Last time I went to Denver’s most celebrated kids restaurant, the infamous Casa Bonita, I was reminded why I loved it so much as a kid.
The food was cheesy and filling, the mariachi music jovial and boisterous, the sopaipillas sweet and unlimited, and I found plenty of glow-in-the-dark tchotchkes and video games to spend my change on.
And hello, indoor cliff diving!
But as my years advance, so does my intolerance for the roll-clunk-ding of the Skee-ball machines, the body-soaking chlorine splashes from cannonballing cliff divers, the dude in the gorilla suit leaping from table to table, hell-bent on making 4-year-olds scream and cry.
After that last visit to the Casa, I all but needed to be carried out.
Fun? Heck yeah, but my nerves were shot.
Surely, I imagined, there were places where you could satisfy a carful of hungry kids (and yourself) with a decent meal – without risking your own mental well-being.
Toast (** | Very Good)
If it’s breakfast-time, that place would be Toast.
Just a few months old, this breakfast-and-lunch spot is already teeming with regulars. They sit in groups of two and four and six, some with kids and some without, lingering over all-day breakfasts of gargantuan pancake stacks and various iterations of eggs Benedict.
Which is what you expect at a typical breakfast-and-lunch spot. Only, the food at Toast isn’t typical in the least.
Toast serves common, recognizable kid-pleasing fare created from uncommonly good top-shelf ingredients.
Plain Jane pancakes, or straight-up pancakes with whipped butter, were fluffy and golden, a pancake ideal. Kidlike? You bet, especially when you douse them in maple syrup. But expertly prepared and totally satisfying.
Crushed gingersnaps encrusted Lemon Blueberry buttermilk pancakes, adding a bright good-morning zing. Bananas Foster pancakes, while drowning in enough decadent Fosters sauce and whipped cream to ensure a sugar-rush right through midday, were soft and, if too sweet for my tongue, beautifully made.
Would a kid notice? You better believe it. Everyone appreciates food this yummy, and Toast is clean-plate central.
Eggs Benedict cut a strong figure, a glorious construction of yeasty English muffins, golden-yolked fresh-poached eggs, salty-sharp slices of paper-thin prosciutto, and a creamy Hollandaise sauce laced with tangy fresh lemon. There’s a veggie version, in which an array of vegetables replaced the prosciutto, and a crab cake version with flaky-spicy-sweet housemade crabcakes.
Service at Toast is abbreviated: You order at the counter, you get your own coffee, you seat yourself. But the cute, friendly crew still comes around to refresh your water or remove plates.
Toast isn’t just for breakfast. It’s open until 3 p.m., and not for nothing (and those that know me know I wouldn’t throw this kind of compliment lightly), Toast makes one of the finest BLTs I’ve ever had in all my BLT- eating days – a double-decker Dagwood of thick bacon, sweet-rich tomato, and plenty of mayo on fresh sourdough toast.
For that alone, I count myself as a fan of Toast.
Fergie’s Frozen Custard (** | Very Good)
As morning morphs into afternoon, kids’ hunger pangs turn to burgers, fries and ice cream.
Or, in the case of Fergie’s Frozen Custard in Lowry Town Center, burgers, fries and excellent frozen custard.
Like at Toast, you’ll order at the counter here, then pick your own seat at the counter, in a booth, or outside on the patio. Everything on the standard-fare chalkboard menu is cooked to order – burgers, hot dogs, patty melts and Reuben sandwiches.
Don’t even think about ordering lunch without a side of Fergie’s seriously awesome fries. Cut fresh by hand, fried hot, and salted just enough, these are some of the area’s best. Not overthought or overwrought with herbs or spices or fancy truffle oil, these are fries that taste like, well, fries – potatoey, salty, just greasy enough.
If there’s more than one of you, get an order of onion rings to share, too. They’re light and crisp and satisfying. Douse them with ketchup.
(Also tasty, creamy-crisp cole slaw. But what kid wants that?)
It’s the frozen custard that matters most at Fergie’s. Available in three flavors only (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry), this is the real deal: creamy, sweet and cold. Have it in a dish or a cone (sugar, waffle or pretzel), and top it with any of the dozens of toppings available – sprinkles, crushed candy bars, even Gummi Bears.
Or, have the frozen custard in a sundae or float. The standout float, the Illini, features a scoop of vanilla custard in fizzy orange soda – if that doesn’t say spring, I don’t know what does.
