Best 24/7 Restaurant 2013 | Tom's Urban 24 | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
Navigation
Support Us
Search

Best 24/7 Restaurant

Tom's Urban 24

There are numerous reasons to be out and about in Denver, even at 3 a.m., and Tom's Urban 24 will make sure that you never go to bed with a growling belly — although if you're two sheets to the wind, you might have a few problems maneuvering your way through the menu, which is as long as the work day is short. A new addition to Denver's very small round-the-clock lineup, Tom's is a massive, hip joint on the edge of Larimer Square. Spry young servers deliver food that's anything but diner-standard, with options including deviled eggs, truffled lobster and shrimp pot pie, thin-crusted pizzas topped with figs, and even pho. There are plenty of other insomnia-assisters, too: burgers, Mexican staples, eggs done every which way, salads and sandwiches, all of which promise to fortify you for that late-night prowl. There's also a full bar pouring beers, craft cocktails and wine until 2 a.m. and starting again five hours later — which gives all-nighters an excuse to return bright and early for a daily dose of hangover-helping liquid courage.

Best After-Midnight Menu

Ralibertos

These seedy San Diego-style taco huts, both of which are 24/7 operations with the luxury of drive-thru windows (a huge perk at 2 a.m., when garish lights do justice to no one), dole out the diviest drunk food south of the border: tacos, tortas, quesadillas, taquitos, nachos and huge mounds of carne asada fries blanketed with cheese and green chile. Salsas, red and green, give everything a fever jolt. The interiors aren't much to look at, and the tables are typically strewn with someone else's late-night Styrofoam, but the prices are geared toward paupers, and while you'll have to get your liquid courage elsewhere — there's no alcohol — a Mexican Coke at midnight loads you up with just enough caffeine to keep your eyeballs open.

Best Barrel-Aged Cocktail

Central Bistro & Bar

Central Bistro & Bar is hot. You don't need to look further than the "Hot" sign over the open kitchen — a vestige of the Regency Hotel once owned by the family of Central founder Isiah Salazar — to recognize that. But this new spot on the edge of LoHi also serves up one of the coolest cocktails in town: a barrel-aged Manhattan made with St. George Breaking & Entering Bourbon. Sip it while looking over the skyline of downtown Denver, and you've got an experience for the ages.

Best Bartender

Courtney Wilson

Being a great bartender is about far more than mixing magic — although that element is certainly important. But a bartender's role behind the stick is also about spending time with those bellied up to the bar, whether they're high rollers or gravediggers. And Courtney Wilson, now a bartender at the very new Old Major after her most recent stint at Williams & Graham, deserves heroine worship for the way she straddles the line between professional and perky. She's engaging and exuberant and nearly religious when waxing poetic about the city's cocktail landscape, and she's clearly moved by spirits, as evidenced by her ingenuity when crafting cocktails — whether they're on the syllabus or one of her clever one-offs. Wilson comes off as genuine and knowledgeable but never snooty, and she doesn't overthink what she pours in your drink. Like the pro that she is, she just gets it.

Best Bartender's-Choice Cocktail

Colt & Gray

Waffling about the perfect cocktail is hardly sexy, but indecision is often the result when you're confronted with a menu full of clever names and obscure ingredients. You know what you want, but nothing looks quite right. Not to worry: The bartenders at Colt & Gray have you covered. Not only is their bar stocked with every spirit known, but they also have an array of house-made bitters and other mixers at their disposal — and they know the exact flavor profile of every liquid behind that bar. So don't bother trying to remember the name of that perfect drink you once had on vacation in Italy. Just describe some flavors that turn you on, or tell them about a cocktail you dreamed about, or maybe just name your favorite band and movie. A moment's pause and they get to work. A shake or a stir later, and you'll be sitting there with a great drink in your hand, so you can get back to being sexy.

Best BBQ

Boney's Smokehouse BBQ

Here's a meaty subject: Why is Denver so shy of good barbecue spots? There's no easy answer for that — but there's an easy answer for the best BBQ joint in town. And the best just got better this year when Boney's Smokehouse, Lamont and Trina Lynch's downtown, down-home restaurant, moved into a much bigger space next door that not only allowed for an expansion of hours, but an expansion of the menu, as well. Lamont, a native of Florida, has spent years giving a Southern tweak to a repertoire of family recipes imported from the Bahamas; as a result, the barbecue here defies categorization. It's simply Lamont style, and that's very good, indeed. He relies on a dry rub and smokes the meat — brisket, pulled pork, hot links, chicken and ribs — over low heat for a long time. He and Trina make their own sauces; the house version is thick and tomato-based, both tangy and peppery, though not too spicy — and there's a jalapeño-infused version, too.

Best Bloody Mary Bar

The Corner Office

You won't want to stop till the glittery balls of light stop spinning at the Corner Office, which hosts a disco-themed brunch every Sunday, complete with "I Will Survive" bottomless Bloody Marys. At $15, they're not a cheap date, but the pour starts with a generous plop of Sobieski vodka — and then the rest is up to you. While most bars issue a cease-and-desist order after the tomato juice, shakes of salt and pepper and a stalk of celery, the Bloody Mary bar here features a knock-out smorgasbord of customary — and crazy — garnish blasts: marinated olives, haricots verts, watermelon radishes, shoestring potatoes, bacon, various hot sauces and spices, pickled eggplant...and pork belly. The combinations are endless, and with so many add-ons, it's breakfast in a glass. Bring a thirsty appetite and, if you plan to drink endlessly, a designated chauffeur.

Best Bottle Beer List

Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe

One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred bottles of beer. Take one down and pass it around, 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Unless you're at the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe, which has more like 150 different bottles in its cellar, including rare Belgian and American specialties that you may not be able to find anywhere else. Open since 2007, the Cheeky Monk is the place to go when you're looking for something different.

Best Breakfast Burrito — Eat In

Jalapeños Mexican Restaurant

Denverites take their breakfast burritos as seriously as they do their bicycle laps around Washington Park, and given the hundreds of burrito trucks, burrito carts and burrito shacks sprinkled throughout the city, it's not easy to choose just one as that marvelous eye-opener. But morning, noon and night, Jalapeños delivers in spades — and spice. Soft-scrambled eggs, melted cheddar, fried cubes of potatoes — enough to alert you to the fact that they're there, but not so many that they overtake everything else — and a fevered, fierce and fiery green chile studded with habanero chiles are tucked into a griddled flour tortilla that sells for a mere $1.99. Bacon, ham, chorizo and even Soyrizo — the vegetarian equivalent of swine — can be added for a small price, and it's available Jalapeños style, too, with grilled onions, tomatoes and jalapeños. No matter which one you order, it's a wrap.

Best Breakfast Burrito — To Go

Araujo's Restaurant

Araujo's, a colorful storefront spot in the Federal Boulevard breakfast-burrito triangle that also includes a Santiago's and a Jack-n-Grill, opens at 6 a.m. weekdays (7 a.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. Sunday) and starts handing out the city's best breakfast burritos to go just minutes later. Every day of the week, Araujo's offers a special breakfast burrito from opening until 11 a.m. for just $1.50: a tortilla packed with scrambled eggs, cubes of potato, bits of green chiles and the chef's choice of meat (bacon one day, sausage the next), with cheese and green chile filling all the cracks.

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