I will be in Denver next week on my own (a female)on business. This is my first trip there, and I don't plan on spending it in my hotel room just because I am traveling alone -

Which brings me to ask....what restaurants could I go to in the city, or slightly outside the city (won't have a car), that I would feel comfortable in eating alone? I am very open as to types of food, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, American (steaks/chicken), etc. (Two places that appealed to me were Avenue Grill or Vesta Dipping Grill.)

Pricewise, it can be a little more expensive, but not off the wall crazy.

Also, I would also love some suggestions about where I might be able to go to have a nice quiet martini or see some live jazz, again, in an environment where I'd feel comfortable solo.

Thanks for any and all advice. Much appreciated. (Hopefully I will make some new friends while I am there...since I am considering relocation to Denver as well!)

Hi Elizabeth,
Tell me where you are staying and I will give you suggestions. Have not been to Avenue Grill but Vesta Dipping Grill is great.

If you are downtown, go to LoDo(Lower Downtown). All kinds of cafe's, bars, bistros, etc. Near Coors Field. Also, 16th Street Mall. 4 blocks of stores & shops! Have a great time. Denver is awesome!!

I recommend Denver Chophouse in LoDo...it's a brewery/steakhouse with a very social atmosphere (eat at the bar!). When I was in Denver on business I had a very fun night here where I met tons of locals and other people there on business. The Wynkoop Brewery a couple blocks away is also very good.

for eating alone, i always suggest Jax fish house, 17th and Wazee. near union station. great seafood and a nice, oval bar area where you won't feel uncomfortable eating by your lonesome.
If you want to combine both eating alone and a great martini, sit at the bar at the Cruise Room, in the Oxford Hotel down by Union Station (17th & Wazee). If it?s not too crowded you can have a meal off the menu of McCormick?s Fish House, which is also in the Oxford ? great selection of oysters, market priced fish and steak. My wife?s personal favorite martini is the Lemon Drop, but she?s favoring cosmopolitans lately. After dinner, head round the corner, on Wyncoop Street about ? of the block to Trios Enoteca, a wine bar which has some good acts during the week. For other Jazz, I always suggest Vartan jazz or El Chaputapec but from the Cruise room take a cab. IMHO the food at Vesta is only so, so. it's really more of a scene. You might also try, for truly great sushi, Mori Sushi next to Coors field. Have fun!

I moved from the Denver area in 1982 which, in restaurant years, is eons ago. However, if they are still there and still of the same quality, there were 4 or 5 outlets of a restaurant called "The Broker". My favorite of them was downtown and the dining room was in a huge old bank vault.

The steaks were superb and the appetizer, included with every meal, was a bottomless tray of succulent shrimp on a platform of ice.

Maybe someone with more current experience in Denver can tell us whether they still operate and, if so, on the same basis.

dude, the Broker restaurants are pretty much bottom end in denver. with steakhouses like Ruth's Chris, DelFrisco, Morton's (2), and the Palm, you cant in good conscience refer someone to the Broker for steak based on a 20 year old experience!! Back in the day, baby.

Several of us on this board must think alike. I would suggest Vesta Dipping Grille for dinner and the Cruise Room at the Oxford Hotel for a drink. Tea at the Brown Palace is just a fun fun thing. If nothing else, go to the Brown just to soak up the atmosphere.

Elizabeth, you have gotten very good suggestions here, though agree with Flopmeister about the Broker, only if you have blue hair would I go there.

I just wanted to say that you will feel pretty comfortable at most places in Denver. We are used to business/solo travellers. Downtown is very safe and easy to get around without a car. The 16th st pedestrian mall has a free shuttle that takes you to LoDo and Larmier square. I like the suggestion of Jax's to eat and hang out at the bar, same with Vesta's we often just eat at the bar, the staff at both are friendly, willing to chat and make you feel welcome. Tons of places to get a martini. Have fun while your here.

Have spent several weeks alone in Denver. Vesta is great. I ate at the gorgeous bar and had a lovely dinner. I will say that I find the streets emptier in Denver than I do in other cities, like NY and Chicago.

