Best Sushi Bar in the 'Burbs 2005 | Kassai Sushi | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Sushi Bar in the 'Burbs

Kassai Sushi

At last count, Denver had something on the order of 17 billion sushi bars, with a new one opening every 45 seconds. There are strip malls that boast three sushi bars within a hundred paces, and in the 'burbs, a man can't chuck a side of bonito without it going straight through the window of a sushi bar that's opening -- or a sushi bar that's closing to make way for another sushi bar. But unlike the profusion of Starbucks or Wal-Marts out in the hinterlands, the sushi-bar explosion is a positive thing. Particularly if you live in Aurora, near Kassai Sushi. At this pleasant spot, there's always room for another body at the bar, always something interesting on the menu. And if the sushi chefs aren't exactly talkative, they're quick -- able to knock out an order of tuna hand rolls faster than you can say "Tekka maki and a bowl of miso, please." The buck-a-roll sushi happy hour is a killer deal, and the house even delivers. See? The suburbs aren't entirely uncivilized.

Best Sushi Restaurant for Eating an Entire Tuna

Sonoda's

Over the past twenty years, Sonoda's has grown to four locations that serve big crowds. It's clearly making money, and just as clearly pouring it back into buying more fish, since the dining rooms don't look like they've been redecorated since the late '80s. But as long as Sonoda's keeps buying tuna, that's okay with us. Anything you can imagine being done with these tractor-trailers of the deep, Sonoda's does it: sashimi and tataki, hand rolls made from the collar, flank, belly, loin and tail. In one meal, you can come close to eating an entire fish. The best way to prepare for this nose-to-tail eating experience? With a bowl of the best Japanese soup in town, a powerful and salty broth made of -- what else? -- bonito.

Best Sushi Restaurant for Eating an Entire Tuna

Sonoda's

Over the past twenty years, Sonoda's has grown to four locations that serve big crowds. It's clearly making money, and just as clearly pouring it back into buying more fish, since the dining rooms don't look like they've been redecorated since the late '80s. But as long as Sonoda's keeps buying tuna, that's okay with us. Anything you can imagine being done with these tractor-trailers of the deep, Sonoda's does it: sashimi and tataki, hand rolls made from the collar, flank, belly, loin and tail. In one meal, you can come close to eating an entire fish. The best way to prepare for this nose-to-tail eating experience? With a bowl of the best Japanese soup in town, a powerful and salty broth made of -- what else? -- bonito.

Best Japanese Restaurant

Domo Restaurant

There are Japanese restaurants in town that do great sushi, excellent yakitori, fine gyoza, wonderful ramen. But only at Domo do the disparate elements of Japanese cuisine come together in one perfect, country-style restaurant. And only at Domo could you enjoy this cuisine in such a zen-like setting, with beautiful service, tree-stump seats, a charmingly understated dining room and -- for those in real need of unruffled tranquility -- a Japanese meditation garden in the back. There's also an Aikido dojo and Japanese cultural center and museum that you're encouraged to visit while your meal is being prepared. But the wonderful farmhouse-style food, served with half a dozen exotic sides, is the real attraction at Domo.

Best Japanese Restaurant

Domo Restaurant

There are Japanese restaurants in town that do great sushi, excellent yakitori, fine gyoza, wonderful ramen. But only at Domo do the disparate elements of Japanese cuisine come together in one perfect, country-style restaurant. And only at Domo could you enjoy this cuisine in such a zen-like setting, with beautiful service, tree-stump seats, a charmingly understated dining room and -- for those in real need of unruffled tranquility -- a Japanese meditation garden in the back. There's also an Aikido dojo and Japanese cultural center and museum that you're encouraged to visit while your meal is being prepared. But the wonderful farmhouse-style food, served with half a dozen exotic sides, is the real attraction at Domo.

Best Thai Restaurant

Yummy Yummy Tasty Thai

You know you've found a great ethnic restaurant when nothing tastes like anything you've tasted before -- and it all tastes good. You think you've had Thai food before? Not until you've had it at Yummy Yummy Tasty Thai, a great restaurant in an awful location. While the menu reads a lot like every other Thai menu in the city, it tastes like a culinary travelogue of chef-owner Pim Fitt's native Thailand, full of true flavors and a real passion for the notion that to truly know a place, you must first know how its people eat.

Best Thai Restaurant

Yummy Yummy Tasty Thai

You know you've found a great ethnic restaurant when nothing tastes like anything you've tasted before -- and it all tastes good. You think you've had Thai food before? Not until you've had it at Yummy Yummy Tasty Thai, a great restaurant in an awful location. While the menu reads a lot like every other Thai menu in the city, it tastes like a culinary travelogue of chef-owner Pim Fitt's native Thailand, full of true flavors and a real passion for the notion that to truly know a place, you must first know how its people eat.

Best Quick Thai

Spicy Basil

There are those restaurants where you plan to eat -- making reservations, picking out the right outfit, booking the babysitter -- and those you go to when the urge strikes you. Spicy Basil is all about whim. This small Thai-fusion storefront is just the spot for a quick lunch when you've got Asian on the brain, a place that inspires an undeniable hunger for chicken curry and dumplings when you drive by. During the dinner rush, Spicy Basil probably does more take-out business than sit-down, but if you've got the time (and it doesn't take much), the dining room is casual and sunny, the service quick, and the bright Thai flavors at their best and freshest the moment they hit the table.

Best Quick Thai

Spicy Basil

There are those restaurants where you plan to eat -- making reservations, picking out the right outfit, booking the babysitter -- and those you go to when the urge strikes you. Spicy Basil is all about whim. This small Thai-fusion storefront is just the spot for a quick lunch when you've got Asian on the brain, a place that inspires an undeniable hunger for chicken curry and dumplings when you drive by. During the dinner rush, Spicy Basil probably does more take-out business than sit-down, but if you've got the time (and it doesn't take much), the dining room is casual and sunny, the service quick, and the bright Thai flavors at their best and freshest the moment they hit the table.

Best Thai Curries

Tommy's Thai

Tommy's Thai straddles the border between what Thai cuisine truly is and what those who've never had the real thing think Thai cuisine ought to be. As a result, Tommy's offerings can come off muted, those raw edges of ethnic flavor rubbed smooth by continued refinement for the neighborhood palate. But this dialing down works for the kitchen's curries, which are irresistible and addictive. They're still hot where they should be hot, still sweet where they should be sweet, and always milky-smooth with infused coconut milk, but they also have an unexpected depth of flavor. From plain greens to reds and yellows rich with lime leaves and boiled shrimp, to the excellent potato-studded massamun, Tommy's curries take the crown.

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