Best Fried Chicken 2003 | Rocky Mountain Diner/Castle Cafe | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
Navigation
Support Us
Search

Best Fried Chicken

Rocky Mountain Diner/Castle Cafe

The fabulous pan-fried chicken at the Rocky Mountain Diner and its southern sibling, the Castle Cafe, is enough to fry you to the moon. Pieces of tender bird are coated in a spicy, super-secret-recipe batter, then fried in heart-healthy canola oil until they're tender and juicy inside, golden-brown and crisp outside. With other places dropping fried chicken off their menus, the fact that these restaurants continue to offer fried chicken -- and such good fried chicken -- is something to crow about.

Best Fried Squid

Jalapeño Mexican Grill

Think you're not a calamari kind of person? That just might be because you've never had your squid done south-of-the-border style. Jalapeño Mexican grill takes thick-cut rings of squid, rolls them in finely ground herbed breadcrumbs, then sends 'em down for a quick swim in the deep fryer, where they're in the oil just barely long enough to cook through, but not so long that they shrivel and turn rubbery. The tender rings come with creamy buttermilk ranch sauce for wimps who want to cover up the fresh, ever-so-slightly funky seafood taste, but all you really need is a squeeze or two of lime juice to make for some great finger food.

Best Fried Squid

Jalape�o Mexican Grill

Think you're not a calamari kind of person? That just might be because you've never had your squid done south-of-the-border style. Jalapeo Mexican grill takes thick-cut rings of squid, rolls them in finely ground herbed breadcrumbs, then sends 'em down for a quick swim in the deep fryer, where they're in the oil just barely long enough to cook through, but not so long that they shrivel and turn rubbery. The tender rings come with creamy buttermilk ranch sauce for wimps who want to cover up the fresh, ever-so-slightly funky seafood taste, but all you really need is a squeeze or two of lime juice to make for some great finger food.

Best Fried Calves' Glands

Mizuna

Frank Bonanno and his crew at Mizuna do just about everything pretty darn well, but the one thing they do far and away better than any other kitchen in town is sweetbreads. Thymus glands are devilishly hard to cook right; they require careful handling and perfect timing in the pan. But in expert hands, the result can be a sublime bit of charcuterie that -- like the preparation of foie gras or the proper handling of truffles, both of which Mizuna also does admirably well -- can be held up as a benchmark achievement. Mizuna's sweetbreads are a fine measure of a galley and crew that consistently bring their A-game every night of the week.

Best Fried Calves' Glands

Mizuna

Joni Schrantz
Frank Bonanno and his crew at Mizuna do just about everything pretty darn well, but the one thing they do far and away better than any other kitchen in town is sweetbreads. Thymus glands are devilishly hard to cook right; they require careful handling and perfect timing in the pan. But in expert hands, the result can be a sublime bit of charcuterie that -- like the preparation of foie gras or the proper handling of truffles, both of which Mizuna also does admirably well -- can be held up as a benchmark achievement. Mizuna's sweetbreads are a fine measure of a galley and crew that consistently bring their A-game every night of the week.

Best Deep-Fried Twinkies

Wingin' It

Twinkies are good. Twinkies drizzled with chocolate sauce and piped with whipped cream are better. Now take that same Twinkie and dunk it in 350-degree fryer oil for a few seconds, and what you have is a dessert so ridiculously sweet and mind-numbingly bad for you that no life can be considered well-lived until you try one. And now,

thanks to restaurateur and certified mad scientist Derrol Moorhead, you can, because he offers them at Wingin' It, his little sports-themed wing joint. Trust us on this one: A deep-fried Twinkie isn't as gross as it sounds. The hot fryer oil crisps the outside by caramelizing the sugars in the yellow-cake shell and turns the cream filling into sweet, white lava; other than that, though, the Twinkie itself is pretty much unchanged. If the deep-fried Twinkie isn't extreme enough for you, Moorhead has recently started serving a full range of battered and deep-fried candy bars as well. And, of course, Wingin' It also puts out a nice spread of chicken wings, with a dozen-odd gourmet sauces that range from just plain hot to sweet mango.

Best Deep-Fried Twinkies

Wingin' It

Twinkies are good. Twinkies drizzled with chocolate sauce and piped with whipped cream are better. Now take that same Twinkie and dunk it in 350-degree fryer oil for a few seconds, and what you have is a dessert so ridiculously sweet and mind-numbingly bad for you that no life can be considered well-lived until you try one. And now,

thanks to restaurateur and certified mad scientist Derrol Moorhead, you can, because he offers them at Wingin' It, his little sports-themed wing joint. Trust us on this one: A deep-fried Twinkie isn't as gross as it sounds. The hot fryer oil crisps the outside by caramelizing the sugars in the yellow-cake shell and turns the cream filling into sweet, white lava; other than that, though, the Twinkie itself is pretty much unchanged. If the deep-fried Twinkie isn't extreme enough for you, Moorhead has recently started serving a full range of battered and deep-fried candy bars as well. And, of course, Wingin' It also puts out a nice spread of chicken wings, with a dozen-odd gourmet sauces that range from just plain hot to sweet mango.

Best Pizza -- Colorado Style

Beau Jo's

Sometimes you just have to go with a classic. Beau Jo's invented the concept of Colorado-style pizza, and since 1973 has been serving mountain pies with its slightly spicy signature sauce, heaps of toppings and fresh braided crusts. You can use those bones to mop up honey, making a slice both a main course and dessert. Whether you're rewarding yourself after a rigorous day at the office or one on the slopes, Beau Jo's pizza is a Colorado staple worthy of its reputation.

Best Pizza -- Colorado Style

Beau Jo's

Beau Jo's Pizza
Sometimes you just have to go with a classic. Beau Jo's invented the concept of Colorado-style pizza, and since 1973 has been serving mountain pies with its slightly spicy signature sauce, heaps of toppings and fresh braided crusts. You can use those bones to mop up honey, making a slice both a main course and dessert. Whether you're rewarding yourself after a rigorous day at the office or one on the slopes, Beau Jo's pizza is a Colorado staple worthy of its reputation.

Best Pizza -- New York Style

NY Pizzeria

For East Coast transplants, there's only one way to do pizza properly -- and that's the way they've been doing it since day one at NY Pizzeria. The hands-down favorite of many ex-pat Big Apple kitchen crews in Denver, this slightly run-down strip-mall pie joint does everything right. The crusts are thin -- a little crispy, but pliable enough to fold. The toppings are basic, but they're the real McCoy -- real shredded mozzarella rather than mozzarella-flavored cheez product, Italian sausage and pepperoni, fresh veggies -- and the sauce is mild, a little sweet and not messed up with a lot of spices or chile powder. Most important, the 'za at NY Pizzeria has the grease: that mysterious orange oil that oozes out the back of every folded slice, burns your hand and ruins your best party shirt as soon as you take a bite.

Best Of Denver®

Best Of