feels like the kind of place your parents used to go for a night out. A long bar runs down one side of the dimly lit room. Comfy booths line the walls. A patio looks out onto West 38th Avenue.
The refreshingly straightforward cocktails are $5 during the 3-6 p.m. happy hour. But the menu is where Lou’s gets a little fancy, like Mom putting on her pearls.
I actually dined with my parents there recently, and Mom was thrilled to find an old fave, escargot, on the menu ($13). The snails came out sizzling in butter sauce under a golden gruyère crust.
The kitchen staff is deservedly proud of its house-made sausages, cured meats, rillettes and patés. Our paté trio ($16) included duck rillettes (shredded duck cooked in its own fat), rabbit paté with a pickled cherry and caramelized onions in the center, and a country pork paté redolent of rosemary. The platter comes with pickled Palisade cherries, generous dollops of whole-grain and Dijon mustards and plenty of bread.
The warm Thai pork-duck sausage with cold curried cucumbers ($15) gave us a great idea for using up our bumper cuke crop.
A grapefruit gastrique gave a sweet note to the grilled Alamosa striped bass ($19) and sauced the grapefruit segments and peppercress salad greens on the side.
Although it might not sound like it, we saved room for owner ($8.50). The cinnamon-spiced Palisade peach pie filling was perfect, inside a biscuity, sweet crust.
An evening at Lou’s is a time-traveller’s visit to the Kennedy era via rural France, with a stop at the corner bar.
1851 W. 38th Ave. 303-458-0336; lousfoodbar.com. Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954-1440, browning@denverpost.com or twitter.com/krisbb
1851 W. 38th Ave. 303-458-0336; lousfoodbar.com
Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
