous hand, but what really sets this pizza apart is the way it's cooked: pan-baked in a brick oven. With thick, soft, chewy crusts on the bottoms and crisp bones, Papou's pies fill that space on the pizza spectrum between the thin-crust New Yorker and the deep-dish Chicago variety.

Best Pizza -- Sicilian Style

Vita Bella Pizza & Pasta

Anthony Sarlo, owner and top pizza guy at Vita Bella, has a lot of history in the pie game. His father (owner of Armando's in Cherry Creek) and grandfather (who owned the Continental and the Oriental Manor in New York) have spent their lives in the business; his grandmother has spent her whole life cooking for the clan; his aunt owns Cafe Jordano. And all of this know-how comes together at a fine point: the double-crust fresh-leaf spinach pie with sliced black olives, garlic, romano and mozzarella for which the family restaurants are rightly famous. And how can we be sure that young Tony is sticking to his Sicilian roots? Because Grandma is right there just about every day, working the register and keeping a close eye on the kitchen to make sure he does.

Best Pizza -- Sicilian Style

Vita Bella Pizza & Pasta

Anthony Sarlo, owner and top pizza guy at Vita Bella, has a lot of history in the pie game. His father (owner of Armando's in Cherry Creek) and grandfather (who owned the Continental and the Oriental Manor in New York) have spent their lives in the business; his grandmother has spent her whole life cooking for the clan; his aunt owns Cafe Jordano. And all of this know-how comes together at a fine point: the double-crust fresh-leaf spinach pie with sliced black olives, garlic, romano and mozzarella for which the family restaurants are rightly famous. And how can we be sure that young Tony is sticking to his Sicilian roots? Because Grandma is right there just about every day, working the register and keeping a close eye on the kitchen to make sure he does.

Best Place to Get Head on the West Side

Taquería Patzcuaro

The defining characteristic of peasant cooking is the creative use of those less attractive bits of an animal so that absolutely nothing goes to waste. And the big secret of peasant cooking is that a lot of these cuts, scorned by the casual carnivore, are actually the tastiest bits there are. Exhibit A: the tacos cabeza at Taquería Patzcuaro. The kitchen takes beef cheek meat -- as tender as filet mignon, but even tastier -- and gives it a quick burn on the grill, then lays it medium rare on a fresh corn tortilla with a little lettuce and pico de gallo.

Best Place to Get Head on the West Side

Taquería Patzcuaro

The defining characteristic of peasant cooking is the creative use of those less attractive bits of an animal so that absolutely nothing goes to waste. And the big secret of peasant cooking is that a lot of these cuts, scorned by the casual carnivore, are actually the tastiest bits there are. Exhibit A: the tacos cabeza at Taquería Patzcuaro. The kitchen takes beef cheek meat -- as tender as filet mignon, but even tastier -- and gives it a quick burn on the grill, then lays it medium rare on a fresh corn tortilla with a little lettuce and pico de gallo.

Best Place to Get Head on Santa Fe

El Taco de México

For regulars at El Taco de México, the brain taco is nothing strange. It may not be something they eat every day, but it's no odder to them than it would be for someone else to see tongue in the cold case at a European deli, or escargot on the board at a French restaurant. The thinking goes like this: the cow is food; the brain is in the cow; therefore, the brain is food. Served hot and fresh off the flat-top, the ropy, grayish brains are slapped onto a double tortilla with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and cilantro; add a squeeze of lime and open wide. While we can't promise that El Taco de México's brain tacos will be pleasing to the average American palate, we can say that eating them will be an experience you won't soon forget.

Best Place to Get Head on Santa Fe

El Taco de México

For regulars at El Taco de México, the brain taco is nothing strange. It may not be something they eat every day, but it's no odder to them than it would be for someone else to see tongue in the cold case at a European deli, or escargot on the board at a French restaurant. The thinking goes like this: the cow is food; the brain is in the cow; therefore, the brain is food. Served hot and fresh off the flat-top, the ropy, grayish brains are slapped onto a double tortilla with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and cilantro; add a squeeze of lime and open wide. While we can't promise that El Taco de México's brain tacos will be pleasing to the average American palate, we can say that eating them will be an experience you won't soon forget.

Best Breakfast Burrito

Sam's No. 3

Like sex or a good accountant, a breakfast burrito is one of those things you don't give much thought to until the first time you have it, and afterwards you wonder how you ever lived so long without it. Happily, there are about 17 million places in Denver where you can get a breakfast burrito. And while almost all of those breakfast burritos are the same -- eggs, potatoes, cheese and meat wrapped in a flour tortilla -- Sam's No. 3 offers a surprise variation. Its corned-beef-hash breakfast burrito is as big as a fat kid's forearm, stuffed dangerously full of scrambled eggs, sliced potatoes and chunky corned beef; and upon request, the whole thing will come smothered in Sam's tame green chile, which serves to keep everything soft and warm and gloppy no matter how long it takes you to work your way from one end to the other.

Best Breakfast Burrito

Sam's No. 3

Like sex or a good accountant, a breakfast burrito is one of those things you don't give much thought to until the first time you have it, and afterwards you wonder how you ever lived so long without it. Happily, there are about 17 million places in Denver where you can get a breakfast burrito. And while almost all of those breakfast burritos are the same -- eggs, potatoes, cheese and meat wrapped in a flour tortilla -- Sam's No. 3 offers a surprise variation. Its corned-beef-hash breakfast burrito is as big as a fat kid's forearm, stuffed dangerously full of scrambled eggs, sliced potatoes and chunky corned beef; and upon request, the whole thing will come smothered in Sam's tame green chile, which serves to keep everything soft and warm and gloppy no matter how long it takes you to work your way from one end to the other.

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