Best Cinnamon Rolls 2002 | Daniel's of Paris | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Cinnamon Rolls

Daniel's of Paris

Nestled in the middle of a nondescript strip mall, Daniel's of Paris is a cheery little bakery that makes gorgeous cakes, tarts, cookies and the town's best cinnamon rolls. These soft, doughy bundles of goodness are flecked with plenty of cinnamony sugar and topped with a thick slick of fondant, an icing made from sugar, water and cream of tartar that's been cooked until it sticks up in cresty waves. But what makes these rolls really rock is the thin shmear of baked almond cream in the center. C'est magnifique!

Best Challah

Breadsmith

Done right, this yeast-pumped egg bread, traditionally served on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays, is something worth craving any day. Every Friday, Breadsmith has perfect challah ready to go: sweet, spongy-soft, braided loaves that sport even, smooth crusts with a thin, egg-yolk sheen. Eat it right away for the most velvety of fresh-bread textures -- oy! -- or let it sit out for a few days and then make the best French toast ever. Looking for something else to fill your bread basket? Breadsmith offers a dozen other fresh-baked loaves each day, including their toothsome honey-sweetened multigrain.

Best Breakfast Biscuits

D'Eggos

Get to D'Eggos early if you crave the best biscuits in town. They come out of the oven piping hot at the crack of dawn, whisked to your table by the efficient and personable Rose. Chewy and immense, they're good as the centerpiece of a hearty biscuits-and-gravy dish or on the side, slathered in honey and butter, accompanying one of this cozy cafe's other eye-opening breakfast dishes.

Best Eggs Benedict

730 South

The yolk's on all the other breakfast joints in town too chicken to get real: By making hollandaise to order, 730 South forever won our hearts (even as it clogs our arteries). Every weekend morning, this charming and casual bistro turns out the best eggs Benedict in town: a buttery croissant (rather than the traditional English muffin) split and topped with thin slices of honey-cured ham and poached eggs, then blanketed with lemony, housemade hollandaise. Sided by fresh fruit and washed down with a respectable bloody Mary, it's a great way to start the day.

Best Eggs Benedict for Dinner

Jax Fish House

Sunday through Thursday nights, Jax Fish House features "blue-plate specials" that fit the mood of the day. On Mondays, that means fish 'n' chips; Tuesday is Wash Day, cleaning the kitchen out of shrimp and beans and rice. But Sunday dinner is our favorite meal at Jax, because that day's offering is steak 'n' eggs Benny, a serious version of the breakfast classic that takes tender-on-the-inside, blackened-on-the-outside sirloin steak and blue crabcakes and piles them onto cornbread slices, then tops them with poached eggs and a Creole-style (read: spicy) hollandaise. Now, that's what you call your Sunday best.

Best Cheap Breakfast

The Chalet

Rise and shine at the Chalet, which manages to be too cute and a total dive at the same time. Although the building is shaped like a Swiss cottage, behind its scalloped-edge windows and lacy curtains lurks a quintessential diner, where waitresses who have been there forever know all the regulars' names. The honey-fried chicken is delish -- all crackly sweet crust and greasy meat beneath (don't worry, it's fried in heart-healthy canola) -- and the soups sometimes taste homemade. But the real reason the Chalet is packed from the second it opens at 6 a.m. is the $2.49 breakfast: two eggs your way, a heap of potatoes and three choices of meat, including several strips of well-crisped bacon. Do you want coffee with that, Hon?

Best Place to Shlep Around on a Saturday

Cherry Creek Farmers' Market

There's no better way to waste a Saturday morning than wandering around the Cherry Creek Farmers' Market. Every weekend from May through October, the Bed, Bath & Beyond parking lot becomes a great place to stock up on fresh legumes and fruits harvested by local growers. If you haven't had breakfast, you can fill up on breads and pastries sold at the many food stands and perk up with a power shake or coffee. Don't leave without a bouquet of wildflowers, the perfect reminder of how you've lazed away half the day.

Best Sunday Brunch Buffet

Cucina Rustica

Every Sunday, the elegantly rustic Cucina Rustica, located in the Lodge at Vail, unveils the brunch buffet blowout of all blowouts. You'll find the usual suspects -- made-to-order waffles and omelettes, eggs Benedict, housemade breads and pastries, a carving station that alternates between spit-roasted whole salmon, lamb, turkey and sirloin -- but since this restaurant specializes in Tuscan-style fare, it also serves up Italian specialties you'll never spy at any other brunch spreads, including gnocchi, homemade ravioli and gourmet pizzas. Cucina Rustica also puts out over twenty salads, including a superb Caesar, and several kinds of seafood; the desserts are drop-dead delicious, too. Champagne is included in the price of the buffet, which varies from $27 to $32, depending on the season. And if you're dining during one of the warmer seasons, you can enjoy your meal out on the deck, feasting your eyes on the gorgeous view at the same time you stuff your stomach. If you aren't staying here, you can digest on the long -- but worth it -- drive home.

Best à la Carte Brunch

Piscos
1120 E. 6th Ave.
303-777-8222

When it comes to innovation, most Sunday sit-down brunches lay an egg. But at Piscos, you won't find the same old, same old. The cuisine here is South American, which on Sundays translates into a half-dozen interesting dishes you won't find anywhere else in town. Check out the Chilean scramble, which stirs things up by mixing eggs with spinach, onions, garlic and a spicy salsa; the puffy, mushroom-topped chorizo soufflé; or the salmone y capers, smoked salmon with well-poached eggs, a chipotle-fired cream cheese, capers and grilled tomatoes on toast points. Each entree includes a visit to the "intercontinental table," a buffet set with cheeses, yogurt, pastries and fresh fruit. The atmosphere at Piscos is so low-key that you can sit and read the Sunday paper, while Latin music playing in the background will perk you up for the rest of the day.

Best Power Breakfast

Decisions

Decisions is the best-kept secret on East Colfax, which could be why serious decision-makers decide to hold their power breakfasts here, away from prying eyes. The restaurant is close enough to the Capitol to appeal to lawmakers and right on the way to work for downtown types; stop by any morning and you'll see power brokers wolfing down eggs Benedict and breakfast bagels while they quietly divide the world among themselves. But the space is right for a peaceful early a.m. repast, too, with soothing, squash-colored walls, just enough light streaming in from the high windows, and strategically placed tables to give you privacy. Go for the Big Breakfast, which offers a choice of pancakes, waffle or French toast with eggs, hashbrowns and meat: If you clean your plate, all those movers and shakers will know that you're a big shot, too.

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