Five Dishes to Try in Denver This Week

Monday mornings are tough, but this series isn't. Social Sightings is a quick taste of recent food tidbits that goes down as easy as your first cup of coffee, and should whet your appetite for the week ahead.

Even though there's technically more than a month of summer left to enjoy, it feels like the season is slipping away fast. But on the dining scene, restaurants are embracing peak produce and getting creative with new additions. Here are five dishes to go out and eat ASAP:

Chef Bo Porytko's ode to Ukraine, Molotov, opened in January and has consistently served up some seriously impressive fare from its tiny space at 3333 East Colfax Avenue. Dumplings are a staple on the menu, though the offerings change regularly. Right now, you can get pierogi — or varenyky, as they're called in Ukraine — made with a cilantro dough stuffed with creamy lima beans and herbs, with a garlic and fenugreek emulsion, marigold greens and pumpkin oil.
"I learned a lot working my way through so many amazing kitchens, but I never had the opportunity to work in a kitchen with Vietnamese flavors. I want to be able to give that to young Vietnamese cooks. I want to have a place where these flavors are celebrated," writes Ni Nguyen, who opened Sắp Sửa with his wife, Anna, in late June. The restaurant at 2550 East Colfax Avenue was named one of the most anticipated openings of the year by Bon Appétit, and that's quickly proven to be a well-deserved honor. Now, one of its chefs, Kenny Doan, has put a new dish on the menu for the first time in his career. Inspired by traditional bún riêu ướp lạnh, it's cold vermicelli noodles with crab broth, tomato, peanuts and lime.
In April, we had a memorable meal at Stone Cellar Bistro in Arvada, where everything from the foie gras to the fried chicken was impressive. The restaurant recently introduced a number of dishes to its summer menu, including a halibut crudo in white gazpacho with green gage plum, verbena and fresh coriander that would be perfect on a hot day.
We love the pizza at Joy Hill (and its upstairs patio over South Broadway with a view of the Rockies), but it's got more going on than just pies. Its cocktails are top-notch, and we want to sip one (or two, or three) while enjoying a new seasonal special: heirloom tomato and burrata toast with Grana Padano, garlic cream and balsamic glaze on housemade toasted focaccia.
One of Colorado's most well known (and delicious) summer crops is at its peak right now: Rocky Ford melons. Head to Fruition, at 1313 East Sixth Avenue, where chef Jarred Russell is celebrating the season with a Rocky Ford melon and golden tomato gazpacho with pistachio and mint.

Palisade peaches are at their peak, too. Have a haul of local peaches to use up? Check out this 2021 story by Coperta and Apple Blossom owner chef Paul C. Reilly, in which he dishes up recipes for cast-iron peaches with chiles and goat cheese as well as a peach Caprese salad.