Moving from Chicago to Denver

Which restaurant/caterer/soup kitchen do you work at? So I can avoid your shitty, subpar food.

 

thanks for the great insight bingenbrew! the overall craft scene is nuts right now everywhere (and affecting the experience everywhere, for the worse), but i'd like to think the CO craft scene is a reflection of its residents -- laidback, collaborative and awesome! we love to drink and share the great beer we make here and are happy to share in great ones from elsewhere. no need to toot our own horn or put others down. quality speaks for itself.

lmk when/where i can buy u a CO beer...Cheers!

 

Professional chef or sandwich artist?

 

Well since he spelled sandwich wrong initially I certainly hope he's not an Artist, as they say.

Italian beef is delicious. So are burritos and bison burgers and green chili. Don't be such a fucking snob, Chicago guy.

 

Having participated in two straight Black Friday's in Chicago I have come to the conclusion people in CO have no idea how good we have it beer wise. Yes we got boned on allocations for BCBS this year but you didn't have to stand for 3 hours in 5 degree weather with a bunch of people extolling Pliny and Speedway to get a shot at a four pack and a bomber or two. Instead we get almost unfettered access to probably the best overall lineup of constantly beer available in any state with hardly any lines and generally great people. Doesn't suck...

 

Said it before, and I'll say it again. Beer is everywhere here and is paired with anything and everything: frisbee golf, hiking, skiing/snowboarding, hanging out in the park, Tuesdays, food truck rallies, Mondays, x-rays, falafels, base-jumping...you get the idea. Everybody I know and see is drinking good beer around here. It's not over-hyped, crazy-rare stuff, just great everyday beer. Hope you enjoy it out here. I moved here from Ohio in 2008 and haven't even thought about looking back.

To answer your question, I'll echo that Mile High Wine and Spirits in Belmar (Lakewood), connected to Whole Foods, is my favorite spot. I went there for convenience (proximity) and stayed for the awesome selection and great staff.

 

hey OP: bring Pipeworks.

also, if you could stop by Decorah, IA on your way west, to quote the poet, it'd be a whole lot cooler...

 

Beer is great here... food is not.
People here think we have great Mexican food on the Front Range, but they are wrong.
Coming from a former Texan/Arizonan/Californian, trust me, Colorado... you have the worst Mexican food in the entire Southwest.
The beer makes up for it, though.

 

Wow, people really called me out for defending Italian Beefs and saying Colorado has shitty food(or for misspelling sandwich). Sounds like that hit a nerve. Sorry, but it's true. Sure, there are some great places to but they are far and few between. There is a lot of good Vietnamese places but the Mexican isn't that great. The pizza is awful, Chinese food is pretty bad, and good sushi is very hard to find. There's no lack of bar food, fast food, and sub shops however. The point is, if you're coming from Chicago, as the OP is, the food scene here is sure to be a let down.

The beer does make up for it. As does the weather, nature, and legal weed.

 

I have gotten into a very similar discussion with my Chicago friends over the 6 years I have lived in Denver and this is what I have come to realize; I miss my family, food, and friends from Chicago that is about it.

The food scene in Denver/ Boulder is blossoming, but it is still YEARS behind Chicago. Chicago is a HUGE melting pot of cultures. For every good ethnic restaurant in Denver there are a handful in the Chicagoland area. There are great places in Denver for sure, but not nearly as many as Chicago. Remember, Chicago is also HOW many times larger than Denver, so by pure numbers that makes sense.

To compare the outdoors isn't even a fair battle. 300 days of sun and the mountains, enough said. If you have to have THE lake, move back to the Midwest. They are great and fun to sit around, but I didn't move here to sit on a boat or beach.

The Chicago beer scene is QUICKLY picking up, but microbrewing just wasn't as prevalent in Chicago as it has been in Denver. Yes there are a handful of older breweries, but not dozens like here. Comparing the entire Midwest to the Napa Valley of beers isn't quite fair. I sure hope an area of states could be considered better than a handful or cities, but in reality compare apples to apples not 1 state to an entire region.

You'll love it here and welcome! Go Cubs Go.... (one can hope).

 

Agreed on the Mexican food front...but disagree on the others. There is good Mexican food around, but it gets lost among the places that have multiple locations and serve hundreds of "Combination Plate B" type dishes. Plus, the best chili in Denver tends to ironically be from gringo spots.

 

Well said. And you're right Chicagoland breweries are killing it lately, Pipeworks especially. Can't wait to hit up Rev, Half Acre, Haymarket, Lagunitas, and maybe Solemn Oath and FFF when i'm back home for xmas. Colorado's beer scene is one of the best in the country but Chicago is quickly coming up. Also, go Cubs.

 

I was born in Denver... and there is no reason to compare. Unbiasedly (ha!) I think Chicago and Denver (also Hawaii) are the best places in the States! If I have my way there might be a Pipeworks Denver someday... =p Denver will never replace Chicago and Chicago can never replace Colorado. Both are amazing.

 

That is entirely untrue. Unless you're a texmex kinda guy and steer clear of the new Mexican style food. You can keep that crap.

 

Strange how insulting something people hold dear generates strong feelings! Who could've guessed?!?!

Agreed. There's plenty of great mexican food around Colorado on par with the places I've been in Texas/California/NM. Mexican food is not exactly the rocket science of culinary cuisine, saying there's ZERO good places here is a goddamn lie.

 

I've got a few of them I frequent for the fix, and they're the best I've been able to find here, but they'd all be at the bottom of the barrel in any of the other states I've lived in.

 

Meh, I've never understood people who constantly compare things their former location is known for to other places as if the location they're currently in SHOULD. "I can't find a good Chicago style Italian Beef in Denver"... well, despite the bajillion Chicago transplants here, we're not in Chicago. Sorry. "There's no good Mexican places in Denver like I find in AZ/CA/TX" Well, that's a lie but even so - we're not in AZ/CA/TX. Sorry to inform you.

I don't wanna say "if you like those places so bad then go back" cause that's just as dumb as saying "why aren't these things from my old town the same in this new town?!"... but I'm starting to lean towards that thought...

 

We're in the Southwest.
My statement was that Colorado had the worst Mexican food in the Southwest.
Deal.

 

See... there you go... now we're back in the spirit of things.