The moment you’ve been waiting for is here: the everything-food-and-drink list to end all lists. We’re undertaking a rather ambitious project—a year-long endeavor that lays out our flat-out best picks of the most exceptional culinary experiences in Denver and Boulder.
We’ll cover the usual suspects: tacos and ramen, for example. Pizza and burgers, too. But think of this as the Herculean version of Denver and Boulder’s gastronomic universe. Over the next 52 weeks (give or take), we’ll post 104 different lists, wherein we’ll give you the lowdown on the very best neighborhood restaurants, bottle shops and butchers, food festivals, pop-up dinners, industry nights, cooking classes and kitchen stores, chef counters, spice shops and cake shops, Cuban sandwiches, Chinese hot pots, and even the best food from truck stops. Who knows? We might be compelled to feature a fantasy-filled list of strip club grub that goes beyond thighs and breasts.
While Avanti Food & Beverage is not a strip club, it is a fantasy land of foodstuffs, not to mention an innovative incubator for entrepreneurial chefs to test their culinary concepts on a diverse populous. The bi-level indoor market and communal gathering place, which also lays claim to three bars and a spectacular rooftop deck, houses seven shipping-container restaurants, all of which demonstrate that variety is the spice of life. Here, we present the the flat-out best dishes from each vendor.
The Flat-Out Best Dishes at Avanti Food & Beverage
1. Tuna Tartare Tostada from BIXO Mediterranean Bites {720.269.4778}
Everyone probably knows about Marco Gonzales’s fantastic paella, but the chef, proving that’s he’s not a one-trick pony when it comes to his culinary arsenal, has amplified his menu with an excellent supporting cast of around-the-world sensations. To wit: a crisp corn tortilla scaled with cubes of raw, sushi-grade tuna flecked with sesame seeds, ribbons of purple cabbage, shaved kale, and fried onion slivers. His paella made me a regular from the beginning, but the tostada, a weave of textures and invigorating flavors, just might supersede it.
A word to the wise: Gonzales, who has two new brick-and-mortar locations on the horizon, including one in RiNo, plans to exit Avanti in early fall, so it’s to your advantage to get to the party early.
2. Lox and Cream Cheese Bao from Bamboo Sushi {720.269.4778}
This recent addition to Avanti, which launched in May—and comes to Denver via Portland—is notable for several things, including its designation as the world’s first sustainable sushi restaurant, a coveted hallmark awarded by the Marine Stewardship Council. In fact, every slice and sliver of fish flesh that emerges from the kitchen is sanctioned by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program.
But while the sushi, sashimi, nigiri, and rolls are the stars, I recently fell head over heels for Chef Jin Soo Yang’s playful rendition on a bagel and lox. In lieu of the bagel, Yang tucks the silken house-cured salmon inside a steamed bao, boosting its attributes with caper-studded cream cheese, a flirt of fresh dill, cucumbers, and spheres of red onion. Good things really do come in small packages.
3. Roast Pork Sandwich from The Regional {303.842.4094}
The Regional, Avanti’s newest tenant, is the handiwork of Kevin Grossi, who recently left his exec chef post at Lola to zigzag across America’s heartland in search of inspiration for his new endeavor that’s a culinary mashup of heart and soul and rock ‘n’ roll.
It’s the kind of place that recreates classics and channels food memories, an ode, if you will, to America’s most beloved hometown dishes: green chile, New England clam chowder, oysters, Brunswick stew, and my go-to favorite, a roasted pork sandwich that’s a superb twist on the Philly cheesesteak. Grossi hollows out the center of seeded levain— the bread comes from City Bakery—and swells it with scraps of roasted pork, chopped broccoli rabe, pickled Anaheim chiles, and then drapes the open-faced phenom with Provolone fondue. Heart, be still.
4. Mushroom Pizza from Brava! {303.835-1611}
David Bravdica, a staunch apostle of wood-fired cooking, first unleashed his mobile pizza wagon on the 16th Street Mall, generating immediate—and substantial—buzz for his unassailable pies.
Now, as one of the original occupants of Avanti, he and his crew continue to command insatiable lines for the misshaped pizzas, including the Fun Guy, a char-etched, burnt and blistered marvel that involves dough surfaced with oyster and button mushrooms, a sheet of mozzarella, and blots of locally soured goat cheese. The risen crust—chewy, salty, and wreathed with bubbles—is so terrific that it probably doesn’t need much more than a mist of great olive oil, a testament to its supremacy.
5. Beef and Chicken Shawarma Sandwich from Souk Shawarma {720.418.9772}
The great thing about a Mid-East feast is that you can crochet just about every single ingredient in the cuisine’s wheelhouse into the mix and emerge with a patchwork of flavors and textures that go together like steam and sex.
Take the menu at Souk Shawarma, which struts beef and chicken shawarma, hummus, saffron-scented rice, several different sauces, leafy lettuce, dill pickles laced with garlic, and a medley of marinated vegetables. Sounds like the kitchen sink, right? In essence it is, only here, it’s called “The Works,” and that’s precisely what you should order.
6. Tater Tots from Mijo {720.660.8058}
I’m a sucker for tater tots. Fresh, frozen or alien—it doesn’t matter. If they’re on the board, you can bet that they’re on my bill.
At Mijo, a hybrid rice and noodle shop from chefs Johnny DePierro and Michael Nevarez, whose tagline is “bowls without borders,” I sometimes get the kung pao noodle bowl with shrimp, but more often than not, I forego the rice and noodles for the starch of potatoes, a cargo of tots dressed to impress with specks of cotija cheese, a drizzle of creamy miso, scallions, and a liberal shake of furikake (a dry Japanese seasoning that tumbles with multiple flavors) including crumbled seaweed and crushed sesame seeds.
7. Queso Arepa from Quiero Arepas {720.432.4205}
If you’ve ever explored Avanti or attended a street-food fête, you’ve undoubtedly encountered Quiero Arepas, a kitchen that dispenses scratch-made, gluten-free pockets of white corn-based flatbread, grilled and stuffed with the greatest hits of Venezuela: plantains, black beans, and stewed beef, plus a rotating litany of seasonal ingredients that are produced Colorado.
There’s not a dud in the depot, but I’m partial to the Queso Arepa, a caboodle of sweet plantains, slabs of mozzarella, avocado, and a healthy dose of guasacaca, a creamy avocado-and-cilantro sauce that’s so good you could drink it. Speaking of liquids, Quiero Arepas also gets my vote for the best non-alcoholic drink at Avanti: housemade agua frescas.
Below is a master roster of our flat-out best lists published to date.
Best Beer Caves in Denver
Best Barbecue in Denver
Best Ethiopian Food in Denver
Best Reuben Sandwiches in DenverBest Butcher Shops in Denver and Boulder
Best Food Carts on the 16th Street Mall
Best Rooftop Patios in Denver
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