Denver = Worst big city for food? (credit, to live, garden)

[Jimrob1]

Phoenix is no prize either on this subject. Miles upon miles of the same chain restaurants one after the other. They sure put a lot of effort into creativity in this region. I would have thought Denver would be better. Portland is a matter of opinion. A lot of food carts if that constitutes ones version of good dining. I remember eating in some of their so called great restaurants. Knats flying about in the salad they brought us and an expensive bill to go with it.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by SouthXSW

Portland is a similar-sized metro that has better food options than Denver, but also is near the coast and has more of an Asian influence which varies the food options. Denver should aspire to be more like Portland in this regard, and I believe that is happening. Just in the past 5 years the options have increased and so has the quality. The mountain resorts have had amazing restaurants for many years but Denver has lacked until now where I would put some of the city's finest restaurants up with those at the resorts in Aspen, Vail, etc.

I would add TAG in Larimer Square, Charcoal in Golden Triangle and Cholon in Lodo to SkyDog's list. Great restaurants with innovative, modern cuisine.

Definitely did not mean for that to be the definitive list of Denver dining. Just tried to list a few of my favorites off the top of my head to get a feel for whether or not the people who are saying Denver has nothing to offer have been to most of them. I no doubt left many off my list. There are certainly many more great places to eat than I listed. Would love to get a list of places to try going in this thread.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by jaekn

^LOL at the last part of the comment above.

I've lived all over Denver and have traveled all over the U.S and world. Denver is NOT one of the best places to find good food easily, its one of the hardest.. Of civilized America at least.. When I when to Washington D.C. I ate amazing food all the time. Here I need a ****ing treasure map. Don't hype a city if you never eat elsewhere.

Assuming I never eat elsewhere is quite a mistake. I travel for a living. I eat out all the time on expense accounts. I have been to my share of world class restaurants.

I listed a bunch of Denver restaurants I enjoy. Have you been to them? If so, what did you not like? If not, there is your treasure map.

[Mezter]

I think this thread is dumb. lol. If you're to lazy to find a good restaurant to eat at, don't go out. Denver has a great food scene. After living in NY for a while, I realized it wasn't as great as I initially though it was, but for a city of under 3 million people, the food scene is not lacking at all. So what if there are a lot of food chains? What major city doesn't have a lot of those?

Overall, I think the people who are complaining are expecting to much or haven't tried to explore Denver's food scene.

Here's a episode of Man Vs Food (Denver) that I enjoy watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83PaeNP3I4g

[jaekn]

Originally Posted by robertgoodman

We are not Washington DC but we are improving food wise Inside Scoop SF » Denver: On the cusp of a culinary revolution

You moved from Washington DC to Westminster Colorado and expected the food to be similar? Seriously?

I mostly grew up in Westminster and I cannot name a single decent non chain place up there either, but I do not think that means the Denver food scene sucks. Since I have also lived in larger US cities and I found EVERYWHERE you go you have to seek good food out. Good food places surprisingly do not show up magically on every corner because a city is SO amazing. That is especially true if you live in the suburbs almost anywhere in the US. Suburbanites tend to like cheap, reliable, kid friendly food so it doesn't bode well for experimentation, but it does create an environment where chain restaurants thrive.

I can add about 30 restaurants to the list SkyDog just provided so I know we have some good restaurants in Denver (no we are not DC, NYC, or San Fran), and I am sorry you have to use a treasure map to find them. Guess what though if you were a native of Colorado and moved to Tysons Corner you would likely need a treasure map of DC to find the good non-chain restaurants as well.

I am a Colorado native, born and raised. THus I know the atmosphere well and mostly agree with you. When I "went" to D.C. for a wedding it was much easier to find delicious, reasonably priced food. We have tons of chains here in Denver. Westminster is part of the greater Denver area btw for all of you making huge distinctions...

[jaekn]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Assuming I never eat elsewhere is quite a mistake. I travel for a living. I eat out all the time on expense accounts. I have been to my share of world class restaurants.

I listed a bunch of Denver restaurants I enjoy. Have you been to them? If so, what did you not like? If not, there is your treasure map.

I wasn't actually asserting that, I was just switching your assumption around. My larger point isnt that there one can't locate good food- In this thread (albeit 3 years ago) I said that 'if you can't find good food in any major city you aren't looking hard enough'- but rather that it is not widely available without doing a lot of dining/experimenting. Luckily that's one of my favorite things to do.

