Editor’s note: While Tucker Shaw is on vacation, staff writer William Porter is reviewing restaurants.
The first few blocks of East Colfax Avenue have never been known as a dining mecca, although CityGrille’s reputation among starving statehouse types warrants the “Best Burger in Denver” banner over its door.
Truth to tell, some of the Capitol Hill eateries look sketchy enough that the nearby Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is a welcome presence, if only for the prospect of culinary last rites.
So the late-spring arrival of Uptown Brothers Brewing Co. was a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
Housed in the former Red Room space, this restaurant-bar boasts a menu that rivals the ambitions of its arm-long beer list. It comes courtesy of Paul and Nancy Lumbye, a couple whose culinary compass hovers at south-by-southwest.
Right now the place caters mainly to folks in the neighborhood. (Helpful hint: Patrons should check the ZIP code roster at the door; if yours matches, you get a 15 percent discount.)
But Uptown Brothers also hosts a growing influx of expat Southerners eager for a taste of home. These diners are picky when it comes to putting a bit of South in their mouths, having suffered through any number of abominations billed as barbecue or grits or fried whatever.
The folks at Uptown Brothers by and large get it right.
Their mac-and-cheese, a staple of Southern diners, is a creamy wonder, bolstered by someone’s whip-smart idea of loading it with smoky gouda.
Side dishes are not afterthoughts, but lovely small plates on their own. For all the suds this place sells, it’s also good for grazing, starting with the braised kale and white beans spiked with applewood-smoked bacon.
Fried green tomatoes are lightly breaded and avoid the gumminess sometimes found in this dish. They come topped with remoulade, Louisiana’s spicy answer to mayo, plus a chow-chow of yellow peppers, and a sprinkling of candied pecans. The latter is a tasty textural touch, but gilds the lily a bit.
Then there are the grits.
On a recent night I sat at the bar, wondering if the grits were of the refined Lowcountry school or the insipid glop that has ruined the dish for so many justifiably skittish Yankees.
I asked Jimmy the bartender, a native Virginian, to weigh in. He was a paragon of helpfulness. “The grits are heart-attack city,” he said.
A guy two stools down added his two cents. “I’m from Georgia, and I can vouch for the grits.”
I ordered the grits.
They arrived five minutes later, a steaming swirl of stone-ground corn, cream and cheese. I am here to testify, brothers and sisters, this dish could make the pope swear off polenta, grits’ tony Italian cousin, and relocate the Vatican to Charleston, S.C.
All hyperbole aside, I would stake the Uptown Brothers’ grits against any polenta dish in Denver, and there is some top-drawer competition. Frank Bonanno, who turns out much-admired polenta at Luca d’Italia, might tip his toque to these grits.
Now to perhaps the most crucial part of this menu, the Carolina pulled- pork shoulder sandwich. The succulent, smoked ‘cue comes piled on a bun, topped in the regional style with cole slaw, this version studded with jalapeño. So far so good.
Then not so much.
The barbecue sauce that arrives on the side needs work. It is too sweet, too tomato-ey.
Not only doesn’t it hew to its “Carolina” billing — meaning a vinegar-pepper sauce blend for most North Carolinians and a mustard style in South Carolina — it fails by any standards, Kansas City, Texas, Memphis, wherever.
The sauce seems designed to please everyone, but does it really work for anyone? Word is it’s being revamped.
But that is one of the kitchen’s few whiffs. Crispy fried oysters are available in several iterations: po’boys, sliders and a Cobb salad, all delivered with spot-on service.
Folks who show up for the sports broadcast du jour on the TVs can nosh on a host of burgers. There’s even an all-beef frank. (Why don’t more bars serve hot dogs?)
Desserts include buttermilk pie, a classic icebox version.
About the beverages. Quenching one’s thirst at Uptown Brothers is not a problem. Choosing the precise means can be. The bar offers 99 varieties of beer, ale and cider, 32 of them on tap, and in-house brews are planned. The beer comes in imperial pint glasses, which bulge at the top like the face of a fat man holding his breath.
The decor is Any Sports Bar USA, but at Uptown Brothers the beer and food keep your mind off matters best left to House Beautiful magazine.
When evening shadows lengthen on Colfax, the back-bar lights emit an irradiated glow, akin to a beacon the color of a 7 Up bottle filled with sea foam.
In Capitol Hill, everyone from club kids to state lawmakers can feel that tug.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
Uptown Brothers Brewing Co.
Pub food with a Southern slant. 320 E. Colfax Ave., 303- 839-8000,
** stars out of four
Atmosphere: A restaurant-bar whose ambitious menu takes its cues from the American South, with a touch of Southwest tossed in for good measure. Pretty bar. The restaurant, which includes an upstairs area, boasts a sports-bar vibe thanks to the decor and TVs on the walls.
Service: Friendly, knowledgeable. Prices: Moderate. Entrees $9-$15; sandwiches-salads $8-$12, sides $4-$9.
Beer: About 100 beers available, 32 of them on tap. The beer menu ranges the U.S. and Europe. A wine list, too.
Hours: Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-2 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m.-2 a.m.
Details: A walk-in place, though it gets busy on game days.
Two visits
Our star system:
****: Exceptional
***: Great
**: Very Good
*: Good
