Best Japanese Restaurant 2013 | Land of Sushi | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Japanese Restaurant

Land of Sushi

Revered for its innovative and stunningly composed raw fish and rolls served (if you ask) with freshly grated wasabi, Land of Sushi — whose unfortunate name belies everything that lifts this restaurant to sea stardom — is also a spectacular restaurant for traditional Japanese-intensive cuisine. Besides sushi, the kitchen turns out everything from udon and soba noodle dishes to Japanese hot pots, grilled fish plated with sculptured Asian vegetables and draped with sauces that sing like songbirds, and even lamb carpaccio, lightly seared in hot sesame oil and drizzled with a sauce of citrusy yuzu and soy. At a Japanese restaurant, you expect the delicate slivers of raw fish to be treated with care, but Land of Sushi extends that same respect to everything else on the plate.

Best Kale Salad

OAK at Fourteenth

Evan Semón

There's no reason that OAK at Fourteenth's plate of antioxidant-rich greens should be so much better than the rest. The dressing is nothing to crow about — just lemon and extra-virgin olive oil. The add-ons aren't any flashier — a dusting of parmesan, thin slices of apple, some candied almonds for crunch. But as with movies on the big screen, it's not the words themselves, but the delivery that counts. And this kale salad, like Clark Gable's "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," will long stay etched in our memory.

Best Korean Restaurant

Shin Sa Dong Korean BBQ

Transparent strip-mall exteriors, bare interiors and stoic service mark most of the area's Korean restaurants — but not Shin Sa Dong. This swank shrine to Korean grill-your-own barbecue as well as banchan, the miniature bowls of Korean side dishes that include kimchi and jelly noodle salad and all sorts of other curiosities, is modern and elegant, with dark woods, melodic fountains and waterfalls, stone-cemented walls and hardwoods. But swanky aesthetics don't amount to much — you're not here to eat the walls of stone — if the food doesn't follow suit. Luckily, it does. Boiled oxen-head soup; sweet-potato noodles bobbing in a cold beef broth; steak tartare with toasted sesame, Asian pears and pine nuts; Korean sausage soup; bibimbap and bulgogi — those are the real stars of the show, and worth their weight in won.

Best Late-Afternoon Happy Hour

Virgilio's Pizzeria & Wine Bar

Courtesy Virgilio's Pizzeria & Wine Bar Facebook

There's hardly an hour of the day (or night) that Virgilio's Pizzeria & Wine Bar doesn't pimp happy hour. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, plus 9 p.m. to close Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. to close on Friday and Saturday, this suburban Italian joint pours $4 glasses of bubbles and red and white vino, along with premium well drinks for $3.50. And then there's the 20 percent off every single bottle of premium and reserve wines, of which there are numerous Italian winners. And that's not all: Twenty-ounce sangrias are just $5, and draft pints and bottles ring in between $2.50 and $4.75. But don't drink your entire dinner: The garlic knots and pizzas at Virgilio's are legendary.

Best Late-Night Happy Hour

Interstate Kitchen & Bar

Mark Manger

Interstate is modeled after an old-time roadhouse, right in the heart of the city, and there's no better place to pull over for a late-night happy hour. Interstate's runs from midnight to 1:30 a.m., with offerings that include deviled eggs ($1 each); fried chicken livers, a pulled-pork slider or the legendary lap dog ($2 each); and bacon corn, fried pickles or a mini-green salad ($3 each). The equally economical liquid assets count a "cooler of cold ones," with five cans (barkeep's choice) for $9, Genny Cream Ale on tap for $2, and a whiskey shooter for $3 among them. When the clock strikes twelve, we brake for Interstate.

Best Late-Night Waitresses

Denver Diner

The women on the late shift at the Denver Diner don't take any shit — but they don't dish it, either. Whether you drop in at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday when the place is quiet or 2 a.m. on a Saturday when customers are hanging from the rafters, the staff keeps its cool. The service is consistently efficient and friendly: Orders are taken quickly, customer requests are granted without a fuss, and the coffee is always hot. Plus, it seems that the superwomen of the Denver Diner all have untouchably perfect acrylic nails, and for some reason, it's not offensive that they call everyone "Baby."

Best Lunch Under $5

House of Kabob

Cheap lunches tend to be greasy, and while we love those smothered burritos and cheesy slices of pizza, we also live in the real world, where work, not a nap, follows the mid-day meal. So for a fraction of the grease — not to mention a better balance of protein and carbs to help you power through the day — try the chicken shawarma sandwich at House of Kabob. Full of chopped, marinated chicken — enough to fill two sandwiches — the pita hardly has room for the hummus, lettuce and tomato also folded inside. Priced at $4.95, you'll top out above five when you add the tax, but this lunch is worth a few extra cents.

Best Mac and Cheese

Mizuna

Joni Schrantz

Macaroni and cheese, once a comfort-food staple of every Sunday supper, isn't what it used to be. The slightly chewy, sauce-soaked elbow macaroni and cheese at Mizuna is definitely not your grandmother's version — unless, that is, your nana favors sweet lobster meat in place of Oscar Meyer ham and silky mascarpone over Velveeta. The immodestly rich recipe, which originated with Thomas Keller, is completely hedonistic, its base of butter, cream and wine a luxurious invitation to submission.

Best Martini

Elway's Cherry Creek

With so many contemporary-cocktail choices out there, you don't want a mixologist messing with your martini — throwing in fruit and chocolate or, God forbid, edging the glass with chile powder. You want your martini as classic as the atmosphere in which it's served. And for that, you want Elway's. Grab a seat at the bar, tell bar manager Ky Belk what you want — and then prepare to be shaken, if not stirred.

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant

Phoenician Kabob

Denver has its fair share of places hawking kabobs and baklava. But no one does the little things as well as Phoenician Kabob. Here the dimple in a side of hummus is filled with chickpeas and olive oil that's fruity extra-virgin rather than plain. Falafel is shaped into discs, not spheres, ensuring no soggy middles. And the pita, which so many places treat like a starchy fork to scoop up the main course, is good enough to be the main course. Made in-house in a gas-fired brick oven, the bread puffs in seconds, until it's as chewy yet tender as the edges on a Neapolitan pizza. Speaking of which, if you like white pie, try the zaatar & feta, with a paste of thyme, olive oil and roasted sesame seeds slathered like pesto over a thin round of dough, then topped with tangy feta and baked until the crust browns and air bubbles bulge and pop — a process you can watch through a window into the kitchen.

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