The results are in and the people have spoken. Maybe not a ton of people—just over 50 respondents by the close of the survey—but it was our first year, after all. And when you read this list and shake your head in disagreement that we missed your favorite—oh, we know you will—perhaps you’ll feel compelled to share your opinions with us if we try again next year.
Our readers raised some crucial issues in their response, such as “Hard to pin down just one for each category.” That’s part of the problem with these kinds of lists, though a few of you took the liberty of providing us more than one answer for each, which we went ahead and counted.
Another reader suggested, “Maybe would have added more to the story if you had a section for comments so people could say why these places kick a–,”a worthy idea that we will have to consider down the road … though we might have to rephrase the prompt a little for this family-friendly publication.
And finally, the most pressing question of all, “Can anyone around here make a good mojito?” The jury is still out on that one … readers?
Some categories were close—down to last-minute votes—while some were clear winners. Nonetheless, at the Front Porch, we like to give credit to the runners up and honorable mentions —many were just a vote or two apart from the winners, and many answers were interesting and surprising.
To what degree are these results influenced by the buzz around the many new restaurants? If we do it again next year, it will be interesting to see how the dining scene has settled in in Northeast Denver. And since more respondents were from Stapleton, the answers seem to trend toward Stapleton locations. Lowry, Park Hill—don’t be shy!
Meanwhile, here are the results. Let the chatter begin.
*In mid-July, Desmond announced on their Facebook page that they had been sold. The restaurant is now closed.
Our final question, “What did we miss?” elicited a range of interesting responses, especially ideas for additional categories (e.g., “Best Pizza,” “Best Fast Casual,” or “Best Meal Delivery”), which will be considered for future use. There was even a suggestion for “Best Weed Shop,” a category that we will leave Westword to suss out for you.
Thanks, Bryan, for the ideas!
As for the poll, the voting took place online. It was mentioned in a box at the end of last month’s article on lists, and we promoted it via local social media platforms, including NextDoor and Facebook. I’m sorry you missed it – we will work to feature the promotion more prominently if we do it again next year!
–Melinda
We would like to see a “What Does The Area Need Most” suggestion box to help influence new concepts. For example, we would love to see a Poke Bowl place, a Brewpub, a Ramen joint, a butcher, a fresh fish/raw oyster bar restaurant like Jax’s Fish House) and a fine steakhouse.
Unrelated to dining, we are kind of surprised there isn’t an actual bowling alley out here (not Punch Bowl but actual bowling alley) along with a Stapleton golf course or TopGolf concept would do very well here. With all of the large parks, it would also be great to have a frisbee golf course in one or two of them to help draw more people into the parks, along with grills in the parks! The new parks they are building in Northfield (Willow Park area) desperately need to have some grills so people can come hang out and BBQ! Seems like now would be a good time to add them while they are still in the final stages of being completed.
Also, where and when did the voting take place? We try to read this publication every week but did not see anything about this? Perhaps others didn’t as well and could explain the lower participation rate.