Get a good look at where your meal is coming from at one of these open-view eateries.
Table 6
One of the most reliable restaurants in Capitol Hill, with one of the most innovative wine lists anywhere in the city, cozy-cool Table 6 is centered on its kitchen, which runs along one side of the dining room.
From that kitchen comes savvy takes on contemporary, seasonal American cuisine: Think grilled bread with fresh figs and lamb bacon. Think roast chicken with a goat-cheese dumpling. Think wild mushroom risotto with leeks and arugula. And think a beautiful glass of O’Reilly’s Pinot Noir from Oregon.
Come at dusk for the best Table 6 experience, when the soft neighborhood lights from Corona Street spill through the floor-to-ceiling windows to mix with the candlelight on the tables. Call ahead for a reservation, and bring a date: Not many Denver restaurants are more romantic than Table 6.
609 Corona St., 831-8800,
Il Posto
Having spent a year and change sinking roots deep into its East 17th Avenue digs, Il Posto is now a bona fide player in the super- charged Uptown dining scene.
Come early to score a seat at the bar, where you can watch chef Andrea Frizzi and his team slice salumi, sear lamb, grill scallops or toss pastas (the menu changes frequently, so don’t count on these specific dishes being available on your visit). Sip on something fizzy from the all-Italian wine list.
On nice nights (you know, 350 nights of the year) the rolling garage doors along the front of the building will open the dining room out into the street, bookending your experience with kitchen-action on one side, street- action on the other. Sandwiched as the space is between the Thin Man bar and Chada Thai, there’s plenty of sidewalk action to take in.
Come early or come late for the fastest seating.
2011 E. 17th Ave., 394-0100,
D-Bar
There has been, over the past few decades, a slow assault on dessert. Too often, the meal-closer of choice is “just the check, please.” And it’s a shame.
But there’s hope: The compact dining room at D-Bar Desserts is bulging with people sating sweettooth cravings with goods from the open kitchen. There, crackerjack pastry chef Keegan Gerhard (who’s also a celebrity of sorts — you’ll recognize him as the host of a bunch of those cooking competitions on the Food Network) holds court, pan-roasting pineapple rings in rum, tossing cherries with whiskey or assembling tropical pavlovas.
It can get crowded, but Gerhard and his team make waiting for a table worth it, especially if you choose chocolate cake, moist and sweet and, most important, richly chocolatey.
On your way out, take home a couple of chocolate- chip cookies. You know you’ll want them later.
1475 E. 17th Ave., 303-861-4710, dbardesserts
