Denver, Colorado: Acorn

September 2017 

Acorn Restaurant

3350 Brighton Blvd

Denver, Colorado 80216

http://www.denveracorn.com

I need to start out by saying that if it weren’t for Maddy from Love Grown Foods, we wouldn’t have eaten here, for no other reason that we wouldn’t have been in this part of town. Thank you so much, Maddy, for introducing us to such a great restaurant! 

We are so thankful that we had a chance to have an incredible lunch with Maddy, talk about her amazing company, eat yummy food and spend time together. Thank you Maddy! You are the best and we adore you!

We ordered the kale & apple salad, as well as the meatballs to share, which was a brilliant idea! I love getting a few different things to share when trying out a new restaurant. My hubby ordered the french dip sandwich, and he loved it so much he almost drank the au jus!

These photos make me want to jump back on a plane to Denver to relive our lunch. I’d like the same meal with the same company (+ Maddy’s hubby, Alex, to join the fun!) and the same beautiful weather we had. 

This awesome restaurant sits in a cool 1880’s foundry (a factory that produces metal castings) which has been turned into a sweet building that houses a couple of restaurants, a bar (for nighttime), a coffee shop, baked goods, flowers and some retailers. Acorn has a great outdoor patio with nice little tables for 4, and I am stoked we chose to sit outside!

Let’s talk about the food: 

We ordered a kale & apple salad that had candied almonds, grana padano (cheese) with a lemon vinaigrette, as well as the tomato braised meatballs which came with stone ground grits (like a polenta), stracciatella (cheese) and basil. And now I’m drooling!

Jeff ordered the french dip with caramelized onions, gruyere (cheese), smoked au jus and spiced chips. As I said before, he basically licked his plate clean and almost drank the au jus.

We weren’t going to order the housemate brioche braid, which is a fancy term for big fat homemade fancy donut, but we saw it go by and decided to share it after our meal. That was a wonderful decision! They change the flavor daily, and ours was a mango lime donut. It was a perfect way to end our meal! The flavor was bright and fresh and tastes just as good, if not better, as it looked going by to the table next to us. 

I would 100% eat here again! The menu was clean, fresh and seasonal. It is geared towards large shared plates, which are enough for two or can be eaten as single person entrees. The waitstaff was so great! Every time my glass of water was half full (I’m an optimist) someone was there to fill it up. 

While I didn’t really ask about intolerances and allergies since I was on vacation, and had my heart set on the dishes we ordered (yes the donut was such a splurge and the breakout I have on my face was totally worth it right now due to my cane sugar allergy/intolerance), the menu looks like it can be very friendly towards substitutions. It’s always a great idea to talk to your waiter and the chef at any restaurant to make them aware of your allergies. I reached out to Acorn and asked if they can accommodate the common food allergies and they said “of course!” which made me really very happy!

http://www.denveracorn.com/menu/