A couple of weeks ago my wife, Faith, and I made a quick escape to Denver, ostensibly to catch the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ Wild God Tour show at The Mile High City’s Mission Ballroom. The show itself was a transcendent experience. No surprise there. If Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ever come to your town, don’t miss them.
What was surprising was discovering something very fishy in landlocked Denver, where we had two divine dinners focused on seafood, plus other good eats. I guess we shouldn’t have been so gobsmacked, since closer to home landlocked Salt Lake City and Park City have their own share of outstanding seafood spots including Current Fish & Oyster, Blind Dog Restaurant & Raw Bar, RIME Seafood & Steak, Market Street, Harbor Seafood & Steak, and Freshies, plus an abundance of excellent sushi spots like Takashi, Sapa, Mint, Aker, Ichiban, Kaze, Itto, KITA, Shabu, Sushi Blue, Yuki Yama and others. Still, we hadn’t really gone to Denver with seafood on our minds.
Fish N Beer is a funky, fun Cape Cod-syle oyster bar located in the Denver’s RiNO neighborhood. The menu ranges from Butter Wood Grilled Oysters and Baja-style Fish Tacos, to Ceviche, Scottish Salmon and Whole Alamosa Bass.
The main attraction, however, is freshly shucked raw oysters. Hence, the cute F n B lettering on one wall made from empty oyster shells.
Virginia Oysters
Fish N Beer offers grilled oysters, raw oysters – East Coast and West Coast – as well as oyster shooters. I opted for a half dozen of house raw oysters – the selection varies depending on availability – which in my case was East Coast Virginia oysters grown in the famous Chesapeake Bay. The oysters’ initial brininess mellows into a creamy finish, plus a slight tang from mignonette.
Spanish Octopus
Entrees at Fish N Beer include Crab Stuffed Cod, Brown Butter Sage Scallops, and my wife’s selection: Spanish Octopus which is wood grilled and served with confit fingerling potatoes, kale, chargrilled lemon, romesco sauce and spicy Devil butter.
F N B Basket
As for me, I opted for a classic fried fish platter – the F N B Basket with session lager-battered cod, excellent skinny French fries, and tartar sauce. The plate came with a side glass of the session lager that the fish is battered with to sip – a nice touch.
Osteria Marco
For years one of my favorite Denver eateries has been Osteria Marco in LoDo, which opened in the fall of 2007. The below ground eatery specializes in pizza, pasta, antipasti and such and boasts a terrific selection of Italian wines. If you ever happen to be in Denver on a Sunday the Ladies of the 80s Drag Brunch sounds like a blast.
House Salad w/Salmon
The salads at Osteria Marco are generously portioned and Faith enjoyed the House Salad with pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, Gorgonzola, red wine vinaigrette and a very nice grilled salmon filet as an add-on.
Margherita Pizza
Osteria Marco pizzas are just about perfect and I can’t resist their Margherita. It’s a simple but sensational pizza made with San Marzano tomatoes, house-made mozzarella, and chiffonade of fresh basil.
The Denver Central Market is part food hall and part grocery store with vendors such as GreenSeed selling both prepared foods like salad bowls as well as fresh produce.
Tammen’s Fish Market
One of my favorite stalls at the Central Market is Tammen’s Fish Market, where you can enjoy fish tacos, clam chowder, an ahi tuna burger, lobster bisque, ceviche, handrolls, poke bowls and much more. And if you’re looking for fresh fish and seafood to prepare at home, the selection at Tammen’s is impressive.
Ricotta Gnocchi w/San Marzano Pomodoro
However, man cannot live on fish alone. So I opted for a big bowl of homemade ricotta gnocchi with San Marzano pomodoro sauce from Vero Italian, which sells pizza, pasta and imported Italian dry goods at The Denver Central Market.
K-Leo Bowl
GreenSeeds at The Denver Central Market sells healthy foods like acai and smoothies, fresh salads, noodle/rice/quinoa/tofu bowls, fresh pressed juices and such. My wife loved her K-Leo Bowl from GreenSeeds with sauteed kale, broccoli, carrot, sliced almonds, red onion, quinoa, scallion, white apple balsamic vinaigrette and fresh avocado.
Temaki Den
Our most remarkable Denver meal, however, happened just adjacent to our hotel – The Source Hotel – at a splendid restaurant called Temaki Den. It’s located in a large, airy, industrial space which gives diners plenty of elbow room to enjoy lunch or dinner. Temaki Den is a collaboration between renowned chefs Toshi Kizaki and Kenta Kamo. Building on Kizaki’s reputation ( their Sushi Den restaurant was established in 1984) and Kamo’s traditional Japanese culinary background, they bring a modern twist to the American sushi bar.
Hamachi Sashimi
Temaki Den offers three choices of sashimi: salmon, albacore, or hamachi, which is what we ordered. The hamachi was melt-in-the-mouth delectable, garnished with thin jalapeño slices and micro-cilantro.
Anago Aburi Sushi
Temaki Den specializes in handrolls (temaki) and flame-torched sushi called aburi-zushi. One of the aburi-zushi types of nigiri we tried was delicious flame-torched anago, or saltwater eel.
Saba Oshizushi
Another specialty at Temaki Den – and it’s something you won’t find at most American sushi restaurants – is oshizushi. Oshizushi, also known as pressed sushi, is a Japanese sushi style where rice and fish (or other ingredients) are compressed into a mold, creating a firm, rectangular block that is then cut into bite-sized pieces. This technique infuses flavors and creates a unique texture compared to other sushi types like nigiri. The order of saba (mackerel) oshizushi we enjoyed was simply wonderful. I loved the crunchy texture and slight char given to the sushi.
Spicy Tuna Temaki and Aburi Nigiri
As previously mentioned Temaki Den is known for its handrolls called temaki (hence, the restaurant’s name). Temaki is a type of sushi, also known as a hand roll, where fillings like vinegared rice, sashimi, vegetables, or other ingredients are wrapped in a nori (seaweed) sheet. It’s a popular choice for a hands-on sushi experience. What differentiates the temaki at Temaki Den from most others is that the temaki rolls are cylindrical, rather than the more typical cone shape. I prefer the cylindrical temaki since the stuffing gets more evenly distributed and it’s easy to break the crisp nori in half to share. We enjoyed a number of handrolls, including spicy tuna, red shrimp, blue crab (our favorite) and negitoro (fatty tuna).
Bluefin Toro Gunkan Nigiri
If I could only eat one piece of nigiri from Temaki Den it would be the scrumptious bluefin toro gunkan nigiri. Gunkan sushi, also known as “gunkan maki,” is a type of sushi where a small amount of rice is wrapped with a strip of nori (seaweed) to create a “battleship” shape. The rice is then topped with a variety of fillings, often including soft, loose ingredients like fish roe, crab meat, or seaweed salad. The name “gunkan” translates to “battleship” in Japanese. Bluefin tuna toro refers to the fatty, prized belly meat of the bluefin tuna, highly valued for its rich flavor and buttery texture. Our bluefin toro nigiri was simply stupendous.
Temaki Den @ Tea Source Hotel
As I mentioned, you don’t have to travel to Denver to enjoy first-rate seafood, sushi and such. There are plenty of options right here in our own neighborhoods. But should you find yourself in Denver, you might be surprised by the abundance of excellent seafood, in addition to global cuisines galore.
Photos by Ted Scheffler
Culinary quote of the week:“Oysters are the most tender and delicate of all seafoods. They stay in bed all day and night. They never work or take exercise, are stupendous drinkers, and wait for their meals to come to them.” – Hector Bolitho – “The Glorious Oyster”
