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Why Lunch Downtown Denver?

I love lunch.  In fact one of the best things about it is finding new places that I can try.  And downtown Denver has hundreds of places where they serve great lunches at reasonable prices.  Sure, there are the normal franchise’s that serve the same stuff at every location.  But there are also great little owner operated cafes that serve unique and tasty variations.

That is why I decided to create this website – lunch downtown denver – to showcase my favorites.  Even among the franchises there are those where the staff and crew are just better than at other locations.  Where they are kept clean, the food served quickly, and the staff freindly.

Everyday I am looking for ideas for lunch, looking for those gems that stand out.  And if I can find them with a coupon that saves me some money all the better.  From boxed lunches to menu lunches they are all fair game as I scour for a good lunch downtown denver, that will satisfy my hunger.  There are even a lot of great carts that serve good food at a discount price.  Make sure that you try a Sabrett hot dog at least once and you’ll be hooked too!

If I can find a healthy lunch all the better.  But doesn’t your mouth just start watering soemtimes for a juicy hamburger, crisp french fries, and an ice cold soda?  Or somedays all I can think about is getting an Oyako Bowl from Tokyo Joes heaping with rice, dark chicken that has been cooked with egg and Oyako Broth.

Downtown Denver has it all.  Even some of the best mexican in the city.  All within walking distance of the 16th Street Mall, the Denver Convention Center, and all the downtown hotels.  Whether you are visiting or working downtown, you can find everything from great sandwiches to lunch boxes with everything that you need.

So make sure that you bookmark this site, lunchdowntowndenver.com, to check back for reviews and special offers.


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Big Change For McDonalds

McDonalds has always been a quick food staple where you go in, order, wait for your food, then eat and clean your own table.  All that is about to change when they start installing self serve kiosks in all 14,000 restaurants in the United States.  The cool part is they bring your food to you.

Read more here: Big Change For McDonalds

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Black Eyed Pea Restaurants Slumping In Denver

Every once in an while I get asked about my bias towards mom and pops or local owned restaurants versus chains.  Certainly there are a lot of good chains out there that deserve to get reviewed and to be eaten in.

The Black Eyed Pea  used to be one that I enjoyed going to for their great comfort food.  They are a smaller chain that has restaurants in Colorado and Texas and used to be a favorite.  Even though it is a larger chain it still had its origins in Colorado so I enjoyed going there at least once a month or more.

But my last few visits here though have been pretty dissapointing.  They seem to go through cycles of ups and downs in food quality and I keep hoping that they will get their mojo back.  A couple of years ago they were flying high with  a great combination of good food and service.

While the service is still pretty good recently their food seems to have taken a dip, and a big one at that, in quality.  By the time that the food got to our table it was lukewarm.  The chicken fried steak that I had and the pot roast my dinner partner had (both of which used to be their specialties) were both sorry copies of their former selves.

The chicken fried steak was bland and overcooked.  The pot roast was so over cooked it came in the form of stringy strands of beef and potatoes and carrots that had obviously been cooked seperately then combined since they had none of the robust beef flavor that a good pot roast gives to its vegetables.

All in all it was a pretty sad birthday lunch for my freind and we ended up going someplace else the next day to make up for it.  Hopefully the peole at the Black EYed Pea will get their stuff back together again but I know that I am not going back for a while.  Give me bad food once and I’ll write it off as a bad night but three times and I’m spendin my money else where.

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Old Major, Justin Brunson’s restaurant, is now open in Highland

Old Major, long awaited new restaurant in the Highland area is now apparently open for business.  Offering “elevated farmhouse cuisine” the opening has been long anticipated by foodies and locals alike.

“And, indeed, Old Major, the Highland restaurant that chef Justin Brunson has spent months putting together with an undisputed dream squad of cooks and chefs, bartenders and wine geeks and front-of-the-house professionals, is a restaurant that’s striving to be a confluence of unassailable cooking (with gorgeous compositions to match) in a striking setting that’s neither too pretentious nor too casual with service that’s as refined and graceful as an orchestrated ballet — but without the snoot.”

Located at 3316 Tejon St., Denver, CO the restaurant is high on my list of places to go.  The best thing is that while a large part of the restaurant has reservations, Justin Brunson has attempted to draw in the locals with up to 20% of the tables open for walk in traffic.  I’ll probably wait until the hype dies down a bit but after seeing samples of the food in the Westword Blog this might become one of my new favorites.

You can Read the full article here. in Westword or mozy over to Pinterest.com and to see Old Major Denver on their own page.

