Mame's Northwest Denver Top Ten

Inspired by Nancy's Denver Top Ten Post, here is my list, focused on fabulousness in my (and Ramona's) neighborhood.

Tacos Jalisco Excellent Mexican food. I like almost all of their food, but especially the tacos de albanil.

La Cocinita. More excellent Mexican food at a very cheap price. You must try their crispy rellenos!

Bug Theatre Nice little indie theater. For the holidays I saw the sarcastic and hilarious Santaland Diaries, with Denver acting darling Gary Culig (who has been in NEW YORK CITY on the edge of hitting the big time for the past year or so and came back to Denver to reprise this role). I also saw Waiting for Godot at the Bug last year - great version of that excellent, slightly boring play.

Berkeley Dog Park Little Maggie-dog loves this place. And I like it too - cute doggies running everywhere, friendly dog people, and you can catch up on the neighborhood gossip too.

Elitch Lanes. Cheap fun bowling - especially on Sunday afternoons. Call ahead to make reservations because they are very busy.

Lechugas. Home of the little devil - a spicy sausage, topped with jalepeno, wrapped in pasta/doughlike covering, baked, then served with a side of wonderful marinara sauce. Dee-lish-ous. And they only cost like $1 each. mmm-mmm.

West Side Books Used book store as it should be - bookcases everywhere, overflowing with so many books. Pretty well organized, great titles. A huge selection of wacky 1970s coffee table books - talk about a tour of historical pop culture! Also, quite a few newish good titles that you've been wanting to buy, but could not bear to part with $25 for it at B&N.

Poggio's. Coffee shop and gelateria. Coffee is excellent and for breakfast, the sausage, red pepper and provolone bagel can't be beat. Nice little patio. And very doggie friendly - there's always a water dish out front and a cannister full of dog bones on the counter inside.

Simple Foods Closest thing to a corner market in my neighborhood - and quite a fine corner market indeed. Organic whatever you might want (olives, bread, soap, jam, vitamins, frozen pizza). Friendly people behind the counters. Yummy salads (one of my favorites is an edamame ginger carrot salad), yummy smoothies (the classic strawberry banana is one of the best I've had). One of their deli counter guys was on my kickball team. Good guy.

Avanza This is the place to get all of the fixins you need for preparing good Mexican food at home. And a generally great place to grocery shop bc of freshness of the food, completeness of the selection, beautiousness of the color scheme, and cheapness of the prices.