The Wooden Table

Our insatiable desire for delicious food brought us to the Wooden Table in Greenwood Village for a recent dinner. The Wooden Table is an Italian restaurant that opened just this past September, and it lies sandwiched between a couple of other shops in a pretty average shopping area at University and Orchard. We showed up to a mostly-full restaurant for reservations at 6:30 pm on a Friday night.

Despite the low-profile location, The Wooden Table boasts a co-owner who is the former Executive Chef of Osteria Marco downtown. 

Wooden Table may seem isolated in the suburbs, but it's probably appealing to the nearby residents of Cherry Hills and Greenwood Village, as there don't seem to be many comparable restaurants nearby. It filled to capacity shortly after our arrival and there was a lively atmosphere.

I rarely get worked up about restaurant decor or ambiance, but the Wooden Table seemed a bit weak on interior design. The restaurant occupies a large, sparsely-adorned single room, with white walls dotted with random black-and-white photos of trees. It felt a little empty. Also, the restaurant windows face directly out to glowing TJ Maxx and Sally Beauty Supply signs across the parking lot, so it's not a place to go for a nice view.

We started with a couple drinks and a disappointingly boring baguette with olive oil:

Bread and Olive Oil

(Yep, after that photo we decided we needed a flash. We're amateurs.)

As an appetizer, we ordered the Frutti di Mare Crudo ($13):

Frutti di Mare Crudo

Crudo is a raw, ceviche-like seafood preparation that is typically marinated in a combination of olive oil, salt, and an acid component (normally lemon or lime juice). In this case, the crudo included baby octopus, shrimp, and scallops, arranged on a layer of tonnato and chili oil. It was similar to the Insalada Frutti di Mare we enjoyed at 5280 Dines a month ago. It was light, citrusy, and loaded with tasty, fresh seafood.

We also split a half portion of the Ravioli ($10):

Ravioli (half portion)

The ravioli was stuffed with ricotta, and topped with shaved Parmesan and red sauce. The pasta was perfectly cooked, with a rich and creamy ricotta filling. The red sauce tasted a bit sweet for my preference, but was well seasoned and flavorful.

Now, let's back up a second here. Why exactly did I track down this random shopping center Italian restaurant for a slightly fancy dinner?

I had been drawn in by the allure of this:

Westword's 100 Favorite Dishes: Pork Tenderloin with Bread Pudding and Green Split Peas from the Wooden Table.

From the Westword write-up, the pork dish looked ridiculously tasty, and Apple Ham Hock Bread Pudding sounded like something I shouldn't pass up in this lifetime.

Well, my husband is really the pork lover in the relationship, so I convinced him he needed to order it.

And here it is:

Berkshire Pork Tenderloin

That's Berkshire pork tenderloin atop apple ham hock bread pudding, with green split peas and braised red cabbage ($23).

It didn't exactly look like the photo Westword posted, and it certainly didn't live up to our elevated expectations. In fact, the pork was pretty dry and weak on seasoning. I enjoyed the bread pudding, the split peas, and the cabbage, but nothing tasted particularly special, and it wasn't nearly good enough to make up for the disappointing pork.

For anyone seeking a pork dish (or, more specifically, a Berkshire pork dish), my husband's Boneless Berkshire Pork Chop at Vesta Dipping Grill last month was much, much better.

Moving on, I ordered the Meatballs ($20) for my entree:

Meatballs

That may look like regular old spaghetti and meatballs, but it was so much more than that. Somehow, The Wooden Table has managed to concoct an incredibly perfect and wonderfully seasoned meatball using veal, pork, and beef. That spaghetti-looking pasta was actually bucatini, or in layman's terms, "spaghetti with a hole down the center." Like the ravioli, the pasta was cooked just right. This was the best thing I ate at Wooden Table, and certainly more deserving of any type of "Best Dish" nod than the pork.

I'm not sure if they do this on a regular basis, but the restaurant served complimentary dessert liqueurs to all its (over-21) diners that evening. I don't care for liqueurs in any form, but my husband was happy to polish off our Amaretto and Limoncello glasses.

We finished off the meal with the Pumpkin Cheesecake ($8):

Pumpkin Cheesecake

The cheesecake was topped with a praline and pumpkin seed brittle topping, and served with whipped cream on the side. It was a lovely fall dessert, but of course we may have been easily pleased, both of us being cheesecake and pumpkin lovers. It disappeared quickly.