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Lunch in the Snow

225387_142959925869103_84672181_n[1]Denver is having one of its frequent winter storms today.  And with the storms comes the question; go out to eat or order delivery.  During times like this I always like to be lazy and order from one of my favorite restaurants that serve one of my favorites.

I’m always willing to pay an extra tip to the delivery driver so that I can sit in my nice warm apartment.  Many of the places that I order from are Chinese or Japanese.  I especially like these because they have nice hot soups that are especially tasty when its cold outside.

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Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs

Biker Jim'sYou don’t have to have a full restaurant to serve great food.  Case in point is Biker Jims Gourmet Dogs.  You can eat at their restaurant at 2148 Larimer St, Denver, CO 80205 or at the cart at 16th and Arapahoe.  These guys take pride in their food at both locations and even have vegan otheir menu.

They have all sorts of different meat dogs along with plenty of sides and drinks.  Check out the great food and reasonable prices today, you won’t be sorry that you did!

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Wahoos In Denver

WahoosWahoos is one of those exceptions to my rule of never eating in chain restaurants.  Wahoos in Denver is a small chain that offers great food at reasonable prices.  Don’t expect to have table service, you have to order at the counter when you come in although they do deliver it to your table.

They also seem to change their menu with the seasons. keeping most of their basics but offering different things during different seasons.  The stores are a little noisy because of their cement floors but they are also always immaculate.  The service is also top knotch with freindly, usually younger staff.

They are always ready to recommend different items to people which is good because the first few times when you go there the menu can be a little confusing.  You can tell that they are trying to keep it simple but the menu can still be confusing.  Even after several years of going there I can get confused.

Lunch is usually busy and packed with the line going to and even out the door but it usually moves fast and the food gets to your table just as fast.  It’s also fresh and healthy without being too “granola”.

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Lunch in Denver

When you go to lunch in Denver you have a huge variety to chose from.  Certainly the amount that you can afford or want to spend is a factor.  Another factor is where you want to go, whether you are looking for something within walking distance or something that you are going to be driving to eat at.

Many times when I am out and about I’ll pick a restaurant that is in the area where I am when I get hungry.  Most of the time I like looking for restaurants that are not chains.  Although there are a few chains that I like most are so homoginized and bland that.I find them unappetizing.

I especially like finding small mom and pops that are clean and have more original foods.  Often times they willl have specials that you can only get there.

Sometimes after trying a new place it becomes a part of my list of favorite places but just as often it is a place that I am never going to go back to again.  I think that a lot of times these small places try to compete by copying the chains and this is a mistake.  For me at least, the reason that I find these places so special is that they are unique and different.  If I want to have something that is the same I can just go to a McDonalds.

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Casa Bonita a Tourist Favorite

Casa BonitaCasa Bonita, located at 6715 W Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80214 is one of those restaurants that visitors seem to love but natives try to avoid.  Every time that my nephews would visit Denver they would insist on going here.  The food is certainly not the best but the atmosphere is entertaining and the service okay.

While Casa Bonita isn’t a place that I would generally go on my own it is a great place to bring family and freinds when they are visiting.  Especially if they are kids.  The menu includes an all you can eat dinner for less than $15 including tacos, enchiladas, rice, beans, guac and sour cream along with chips, queso, salsa and sopaipillas with honey.  There are also several other options to choose from.

Of course, the big attraction is the divers that jump of the 30 foot cliff into a pool below.

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One of My Favorite Chinese Restaurants

I have a place on south Broadway that I like to go to get good food and terrific service at a reasonable price.  Located at 320 N. Broadway # C  this little place also can deliver your food.  Tel: 303-698-1238  They serve really good food and have a lunch special that inclues an entree, egg roll and soup that can’t be beat.  If you order delivery it’s always fast and hot when it arrives.

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Cuba Cuba

Cuba Cuba is another local restaurant located in the Golden Triangle area at 1173 Delaware Street Denver, CO 80204 (303)605-2822.  It is a Cuban bar and restaurant located on the corner of 12th and Deleware that always seems to be crowded with noisy crowds.

I’ve eaten here a number of times and the food has been a little uneven.  Most of the time the Cuban food that they serve here is spectacular but a couple of times it left a little to be desired.   They are open just for dinner but it is worth a trip.

The problem for me is the noise level.  Maybe as I get older I am less tolerant but the wood floors and bare walls just echo the noise.  Last time that I was there a table of shreiking people seemed to be intent on outdoing each other and made it impossible to hear the people at our table talking.  When they finally left the noise level dropped down by half but by then our dinner was sort of spoiled.

Still a good place to go since the food is usually pretty good and the quatro leches dessert to die for!

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