Affordable but Eatable!

The five best places to eat and still have money for drinks!

In a rapidly growing city such as Denver, the cost of entertainment can become quite overwhelming.  With the growing costs of every day living, it can become difficult to find extra money to take yourself out at the end of the week for a good meal.  Short of fast food or no food, any young, respectable person still deserves a night out on the town.  That is why I have devised a list of the five best places to eat so that when you leave the restaurant there is still money left in your pocket for after dinner drinks, or heaven forbid rent! 

Depending on what type of atmosphere you are looking for, a good place to start is the Goosetown Tavern.  Remember when you were eighteen and you considered yourself alternative with ripped jeans, worn corduroys and the most prominent color in your wardrobe was black?  The Goosetown Tavern might take you back to those years.  It’s moderately smokey and noisy atmosphere welcome the most talented of tattoo artists and their willing subjects.  It is only the more welcoming though, as there are a myriad of beers on tap for extremely reasonable prices and their broad menu offers many choices that are very well priced; not to mention they play a ton of great music.  Once the food hits your table, you’ll forget about the song on the juke box that you’re almost embarrassed to know the words to because the food will leave you speechless.  Once you leave the Tavern, both your stomach and your wallet will be full and you won’t have to go right home and start saving money for your next night out.

A similar night out would take you to the Paramount Cafe.  A little bit bigger than the Goosetown, this place attracts a similar crowd; those looking to relax and have a good time.  The laid back atmosphere and huge beer selection is only an appetizer to the menu choices you will be offered if you decide to stay and eat.  The walls are draped with artists from the 80’s and 90’s and the music can easily put you back into that era as well.  As you have your first cocktail, the scenery around you will be entertainment enough.  Once the food arrives you will be pleasantly surprised by the large portions served for such reasonable prices.  This is a place you will keep returning to and can always be assured will be there.

In the mood for pizza and beer?  Wazee Supper Club is the place you want to go in downtown Denver.  This quaint restaurant is in the heart of downtown but offers a more relaxed feel than some of the other, more expensive restaurants.  Their pizza is desirable and the prices are too.  A couple of beers won’t hurt the tab here as any food you eat will be affordable.  The menu, just like the crowd, is diverse but fun and it isn’t going to break anyone’s bank that ventures inside.  You will not leave the Wazee unsatisfied rather ready to tell your friends about this great find!

Enchiladas, margaritas and fajitas, oh my!  The Rio Grande Denver’s most attractable Mexican restaurant.  With the three margarita limit, you know you’re in for a treat once your lips hit the glass. But that is only the beginning.  One margarita down and you’ll be ready for a second and ready to order off of their amazing menu!  Anything Mexican you could possibly dream of is a choice on their menu, all extremely affordable.  You’ll eat just enough so that you can have that third margarita and still walk out of the bar on your own two feet.  Their guacamole is heavenly, their quesadillas mouth-watering, and their chili is hot, hot, hot!!!  Get ready for some fun at the Rio because it will be all around you and you will leave a little tipsy, a little full and a little richer than you thought you would.

Finally, does anyone know what happened to diners?  Not the ones that offer just grease on the countertops, but the really good ones that when you wake up hungry in the middle of the night, all you want is a piece of their pie?  Well Denver’s got one in Sam’s #3.  Close to the bars that you’ll be leaving hungry, Sam’s #3 is a traditional diner that offers a ton of food choices from breakfast to dessert that you could be in the mood for anytime of day.  The prices are reasonable too so you might be able to get that milkshake you’re always dreaming about.  There are certain times you might have to wait for a table but that’s just because Sam’s #3 is no secret to the folks of Denver that are hungry on a Sunday morning. 

Denver has many more places that anyone would enjoy going to and be able to afford.  These are just five of them.  Five places however, that in my opinion, are the best.  They have the best atmosphere, the best selection, the best food and the best prices.  Every time I go to any of them I walk away satisfied and happy that I didn’t pick a more expensive place where I probably would have gotten less food.  Ultimately the choice is up to you, but trust this money-saver’s advice, the more money you save on a night on the town, the happier you’ll be when you wake up hungry for a good diner.  J

One of the most popular things to do in the Denver area is to go skiing.  In fact, this has become such a popular thing to do that I-70 going into and out of the mountains frequently becomes jammed up.  This isn’t just a weekend problem, but this year with all the snow, it has become a problems anytime is snows.  The solution?  Easy.

Instead of being part of the problem on I-70, go ahead and take a day off work and make a long weekend trip up to the mountains to a place like Keystone.  Many people think that it is too expensive to stay in many resort towns.  Keystone is the exception.  There are many affordable lodging providers in Keystone…such as http://www.SummitCove.com.  They provide really nice lodging at a seriously good price…especially at the last minute.  Just give them a call at 303-618-0773 and they will hook you up with a smokin’ last minute deal on a condo in Keystone.

