Best Japanese Restaurant 2014 | Sushi Sasa | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Japanese Restaurant

Sushi Sasa

Sushi Sasa/Instagram

Years ago, eating raw fish in this country seemed like something you'd do to haze the unsuspecting sorority girl from Iowa who'd never traveled beyond the cornfield. Now sushi-centric restaurants dot every curb and corner, but the best Japanese restaurants go way beyond the raw and the rolled. And Sushi Sasa chef/owner Wayne Conwell and his crew have all the right moves with which to capture the glory of Japanese cooking. While the sushi is unassailable, the menu reels you in with striking salads composed of sesame-salt-studded, pan-fried baby spinach slicked in a blue-cheese tofu dressing; pork belly porridge paired with Tokyo turnips; deep-fried Japanese beef skewers; an orgy of ramen bowls; and fragrant Japanese curries. And if you really want a climactic experience, the oysters dabbed with foie gras are the epitome of sexual healing.

Best Korean Restaurant

Dae Gee

Danielle Lirette

Denver may not have an official Koreatown, but it has a large Korean population — and an impressive number of places where you can sample cabbage kimchi, zucchini-studded pancakes and sizzling bibimbap. Most of the metro area's Korean restaurants are in Aurora, but when we're jonesing for a fix, we head to Arvada's Dae Gee. The name translates to "pig out," and that's precisely what you'll do as you dive into unlimited cook-your-own barbecue, dropping meats into the hot skillets that center the tables, then pulling out the caramelized flesh and lubricating it with hot chile sauce squeezed from a squirt bottle, then wrapping the meat with other condiments in leafy lettuce wraps. As at most Korean restaurants, a parade of banchan — small bowls of sides — precedes the meal, and truth be told, they're a meal in themselves.

Best Late-Afternoon Happy Hour

Old Major

The guy at the bar, a local chef, admits he's on the wagon, but he's definitely not on a diet: "This is the third time in a week that I've had the pork burger here; it's bomb!" he gushes. That pig-intensive burger — and yes, it's "bomb" — is part of the stellar happy-hour lineup at Old Major, the hip Highland restaurant whose bar turns into happy-hour central every day between 3 and 6 p.m., giving revelers a solid three hours to eat, drink and be merry. A fistful of cocktails — really good cocktails — are priced at $5; Infinite Monkey Theorem wines by the glass are a mere $6; and all draft beers, including a farmhouse ale and a sour, are $2 off the regular pour price. But chef Justin Brunson and his crew know that even lushes require comestibles, so they created a wonderful lineup of seasonally appropriate edibles: steamed mussels bobbing in a pool of Thai-inspired green curry; pork-fat French fries; a housemade charcuterie plate; that pork burger crowned with a fried egg; and pastry chef Nadine Donovan's unassailable pretzel rolls paired with flavored butter. Hungry yet?

Best Late-Night Happy Hour

Opal

If you're looking for a quiet place for a nightcap and a quick bite, Opal is not for you. By midnight, this place is likely to be hopping with club kids, night owls and the hungry hordes who realized that they forgot to eat dinner hours earlier. But between 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., during Opal's late-night happy hour, they can enjoy the same happy-hour deal offered every day from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.: two-for-one sushi, hand rolls and hot sake, as well as $2.50 22-ounce bottles of Kirin and $4 premium martinis. The $1.50 Corona deal offered during the afternoon doesn't hold at night, but the bargain oysters could help ensure that the night concludes with a very happy ending.

Best Mac and Cheese

Hops & Pie

Hops & Pie

It sounds easy: Throw cooked elbow noodles into a pot with sharp cheddar, peas, smoked ham hock, bacon, breadcrumbs and a few carefully selected spices, and — voilà! — the perfect mac and cheese. But if it were that easy, then everyone would be copying Hops & Pie, whose owners, Drew and Leah Watson, have taken one of the simplest comfort foods and turned it into a dish that you'll crave enough to order alongside your pizza and beer.

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant

Damascus Grill

Although Damascus Grill has been in its Littleton location for a decade, the depth of its menu has not changed in that time. Too many Middle Eastern restaurants are content to serve a greatest-hits menu of hummus, falafel and kabobs. But this institution pushes past popularity to reveal a deeper, more authentic roster, with dishes including okra stew with lamb, tomato and pomegranate sauce; lamb baked with tomatoes, dried lemon and seven spices; and vegetarian offerings such as mujadara (cracked wheat with lentils) and hummus mutabbal with whole, not puréed, chickpeas. Breads are made in-house, and you can branch out from pita with the mana-ish, a cheeseless Mediterranean pizza topped with sesame seeds and spices. Don't miss the baba ghanouj, a smoky roasted-eggplant dip with walnuts and pomegranate sauce mixed in with the standard sesame sauce, garlic and lemon — it deserves a best in show.

Best Nachos

Tacos Jalisco Mexican Food

Courtesy Tacos Jalisco

Longtime favorite Tacos Jalisco serves pure Colorado Mexican, with a little Tex-Mex, a little norteño, some influences from Michoacán and a lot of big burritos. But our favorite order here is the nachos. The kitchen takes a bed of freshly fried corn chips and tops it with hefty portions of typical nacho accoutrements: refried beans, orange cheddar, pico de gallo, guacamole and plenty of pickled jalapeños. But what makes this platter a standout is the unusually high quality of said accoutrements. Add some meat and a side of the restaurant's thick pork green chile, which smacks the dish with heat, and you've got the most macho nachos in the city.

Best New Bar

Ste. Ellie

There are plenty of high-end cocktail caves tucked into Denver's trendiest 'hoods, but Ste. Ellie, an intriguing fifty-seat boutique and small-plates retreat in the underbelly of Colt & Gray, rises above the rest. Although the black-and-white color palette, moody lighting, modular chairs and crescent-shaped booths are ambience-rich and obligingly swank, owner Nelson Perkins and head barman Kevin Burke have smartly assembled a behind-the-bar cast that harbors none of the snoot that too often plagues cocktail bars whose aesthetics are 100-proof highbrow. Fifteen cocktails — a fair split between classic and current, all impeccably accomplished — are augmented by a "based-on-your-preferences" bartender's choice, potent punch for a crowd, and a well-curated selection of wines, champagne and beer. There's no shortage of food cred here, either: Try the clams and octopus with viande 'nduja, an Italian pork sausage, or the duck-confit poutine.

Best New Brewery Patio

Sanitas Brewing

Sanitas Brewing opened last summer in a Boulder business park. But behind that nondescript exterior lies a cool, rustic interior that opens onto one of the most welcoming backyard-style patios in all of brewerydom. Beer drinkers can sit at benches and enjoy a view of the Foothills (and the brewery's namesake, Mount Sanitas) on a gorgeous Colorado day or play a few rousing games of bocce ball or cornhole on a court that overlooks a greenway and train tracks. And when that thirst hits — and it will — they can order a beer through the window of the indoor-outdoor bar. Perfect.

Best New Brewery Tap Room

Epic Brewing

Yes, Epic Brewing got its start in Utah, but when the owners decided to open a new production facility outside of that state (in order to avoid the frustrating Utah liquor laws), they wisely chose Colorado, investing a couple million dollars into their soaring new brewery and tap room in River North. And they did it right, loading the huge space with a long bar, enormous windows, community tables, a view of the brewing process, stunning decor, a fireplace, and dozens of different beers on tap. The brewery, which has long hours and frequent food-truck visits, has quickly become an anchor in a brewery-filled neighborhood.

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