Best Comeback 2007 | Solera | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Comeback

Solera

Goose Sorensen, owner of Solera, has been through a rough couple of years. Strategic errors, an attempted (and ultimately abortive) expansion into the breakfast market, the dissolution of a bad partnership -- all of these things (combined with Sorensen's forays into the national food scene that kept him away from Denver for days or weeks at a time) were dangerous distractions that put Solera in danger of losing its edge, that fine blade of forward-looking innovation crossed with comforting classicism that was always its greatest strength. Now, though, Sorensen has put all those entanglements behind him and is joyously re-engaged in the day-to-day business of his kitchen -- and it shows in every plate coming out of that kitchen. Welcome back.

Best Taste of Denver When Coming Home

Jack-n-Grill

Home is where the heat is. No matter how long you've been away from Denver -- a month, a week, a day -- as you head back into town from DIA, you can feel yourself jonesing for great Mexican food. And now you can get a fast fix just off Pea Boulevard, at this second outpost of Jack-n-Grill, a sort-of franchise operation that features entertainment many nights and the same fantastic food all the time. No matter what you crave -- true green chile, ranchero tacos, a Frito pie or a fat carne asada burrito -- Jack-n-Grill will get you back on track.

Best Neighborhood Restaurant

Tables

Even without lunch (which Tables recently stopped serving), even without those lines that once stretched out the door and past the patio, even without the walk-in traffic and the look of surprise on the faces of everyone discovering the place for the first time, Tables stands as Denver's best neighborhood restaurant. Why? Because dinner here can so quickly and so easily become one of those meals you'll remember for the rest of your life. Owners Dustin Barrett and Amy Vitale, everyone on the staff and everyone in the kitchen have joined to create a magical little bistro where the simplest things -- a bowl of clams, a plate of prosciutto and melon, a piece of fish perfectly cooked -- have the potential to change the way you look at food. Every neighborhood in the city should be so lucky as to have a place like Tables ready and waiting to serve.

Best Restaurant Neighborhood

Highland

Seventeenth Avenue is coming along. LoDo has a lot of great restaurants. Larimer Square has more good restaurants in one block than other parts of town have restaurants. But the real culinary explosion is on the edge of Highland, which is suddenly bursting with phenomenal restaurants. From small and fiercely ethnic joints to innovative nouvelle houses doing cutting-edge cuisine to brewpubs to solidly classical kitchens where perfection can be found in every sauce, chop and filet, Highland has it all. Equally important, this neighborhood has enough food-obsessed residents to fill the seats on weekday nights and enough dining variety to draw crowds from across the metro area on the weekends.

Best New Restaurant Neighborhood

Sixth Avenue

How long have we been saying that Sixth Avenue is going to be the next hot restaurant neighborhood? For years. But this year, we may finally be right. With Table 6 mounting a second-wind resurgence, the Master family consolidating their New American/California influence at Montecito, Fruition packing the former home of Somethin' Else, Lime XS doing surprisingly well and a dozen more ventures both old and new holding their own, this street is definitely on the upswing. At the very least, the diagonal line between Fruition and Montecito has become one of the most heavily trodden paths in Denver's food community as crowds constantly dodge traffic to jump between the two places, splitting dinner and drinks, drinks and desserts, apps and entrees or whatever. Sixth isn't there yet, but it's a neighborhood that bears watching.

Best New Restaurant (Since March 2006)

Fruition

Fruition
Fruition is not yet as good as it will one day be. But since chef Alex Seidel and Paul Attardi, both ex of Mizuna, opened their restaurant just a couple of months ago, it's already proven itself more than good enough to deserve top honors as Denver's best new restaurant. And as it grows into its space, its neighborhood and its place in the ever-changing Denver restaurant scene, it will be even better. At first glance, Fruition might not seem like anything special. The space is small and crowded, the board of fare simple New American cuisine. But look closer, and you'll you see a room that's being milked for every inch of its homey, comforting advantage. While the menu is New American in its presentation of pork shoulder confit, beet salad, chicken noodle soup and pork belly carbonara, those dishes work as though that overused phrase had just been invented. And the crew is already so professional and polished that they're dancing a six-hour ballet every single night -- and for the most part, making it look fun. There will come a night when Fruition will cross the line from good to truly amazing, of that we have no doubt. But so far, so good.

Best Of Denver®

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