The counter staff at Fergie’s is welcoming, accommodating, and decidedly deserving of the change you’ll toss in the tip jar.
At lunchtime, Fergie’s is dominated by grownups scoring a straightforward burgers-and-fries lunch. But as soon as the school bells start to ring, Fergie’s starts to fill up with the shorter-legged set in search of an afternoon snack.
Big Bill’s New York Pizza (** | Very Good)
Everyone knows that the day doesn’t end when school’s out. Soccer practice, ballet lessons, chess club, piano rehearsals, rugrat yoga … the hours between 3 and 6 p.m., which were prime TV-watching hours when I was young, are now jam-packed, prime hunger-inducing hours.
Good thing Big Bill’s New York Pizza is around to take care of rumbling stomachs. This long-time Centennial pizza-and-red-sauce joint, an institution in the southern ‘burbs, slings some of the area’s best pie.
Top of the heap at Bill’s is the thin crust cheese pie, a textbook example of downtown NYC pizza with a crispy crust, light tomato sauce and a thin layer of cheese. Close your eyes and you’ll think you’re at Joe’s Pizza on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village.
Open your eyes and take in the sports memorabilia that covers the walls.
Big Bill Ficke, a former assistant coach for the Nuggets and true-blue local hero, is also an unapologetic New York sports fan. While Red Sox and Rockies faithful are welcome to partake in the pie, there’s no question that the Yanks rule in Bill’s house.
Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker.
Also on Bill’s menu, a wide range of red-sauce favorites, including an excellent chicken Parmesan dinner, succulent slices of chicken breast in a fresh tomato sauce under a heavy canopy of cheese. Peel back the cheese if you’re watching your cholesterol; the chicken underneath is a satisfying meal in itself.
Bill “imports” several East Coaste favorites, like Wise potato chips (which have been scientifically proven to be the best potato chips in the world, crispy and salty and thin) and Drake’s Cakes for dessert.
The staff at Big Bill’s – young and smart and good-looking – are casual and friendly, but efficient and quick, a testament to the expert team-leadership skills of their boss. Tables full of high-pitched kids don’t faze them in the least; and if you’re the one fazed, they’ll bring you a blessedly cold beer to calm you down.
Kids love Toast, Fergie’s and Big Bill’s, but make no mistake about it: These aren’t kids-only restaurants. These are high-quality eateries that happen to serve food kids (and the rest of us) love.
Be a hero and take the kids – or just take yourself – today.
Dining critic Tucker Shaw can be reached at 303-954-1958 or at dining@denverpost.com.
Big Bill’s New York Pizza
Pizza and Italian
8243 S. Holly St. Centennial, 303-741-9245, bigbillsnewyorkpizza.com
** | Very good
Atmosphere: Big, busy pizza parlor decorated with New York City and sports memorabilia.
Service: Friendly, polite crew of busy, professional youngsters.
Wine: A few choices of table wine, plus beer. And lots of soda.
Plates: Large pizzas $12.75 and up. Entrees $5.75-$9.25
Hours: 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday. 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Friday. 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday. 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday.
Details: Parking lot. Great for big groups. “Imported” East Coast treats like Drake’s Cake and Wise potato chips. Take-out available.
Three visits.
Toast
Breakfast and Lunch
2700 W. Bowles Ave. (at Santa Fe), Littleton, 303-797-9543, toastygoodness.com
** | Very good
Atmosphere: Order at the counter then pick from the 20 or so tables.
Service: No real waiter service, but everyone behind the counter and on the floor is friendly and hip.
Wine: Not so much. Have a cup of Intelligentsia coffee instead.
Plates: Breakfast $7-$11; lunch $8-$12
Hours: 6 a.m.-3 p.m., seven days.
Details: No reservations. Parking lot. Free coffee refills.
Three visits.
Fergie’s Frozen Custard
Burgers and Frozen Custard
200 Quebec St., in Lowry Town Center, 303-366-4900
** | Very good
Atmosphere: Small, old-school diner feel. Chalk menus and kids’ art pinned to the walls.
Service: Among the friendliest counter crew in town, helpful and chatty and efficient.
Wine: Howzabout a frozen custard float instead?
Plates: Nothing over $10.
Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday and Monday. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Details: Street parking. Great for meals or afternoon snacks. Frozen custard available to take home.
Three visits.
Our star system:
****: Exceptional
***: Great
**: Very good
*: Good
No stars: Needs work.
