Best Taco 2003 | Jack-n-Grill | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Taco

Jack-n-Grill

Jack-n-Grill takes top honors in several categories, because its food is just that good. And why is it so good? "We cook with love," explains general manager Jack Martinez II. And, in fact, you can taste the love -- but you also taste the flavorful grilled meats that serve as the basis for Jack-n-Grill's tacos. Succulent shrimp, juicy chicken and exceptionally potent shredded beef are all served on flat corn tortillas with some pico de gallo, cheese and a side of lime for the best tacos in town. The best of the bunch? The vaquero tacos (available in chicken or beef) with barbecue sauce and cooling sour cream served on a flour tortilla. One taste, and you, too, will feel the love.

Best Cheap Fish Taco

Jalapeño Mexican Grill

A fish taco is serious business. There are so many ways to screw it up, so many ways to do it wrong, and -- in our judgment, anyhow -- a strict set of rules for doing it right. Jalapeño Mexican Grill does it very, very right. It starts with batter-dipped and fried chunks of mild, fresh whitefish on a thick flour tortilla, adds shredded cabbage (not lettuce) and a few soft, incredibly ripe pieces of tomato, and laces the whole thing with a thin, chilled buttermilk ranch sauce. Add a couple wedges of fresh lime and you've got the closest thing Denver has to the beachside grub served all along coastal Mexico. Simple, quick, cheap and delicious.

Best Cheap Fish Taco

Jalape�o Mexican Grill

A fish taco is serious business. There are so many ways to screw it up, so many ways to do it wrong, and -- in our judgment, anyhow -- a strict set of rules for doing it right. Jalapeo Mexican Grill does it very, very right. It starts with batter-dipped and fried chunks of mild, fresh whitefish on a thick flour tortilla, adds shredded cabbage (not lettuce) and a few soft, incredibly ripe pieces of tomato, and laces the whole thing with a thin, chilled buttermilk ranch sauce. Add a couple wedges of fresh lime and you've got the closest thing Denver has to the beachside grub served all along coastal Mexico. Simple, quick, cheap and delicious.

Best Tamales

Vega

Vega, Sean Yontz's upscale Latin/New American restaurant in the old Sacre Bleu space, has a lot of good things going for it. It's a great space, done in cool earthtones with high-backed booths. It has a comfortable bar that's rarely too crowded; friendly, attentive service; and a kitchen that's turning out some of Denver's most innovative cuisine. But perhaps the best thing Vega currently has going for it is an oxtail tamal that fills a corn husk with fresh, creamy masa, then adds oxtail meat and tender white hominy, covering everything with a spicy adobo sauce. Are these tamales just like the ones abuelita used to make? Far from it -- but once you've tried Yontz's take on this Mexican classic, you'll wish more people thought about food the way he does.

Best Tamales

Vega

Vega, Sean Yontz's upscale Latin/New American restaurant in the old Sacre Bleu space, has a lot of good things going for it. It's a great space, done in cool earthtones with high-backed booths. It has a comfortable bar that's rarely too crowded; friendly, attentive service; and a kitchen that's turning out some of Denver's most innovative cuisine. But perhaps the best thing Vega currently has going for it is an oxtail tamal that fills a corn husk with fresh, creamy masa, then adds oxtail meat and tender white hominy, covering everything with a spicy adobo sauce. Are these tamales just like the ones abuelita used to make? Far from it -- but once you've tried Yontz's take on this Mexican classic, you'll wish more people thought about food the way he does.

Best Chips and Salsa

Chubby Burger Drive-Inn

The salsa's always fresca at the Chubby Burger Drive-Inn, a ramshackle takeout joint known to all Mexican-food lovers as "the original Chubby's." Over the past thirty years, Chubby's has built its reputation on the back of sloppy, big-ass burritos, solid tamales and hot, hot green chile -- but what we really love is Chubby's fresh, rough-chopped salsa, which the kitchen preps by the gallon. Although the chips are just average, the salsa gets extra credit. It's a killer combination of sweet veggies kicked up with exactly the right amount of spicy heat, so that the balance is maintained among the natural flavors of tomato, onion and chile, and a burn that sets your tongue to smoldering but never catches fire outright.

Best Chips and Salsa

Chubby Burger Drive-Inn

The salsa's always fresca at the Chubby Burger Drive-Inn, a ramshackle takeout joint known to all Mexican-food lovers as "the original Chubby's." Over the past thirty years, Chubby's has built its reputation on the back of sloppy, big-ass burritos, solid tamales and hot, hot green chile -- but what we really love is Chubby's fresh, rough-chopped salsa, which the kitchen preps by the gallon. Although the chips are just average, the salsa gets extra credit. It's a killer combination of sweet veggies kicked up with exactly the right amount of spicy heat, so that the balance is maintained among the natural flavors of tomato, onion and chile, and a burn that sets your tongue to smoldering but never catches fire outright.

Best Chips and Queso

Luna's on 38th

The best chips are made in-house. And the kitchen at Luna's, a humble, friendly Highland hangout, keeps pumping out fresh, crisp, light tortilla chips. Still hot from the fryer, they're perfect for dipping into the thick, gooey, chile-spiked homemade queso or just munching alongside your Cuervo.

Best Chips and Queso

Luna's on 38th

The best chips are made in-house. And the kitchen at Luna's, a humble, friendly Highland hangout, keeps pumping out fresh, crisp, light tortilla chips. Still hot from the fryer, they're perfect for dipping into the thick, gooey, chile-spiked homemade queso or just munching alongside your Cuervo.

Best Chips -- Plantain

Cuba Cuba

Sweet Jesus, these things are addictive! Sweeter than potatoes but less sweet than you might imagine given the plaintain's close relationship with bananas, Cuba Cuba's deep-fried plátanos fritos, served with a tart garlic-citrus mojo, are the most munchable chips in town.

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