Two months after its opening, The Wooden Table has a basis for a great restaurant. The food is mostly very good, and the location has easy appeal for the area's residents. I felt some of the dishes needed more polish, and there's room for improvement in the ambiance.


Casual Dining

(7 of 10)

Pros: Food was mostly good. Pasta was excellent.
Cons: Disappointed with pork dish, boring location

Website:
http://www.thewoodentablerestaurant.com/

Larkburger

There are so many hamburger spots in Denver that Larkburger never really made its way to my radar, despite the nonstop blogging hype and the weed-like proliferation of its restaurants across Colorado. That was, until a location opened up in the Denver Tech Center that was just way too convenient to pass up.

Larkburger labels their burgers as "gourmet" at every opportunity, and that's probably a result of their fine dining roots at Vail's Larkspur restaurant. That's also why you see truffle flavor permeating so much of the menu.

My husband, my mother-in-law and I arrived at Larkburger for lunch on a Saturday. Their Greenwood Village location is right at the heart of the Tech Center, in a fancy-ish strip mall that's packed to the brim all workweek long but is eerily quiet on weekends. As expected, Larkburger only had a few other customers during our Saturday visit.

The menu at Larkburger is very, very simple. You have a choice between various types of burgers (beef, tuna, turkey, mushroom) in a couple of different sizes, but that's where your options taper off.  The restaurant encourages a medium cooked burger, Tillamook cheddar is the only cheese option, and your toppings will be lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and sauce. Some people might find that constricting, I thought it was easy and perfect.

My husband selected the Larkburger with cheese ($6.5), I ordered the Little Lark with cheese ($4), and my mother-in-law ordered the Turkey Burger ($6.25). We also got an order of their Truffle and Parmesan Fries ($3).

Just a few minutes later, out came our food:

Left to Right: Larkburger, Little Lark, Turkey Burger  
Background: Truffle & Parmesan Fries 

One bite into my burger, and I completely understood what all the fuss was about. So good. Maybe it was the quality of the meat, or the fact that it was cooked so perfectly, or the buttery sauce or fresh toppings, but this an insanely good hamburger. I didn't even feel the need to add ketchup.

My husband loved his Larkburger equally. He made fun of the miniature size of my Little Lark, but I thought it was the perfect portion. I didn't try my mother-in-law's turkey burger but she loved it.

The fries were just ok. I prefer thick, steak-type fries, and these were very skinny and lacked the punch I was hoping for.

Overall, an outstanding hamburger for cheap. I'll be back.


Everyday Dining

(8 of 10)



Pros: Amazing hamburgers, great service, cheap
Cons: Some people may not like lack of menu options, fries were average

Website:
http://www.larkburger.com

Rice Bistro & Sushi

Tucked very very deep in the south suburbs lies Rice Bistro & Sushi (or RICE Bistro & Sushi as they have on their website), which my husband, myself and two other friends checked out last weekend.

Rice lies at Holly and Orchard in The Orchards shopping area, in a small building adjacent to a Panera and across the parking lot from a King Soopers. Definitely suburban.

We were there on Saturday night for a very late dinner - I believe we got there a little after 8 pm. The restaurant was maybe half occupied, with a separate bar area that stayed busy through the night.

The menu at Rice lists has just about every imaginable Asian dish, as well as impressive list of cold sakes. But we were just there for the sushi. Oh, and sake too I suppose.

Rice's sushi menu includes all your typical sushi concoctions, as well as an entire page of more ambitious and creative rolls. After asking our waiter for recommendations for a spicy roll, he suggested something off the menu: the explosion roll, containing tuna and cream cheese rolled into a fried egg roll wrapper, and topped with a sweet and spicy sauce.

Explosion Roll

These fried little pieces of heaven were high-calorie and delicious and not quite like anything I've tried before. The sauce was spicy as promised.

We then dug into an assortment of more traditional sushi rolls: a shrimp tempura roll ($6.75), a spider roll ($7.5), an "Alaska" roll (crab, smoked salmon, shrimp, avocado, $10), and a spicy salmon roll ($5.5).

Clockwise from top right: Spider Roll, Spicy Salmon Roll, Alaska Roll, Shrimp Tempura Roll

These were all good rolls, although nothing stood out worth getting excited about.

For our sushi finale, we decided to conclude the meal with something more adventurous: the Mexican Roll ($14), which came with Spicy super white tuna, scallions and jalapeño topped with salmon and guacamole. Our waiter confirmed that the guacamole that comes with the roll was homemade.