Just FYI Elizabeth, the city of Denver is far behind the rest of the state and the country in regard to allowing smoking in restaurants and bars. If this bothers you, you may want to reconsider the suggestions of the bars at Oxford Hotel, Brown's Palace and other places. We found them to be so intolerably smoky that we just entered, turned around, then left before hour clothes and hair were permeated with that foul reek.

The Luna Hotel Flow Room is the only nonsmoking bar that I know of in Denver. Great place too, good for a martini in a smoke-free environment. Seem to recall that Vesta was also a smoke-free environment, although we personally did not care for the food there.

Have fun in Denver.

You might also try the Adam's Mark Hotel for a drink it is on the lower end of the 16th street Mall which you can get to via the free mall ride. Although I like Mori I probably wouldn't walk there alone at night because its a little on the fringes. Areas West of there are more populated and very well light.

questionmotives - "far behind"? there's no smoking in restaurants in denver. if you're talking about the cruise room yes it's smoky, but here's a news flash, it's a ... BAR.

Flopmeister. You are wrong. There are certain restaurants who have elected to be non-smoking. However, much to my chagrin the no-smoking ban did not prevail in the city council. Some felt the ban should be statewide if at all because it would cause Denver smokers to eat elsewhere. Ft. Collins and Pueblo have banned smoking in restaurants.

Speaking as an allergy sufferer and the mom of a child with asthma, I wouldn't let the smoking thing deter me from missing a possible fun experience in Denver. If the smoke gets too bad, just leave, but I've never had trouble in any of the places that were mentioned. Would I love restaurants and bars to be non-smoking, though? YOU BET!

Many restaurants and bars are already smoke-free. Until a smoking ban is put in place, you can find a full list of smoke-free restaurants in the state of Colorado by zip code at: www.gaspforair.org/gasp/dining/resaurants.php

For Denver restaurants check out:
The Denver Guide to Smoke-Free Restaurants at www.smokefreedenver.org

Sorry flop, Denver restaurants have no such smoking regulations. Even those that claim to have smoke-free dining areas will often have an open bar area full of smokers, and naturally the smoke pays no attention to those invisible barriers between smoking and non-smoking. The entire place reeks. You have to learn to ask for smoke-free PREMISES, and good luck finding many of those in Denver.

Kudos to California, Utah, New York City and all the other progressive areas of this country where people can go to eat, and yes even have a martini without the stench of tobacco.

Yes Millie, still a lot of tobacco lobby influence within the Denver city council, to the detriment of everyone's health.

To my knowledge, no proposed smoking ban has yet been turned down by Colorado voters. It's only when city councils and tobacco lobbies have the final say so that smoking remains.

The latest two Colorado communities which voted to ban smoking are Greeley and Summit County, just this past November. Other cities with voter-approved smoking bans are Boulder, Fort Collins, Louisville, Montrose, Pueblo, Aspen and Snowmass.

funny, we havent heard back from Elizabeth (who by the way made no mention of smoking versus non) but you are all going on and on ad nauseum about smoking in colorado. gimme a break! I take my family to resaurants in downtown and all over the metro area several days a week. Smoking is NEVER an issue. Talk about making a moutain out of a mole hill -- no pun intended. How bout positing something that's responsive to the original question!!!!!

You first, flop, lol. How 'bout walkin your talk instead of hypocritically pointing fingers? It's O.K. for YOU to rant off topic, but not everyone else, right? ohhh, ok.

If it's not an issue for you, well hurrah. It is for many of the state residents, the majority of whom have expressed their displeasure with smoking by voting to ban it whenever it is on their local ballot.

It was quite a shock for us to move here from smoke-free California and encounter all these backward attitudes about this preventable public health threat. If Elizabeth is visiting from one of the many states or locales which have banned smoking, she may be in for a shock when she arrives. Merely trying to give her a heads up.

You sound a tad defensive about this smoking issue, flop, just IMO.