Best Restaurant on West 32nd Avenue 2017 | Spuntino | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Restaurant on West 32nd Avenue

Spuntino

Spuntino

Everyone who works in the kitchen at Spuntino has muscular forearms from making pasta on the hand-cranked roller in the basement. That kind of effort goes into every dish and every glass at this intimate Italian eatery, all overseen by Cindhura Reddy and Elliot Strathmann, the husband-and-wife duo who took over Spuntino in 2014. Reddy is the chef; her experience working on rustic farms in Italy inspired dishes that combine rural sensibility with worldly sophistication. You'll find slow-cooked Colorado goat on one homey plate while marveling at octopus "carpaccio" on another; you'll wonder how Reddy gets those paper-thin shavings of tentacle to hold together in one postcard-sized slice. Strathmann selects the wines with the eye of a curio collector, presenting vintners and varietals that are hard to find even in Italy. The two keep things grounded in Colorado, though, with local, seasonal ingredients — some of which can be found in Strathmann's housemade amaros, perfect alongside a tempting dessert.

Readers' Choice: Fire on the Mountain

Best Restaurant on Havana Street

Yong Gung

Havana Street is the most diverse conduit in the metro area, at least for culinary adventurers. But even amid Ethiopian, Somali, Mexican, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants (and that's just a sampling), Yong Gung stands out. The menu at this bright and tidy eatery reflects Korean cuisine as it evolved during decades of Chinese immigration; the newcomers brought their recipes with them while learning to cook with new ingredients. The result is a canon of noodle dishes, soups and stir-fries, from jajangmyeon noodles in jet-black fermented-bean sauce to aggressively spicy jjampong soup swimming with shrimp, mussels, mushrooms and long noodles. Some dishes are reminiscent of sweet-and-salty American-Chinese combos, while others — like chilled naengmyeon — share a kindred spirit with Japanese cold ramen. Just don't skip the Korean fried chicken, coated in a spicy, sticky sauce so good you'll forget there was ever a KFC.

Readers' Choice: Sam's No. 3

Best Restaurant on Larimer Street

Denver Central Market

We know, we know: Denver Central Market isn't so much a restaurant as it is a collection of stalls where you can buy everything from coffee to your weekly produce to a meatball sub. But this all-purpose food hall certainly functions as a restaurant, at least during lunch and dinner hours, when neighbors, gawkers and tourists descend on it en masse and post up at long tables with ceviche, pasta, sandwiches and porchetta, paired to all manner of drinks. It also functions as a meeting place, a cocktail bar (thank Curio bar for that), a meat and produce market, a coffee shop and, for Denver's many freelancers, a de facto office; that versatility ensures the place is packed nearly from when it opens in the morning until it closes late at night. Built into an old antiques warehouse, there's nothing else in the Mile High quite like it, which may be why Denver Central Market quickly became a neighborhood anchor in one of the fastest-growing parts of the city.

Readers' Choice: Rioja

Best Restaurant on the Pearl Street Mall

Oak at Fourteenth

Evan Semón

The excellence of Oak at Fourteenth is apparent from the first sip of a cocktail created by beverage director/co-owner Bryan Dayton to the last taste of short rib or duck breast from chef/co-owner Steven Redzikowski's menu. The dining room is modern and streamlined, yet still feels warm and inviting, perhaps because of the wood smoke wafting from the kitchen. But whether the sense of comfort comes from that soft, campfire aroma or from the well-trained staff that never misses a beat, dinner at Oak is a full sensory experience, not just another meal. Since you're here to eat, though, bring a group and indulge in a large-format platter; the impressive ancho-glazed pork shoulder surrounded in roasted — nearly candied, really — seasonal vegetables is a jaw-dropper, even before you take your first bite. Wood-fired cooking has taken over the restaurant scene in Denver and Boulder, but Oak was the trailblazer that made it all possible.