Btw, I just checked out your list and I haven't been to the bulk of them, so I'm excited to check em out, ty.

[robertgoodman]

Originally Posted by jaekn

I am a Colorado native, born and raised. THus I know the atmosphere well and mostly agree with you. When I "went" to D.C. for a wedding it was much easier to find delicious, reasonably priced food. We have tons of chains here in Denver. Westminster is part of the greater Denver area btw for all of you making huge distinctions...

I make a huge distinction between Westminster and Denver because I know there's a huge distinction since I have lived in both places. It's not just isolated to Denver the quality of the food scene in Naperville Illinois is not the same as the quality of the food scene in Chicago, same thing with Tysons Corner and DC, or Fremont and San Francisco. All of those paired cities are in the same metro area, but the food scenes within those suburbs are vastly different than within the core city.

I can also attest to the fact that someone living in the core city is much more likely to be in tune with what is going on in that cities food scene. It's not because people living in the suburbs are ignorant or anything it's just because proximity to restaurants makes you more likely to try them. Most of the higher quality non-chain restaurants in the Denver metro (like most cities) are within 5 miles of downtown (for various density/demographic/psychographic reasons) which means someone living closer to downtown is going to be more likely to try the best the city has to offer and therefore have a greater knowledge of the overall quality of the food scene.

[Co_guy_94]

Disagree with the OP of this thread, even though it was a few years ago. Denver has a very vibrant, up and coming food scene. By "Denver" I mean the city limits of Denver and not the surrounding metro area as I'm less familiar. As someone who also travels quite extensively and has eaten in most of America's biggest/best cities for food, I find the food here to be unique, refreshing and quite good. Denver is full of mom and pop places and I recently read an article recently about how Denver has become a food mecca for both chefs and foodies alike as many chefs are coming here to make a name for themselves since many of the bigger cities were harder for them to get a start. The main food category here that is in my opinion what we do best is the farm to table concept. Fresh, organic, locally grown food that is not too rich, salty, and quite flavorful. We have these restaurants in spades. Every time I have clients come here from NY, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, they are blown away with how crisp, good and sharp the flavors are here. I see that SkyDog started a thread on favorite restaurants which I will be adding too as well .

[ChrisFromChicago]

Originally Posted by ComfortablyNumb

Granted, I haven't been to a huge amount of cities, but of comparable cities I've been to, all have been significantly better. SF, Minneapolis, Boston, D.C., Chicago, Des Moines, Iowa City, just to name a few, all seem significantly a bit more on the ball when it comes to serving up delicious food. It's just pretty sad when you are so disenchanted with the city's options that you and your friends decide to drive almost 20 minutes away to go to a Buffalo Wild Wings...

Someone who would drive 20 minutes to go to Buffalo Wild Wings, may not be the same caliber of eater as I. I mean seriously BW3s? Its like Mcdonald nuggets with more sauces.

Denver diversity and menu have impressed me greatly. This is someone who lived in Connecticut and have eaten at places like San Fransico's Gary danko, Manhattan's Babbo, Katz, Clinton Street Baking Company or Boston's Craige on Main . . .or Arc De Trimuphe overlookign the Notre Dame in Paris.

Sure I don't always trust Yelp reviewers in Colorado (they seem to not know pizza for instance) . . but I would put it dead wrong that the diversity and food here isn't quite shy of amazing if you know where to look

Vietnamese Sandwiches and Dim Sum on Federal Aveneue, The best mexican sandwiches ever at Las Tortas, an Amazing Craft beer and German/new american Meal at Euclid Dining hall


and i'm not even getting started.. . Vietnamese Pho at Pho Saigon or PHo 95, mexican to die for at Tamayo, and the best Hot DOGS this side of Chicago at Biker Jims.

That isn't even getting to the craft beer revolution. . which is amazing.

Sure I haven't found a fantastic pizza yet (but there isn't a likeliness of Frank Pepe's west of Fairfield CT so what can you do)


Denver restaurants are great. . .and I can find about any variation and taste without issue. Denver is the only city for miles around and this has given us a lot of variety.

[nele]

When I moved to Denver from DC, a general food detail I noticed is that common sauces and dishes were overwhelmingly sweet. In particularly, spaghetti / pasta sauces and pad thai, from multiple restaurants were almost inedible to me. I chalked it up to unsophisticated palates. Now after 7 years, I don't notice it. Perhaps I've gone over to the dark, sweet side :-)