Social Sightings: Tempting Fall Dishes

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.

Lucina Eatery & Bar, which opened in March, specializes in Latin fare inspired by the food that owners Erasmo "Ras" Casiano and Diego Coconati ate growing up. The latest: sancocho, a Puerto Rican caldo de res with squash, corn and carrot. "This warm, lightly spicy and savory beef stew is the perfect dish for any and all snow days...that, or the cure for your hangover," Lucina shares in an Instagram post.
Instagram: @lucinaeatery
Also coming in with a special that it says will cure a hangover is Pizzeria Leopold in Lakewood. In August, the longtime staple formerly called Deli Italia got a new name. And now it's introduced the Stu, a white-pie base with poblanos, confit tomatoes, bacon and chicken that's finished with spicy Calabrian chili oil.
Instagram: @pizzerialeopold
Chinese eatery Hop Alley, which is in the midst of expanding its footprint in RiNo, already added a new vegetable dish to its fall menu: char siu beets. These roasted baby beets are charred on the wood fire, glazed with a beet juice char siu sauce, and topped with a relish of beet greens, cashews, sesame and red verjus.
Instagram: @hopalleydenver
Cooler temperatures bring cravings for comfort food, and what's more comforting than a grilled cheese? How about a pork belly grilled cheese? This creation, dubbed the Gwarled Cheese, is a permanent fixture on the menu at the Brutal Poodle on South Broadway; it's made with candied pork belly, tomato compote and mixture of cheddar, Gouda and American cheese on cheddar-Jack-crusted challah.
Instagram: @brutalpoodledenver
On the heels of the news that her Bistro Vendôme will be leaving Larimer Square on January 1 and moving to Park Hill, chef/restaurateur Jennifer Jasinski's Union Station seafood restaurant, Stoic & Genuine, dropped a bunch of new fall items. We're hungry for this ratatouille cavatelli with stewed vegetables, burrata, basil and olive oil. Other fresh additions include Italian wedding soup with shrimp brodo, whitefish polpetti, orzo and kale pesto; and squash donuts, aka tempura delicata squash served with harissa aioli.
Instagram: @stoicandgenuine