Since the hotel I stayed at was located South of the city, I decided to rent a car so I could explore a few neighborhoods in Denver. Naturally, I made my stops based on restaurants I wanted to try. My go-to resource for eats in Portland is Eater PDX, so I knew that Eater Denver would steer me in the right direction. I found a few places from their 38 Essential Restaurants but was disappointed many of them were closed on Mondays. Go figure my exploration day fell on a Monday...what are the odds?
I drove to Linger Restaurant (before I realized they were closed) and stumbled upon Masterpiece Delicatessen as an alternative. It is a small deli with outdoor seating, located in the Highland neighborhood. It was a perfect place for me to have a great sandwich and get some computer work done for a few hours. I ordered this tasty number, "mesquite turkey breast, French Brie cheese, seasonal pears, arugula, cranberry honey on toasted wheat bread." So many of my favorite things on one sandwich.
Next...an impromptu stop for pumpkin chip ice cream. Completely unnecessary.
After that, I drove around the Cherry Creek neighborhood but decided I wanted something that felt a little more local. After more research, I discovered 17th Street in Uptown. Bingo. It was restaurant after restaurant and I wasn't even hungry yet. I just decided to park and walk around until I found a place to relax and catch up on some more work. The Denver Bicycle Cafe immediately caught my eye...probably because it felt like home. Go figure I ended up somewhere that reminded me of Portland. The place was packed with lots of people on their computers. I order a Dunkel and fit right in.
The rest of the evening I explored Uptown, wishing I had an appetite to try every place I passed. Finally, I landed on Ace, "the cool, hipster, ping-pong, Vietnamese bar." What a combo right? I loved it though. I bellied up to the bar for some dumplings and Tom Kha soup. The bar manager was great and told me that the wings on their menu were inspired from Pok Pok's chicken wings in Portland. Now that is cool!
Denver is a pretty neat city and I can tell the food and drink world is only expanding. Hopefully I can visit Boulder and/or Vail next time I am in the area.
Where I plan to visit next time:
Where are your favorite spots in Denver?
