Denver recs please

Hello - looking for your fave places in Denver.
Criteria

  • Staying in LoDo ish/Conv Ctr ish
  • No car.
  • We can walk a good amount
  • We can also subway/uber.

Decidedly not looking for fine dining. Looking for those wonderful hole in the wall spots where the atmosphere is still casual and you can walk in w/o a res. Bakeries (croissant and pastry rather than cupcakes), sandwich-sub places, BBQ, Asian noodles. Maybe even toward the nicer end with tapas style dining. Not so much Mexican or Thai.

I found a “top 100” list posted by @johntannerbbq but he said he didn’t have personal experience with many of those. Currently the only place on my radar is Safta, because we don’t have any Israeli/Mediterranean around here, and it sounds like they are on top of their game. Thanks!

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I haven’t been to Denver in ages. I used to visit Colorado every couple years, most recently I was in Vail and passed through Denver on my way to Colorado Springs.

I tend to seek out green chile when I’m in Denver or Colorado Springs.

Realize you mention you’re not so interested in Mexican. Green chile also shows up in omelettes and on burgers in Colorado. I guess I see it as Coloradan as much as Mexican. I also can’t get it in Canada so it’s a regional thing I seek out.

Here are some leads for green chile.

If you like art, check out their Denver Art Museum. It’s a good one.

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Modern art or some other? We are staying nearish to a selfie museum that looks like it could be fun.

It’s a big museum, so it has some modern art and some contemporary art in its permanent collection, as well as regional art work, and it also has temporary exhibitions that change every 3 or 4 months.

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https://bikerjimsdogs.com/

A fellow former Roadfooder.
He has become pretty successful, looks like.
Lots of locations.
Not sure how far from your temporary quarters.
I haven’t been to Denver in 10 years.

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Ultreia

Onefold

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Safta looks good. It’s on my list now! I had Jim’s on my list when I went thru 7 years ago. I was going to go for the Reindeer dog, linking to my Swedish heritage, and the mythically delicious Jack-a-Lope :yum: but we had a couple of wild game grill/hot dog places here so I opted for Tocabe.

The one in Greenwood Village was the only location then. I had the bison ribs and fry bread and some native cultivated wild rice from Minnesota.

I like to seek out food I can’t get here when I travel. I’d go to any one of these three if I go back.

Notes: Bison ribs aren’t big but there’s a lot of meat on them. It was more than I wanted. I find bison kind of boring. Best thing I had dining out in CO was a corned bison Reuben. That was not in Denver but I’d look for it again.

Fry bread makes everything better.

Looking forward to your report.

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Thanks I’ve seen the hot dog place come up in some of my outside HO searches. We might, as a novelty, although I can’t get that excited about a dressed up dog, compared to a burger. I don’t know why. Hot dog seems like make it yourself food.

I’ll check it out. Fry bread sounds great, and if they have more familiar animals than bison, then it’s a possibility depending on how easily we can get there.

Ultreia in particular looks great. Love tapas meals.

He has exotic sausages, not your normal hot dog stand.

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Two recommendations – Hank’s Texas Barbecue, which describes itself, and Table 6, a small restaurant in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The menu changes constantly, and is very inventive - and execution is very good. Here’s aKorean steak dish that was superb.


They also do truly wonderful things with Tater tots. I have blog posts on both if you’re interested

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At Safta I liked the pitas and hummus, and the Salatim (small plates) much more than the mains

Check out Meow Wolf if you into this stuff :slight_smile:

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It’s definately a thing that apps can be so much better than mains! I like hummus, and I know it’s what they’re known for, but I love baba, and I don’t know if we have the appetite for both. Maybe :slight_smile: Is the other place also in Denver? And would you recommend it instead? I think 2 Med meals might be too much for the 4 days we’re there.

I think I’ve recommended @denveater on IG (I don’t do any social media except for IG for food- or local-biz-related accounts) to another HO poster before. You can access her account via IB website if you don’t have the app. She has great taste (she was a well-respected good writer here in Boston before moving to Denver).

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Oh sorry, Meow Wolf is a crazy art experience close to where you are staying.

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Thanks for the green chile recs! I was going to Sams #3 anyway so i got the burrito covered w green chile and it was very good! Could have used more chile, tho!

I hit What the Pho on Champa for dinner yesterday and their Pho Tai Nam Gan Sach et. al. was pretty good, not great. Their spring rolls have slices of beef in them. Not what i am used to but good.

Leaving for home tmrw so i only have 2 maybe 3 more meals here.

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You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!! I’ve been to Colorado around a dozen time, but haven’t been able to travel there recently.

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