Best Brewpub 2013 | Vine Street Pub & Brewery | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Brewpub

Vine Street Pub & Brewery

A brewpub needs to do two things: serve its own food and make its own beer. Since opening in 2008, the Vine Street Pub has done the former very well, offering a mix of healthy fare, Colorado-centered creations and elevated pub food, like its meaty, award-winning wings. But last April, the neighborhood spot also became the primary brewing facility for its owner, the Mountain Sun group, which has three other locations, all in Boulder. Vine Street now brings together its already excellent menu with outstanding beers, a mellow vibe, growlers of beer to go, and a sunny patio to give the east side of town a can't-miss spot. Way to put the "brew" in brewpub.

Best Brunch

Table Six

Courtesy Table 6

Table Six is the consummate neighborhood hang, the kind of place where, at least on Sunday, you can wear your mismatched PJs and fit right in with the rest of the smitten disciples — many of them local chefs — who converge in droves for dashing dishes that stretch far beyond pancakes and eggs Benedict. Chef Scott Parker's eccentric menu is a fanciful blast of morning treats, beginning with the tater tots dipped into blood-orange ketchup and moving on to the "haute pocket" filled with Tasso ham, steak, silky scrambled eggs, grilled onions and cheddar. DJ Ginger Perry keeps things hip with energetic spins, and the intriguing cocktails — stiff and sexy — will make you want to linger long after the 2:30 p.m. closing time.

Best Brunch Buffet

Guadalajara Authentic Mexican Buffet

Mark Antonation

Let's face it: Most brunch displays are mirror images of each other: omelets, waffles, strips of (cold) bacon and shriveled sausage links. And more often than not, you'll pay through the pancake for that kind of carbon-copy brunch spread — most of it stuff that you could make at home. If you wanted to. Guadalajara Authentic Mexican Buffet has a different kind of brunch — and a remarkably inexpensive one at that. Priced at $9.99 per person during the week and $15.99 on the weekends — when the spread includes fresh oysters, ceviches, seafood soups and shrimp prepared in a variety of ways — it's a full day's worth of flavor-bombed fuel that will feed your belly without starving your wallet.

Best Burger

Highland Tap & Burger

Even in this era of carbonated mojito spheres, caviar bubbles and beet cheesecake, the hamburger remains America's favorite food, and burger fans — of which you are undoubtedly one — are insanely opinionated about what the consummate burger should look and taste like. Highland Tap & Burger gets to the meat of the matter, serving its plump, char-grilled patties every which way: from classically naked to blanketed with cheese to whimsically fancified with feather-light shavings of foie gras. The beef, all Angus and 100 percent natural, is judiciously seasoned, cooked to temperature (if you want your beef to be bloody-red squish, the kitchen is happy to oblige), and the buns — white, whole wheat or gluten-free — are soft but sturdy. Tear into it, make a mess, and dribble 'til the cows come home.

Best By-the-Glass Wine List

Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar

Mark Manger

Row 14's dizzying array of wine that can be ordered by the glass — more than forty options in all, evenly divided between reds and whites — is reason to toast. Creating a killer BTG wine program is no easy feat. Offer too few selections that aren't regularly updated, and you run the risk of failing to keep guests intrigued. Feature a lineup that's too ambitious — or changes too frequently — and you might alienate fans who look forward to finding their faves night after night. On top of those challenges, wine-by-the-glass programs have the less-than-enviable task of needing to satisfy both drinkers with absolutely zero intention of pairing their vino with anything other than their thirst and diners eager to mix and match glasses to each course. Still, Row 14 has designed the perfect list for everyone. Cheers!

Best Central/South American Restaurant

Las Salteñas

You may not even know that metro Denver has a Bolivian restaurant, much less what kind of food you'll find there. But this tiny restaurant's name gives away the Bolivian national treasure: empanada-like pockets of beef or chicken stew called salteñas. Soupy and notoriously difficult to eat without spilling, salteñas contain spicy filling studded with olives, potatoes and diced hard-boiled eggs. Poke a hole to let the steam out before nibbling the slightly sweet pastry and downing the rich, warming broth. Other specialties include lomo borracho — a beer-based, chunky beef soup topped with a fried egg — and pique macho, a street-food-lover's dream dish of tender beef, french fries, hot dog slices and spicy gravy. With only a few seats in the place, takeout is a definite option, but then you'll miss the owner's warmth, charm and wistful descriptions of Bolivian culture and cuisine.

Best Cheap Steak

Bull & Bush

Evan Semón

Here's the primary problem with ultra-cheap steaks: They're annoyingly thin — too thin to prepare mid-rare — and for those of us who prefer a mooing cow to a muffled cow, that just doesn't cut it. But you don't have to pay upwards of $30 for a great piece of meat. For a bargain-priced steak that's thick, beastly and full of beefy flavor, head to the appropriately named Bull & Bush, which serves a twelve-ounce baseball center-cut sirloin that's liberally rubbed with salt and pepper and then grilled to the exact temperature requested. Included in the $17 price tag is soup or salad and a choice of mashed potatoes, wild rice or a loaded baked potato. This is a steak you can bank on.

Best Chef

Lon Symensma

If the kitchen is a stage, then Lon Symensma, chef-owner of ChoLon, is its undisputed star. He exudes extraordinary verve and charisma behind — and beyond — the line, and there's no end to his experimental innovation and bedazzling flavors and textures. But even more important is his endless pursuit of perfection, evident in every dish he creates, plates and tastes before it's whisked from the kitchen. He leaves absolutely nothing to chance, cooking with precision and finesse, standing guard over his troops and exposing his soul in every sauce, glaze, skewer, dumpling, potsticker and egg cloud that touches your lips. This is the kind of restaurant — and Symensma is the kind of chef — that makes you want to drop everything you're doing and just surrender to delicious temptation.

See also: A look at the last decade of Best Chef winners

Best Chef Ambassador

Jeff Osaka

Mark Manger

A few years ago, Jeff Osaka, chef-owner of twelve, issued a plea to his fellow troops: Call me. Let's get together and hang and talk about how we can continue to capitalize on Denver's ever-evolving restaurant landscape. Osaka, a brilliant chef in his own right, has made it his mission to make sure that chefs in this city have a place to gather (oftentimes at his own restaurant), and the flock that does isn't remotely cliquish. Instead, his monthly get-togethers are all-encompassing, and they're lively and informal, too, although hot topics — Denver Restaurant Week, the health department, working closely with local growers and farmers, and satisfying guests — are usually on the table. We often hear local chefs laud this city's culinary camaraderie, and credit for some of that should go to Osaka, who doesn't just talk the talk — he walks the walk.

Best Chef's Counter

TAG|RAW BAR

For an unofficial — and free — lesson in masterful raw cookery, head straight to TAG|RAW BAR, where every stool gives you insider access to the workings of chef Shaun Motada, whose pedigreed techniques speak to a real counter culture. Motada and his staff cook at a supersonic but controlled pace as they prepare a series of brilliant small plates and raw-fish compositions: kangaroo steak tartare, citrus-spiked ceviches, stunning sashimi and sushi rolls, ramen noodle bowls. It's a counter where you can live — and eat — a little dangerously, tossing your whims and fancies straight to the kitchen crew, whose ambitious combinations will rock your world. What chef doesn't want to see instant gratification? And that's exactly what diners get, too, when they park their butts in Motada's open kingdom.

Best Of Denver®

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