Best Vegetarian Restaurant 2003 | WaterCourse Foods | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Vegetarian Restaurant

WaterCourse Foods

Don't worry, folks: No animals were harmed in the making of your barbecue at WaterCourse Foods. While everyone probably expects the casual coifs and generalized ennui that pervade this funky collegiate hangout, what comes as a surprise are the big-ass helpings of honestly good food that's good for you, too. WaterCourse has veggie stir-fries and a half-dozen breakfast offerings all involving scrambled tofu. The kitchen makes its own granola and slaps together one mean stack of buckwheat pancakes -- and even though sunflower seeds abound and the dress code is BYOB (bring your own bandanna), WaterCourse can make even tempeh taste decadent. And that's saying something.

Best Vegetarian Restaurant

WaterCourse Foods

Don't worry, folks: No animals were harmed in the making of your barbecue at WaterCourse Foods. While everyone probably expects the casual coifs and generalized ennui that pervade this funky collegiate hangout, what comes as a surprise are the big-ass helpings of honestly good food that's good for you, too. WaterCourse has veggie stir-fries and a half-dozen breakfast offerings all involving scrambled tofu. The kitchen makes its own granola and slaps together one mean stack of buckwheat pancakes -- and even though sunflower seeds abound and the dress code is BYOB (bring your own bandanna), WaterCourse can make even tempeh taste decadent. And that's saying something.

Best Fluffernutter Sandwich

Pour House Pub

Elvis used to send his private plane to Denver to pick up his favorite food: fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches. When it opened last year, the Pour House Pub, a great spot for beer guzzling and shooting pool, honored the King with its own peanut-butter-and-banana concoction. But you can't stop progress. The Pour House recently replaced the brewski-soaking treat with an even greater homage to the '70s: a grilled fluffernutter sandwich so gooey and sweet it'll make your teeth squeak.

Best Fluffernutter Sandwich

Pour House Pub

Elvis used to send his private plane to Denver to pick up his favorite food: fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches. When it opened last year, the Pour House Pub, a great spot for beer guzzling and shooting pool, honored the King with its own peanut-butter-and-banana concoction. But you can't stop progress. The Pour House recently replaced the brewski-soaking treat with an even greater homage to the '70s: a grilled fluffernutter sandwich so gooey and sweet it'll make your teeth squeak.

Best Place to Go When You're Waiting to Be Seated Somewhere Else

Hanson's Grill and Tavern

Single-handedly saving South Pearl from the yuppie invasion, Hanson's Grill and Tavern offers a comfortable oasis amid all the SUVs and boob jobs. After its opening last summer (in the former home of the beloved Oak Alley Inn), this mellow neighborhood eatery quickly became a favorite of construction workers and corporate types, frat boys and professors on hiatus, drunken poets and families out for a night on the town at a place where they don't have to show off their new nipple piercings just to get through the door. With its deep, snug booths and dark-wood tables, its rough brickwork and exposed pipes, Hanson's has the feel of a perfect post-grad college bar -- the kind of place you want to become a regular at in your twenties and still be a regular at twenty years later. The food is surprisingly good, too, with a fairly creative menu offering everything from simple pastas and burgers to herb-rubbed grilled salmon steaks, green-lip mussels and po' boys, at prices even a po' boy can handle.

Best Place to Go When You're Waiting to Be Seated Somewhere Else

Hanson's Grill and Tavern

Single-handedly saving South Pearl from the yuppie invasion, Hanson's Grill and Tavern offers a comfortable oasis amid all the SUVs and boob jobs. After its opening last summer (in the former home of the beloved Oak Alley Inn), this mellow neighborhood eatery quickly became a favorite of construction workers and corporate types, frat boys and professors on hiatus, drunken poets and families out for a night on the town at a place where they don't have to show off their new nipple piercings just to get through the door. With its deep, snug booths and dark-wood tables, its rough brickwork and exposed pipes, Hanson's has the feel of a perfect post-grad college bar -- the kind of place you want to become a regular at in your twenties and still be a regular at twenty years later. The food is surprisingly good, too, with a fairly creative menu offering everything from simple pastas and burgers to herb-rubbed grilled salmon steaks, green-lip mussels and po' boys, at prices even a po' boy can handle.

Best New Kid on the Block

Forest Room 5

Thomas Nesler told the neighborhood he was going to put a cool new bar/tapas restaurant/neighborhood hangout in a run-down space on 15th Street -- in a building that was a firehouse back in 1879, then a grocery store, then a saloon for fifty years, most recently the Highland Bar -- but no one envisioned how very cool his Forest Room 5 would be. The chic tavern is a fitting gateway to the newly hip Highland neighborhood, full of big TVs, artsy patrons and lots of attitude.

Best New Kid on the Block

Forest Room 5

Thomas Nesler told the neighborhood he was going to put a cool new bar/tapas restaurant/neighborhood hangout in a run-down space on 15th Street -- in a building that was a firehouse back in 1879, then a grocery store, then a saloon for fifty years, most recently the Highland Bar -- but no one envisioned how very cool his Forest Room 5 would be. The chic tavern is a fitting gateway to the newly hip Highland neighborhood, full of big TVs, artsy patrons and lots of attitude.

Best Comeback

Highland's Garden Cafe

It was a noble experiment, what Pat Perry tried to do with her Highland's Garden Cafe: turn it into a mostly private dining facility, available for parties and, occasionally, dinners open to the public. But all the public could remember was how much they loved eating at Highland's Garden -- loved eating there, and hated having to remember when they could. Fortunately, Perry took pity on foodies and reopened the restaurant to everyone in the evening, as well as at Friday lunch. So now you never have to wait more than a few hours before you're sitting down in an elegant Victorian-era dining room, or perhaps Highland's exquisite garden patio, with one of Perry's interesting, innovative dishes sitting before you. Welcome back.

Best Comeback

Highland's Garden Cafe

It was a noble experiment, what Pat Perry tried to do with her Highland's Garden Cafe: turn it into a mostly private dining facility, available for parties and, occasionally, dinners open to the public. But all the public could remember was how much they loved eating at Highland's Garden -- loved eating there, and hated having to remember when they could. Fortunately, Perry took pity on foodies and reopened the restaurant to everyone in the evening, as well as at Friday lunch. So now you never have to wait more than a few hours before you're sitting down in an elegant Victorian-era dining room, or perhaps Highland's exquisite garden patio, with one of Perry's interesting, innovative dishes sitting before you. Welcome back.

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