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Best Japanese Restaurant

Domo

Not only is Domo Denver's best Japanese restaurant, it's one of the best and most interesting restaurants that Denver has ever produced. Part restaurant, part Zen garden, part Aikido dojo, part Japanese cultural center, Domo is all Japanese -- fiercely original, fiercely regional and fiercely independent. Everything here -- from the tree-stump seats and northern Japanese peasant cuisine to the premium sake list and funny hats given to those seated outside in the garden on sunny days -- is transporting. And though Domo might be one of the very few restaurants where you can actually say that the cuisine has been elevated beyond the level of craft and into the realm of true art, it is also the last place where anyone on staff would say that anything done in this kitchen was anything but craft -- anything but dinner, well-made in imitation of a style that's been around for as long as the stones and which will outlive every one of us.

Best Vietnamese Restaurant

Kim Ba

Kim Ba
Denver is heaven for fans of Vietnamese food. We've got the good stuff and the bad stuff, the authentic and the fake. We've got more pho restaurants than you can shake a stick at, and dozens of good noodle-bowl joints. But when we're really craving all that Vietnamese cooking can be, we head for Kim Ba. Not only is this one of the oldest Vietnamese restaurants in the area, but it's the best at anything off the grill (which is one-third of all Vietnamese cuisine) or over noodles (which is the second third, the last being pho -- which can be found at plenty of other spots). For the appetizer combo alone -- a massive collection of grilled meats and noodles and greens and little fried things that we can't even pronounce -- Kim Ba would take the prize, but this menu goes on for several pages after that, and every dish is a winner.

Best Taste of Hanoi

Ha Noi Pho

If you're from Vietnam, this is comfort food. If you're not, it's a fantastic education in the less common flavors of Southeast Asia. Gelatinized duck's blood, fishscale mint, sawgrass and other, even less recognizable ingredients are pretty much par for the course at Ha Noi Pho, but you'll be amazed at how quickly a brave heart, a strong stomach and an adventurous palate can be made to feel right at home. Although service can be a bit standoffish, once you get the owners, cooks or servers talking, the place becomes as friendly as any other neighborhood joint -- whether in Denver or Hanoi.

Best Nouvelle Vietnamese

Parallel 17

At Parallel 17, executive chef and owner Mary Nguyen has resurrected a branch of Vietnamese cuisine that had been largely ignored for years. Her menu is composed primarily of Vietnamese small plates, a style once prized by the royal family in Hue and practiced by generations of Vietnamese home cooks for every family celebration -- but she's given each of these classical preparations a nouvelle twist, with beautiful presentations and interesting flavors firmly grounded in history. And while it might sometimes be difficult to notice the food, what with all the mobs of beautiful people and 17th Avenue hipsterati crowded into this small space, the food is definitely worth your attention.

Best Taste of Saigon

Pho Saigon

Pho Saigon's space -- a box with some tables -- is forgettable, and the menu a seemingly simple board of Southeast Asian classics. But what sets Pho Saigon apart is the cosmopolitan sense of otherness that comes from cramming in a mixed-demographic crowd and feeding them, in rapid-fire succession, foods that twenty years ago half the people eating here would have never heard of, and the other half would never have imagined eating in a little strip mall in Centennial. At Pho Saigon -- as in Saigon itself -- it's food that brings people together, food that gives them reason to pause in the middle of the day and enjoy something extraordinary. Pho is the big seller here (seventeen kinds, from a simple meatball version to the rare shrimp pho), but the menu stretches well beyond that to cover all the comforts of Vietnamese street food.

Best American Chinese Restaurant

Chopsticks China Bistro

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The "American Chinese" restaurant is just about extinct, now that everyone is eating stir-fry noodles and lettuce wraps and even Grandma has the occasional yen for gingered pork dumplings. But melting-pot Chinese food has its place, too, and that place is Chopsticks, a restaurant that serves authentic fare as well as simple sweet-and-sour dishes and protein/noodle combinations. For the adventurous, there's cold jellyfish salad, flaming pig intestine, "three cup sauce frog with basil" and Chinese hot pots cooked remarkably well. But there's also excellent lo mein and barbecued pork, for those who like to keep company with gastronauts but would rather limit their own adventuring to a wok on the mild side.
  • 5117 S. Yosemite St., Englewood, 80111 Map

Best Authentic Chinese Restaurant

Super Star Asian

Cassandra Kotnik
If we could go to only one restaurant for the rest of our lives, Super Star would rank high on the list. Although there are probably better restaurants in Denver, sitting in that blank, almost anonymous space (just a restaurant-shaped hole in Alameda Square, next to the place that offers herbal medicine, phone cards and tax advice, just down from the other place with the $1.99 Mexican lunch combos), we can't quite remember their names. Though Super Star offers a regular lunch and dinner menu full of excellent and very authentic Chinese dishes (everything from sea cucumber and shark fin soup to French-influenced beef in wine sauce and congee porridges), the real draw here is the daily dim sum, paraded past on wheeled carts. If you've never been before, just walk in, wait your turn, take a table and then start pointing. A meal here is the next best thing to breakfast, lunch and dinner in Hong Kong.

Best Chinese Takeout

East China

There are few pleasures in life more satisfying than laying out a huge spread of Chinese takeout on the coffee table and settling in for a late-night Barney Miller marathon on cable. Maybe it's the notion of eating straight from those waxy cardboard cartons. Maybe it's the freedom of gorging yourself on cheap, greasy sweet-and-sour chicken and eating dumplings with your fingers. Maybe it's Abe Vigoda. But no matter what makes Chinese takeout such a joy (or compulsion, depending on your personality), it's important to have a good place on speed dial for those nights when the urge becomes overpowering. And for us, that place is East China, which has a big menu, low prices and understanding hours.

Best Korean Restaurant

Han Kang

At many Korean restaurants, the food seems like an endless repetition of grilled beef, rice, onions and the occasional egg. But at Han Kang, that's just where the food begins. The best dishes on this menu are those that are nearly unpronounceable -- deeply flavored soups, spicy seafoods, mounds of bright vegetables and proteins tossed together in endless combinations. And then there's the procession of sides that comes with every meal, the most recognizable of which is kimchee (identifiable by smell at ten paces when done correctly). But at Han Kang, every side is delicious and functional as salad, garnish, flavor enhancer and appetizer all at once. This kitchen will give you a new appreciation for Korean food.

Best Thai Restaurant

US Thai

Mark Antonation
US Thai is so delicious, so friendly, so addictive that we had to make a half-dozen visits over the course of a couple of weeks just to make absolutely sure that the restaurant was as good as we thought it was. And it was, every single time. This is authentic Thai food done in a simple, street-food style that forgoes all tricks and complications in favor of straightforward presentations of the hallmark curries and rice dishes that define Thai cuisine. The Penang and masaman curries are so habit-forming that they ought to be listed as narcotic; the dumplings, spring rolls and egg rolls are brilliant; and even something as simple as the Thai iced coffee has us dreaming about the next time we'll be able to get out to Edgewater for another fix.

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