Best Roast Fish 2002 | 240 Union | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Roast Fish

240 Union

Courtesy of 240 Union
Don't throw this one back: Roasted to order in a brick oven, 240 Union's fish is all crispy, sea-salty, lemon-tart skin and moist, silky flesh that melts in your mouth. The price and type of fish change with the seasons -- sometimes it's a snapper that's big enough for two, sometimes it's a sea bass you won't want to share -- but it's always a keeper. Although 240 Union may have other fish to fry, we toast the roast.

Best Broasted Chicken

Okoboji Inn

Broasting falls somewhere between roasting and frying, a patented process that was invented by the Broaster Co. back in 1952. Basically, it involves marinating a whole chicken, then putting it in a special pressure fryer that seals in the juices while keeping the oil content to a minimum. The result is one tasty bird: crispy skin, moist meat. The Okoboji Inn -- named after the lake in Iowa, it has a casual atmosphere reminiscent of a dockside cafe -- follows all of the Broaster Co. rules and serves up an unbelievably tender, juicy broasted chicken. A bird in the hand here is worth two from anywhere else.

Best Fried Chicken

Kapre Lounge & Fried Chicken #1

The Kapre Lounge is a Denver institution, a longtime outpost on Welton Street that serves the best fried chicken in town. This is Southern-style chicken, with a crunchy, oily, peppery, lightly battered skin covering slippery, juice-dripping bird. And since the chicken is cooked in heart-healthy canola oil, go ahead and splurge on sides of buttery collard greens and dense macaroni and cheese.

Best Sesame Chicken

Moongate Asian Grill

Fly us to the Moongate, one of this town's best-kept secrets. The tiny, six-table eatery in a tiny, nondescript strip mall cooks up quality Asian fare with big flavors -- and it's equally adept with the most popular dishes from each of the major cuisines in that region. While the tempura (Japanese), chicken satay (Indonesia) and egg rolls (Vietnamese) are all fine, the sesame chicken really soars. For this quintessential version of the quintessential Chinese dish, sizable chunks of chicken are coated in a thick batter, fried until crispy, rolled in sesame seeds and then glazed with a perfectly balanced sweet-and-spicy sauce -- not sweet enough to coat a candy apple, and not so spicy that you can't taste the moist, juicy meat inside that crust. The sesame chicken comes on the perfect accessory: a bed of steamed vegetables that have been tossed on the grill just long enough to caramelize their edges.

Best Chicken-Fried Steak

Bonnie Brae Tavern

The Dire family has been serving good old-fashioned diner fare at this Bonnie Brae roadhouse since 1934 -- when the road outside was still dirt, rather than today's busy University Boulevard. But not much else has changed since those days. Sure, the pizza toppings have gotten more exotic, and microbrews now sit next to Coors at the bar (oh, yes, and the prices have gone up a bit), but the old family recipes are the same. One of our favorites is for chicken-fried steak, a formula that calls for a very large slab of flank steak to be coated in a floury batter, pan-fried in butter and then smothered in peppery country gravy, with mashed potatoes plopped alongside to soak up any excess gravy and juice. The crust, studded with small blackened bits from the pan, is so tasty that you could make a meal of it -- but then you'd miss the meat inside, which is tender enough to slice with a fork.

Best Steakhouse

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse

At Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, the steaks are awesome. The service is gracious. The wine list is impressive. The dining room is classy. The sides are stellar. The prices are up there -- but you get what you pay for. For the best steaks in town, Del Frisco's is the winner and still the chomp.

Best Steakhouse for the Common Man

Texas Land & Cattle Steak House

Saddle up and head south -- into the heart of suburban sprawl, for pity's sake -- for some of the best steaks in town. Texas Land & Cattle Steak House, a link in a chain out of Austin, serves up a heapin' helpin' of food in low-key surroundings; this steakhouse manages to feel like a Western watering hole without hitting you over the head with contrived cowboyisms. The meat of the matter is beef, as it should be: USDA Choice, well-aged and cut right, then hickory-smoked and mesquite-grilled. The cooking process results in charred little bits all over the steak, which has a deep, smoky taste and tender-textured flesh with just the right amount of chewiness. While the flavor -- and portions -- are big, the prices are relatively small, with a sixteen-ounce ribeye coming in at $19.99. And unlike at higher-end steakhouses, the meat comes with several complimentary sides to keep it company: The chile-spiked beans and garlicky mashed potatoes are tops, and the house salad is just fine (or spring an extra buck for the splendid retro wedge, ice-cold iceberg topped with an avalanche of blue-cheese dressing and bacon bits). Desserts are Texas-sized, too, so you'll want to save space for the insulin-injection Jack Daniel's pie. Yee-haw!

Best Prime Rib

The Downtown Broker

Prime rib is such an old-time tradition, it's not surprising to find the town's best version at the Downtown Broker, a thirty-year-old restaurant that has seen more proposals and anniversaries than Mickey Rooney. The elegant dining room -- part of a former bank -- is all Japanese cherry wood, ornate knickknacks, rich fabrics, cozy booths and low lighting. The service is as accommodating as the by-the-glass wine list, which offers more than a hundred choices, including some rare high-end ones. And then, of course, there's the free bottomless bowl of peel-and-eat shrimp. But to make your meal a truly special occasion, order the prime rib: When it roasts this primal rib cut, the kitchen lovingly coaxes out all the flavor while keeping in all the juices. You'll want to savor every bite of the fork-tender meat, which comes with an authentic bubble of Yorkshire pudding.

Best BBQ Ribs

Rib Crib Bar & Grill

We're tickled by the ribs at the Rib Crib, which Evergreen native Troy Tyus took over last year from the Crib's original owners, who'd had the place for thirteen years. Along with the restaurant, Tyus got their secret recipes -- including how to rub and applewood-smoke St. Louis-cut pork ribs, baby backs and beef ribs so that they arrive at the table tender and moist, with a deep smoky taste. Although the kitchen has already splashed the ribs with the Rib Crib's signature sauce, somewhat reminiscent of Kansas City style, with some molasses sweetness and a strong tang, more comes on the side. (The Rib Crib also has what it calls "vapor sauce," available on request, that'll blow your socks off.) But despite its name, this joint isn't just about ribs. The soups and salads are good, and the prime rib is finished off in the smoker, which gives it a unique taste. Still, we love them bones.

Best BBQ Pork

Rocky Mountain Barbecue & Catering

It may boast the oddest location for a barbecue place we've ever seen, tucked away inside a big, fancy business park, but Rocky Mountain Barbecue & Catering is the real deal. For proof, try the pulled pork: salty and rich, with just the right amount of charred bits, and as tender as the big, puffy bun it sits on. Pour on the thick, burgundy-colored, molasses-sweet and vinegar-tangy Kansas City-style sauce, and prepare to pig out.

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