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In the expansive market hall known as the Stanley Marketplace, this eatery by chef Caroline Glover favors “scratch-to-table” and wood-fired fare that mixes earthy simplicity with creative approaches to making food both hearty and refined.
Website: annettescratchtotable.com
Address: 2501 Dallas Street, Suite 108, Aurora, Colo.
Phone number: 720-710-9975
Number of seats: 50 inside, 25 outside
Entrée price range: $10-$39
Popular dishes: Octopus patatas bravas with romesco and roasted garlic aïoli; house-made gnocchi with fennel soubise, maitake mushrooms and arugula; whole roasted fish with Calabrian chile, almond, cauliflower and arugula
What others say: “Annette is a very personal project for Glover, and to pull it off, she’s drawing on lessons learned at New York City’s Spotted Pig, Acorn in Denver and various American farms.” — Laura Shunk, Westword
Interior
Interior
Executive chef Jeffrey Wall, from the celebrated Kimball House in Atlanta, helms the elementally inclined kitchen — wood-fired grill, scratch recipes, 350 whiskies to help wash it all down — at this large and smartly designed temple to rusticity.
Website: hearthanddram.com
Address: 1801 Wewatta St.
Phone number: 303-623-0979
Number of seats: 118
Entrée price range: $25-$110
Popular dishes: Beef tartare with toast, preserved egg yolk and sunflower oil; farro spaghetti with prawns, guanciale, grilled leek and fennel; medium-rare short rib with glazed roots, cracked wheat and fried garlic
What others say: “When a new restaurant’s menu has a section titled ‘Whole Beast Feast,’ you have our attention.” — Allyson Reedy, Denver Post
Interior
Bone-in ribeye
This well-appointed and chicly designed haven — it was named one of Denver’s “sexiest new restaurants” by Zagat.com — plays home to inventive cooking by chef duo John Broening and Yasmin Lozada-Hissom of Duo, Olivea and Spuntino.
Website: avelinadenver.com
Address: 1550 17th St.
Phone number: 720-904-6711
Number of seats: 75 in dining room, 30 at bar, 40 in private room
Entrée price range: $18-$39
Popular dishes: Buttermilk braised pork tenderloin with curried cauliflower, apple vanilla purée and mustard seed caviar; roasted cauliflower flatbread with capers, Parmesan and breadcrumbs; charred octopus with marble potatoes, snap peas and aïoli
What others say: “From the leather furnishings and glassed-in wine cabinets to the gauzy drapery and pops of color, Avelina's the interior design equivalent of Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart at the beginning of Key Largo.” — Ruth Tobias, Zagat
Interior
Buttermilk braised pork tenderloin
This formidable destination in Union Station is the latest from chef-owner Alex Seidel, who made his name with the much smaller Fruition and scaled up — without losing what makes his operations homey and distinctive.
Website: mercantiledenver.com
Address: 1701 Wynkoop St.
Phone number: 720-460-3733
Number of seats: 108
Entrée price range: $28-$31
Popular dishes: Acquerello risotto with Parmesan sabayon, English pea emulsion and truffle brined egg yolk; marrow bone brûlée with herb focaccia, beet marmellata and pickled beets; pan roasted Arctic char with avocado sorrel purée, chickpea-and-sheep’s milk whey dressing and shaved fennel
What others say: “Mercantile Dining & Provision operates with French precision and American ease — it’s a deft mix of kitchen rigor and New World chillin’.” — Scott Mowbray, 5280
Interior with customers
Shishito peppers
Milanese chef-owner Andrea Frizzi pays close attention to what he calls “the complicated simplicity of Italian food and wine” in this spacious, stylish favorite in Denver Central Market, where he moved into bigger environs from another part of town.
Website: ilpostodenver.com
Address: 2601 Larimer St.
Phone number: 303-394-0100
Number of seats: 95 inside, 50 on the patio
Entrée price range: $16-$38
Popular dishes: Papardelle with Berkshire pork-marjoram ragù, oyster mushrooms and grana Padano; risotto with delicata squash, almonds, baby sage and grana; smoked muscovy duck with blueberries, favas, chanterelles, parsley root and vanilla
What others say: “When Andrea Frizzi moved Il Posto from its cubby on East 17th Avenue to a sleek bi-level cube in RiNo, we held our breath: Would the new address be a good home for this restaurant's semi-chaotic charm? We needn't have worried.” — Westword
Interior
Octopus carpaccio
