Trend: Outside food, inside
Every day, Denver’s streets get a little more crowded with food carts and food trucks, which is good news — unless you’d rather sit at a table with your lunch. Restaurants are answering the call with this summer’s killer app: street food served inside, complete with chair, table and a glass of something. Rain day, schmain day.
Where to get it: Street Kitchen and Biker Jim’s
Asian street staples from China, Malaysia, Singapore and more are the focus of Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, the Tech Center brainchild of Mary Nguyen (Parallel 17). Lunch is an especially invigorating affair — fast-moving professionals downing Vietnamese chicken wings and Hong Kong noodles before racing back to the office. Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, 10111 Inverness Main St., Englewood, 303-799-9800, .
Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs, long a favored cart on the 16th St. Mall, serves an enhanced menu at his first physical location, adding to his usual reindeer dogs and pheasant dogs ambitious takes like the Weiner Wellington — a ribeye brat slathered in mushroom duxelle and wrapped in house-made puff pastry. (Bordelaise sauce on the side, natch.) Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs, 2148 Larimer St., 720-746-9355,
Trend: Raw bar
On beyond oysters! Uncooked bivalves have long been favorites in landlocked Denver, but today’s raw bars offer so much more: Tartare, ceviche and carpaccio are just the beginning. (Note: If you choose oysters from cooler climes, particularly ethically farmed oysters, the time of year makes little difference — you can forget the adage about avoiding shellfish in months without an “R” in them.)
Where to get it: Tag Raw Bar
Troy Guard’s second Larimer Square restaurant is Denver’s most evolved raw bar. It opened in March with a menu that flirts with Asian and Pacific flavors as easily as European — this kind of border-blending is Guard’s trademark, and oysters are only the tip of Guard’s iceberg. Start with a round of oysters, segue into a jalapeño-punctuated dish of ahi tuna, and seal the deal with a nearly raw (lightly torched) hunk of foie gras. Pair each step with a short pour of sake, or spring for a bottle of bubbles to carry you through. Tag Raw Bar, 1423 Larimer St., 303-996-2685, .
Trend: High-low
In the 1980s, diners were captivated by Nouvelle Cuisine, famous for dainty portions displayed on great expanses of china. The trend spawned countless “New French” restaurants — and countless riffs by hungry late-night comedians. It faded. But a fresh take on post-Nouvelle cooking is popping up — it keeps the haute design sense, but eschews the flavor-fussiness. Instead, inspired cooks fold basic flavors into the meticulously designed equation, and no one goes home hungry.
Where to get it: Satchel’s on 6th
Two of Denver’s leading-edge young tastemakers — owner Andrew Casalini, formerly of Satchel’s Market in Park Hill, and chef Jared Brant, formerly of Bones, opened sparely designed Satchel’s on 6th last month. There, tiny cured pieces of carefully cured arctic char are splayed around a studied toss of tangy cucumber salad. A cloak of smokey housemade ketchup turns a band of shortrib “meatloaf” into a pasodoble between elevated technique and comforting flavor. Your eyes tell you these are small servings, but your stomach is too busy being satisfied to weigh in. Come early or make a reservation here; you might wait for a table at prime time. Satchel’s on 6th, 1710 E. Sixth Ave., 303-399-2560, .
Trend: Rose wine
Forget white zinfandel: Rose is a burgeoning trend that gains steam every year, as more bottles from around the world hit the market. Rose is classic summertime drinking, refreshing and substantive, often with a persistent knife-edge that cuts through fatty food or fatty moments in conversation. Take a bottle of rose on a picnic (it goes with everything on the blanket) or serve it in the backyard.
Where to get it: Little’s Fine Wines
More and more stores are stocking more and more roses; one well-curated collection lives at Little’s Fine Wines and Spirits in south Denver. Try before you buy next Wednesday, 5-7:30 p.m., at the Pink Patio Party at John Holly’s Asian Bistro down the street, where $15 will score you sips of pink wine (more than 10 different pours selected by Little’s sommelier, Ashley Hausman) and bites of John Holly’s famed Asian fare. Little’s Fine Wines and Spirits: 2390 S. Downing St., 303-744-3457, . John Holly’s Asian Bistro: 2422 S. Downing St., 303-722-8686,