Mexican Roll

I was intrigued by the idea of guacamole with sushi. It must be even better than plain avocado with sushi, right? Wrong. It was good but not amazing, and the flavors of the guacamole didn't blend well with the sushi. I probably should have expected that, but I was disappointed nonetheless.

We enjoyed our meal at Rice and our waiter was very helpful and knowledgeable, but nothing from the menu stood out as particularly special. Worth visiting if you're in the area and looking for Asian food.


Casual Dining

(7 of 10)



Pros: Extremely varied menu, good service
Cons: Food is good but nothing special, strip mall location


Website:
http://www.ricebistrodenver.com/

Pizza Republica

The Neapolitan pizza craze is exploding like a supernova, and sometimes I wonder if it isn't just going to begin collapsing under its own weight, imploding into a black hole and sucking in with it all kind of delicious Italian food and maybe a few random bystanders, and the next thing you know all that will be left behind are a dozen vacant restaurant facades and a consumer base wondering why they ate so much Neapolitan pizza over the last year or two.

But then I must look to myself, and realize that I am happily continuing to supporting their Neapolitan niche by eating at three such establishments in the last few months: Pizzeria Locale, Marco's Coal Fired Pizza, and now, Pizza Republica.

I knew a few things about Pizza Republica before showing up: they serve Neapolitan pizza, they're owned by the Jet Entertainment Group (uhh what?), and their website is not very user-friendly.

Once again, my husband and I were fortunate to have some taste testers with us, and we had no problem getting a table for four at the early 5 pm hour.

I was a little terrified that, given Republica's management, the interior might look like some sort of wild trendy nightclub downtown. Fortunately, it didn't. The dining area was pretty average looking for a classy pizza spot in the conservative suburbs, with high ceilings, ample lighting and a moderate noise volume.

After an excessively thorough introduction to the ins and outs of the menu from our waiter and a round of drinks for everyone, it was time to get started on the food.

We started out with the Republica Meatball ($6), which is described on their menu only as "Simply the best, ever".

Meatball Appetizer

We cut the tennis-ball sized meat sphere into fours and dug in. It was not the best ever, it was merely very good. The meatball itself was decent, but I really loved the sharp, oregano-heavy flavor of the red sauce.

We ordered three pizzas (each $16-$18) for the four of us to share. First was the Giacomo, which came with mozzarella, goat cheese, mushrooms, arugula, and fried garlic.

Giacomo Pizza

The garlic flavor was intense. See those nutty looking things on the arugula? That's crispy, delicious, fried garlic. There's even more buried among the sauce and cheese. The four of us each liked this pizza in exact proportion to how much we liked garlic. It will keep the vampires away (if you're worried about such a thing).

Next was the Rustica, which came with mozzarella, Genoa salami, Parma Prosciutto, and red pepper flakes.

Rustica Pizza

The menu advertises - or warns - that the pizza is spicy, and it is, but not nearly as spicy as I was hoping. I enjoyed the meaty toppings, but I missed the expected intense red pepper flavor.

The Vesuvius was the third pizza of the night. This one wins a few novelty points: half the pizza is meaty, half the pizza is vegetarian, and the vegetarian side is folded over to form a calzone. The meat toppings are pepperoni, capicola, and Genoa salami. The veggie side contains ricotta, goat cheese, artichoke, olives, and spinach.

Vesuvius Pizza

Now, why would anyone make a pizza like this? Who decides they want a half meaty / half vegetarian, half pizza / half calzone concoction? We did, apparently, but it is a little silly. Plus, if I were a proper vegetarian, I wouldn't want meat drippings getting all over my veggie calzone side. But it does look cool.

We finished off with the waiter's dessert recommendation, the tiramisu.

Tiramisu

I loved it. The mascarpone filling was light and creamy and sweet. I actually don't care for a strong liquor or coffee taste in tiramisu, so I was happy that both flavors were pleasantly subtle.

Overall - and this may just be personal preference - all three pizzas were too "heavy" tasting for my Neapolitan preference. They were too cheesy and too greasy, and the crust was too thick. They were otherwise well executed, but with the current glut of Neapolitan pizza restaurants I feel like I'm entitled to be picky. There's better Neapolitan pizza out there, even in the 'burbs.



Casual Dining

(6 of 10)



Pros: Decent pizza, good service, great wine and beer selection.
Cons: There's better Neapolitan pizza out there.

Website:
http://www.pizzarepublica.com/