Best Last Taste of Colorado 2008 | Mesa Verde Lounge | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
Navigation
Support Us
Search

Best Last Taste of Colorado

Mesa Verde Lounge

As you wait to fly out of Denver, load up on liquid memories of your time here. High above the A Concourse you'll find Mesa Verde, an eatery named for one of this state's most historic sites — and a spot where you could make some history of your own. Mesa Verde promises that here you can "drink up, eat up, light up," and not only does it feature one of Denver International Airport's rare smoking lounges (you can avoid the cigarettes by sitting on the deck overlooking the concourse), but it also stocks two dozen made-in-Colorado beers — six on tap and many more in bottles, ranging from Avalanche Amber Ale (Breckenridge Brewery) to Third Eye Pale Ale (Steamworks Brewing Company). Praise the Lord! (And you might get to if you have the server we did over the holidays, listed as "Christ" on our receipt.)

Best Last-Date Dinner

Osteria Marco

Scott Lentz
Never mind that this restaurant has great food. When it comes to dumping a date, it's all about location, location, location. And the subterranean pork palace known as Osteria Marco is just the spot to ditch someone. Why? Because at one end of the room is a staircase leading to street level, and tucked off to the side are the bathrooms. So here's how you do it: Drop the let's-just-be-friends bomb, wait for your now-former significant other to excuse him or herself and go off to cry in the bathroom. Then make a dash for the stairs. Within thirty seconds, you'll be up and out, lost in the Larimer Square street traffic. True, you'll be running out on the check, but after what he/she did to you that warranted such a harsh, public dumping in the first place, doesn't he/she deserve to get stuck with the bill?

Best Late-Night American Menu

Steuben's

Cassandra Kotnik
Denver remains a tough place to find a great meal late at night. Enter Steuben's. With a kitchen that serves until midnight on the weekends and eleven on school nights, Steuben's is your best bet for a real late-night dinner, whether you're looking for good, alcohol-absorbing grub, beating back a savage attack of the munchies or simply want a solid meal. And while Steuben's has an extensive menu, the night creatures here come for the American regional classics, hearty fare such as gravy fries, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs and green-chile cheeseburgers.

Best Late-Night Breakfast

The Corner Office

In London, the butchers from Smithfield Market celebrate the finish of a long day with a couple pints of Guinness, some beans and a plate of black pudding. In the swing-shift industrial towns of Northern China, men put away bowls of congee rice porridge and yu za kuei (fried crullers) before trudging off to the factories. Here in Denver? We've got the Corner Office, where, no matter how long or how weird your day has been, you can finish it (or, depending on your proclivities, start it) in true American style: with a shot of whiskey and a bowl of Crunch Berries. Cereal not your thing? The kitchen also does waffles, including blueberry cheesecake with graham cracker-maple syrup and a killer Black Forest variety with cherries and chocolate.

Best Late-Night Menu

Izakaya Den

Izakaya Den
Funny thing about Izakaya Den: Owner Toshi Kizaki didn't write the menu for you. He didn't write it for the market, for the scene, for any specific demographic. He came up with the concept, the cuisine, many of the specific menu items to satisfy the wants and needs of one person only: Toshi Kizaki. See, Toshi, who also owns Sushi Den across the street, loves Denver, but he'd long felt that the city was missing a spot where people who work late (like him and cooks in general) could get something to eat. So finally, he just built that spot himself. And lucky for us he did. Because if the late-night crowds at the bar and in the dining room at Izakaya are any indication, there are a lot of people in this city who want to eat exactly like Toshi does: in great volume, with weird juxtapositions (Japanese-Mediterranean fusion) of flavors, and to do so long after the traditional dinner hour has come and gone.

Best Late-Night Mexican Restaurant

Tambien

Tambien is all about the timing. When Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz realized that Sketch just wasn't going to make it, they closed it up, fast, and turned the basement space into a darker, more sophisticated version of Mezcal. Today, Tambien is a great spot for after-dark boozing and carrying-on, with an uncomplicated menu full of Mexican comfort foods, a kitchen that works late and a big bar stocked with some of the best south-of-the-border intoxicants ever devised by man.

Best Late-Night Tacos

Mezcal

Danielle Lirette
At Mezcal, the talents of partners Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz combine to create a great bar, a great neighborhood hangout, a great place to go when you're feeling like behaving badly. From the Mexican-soap-opera-and-lucha-libre theme in the dining room to the wondrous collection of tequilas and mezcals behind the bar, there are many reasons to love the place. Our favorite reason? Dollar tacos from 10 p.m. until close — the perfect way to get up for, come down from or suffer through anything that Friday night brings you. And the buck-fifty PBRs don't hurt, either.

Best Lobster

Cherry Crest Seafood Market

Cherry Crest Seafood Market not only serves the best lobster in Denver, but it also has the best lobster deal in Denver. In season, you can get a full lobster dinner for around twenty bucks — easily half the price of the competition. And Cherry Crest is steaming and cracking Maine lobsters — the best — while some of the other guys are making do with coldwater Aussies, or worse. One word of caution: Come very early and be prepared to wait. Fortunately, the lobster's well worth it.

Best Locally Based Chain

Smashburger

Yes, Smashburger is a small chain — but we don't expect that to be the case for long, not with such a genius concept and excellent execution. At Smashburger, the Denver-born idea of "fast-casual" dining is applied to the Denver-born idea of the cheeseburger, and the result is a culinary mash-up of a Chipotle-style business model, a sleek, modern diner and a burgers-at-the-bar vibe that makes Smashburger an ideal spot for a fast lunch, an easy dinner or even a moderately late-night snack. (All locations are open until 10 p.m.) As long as all its outlets keep turning out great burgers, this chain should be a smash hit.

Best Low-End Steakhouse

Bastien's

Molly Martin
While Denver certainly boasts more than its fair share of upscale steakhouses, there's only one Bastien's — a place where people feeling more Humphrey Bogart than Gordon Gekko have been going for great steaks for decades. With its own kind of strange magic, Bastien's pulls everything — service and food, booze, decor and history — into one seamless, inimitable, only-in-Denver whole. The joint has been serving (in one form or another) since 1937, and it looks as though it hasn't been updated since Hugh Hefner banged his first bunny. From the streetside neon to the indoor twinkle lights, the paisley carpets to the battered martini shakers, Bastien's stands as not just a great steakhouse, but as one of the most honest, revered restaurants in town.

Best Of Denver®

Best Of

Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy Westword may earn a portion of sales from products & services purchased through links on our site from our affiliate partners. ©2024 Denver Westword, LLC. All rights reserved.
Do Not Sell or Share My Information
Powered By Foundation