Quote:
Originally Posted by pdxstreetcar
"upper Larimer now and across up Brighton into RiNo to see where the new wacky development is"... l looked into this, are you referring to that NINE dot ARTS campus?
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Have never heard of nine arts. He means the River North (sigh.. RiNo) neighborhood. The main commercial streets in this formerly industrial part of town are Larimer and Brighton (where the Source is located). This is an area where a good amount of new development is happening and where a lot of the more innovative restaurants are located (along with tons of breweries-I can recommend Black Shirt, Ratio, Epic, Our Mutual Friend... there are more. Bar Fausto is good for cocktails). I'd definitely check Larimer Street out. The other part of town with good foot traffic and many of the newer bars is South Broadway (less development going on though).
Your list of neighborhoods is good. If you're passing through NW Denver, I might also add Tennyson Street in Berkeley for a pleasant commercial strip with a bit of new development. More importantly, I'd balance your new development touring with some time spent in our densest neighborhood, Cap Hill, and a walk around Cheesman Park. It's a neighborhood with a great mixture of architectural styles and scales. Similar to Northwest Portland. Very little new stuff, but enjoyable nonetheless.
I don't eat out a ton and I'm a newer resident so my list is far from exhaustive, but for restaurants I have liked: The Populist, Euclid Hall (elevated bar food), Root Down, TAG, TAG Burger Bar, Pinche Taqueria, Acorn (in the Source, definitely need reservations), and Beast and Bottle. Hop Alley and Rebel are two restaurants in River North that I plan to try soon. Denver doesn't really have much in the way of hometown food, except maybe a greasy burrito smothered in green chile. Oh, and brunch is a big deal here (I'm sure Portland is no different) and the most often heard suggestion for that is Snooze (several locations, but they have one in Union Station--the chilaqiles benedict is my go to). I think Eater Denver has an article about all the popular brunch options if you want to see what's out there.
Oh and finally, for cocktails I gotta throw out St. Ellie and Williams and Graham. Both are in Lower Highlands.