Proto's Pizzeria

2401 Platte St. Denver (also in Boulder and northern suburbs)
Let's start by saying we eat a lot of pizza. A lot. of pizza. We've got dozens of pizza places in our little black book. Pizza is kind of like scrambled eggs: Anyone can make it, and generally it tastes okay. But it takes real talent to create a pizza that actually distinguishes itself from every other pie out there. That's why we like Proto's.

Proto's is located just down the road from the big REI downtown, right on Platte St. It's a small place, with a big hot brick oven in the back. They start you out with a hot pillowy piece of bread to share. It's looks huge, but it weighs like an ounce.

The pizza here is Neapolitan style, so the crust is pretty thin, and the sauce a little light. Teri's favorite pizza ever, the White Pie, is made with olive oil, mozzarella and oregano. That's it. They also frequently top the pizza with stuff that's "infused" with other stuff, which I'm generally not a fan of. But the results are excellent. It's a kind of pizza that you actually feel good after eating it.

The service isn't always awesome at this place, so be prepared to calculate 11% of your bill for the tip.

Rating: lllll
For delicious, unique pizza, good atmosphere, and located in a cool neighborhood.

Jack 'n Grill

2524 Federal Blvd. Denver
New Mexican food at it's finest. This family owned place serves up insanely good red and green chili (although I always prefer the green - I'm an honorary Mexican). We've taken friends and family here and they can't help but agree that it is the most delicioso New Mexican food around. For a hole-in-the-wall it is a bit pricey ($8-$11/entree), but well worth it. In the summer, you can sit on the patio and take in the Federal Boulevard action, Mexican flags waving and all.

Rating: llll
We will rank restaurants based on a five star system. Criteria include: food, environment, service, location, price, and overall how we feel when we walk the door (bloated and irritable or fat and happy).

Devouring Denver

This is Teri and Ryan's blog about Denver restaurants. Even though we don't eat out as much as we used to, we've still got our little black book full of our favorite places to gorge ourselves. And we want to share it with you. One caveat: We don't exactly have the most refined palates in the world (I didn't even eat a tomato willingly until I was 27), nor are we terribly adventurous (Ethiopian is gross). But who cares, this is our blog.

We'll post one restaurant review every week. Sometimes it will be a recent find, and other times an old favorite.

Feel free to leave comments if you've visited these places, whether you liked 'em or not. And for those of you, good readers, who do not live in Denver, well this will give you a headstart for when you come out to visit.