Best Food Truck/Cart 2015 | The Orange Crunch | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Food Truck/Cart

The Orange Crunch

Filipino cuisine isn’t easy to locate in Denver, and most of what you’ll find is of the mobile variety. But that’s not a problem, especially if your search for empanadas, lumpia, chicken adobo and other Filipino specialties leads you to the Orange Crunch food truck, which specializes in rice-flour empanadas colored vivid orange with achiote seasoning and stuffed full of scrambled eggs, mung beans, shredded green papaya and a choice of meat — usually something mouthwatering like hickory-smoked bacon, chicken sausage or ground bison. Other specials come and go, so check the truck’s Twitter feed (@DenverOC) for the latest, which could be chicken skewers, smoked pork belly or kalbi short ribs. The only trick at this truck is waiting patiently for the delicious savory pies to cool enough so the molten fillings don’t burn your tongue, since each one is stuffed and fried to order.

Readers’ choice: Quiero Arepas

Best 24/7 Restaurant

Tacos Rapidos

When searching for sustenance at 3 a.m., certain rules apply: The food should be cheap, fast and filling. After all, the party's over and last call has come and gone, but you're still out and about, looking to extend the night. The Tacos Rapidos on West Evans Avenue fulfills all requirements, serving cheap and decidedly downscale Mexican (by way of San Diego) fare with no fancy pretensions — or even a dining room. Sure, the guacamole comes from a gun and the corn tortillas are a little too thick and leathery to be double-layered, but the tacos are so fat with shredded-pork carnitas, spicy barbacoa or surprisingly tender lengua that you'll barely notice. Deep-fried rolled tacos (don't look for flautas on the menu), carne asada fries or similarly souped-up super nachos will satisfy the worst of late-night cravings. And if you're up early or late enough to yearn for breakfast, the breakfast burritos come stuffed with more bacon or chorizo than scrambled eggs.

Readers' choice: Pete's Kitchen

Best Menu for the Munchies

TAG Burger Bar

Toasted Cheez-It and Goldfish mac and cheese, adult milkshakes, deep-fried Oreos with Nutella? Troy Guard might've had the munchies when he came up with TAG Burger Bar's playfully innovative menu, a gluttonous ode to our childhood. Take a toke and then take your healthy appetite to TAG, because the signature Andrew Jackson burger can't be devoured in one sitting...or can it? Tell us after you try the hot mess of shaved black truffles, house-cured pork belly, crispy chicken skin, sunnyside-up egg, Brie, avocado, confit tomato, chipotle aioli slaw and tomato-truffle oil.

Best Patio for Play

Local 46

Whether you're looking for a patio where you can relax by a fire or one where you can work up a sweat throwing around bocce balls, Local 46's biergarten is the best place to play. The 2,900-square-foot patio, which this popular bar opened in 2013, is like going to visit that best friend who has the Cribs-style setup. It's cozy despite its size, and the gravel underfoot invokes a school playground or a huge campground. There are woody nooks where you can lounge by fire pits, a ping-pong table, cornhole games and, yes, a bocce-ball court. And you can order both food and drinks at the outdoor bar. If you're lucky enough to get a seat at the community picnic tables, order the Gutter Special: Your beers will be delivered to an ice-filled metal gutter splicing through the table.

Best Restaurant Patio

Domo

Domo is more than just a restaurant. It's a museum, an experience in Japanese culture, built to look like a country house with a traditional Nippon Kan aikido dojo on the side and a garden out back. And what a garden: This is an ideal urban oasis, with wood-stump tables alongside a winding path beside overhanging trees, ponds and a little bridge. Walking to the back of the garden, you find shrines to Buddha and a fertility god. It's a perfect place to wait for your table and contemplate Domo owner Gaku Homma's altruistic efforts around the world: His nonprofit Aikido Humanitarian Active Network supports orphanages, medical facilities, schools and other programs in thirty countries, including the Denver Rescue Mission here at home. Domo, indeed.

Readers' choice: Linger

Best Rooftop Patio

Ignite Burgers & Bar

Courtesy Ignite

A great rooftop bar doesn't require a great view of the mountains. At Ignite, you do glimpse the mountains (until taller buildings go up in the Platte Valley) and see some of the city skyline, but the real draw is the space itself: It's half-enclosed, half open-air, ready for any season. In cold weather, the patio is open on weekends, and come Rockies opening day, it's back in action whenever Ignite is open, with fans and misters to keep patrons cool, plus a cover to prevent the sun from pounding on mimosa-soaked heads. And no matter the air's temperature, thoughts of Ignite's fiery food selections, including wood-fired pizza and thick slices of Man Candy sweet and spicy bacon, will keep you warm.

Readers' choice: Linger

Best Patio for Pets

Denver Beer Co.

You don't have to have a pup in tow to enjoy Denver Beer Co.'s pooch-friendly patio. No matter when you visit this Platte Street brewery, you'll find dogs lounging under picnic tables and bar stools, waiting for a stranger to give a good scratch. If you bring your own pup, you can supply him or her with treats from behind the bar: Brew Bones' Pale Tails, made from grains left over after Denver Beer Co. and other local craft breweries make their pale ales. Five treats will cost you $3 — and they're alcohol-free! If you don't have a dog but are jonesing for company, you're bound to find some puppy love at Denver Beer Co.

Readers' choice: Denver Beer Co.

Best Fast-Casual Restaurant/Chain

Chop Shop Casual Urban Eatery

In a sector dominated by wraps, bowls and burritos, Chop Shop Casual Urban Eatery feels more fine-dining than fast-casual, with tables and booths crafted of wide-plank barn wood and reclaimed fences, batched cocktails and a globally inspired menu of entrees, salads and sandwiches. Drawing on years of high-end kitchen experience, chef-owner Clint Wangsnes is a master at menu design, putting out such tempting plates as pork tenderloin with yuzu-cherry chutney, sirloin with potato-pumpkin-mushroom hash, and 72-hour slow-cooked onion bliss, a French onion soup that deserves every drop of its name. If it weren't for the menu hung on a brightly lit board and the line you stand in to place your order, you might even forget you're in a fast-casual spot, since plates are delivered and cleared by staff.

Readers' choice: Illegal Pete's

Best Sandwich Shop

Salt & Grinder

Restaurateur Frank Bonanno has built his reputation on singular dishes — like the lobster macaroni and cheese at his flagship eatery, Mizuna — and fine-dining experiences that strike a balance of fun and elegance. But beneath the chef's coat beats the heart of a New Jersey kid raised on Taylor pork roll and meatball subs. So it's not surprising that when he decided to open his own sandwich shop, Bonanno hit the mark with East Coast classics piled high onto soft rolls from Grateful Bread. Housemade sausage and rare-cooked roast beef highlight a menu that also features pitch-perfect egg salad, Luca marinara and fresh burrata. While many of the ingredients aren't fancy — grinders are adorned with thin tomato slices and iceberg lettuce — the combination of simplicity and a few key bursts of flavor and originality makes each sandwich an exercise in nostalgia and comfort.

Readers' choice: Snarf's

Best Mac and Cheese

West End Tap House

Mac and cheese is one of those contentious foods: Purists believe the focus should be solely on the noodles and the cheese, while gastronauts like it gussied up with lobster, bacon and all the fixings. The twain can meet at the West End Tap House, whose mac and cheese would satisfy both parties. Here the orecchiette are bathed in a rich and creamy Gruyère-and-white-cheddar blend, then topped with a truffle-herb mix that would make even the most ascetic purist swoon.

Readers' choice: Steuben's

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