The bottom line to avoiding traffic on I-70 is simply to avoid it altogether and do not travel during those peak times, which are Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening.  The traffic drops off during the spring and fall, but you can count on being stuck once again in the summer when everyone is trying to beat the heat.  Keystone in the summer is probably one of the best kept secrets along the Front Range.  You can easily beat the heat and find condos in Keystone for as little as $89/nt.  That is less than $25 per person for 4 people!  Check out Keystone Condos by SummitCove today.

So, the quest continues. Where can you find cheap PBR in town without taking a toothless man home after eight adult beverages (and possibly some Wild Turkey shots too). Well, leave your gum-grinning buddy belly up and check out some different watering holes.

Herb’s Hideout
21 and Larimer
Well, it may be a little dive bar north of LoDo. It also may have crack smoking bums in the alleys. And I guess you might not get in without being hustled for some change. But Herb’s is, by far, Denver’s best kept secret. Okay, so PBRs are $3 on tap a little steep, but the music, oh the music. With an emphasis on local bands playing jazz, funk, blues and even big band, you will never go in there on an off night. There is some nice looking people there too. If you are there for other purposes (than listing to music, silly!) you may end up fetching yourself a hot date too.

Walnut Room
31 and Walnut
A high-end, almost intimate concert venue but just small enough to be a neighborhood bar, the Walnut Room slings damn tasty pizzas and, of course, has PBR on tap. Just a baby to Denver, it is a bit of a hike from downtown and capitol hill, but a tasty hike. Walnut room screams “classy” warehouse with high ceilings, an outdoor patio and a rockin’ concert room. I’m pretty sure that their cheese pizza at midnight with a cold PBR might just be the best combination ever. The Walnut Room is not lacking in swank, but is also a humble little home for your belly.

Streets of London
Colfax and Franklin
Oh, but of course, how we do love Streets. Let me count the ways….
$1 PBR
$1 PBR
$1 PBR
$1 PBR
Sundays and Mondays are $1 PBR nights. Need I say more? Well, I will. A Colfax fav, Streets has been in the drinking scene forever, it seems. Did I mention $1 PBRs? On Tuesdays it is $2 U-call-its. Good people, drunk people, cute people, crazy people. Decent food too. GO!

The Squire
Colfax and High
Colfax dive bar: (n) The Squire
Bionic Beaver: (n) Every alcohol combined in a pitcher, including PBR
Comedy night: (n) Finger poppin’ fun times on Tuesdays
Stripper pole: (n) Drunken hysterical mess
The Squire has everything you didn’t ever want to see in a bar and everything we all love in a bar. Don’t ask, just go. You’ll love it. It’s a damn good guilty pleasure.

     It happens every time. No matter if it’s a group of friends heading out for a Saturday night dinner, or just the girlfriend and me figuring out our Sunday afternoon lunch date. The phone inevitably rings or an email arrives with the question: Is there anything on the menu I will be able to eat?

     The answer: Yes. It’s not that hard to please most vegetarians like me. Really. I quit meat a decade ago, and from Limon to London. I’ve found something to eat every time I’ve pulled up a chair. Admittedly, many times in Limon that meant pairing sides of potatoes and peas to squeak by. Not here. Denver makes it particularly easy on us, even at some of the most surprising places.

     Quantity often is a factor to fill up without meat, and few veggie dishes in town beat the Roti at Piscos in sheer size. On a menu bursting with succulent Latin food, this huge Venezuelan tortilla wrap filled with a perfectly balanced mix of sautued Portobello mushrooms, chipotle cream cheese, black beans, lettuce, tomato and avocado is a hearty eater’s dream. If somehow there’s room for dessert, the banana chimichanga a fried flower tortilla stuffed with bananas, granola and sweet potato syrup and served with ice cream is blissfully exotic.

     On that note, the exquisite pan roasted baby vegetables at Vesta Dipping Grill are truly out of this world. Served in a lemon-thyme vinaigrette with Fontana cheese and a potato pancake, Executive Chef Matt Selby’s foray into veggie fare is one of the city’s most unique. Thanks, in part, to the wide selection of dipping sauces. We chose the miso, black pepper and yuzu soy to accentuate the mini carrots, squash, mushrooms and onions. All combinations are phenomenal.

     One of the most remarkable meatless dish in the area, though, requires a trip to Boulder. Southern Sun Pub & Brewery’s tempeh reuben tastes unbelievably close to the real deal. The salty beer-baked tempeh topped with sauerkraut, melted Swiss, tomato and vegan thousand island dressing on rye is a wonderful antidote to satisfy a vegetarian’s occasional pangs for meat. Accompany the sandwich with Southern Sun’s piquant cous-cous vegetable soup for a superb and filling meal that’s good enough to convert Ted Nugent.

Piscos, 1120 E. 6^th Ave., 303-777-8222

Vesta Dipping Grill, 1822 Blake St., 303-296-1970

Southern Sun Pub & Brewery, 627 South Broadway, Boulder, (303) 543-0886