Best Martini 2005 | Morton's | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Martini

Morton's

In honor of its 25th birthday last year, Morton's made the best even better: It came up with a cure for the common cold. By pouring its already splendid martinis into stainless-steel martini glasses, Morton's guaranteed that martini-lovers would be shaken, if not stirred. But the vessel surrounding your drink isn't the only surrounding that's important when you're drinking a martini (and frankly, Morton's martinis taste just fine out of regular glasses, too). You need an understanding bartender who'll stuff olives with blue cheese at the drop of a cocktail napkin. You need a clubby, comfortable bar to enjoy the drink in. And you need to know that just outside that bar, a dining room is ready to serve you one of the best steaks in town.

Best Wine Bar

Paris Wine Bar

Paris on the Platte has long reigned as one of the city's funkiest and most popular coffee shops. Now there's even more reason to like it: Platte's owners recently expanded their empire by converting the shop's adjoining bookstore into a classy, understated wine bar. With a well-chosen list of whites, reds and rosés, as well as a menu of grape-enhancing cheese and fruit plates, Paris Wine Bar feels like the grown-up version of its caffeinated sibling -- stylish, understated and totally free of pretension. The staff is happy to talk vintage, whether you're a novice or an enthusiast, and the bar's tasting flights are a great, inexpensive way to begin searching for that one perfect bottle. Remember, Denver, we'll always have Paris.

Best Wine Bar

Paris Wine Bar

Paris on the Platte has long reigned as one of the city's funkiest and most popular coffee shops. Now there's even more reason to like it: Platte's owners recently expanded their empire by converting the shop's adjoining bookstore into a classy, understated wine bar. With a well-chosen list of whites, reds and rosés, as well as a menu of grape-enhancing cheese and fruit plates, Paris Wine Bar feels like the grown-up version of its caffeinated sibling -- stylish, understated and totally free of pretension. The staff is happy to talk vintage, whether you're a novice or an enthusiast, and the bar's tasting flights are a great, inexpensive way to begin searching for that one perfect bottle. Remember, Denver, we'll always have Paris.

Best Wine List

Adega

When it comes to a great wine list, there's just no beating the selection at Adega. Not as long as the restaurant keeps stocking bottles like its '98 Haut-Brion white Bordeaux, and those Spanish pinots, and those killer German and Austrian whites, and that bottle of '93 Leroy Clos de La Roche, and that roster of Latours and Mouton-Rothschilds that's surprising not because of the high end of $1,400 for a bottle of '53 Mouton, but because of how many of those classic Bordeaux come in under $300.

Best Wine List

Adega

When it comes to a great wine list, there's just no beating the selection at Adega. Not as long as the restaurant keeps stocking bottles like its '98 Haut-Brion white Bordeaux, and those Spanish pinots, and those killer German and Austrian whites, and that bottle of '93 Leroy Clos de La Roche, and that roster of Latours and Mouton-Rothschilds that's surprising not because of the high end of $1,400 for a bottle of '53 Mouton, but because of how many of those classic Bordeaux come in under $300.

Best Wine List for Pairing

Solera

There's no doubt that Brian Klinginsmith knows his grapes. At Solera, he assembled a cellar that perfectly matched the simple, ingredient-driven menus assembled by chef Goose Sorenson, with a back stock of excellent bottles held out for special occasions or for those who'd come more for the booze than the grub. Although Klinginsmith has moved to California, his collectible legacy is resting easy in the hands of Tim Daughter, who has a wonderful stock to build on as he slowly starts to make the Solera cellars -- and the Solera servers who've always been excellent guides through the house's list -- his own.

Best Wine List for Pairing

Solera

There's no doubt that Brian Klinginsmith knows his grapes. At Solera, he assembled a cellar that perfectly matched the simple, ingredient-driven menus assembled by chef Goose Sorenson, with a back stock of excellent bottles held out for special occasions or for those who'd come more for the booze than the grub. Although Klinginsmith has moved to California, his collectible legacy is resting easy in the hands of Tim Daughter, who has a wonderful stock to build on as he slowly starts to make the Solera cellars -- and the Solera servers who've always been excellent guides through the house's list -- his own.

Best Artisan Wine List

Swimclub 32

Mark Manger
Swimclub 32 owners Chris Golub and Grant Gingerich ought to know a little bit about the grape-juice game. Before opening their hipper-than-hip, Asian-inspired, fusion-bistro-slash-tapas bar in the Highland neighborhood, they were both laboring in the cellars of one of the world's best-known wineries, Veuve Clicquot. The knowledge that they gained there certainly didn't go to waste, because now it's all for sale -- by the glass and by the bottle -- on Swimclub's short, sweet and intriguing list full of bargain Spanish reds and deadly good whites. With vintages and varietals drawn from around the planet's wine-producing regions, the fellas take particular pride in highlighting bottles from small, lesser-known wineries, listing them right up there with the big boys. And then they go the distance, making sure that every customer in the place gets, if not the glass he was looking for, then certainly the glass he needs.

Best Artisan Wine List

Swimclub 32

Swimclub 32 owners Chris Golub and Grant Gingerich ought to know a little bit about the grape-juice game. Before opening their hipper-than-hip, Asian-inspired, fusion-bistro-slash-tapas bar in the Highland neighborhood, they were both laboring in the cellars of one of the world's best-known wineries, Veuve Clicquot. The knowledge that they gained there certainly didn't go to waste, because now it's all for sale -- by the glass and by the bottle -- on Swimclub's short, sweet and intriguing list full of bargain Spanish reds and deadly good whites. With vintages and varietals drawn from around the planet's wine-producing regions, the fellas take particular pride in highlighting bottles from small, lesser-known wineries, listing them right up there with the big boys. And then they go the distance, making sure that every customer in the place gets, if not the glass he was looking for, then certainly the glass he needs.

Best Sake List

Swimclub 32

Mark Manger
Plunge into sake at Swimclub 32, which offers a straight-artisan, almost uncomfortably funky board of both old classics and newcomers. In some case the prices may seem high, but bear in mind that the house is doing a six-ounce wine pour on these bad boys. We don't know of another place in town where you can sip a clean, pure, ultra-premium free-run Ginga Shizuku, chase it with a crisp hit of cheap Bishonen, then do a final round of super-artisan Ama no To "Heaven's Door."

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