Readers' Choice: Salt Bistro

Best Restaurant on the 16th Street Mall

ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro

Many Denverites think of the 16th Street Mall as little more than a destination where tourists grab Colorado T-shirts and overpriced beers. But the mall is also home turf for office workers and a growing number of downtown residents. For those folks, and for the rest of us looking for something special to top off a night on the town, ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro shines as a beacon of culinary excellence amid the fast-casuals and street-food kiosks. Chef/owner Lon Symensma's clever brand of Asian cuisine is a form of entertainment in itself, from the classic ChoLon French onion soup dumplings and kaya toast with egg cloud to newer explorations that go deep into Southeast Asian cooking, like a beautiful Burmese fermented tea-leaf salad. Symensma takes us on a journey he's made many times himself, showing us the street-hawker eats and the extravagant hotel dinners of his favorite cities. Not content to rest on his laurels, the chef keeps improving both the menu and the setting, with posh new seating for guests, better sound control in the always-packed dining room, and an evolving parade of dishes that show the kitchen at its most creative.

Readers' Choice: ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro

Best Restaurant Patio

Potager

Molly Martin

There's an unwritten maxim when it comes to outdoor dining: The better the patio, the worse the restaurant. After all, if you can pack the patio and keep the drinks flowing, who needs good food? But Potager's half-sunny, half-shaded patio flips that old saw on its end: It's an integral part of the dining experience. The word "potager" is French for "kitchen garden," so a seat on chef/owner Teri Rippeto's hidden patio means you're surrounded by herbs and vegetables that will make it onto your plate. Potager turns twenty this year, marking two decades of serving wonderful creations inspired by what's growing right outside the back door. With such longevity in Capitol Hill, Potager's every dish carries the terroir of the neighborhood.

Readers' Choice: Colterra Food & Wine

Best Rooftop Patio

Fire at the ART, a Hotel

The ART is filled with fabulous artwork, but nothing beats the views from the fourth-floor Fire Terrace, an extension of the Fire restaurant and lounge. The hotel crowd is usually glittery enough, but at dusk this rooftop patio is bathed in golden light reflected off the History Colorado Center across the street. The patio boasts high-tops, a fire pit and posh cabana seating more suited to a swank beach resort than a downtown hotel, but the entertainment is definitely urban, as are the incredible glimpses you get up and down Broadway. Come for the social hour, which stretches from 3 to 6 p.m. and includes surprisingly good deals for the setting, and stay for twilight and beyond, when taillights twinkle and the scene turns magical.

Readers' Choice: Linger

Best Patio for Pets

Racines

The thirty-plus-year-old Racines is everyone's go-to restaurant, and when we say everyone, we're including man's best friend. Dogs are definitely welcome at this Denver institution, which reserves the most prime spot on the two-level patio for pets that want to enjoy the sunshine while their guardians enjoy a hearty meal. There's even a separate entrance from the sidewalk into the pet-friendly area, and if you want to give your pooch a bit of your breakfast sandwich or a morsel from that mountain of nachos, no one's going to stop you.

Readers' Choice: Denver Beer Co.

Best I-70 Pit Stop

Bread Bar

Courtesy of Bread Bar

A decade ago, you might have been forgiven for blowing through the stretch of I-70 between Denver and the Eisenhower tunnel. But now you have good reason to slow your roll and exit the highway, and not just for a reprieve from weekend traffic. At the Silver Plume turnoff, make a beeline to the Bread Bar, a charming cocktail haven that's built into a former bakery and takes its inspiration from the tiny mining town it calls home. Bread Bar's owners enlisted the help of the crew at Denver's Way Back for drinks; their libations incorporate mountain flavors into classics and broadcast Colorado history via their names. On sunny days and during the warm months, take your drink out to Bread Bar's patio, a dog-friendly oasis infused with the vibe of this town; at night, keep a lookout for live music and pop-up food. This bar is only open Friday through Sunday — but you're a weekend warrior anyway, aren't you?

Best Restaurant at DIA

Elway's

Cutting it close is the way to go when traveling by air; time wasted while wedged into an uncomfortable airport chair is time you'll never get back — unless you choose to while away your extra travel time at Elway's. If it's your first day on vacation, you won't mind splurging on steak and eggs, a Colorado whiskey or a $19 burrito — the latter worth every penny because it's stuffed with enough chicken-fried steak to easily feed two adults. Business travelers will feel at ease surrounded by dark wood and other suits and ties, and an expense account means you can spring for that twenty-ounce prime rib dinner. With surroundings so swank and food so good, you might choose to miss your plane.

Readers' Choice: Root Down

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