Best Single-Malt Scotch List 2012 | Pints Pub | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Single-Malt Scotch List

Pints Pub

Scott Diamond, who owns Pints Pub, has been collecting single-malt Scotches for twenty years, and while he claims to have the largest collection of the spirit outside of Great Britain, he's not just amassing bottles for sport. "One hundred and twenty-five distilleries have been making whisky in Scotland since World War II," he says. "We have whisky from 124 of those — and no one in the world can make that claim." Of those 125 distilleries, only 85 or 90 are producing the spirit today, so Diamond has spent the last several years tirelessly hunting down expressions from lost stills (stills that will never produce again) and silent stills (stills that exist but aren't currently making whisky). If you want to sample the breadth of what single-malt Scotch has to offer, there may be no better spot in the world to do so than Pints Pub, right in the heart of the Golden Triangle.

Best Spaghetti and Meatballs

Mama Sanninos

Jimmy Sannino, owner of Mama Sanninos, has decades of experience behind him; he jokes that he's been in the restaurant business since he was six years old. His family once owned the iconic Three Sons, and he's imported many of the recipes from that longtime north Denver spot to an Arvada strip-mall space that specializes in homestyle cooking and old-school red-sauce dishes. If you're craving that type of food, just about any dish on the menu will do, but Mama Sanninos makes a sublime spaghetti and meatballs. Pencil-thick homemade egg noodles come covered with a thick, spicy-tangy red sauce spiked with garlic and just a smattering of red chiles for extra kick, then topped with a couple of hefty meatballs, the beef pungent with garlic, basil and oregano.

Best Specialty Pizza

Osteria Marco

Scott Lentz

Osteria Marco is not a pizzeria. It's a shrine to handcrafted cheeses and salumi, to suckling pig on Sunday nights and panini paved with prosciutto. It also happens to be a restaurant whose repertoire includes some of the most superb pizzas to ever cross our lips. A few bites in and you're transfixed by the salty, airy chew of the crust and the inspired combinations of toppings: pancetta, Pecorino and a yolk-flowing egg that seeps across the center; goat cheese, Fontina, fig purée and crisp nubbins of prosciutto that shatter like glass; and our favorite, a pizza with housemade sausage, caramelized onions, Fontina and thin rings of racy red Fresno chiles.

Readers' Choice: Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria

Best Steakhouse

Capital Grille

There are steak emporiums staked out all over metro Denver, but for a huge whiff of testosterone perfume — for the essential steakhouse experience — head to the Capital Grille. This is a rich man's utopia, an expanse of power suits and American Express gold cards, of glorious, charred, hand-cut slabs of beef more expensive than seats to Lady Gaga, of indulgent side dishes that make your heart race faster than a Ferrari, of doting, exceptional service reminiscent of old Hollywood glamour, of impeccable wines and cocktails that make your cheeks glow crimson. In other words, there's a brazen disregard for cow-ardly moderation, which is why the beef palace stands steers above its peers.

Readers' Choice: The Keg

Best Street Taco

La Villa Real

Mark Manger

Before gourmet trucks and new-style taquerias started fancying up tacos, old-school food trucks were turning out inexpensive, authentic street tacos. Many of these loncheras are still displaying their street smarts, including the pair of trucks that comprise the La Villa Real enterprise. This truck, usually parked at West Alameda at Raritan, attracts a constant crowd of patrons, some of whom stop by twice a day for the gorditas, burritos, tortas and, in particular, the tacos. Fresh, hot tortillas are loaded with spicy carne asada, velvety cheek meat or spongey tripe, sprinkled with cilantro and onions, then served with several salsas on the side. They're simple, delicious — and really from the street.

Readers' Choice: Pinche Tacos

  • W. Alameda Ave. & S. Raritan St., Denver, 80223 Map

Best Sushi Restaurant

Land of Sushi

Land of Sushi opened in a strip mall across from what was then Southglenn Mall — now the Streets at SouthGlenn — a dozen years ago, and quickly made a splash. Over the years, this spot has just gotten better. The restaurant itself doesn't look like much, but the bare-bones ambience just means there's nothing to distract your attention from the food — and the food definitely deserves all your attention. Owner Steve Lin gets shipments of fish every day, and he regularly posts specials like live scallops and uber-fresh uni. But even if you're ordering the usual suspects, like salmon, tuna and yellowtail, you're assured some of the freshest fish around, excellently cut and beautifully displayed.

Readers' Choice: Sushi Den

Best Sustainable Argument

Fuel Cafe

Fuel Cafe chef-owner Bob Blair is fervent on the topic of sustainability, and discussions about the importance of organic sourcing, local ingredients and where food comes from are frequent topics of conversation at his eclectic restaurant in the Taxi project. But Blair also practices what he preaches, turning out a menu of creative, seasonal and delicious fare that comes from purveyors he has carefully contemplated. If you're concerned about the same issues, you can rest easy at Fuel knowing your pork comes from happy pigs, your beef from happy cows and your greens from happy gardens that are good for you — and good for the earth, too.

Best Szechuan Restaurant

Chef Liu's Authentic Chinese Cuisine

Chef Liu's, a strip-mall joint deep in Aurora, has a "secret" menu, and it features specialties from all over China, including Beijing-style pork with bean paste, fried pork livers and dan dan noodles. But Chef Liu's true specialties are the Szechuan dishes. Our favorites include mouth-numbing beef, twice-cooked pork, cumin-rubbed lamb and real Szechuan chicken. The best way to approach dinner here, though, might be to have your server order you a feast of interesting items, because that way you're sure to score something delicious you would otherwise have missed.

Best Tamales

Tamales Moreno

Mark Manger

The building that houses Tamales Moreno is so small that there's no indoor seating; instead, every square inch of available surface area is covered with Ziploc bags full of tamales. Eager diners come in and grab their order — and many make it no farther than the picnic tables outside before they eagerly unwrap a tamale. Inside each corn husk is silky white masa so smooth that it tastes as if the corn has been mixed with lard; the sweet masa surrounds hunks of succulent red pork and bits of earthy green chiles that soon send racy heat running up the back of the palate. You can also order your tamales smothered in a river of green chile that has the color and consistency of split-pea soup, a sour tang and a pleasant, prickly heat. If you're a glutton for punishment, the kitchen will gladly make that chile hot enough to melt your intestines.

Best Tap House

Tasty Weasel Tap Room

Taking a trip to the Tasty Weasel Tap Room is like journeying straight to the center of Colorado's craft-beer-pumping heart. You'll find a festive atmosphere powered by rollicking tunes and an unconventional attitude, the same one that Oskar Blues — now Colorado's second-largest brewery — was founded on. Play Skee-Ball on the tournament-style Skee-Ball lanes, take a tour of the barely concealed brewery behind the tap room, get some grub from the brewery's own food truck, the Oskar Blues Bonewagon, or just chill out at one of the whiskey-barrel-made bar tables. But mostly, try the beers. Because they taste the way the Tasty Weasel feels: hopped up and full of flavor.

Readers' Choice: Falling Rock Tap House

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