How to Spend a Big Fat Weekend in Denver
My friends and I were in Denver a few weeks ago for a wedding (congrats, Jamie and Austin!). And while they were pumped to hike the Rockies or go clubbing (lol), I was way more excited about all the restaurants, coffee-shop-turned-wine-bars, breweries, and bakeries that I had been researching and slotting into my itinerary. I have no chill when it comes to travel: I MUST TRY EVERYTHING. How could I live with myself if I didn’t sink into some Venezuelan sticky buns crowned with cotija?! What would I have missed if I didn’t check out those little-known Colorado natural wines? And there’s no way I could show my face in the office without having eaten at this year’s No. 10 best new restaurant The Wolf’s Tailor? Thankfully, I don’t have to imagine that alternate universe (phew), because I ate it all, and more. Here are all the places I hit up (and loved) in Denver.
1/9Reunion Bread Co.
Cotija sprinkles?! I have been dreaming of the golfeados at Reunion Bread Co. ever since editor-at-large Amiel Stanek wrote about them. Naturally that was my first stop in Denver. Hidden away in The Source food hall in RiNo, baker Ismael de Sousa makes these glorious Venezuelan cousins to cinnamon buns. They’ve got the crackled, flaky exterior of a croissant, the satisfying squish and intensely sweet center of a bun, and the perfect balance of sweet and salty, big thanks to CHEESE. I also ordered the sugar-dusted churro croissant, extra coconutty egg tarts, and a hefty ham and cheese croissant, not to mention a flight of breads—yes, a flight—de Sousa shared with us so we could sample the white, olive and za’atar, and rye loaves. Now I have many more reasons to love Reunion.
2/9Comal Heritage Food Incubator
My friend Luis basically force-fed everyone at our table the creamy arroz con leche we ordered. “This reminds me of my grandma,” he said giddly. That’s the magic of this lunch-only counter that’s literally across the South Platte River from Reunion. The food at Comal Heritage Food Incubator is equal parts soulful and satisfying, whether you grew up with it or not. Out of a portable-classroom-like space, women from Mexico, El Salvador, Syria, Iraq, and Ethiopia learn the basics of running a restaurant (health code rules, purchasing) and cook lunch for all the office workers that swarm the restaurant around 11 a.m. We happened to be there for “Middle Eastern Fridays,” which meant fall-apart-tender stewed lamb with buttery saffron rice, super-tart and crunchy fattoush that made all of my senses go off, and a dips platter with the smoothest hummus and pillowy pita. Not sure how the arroz con leche made it on the menu, but zero complaints from us.
3/9Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company
I Slacked associate editor Alex Delany about which breweries I should visit in Denver as I was finishing up that arroz con leche—living on the edge!—and he pointed me to Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company, a very charming brewery and taproom, also in RiNo. The building had some Dusen Dusen vibes, which I was very into, while the inside is all dark wood and vaguely nautical feeling. We grabbed a table outside and got a round of small-batch beers. I loved the tawny Contacto, a wild ale with grape must that was bright and barnyard-y (in a good way).
4/9Annette Scratch to Table
I dropped kinda-sorta not-so-subtle hints for my friends to leave, so I could have a date with my husband at this sweet little restaurant in Aurora. Annette Scratch to Table is run by chef Caroline Glover, who grew up in Texas, cooked in New York, and farmed in Colorado before she opened this ingredient-driven restaurant inside Stanley Market (you’ll notice there are a lot of food halls in the Denver area). We snacked on jiggly egg salad tartines, textbook-perfect steak frites, and the best panzanella I’ve ever had, made with just-in season Colorado tomatoes and soft hunks of white bread all tossed in a punchy cucumber dressing that almost tricked me into thinking it was still summer.
5/9Call
Of course, 2018 Hot 10 winner Call was on my itinerary, and everything on the menu looked so good that I had to order most of it. The tomato tartine with garlicky ricotta on fluffy, wheaty, Roman Meal–esque bread. Salt-and-vinegar potato salad (genius!) with tons of dill. Another perfect salad composed of just-ripe peach wedges, fatty burrata, and crunchy slices raw fennel. Aebleskivers, a.k.a. Dutch pancake nubs topped with ricotta and preserved berries. An unbelievably airy chive scone, with a golden-brown exterior and a cottony interior, and a generous pat of butter. Who cares that it was 10 in the morning!? If this isn’t a well-balanced breakfast, I don’t know what is.
6/9Bruto
As you well know after reading about all the things going on at The Wolf’s Tailor, chef Kelly Whitaker never stops experimenting. That includes Bruto, a funny coffee shop/onigiri counter inside the Dairy Block, yet another food hall but in LoDo. He has plans to turn the space into the main mill for freshly ground grains for his restaurants, but until then he’s turning out fun, wacky onigiri, Japanese rice balls stuffed with things like mushrooms, ricotta, and yuzu-inflected chicken. They’re served on a crystal cake stand with a box of little nori sheets right next to it for you to wrap yourself. Sure it’s a little DIY, but it means the dried seaweed stays fresh and crispy (instead of getting filmy and weird from the moisture of the rice). It’s a small detail, but it’s extremely thoughtful. And the whole experience is heaven.
7/9Chook
I know I should be talking about the rotisserie chicken at Chook, a rotisserie chicken spot in the Hale neighborhood. Okay, okay, it’s humanely raised, slow roasted over charcoal, and Australian-inspired—as in, they make their own version of the country’s national condiment, chicken salt! But I’m just going to skip right to the most delicious thing I had in Denver: the booyah stew. It’s chef Alex Seidel’s riff on the Wisconsin dish he grew up with, made with bone broth and bobbing with meat, carrots, peas, and potatoes. He’s dialed in the key ingredients: cooking leftover chicken carcasses in stock for hours until it’s almost muddy looking and incredibly flavorful, and roasting the carrots and celery so they’re caramelized and sweet. My husband ordered this and I couldn’t stop myself from eating most of it (sorry, Travis!).
8/9Amethyst Wine
Hybrid coffee shop-slash-bars are a thing now, and Denver has a pretty strong entry: this plant-filled, dreamy spot around the Civic Center. Amethyst Coffee is a mini third wave coffee chain, but this outpost, self-dubbed Amethyst Wine, is the only one that serves a small but smartly curated list of natural wines by the glass or by the bottle. I’m a sucker for chilled reds, so I got this strawberry-scented, slightly tannic cinsault produced by Buckel Family Wine with Colorado-grown grapes. If only I had planned to check in my bag, I would have taken some home.
9/9The Wolf's Tailor
My final meal in Denver was at The Wolf's Tailor, this year’s No. 10 best new restaurant, and it was epic. I’d considered getting one of Whitaker’s famous donabes, but since it was just me and Travis we opted for something the incredibly affordable tasting menu ($55!) called “Entrust,” which highlighted all the must-try dishes. There were delicate pickles, tuna crudo with slivers of juicy plum, wedges of fluffy piada bread over an addictive eggplant and sesame spread, vegetable yakitori, the prettiest salad with tiny tomatoes and chicories, thick house-made rigatoni coated in an herby tomato sauce, tender pork loin over tuna aioli I wanted to scrape off the plate with more piada, and a very good panna cotta with bruleed banana. By the end of it all, I was very stuffed, but very much in love with Denver.
