1. The Capital Grille (1450 Larimer St., 303-539-2500). The Capital Grille has done the impossible and found customers to fill another steakhouse in a town already overrun with steakhouses. And all it had to do was be better than everyone else in every possible way.
2. Columbine Steak House & Lounge (300 Federal Blvd., 303-936-9110). Columbine Steakhouse is a survivor, the kind of place they don't make anymore, haven't made for decades: a steak diner, with a faded dining room in front and a dim lounge in the back. This could be the last of the great $10 steaks. 3. Cowbobas (2991 W. Evans Ave., 303-934-3301). Cowbobas is a combination cowboy steakhouse and Vietnamese boba tea shop that also serves coffee, corn dogs and a jackfruit smoothie so syrupy sweet you'll think you're having a heart attack. The entrees are mostly steaks -- from a 22-ounce porterhouse for fifteen bucks to a nine-ounce strip loin for less than ten -- and a meal here is always a dip in to the culinary melting pot. $-$$ 4. Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse (8100 E. Orchard Rd., Englewood, 303-796-0100). Del Frisco's exists for one reason and one reason only: to bring huge whacks of 100 percent American corn-fed beef to diners with big appetites and bigger wallets. Everything beyond that -- from the power-broker decor to the cigar lounge and high-tone bar -- is just theater, sideshows for the main attraction. 5. Elway's (2500 E. 1st Ave., 303-399-5353). Every neighborhood needs a neighborhood restaurant, and in Cherry Creek, that neighborhood restaurant is Elway's. Chef Tyler Wiard and his crew cook from a menu that speaks to the primal needs of Cherry Creekers: all steaks and swank and smarts. 6. Emil-Lene's Sirloin House (16000 E. Smith Rd., Aurora, 303-366-6674). Emil-Lene's is a Colorado institution, where the Wild West cowboy history of cattle and hats and six-guns isn't just a theme, but served right up on the plate alongside the giant steaks and sides of spaghetti. The grub is cowtown classic and the kitchen a genuine throwback to the days when beef was always what was for dinner. 7. Morton's (1710 Wynkoop St., 303-825-3353; 8480 E. Belleview Ave., Englewood, 303-409-1177) From the minute you step inside Morton's dark, dignified space, you feel like you're part of a very secret club: the royal order of carnivores. This steakhouse serves food fit for a king, in king-sized portions. Order the town's best martini, and ask your smooth, practiced server to roll out the cart that displays the giant veggies, spuds, steaks and still-living lobsters that could be your meal that night. 8. The Palm (1672 Lawrence St., 303-825-7256). People keep coming to the Palm to eat big meat and watch big names doing the same.9. Bastiens (3501 E. Colfax Ave. 303-322-0363). In terms of history alone, Bastien's would make this list--the place has survived for decades, after all, and once served as a watering hole for Truman Capote. But it's nice that Bastien's also serves up one helluva steak (its sugar steak in particular) and does so at a price that won't leave you gasping from sticker shock.
10. Sullivan's Steakhouse (1745 Wazee St., 303-295-2664). It's not quite as lower-end as they'd like you to believe, but the final check at this classy steakhouse is still less likely to give you a heart attack than one at those bigger boys, and the steaks are sublime.
