Could there be a more inviting name for a sausage spot than Bike Jim’s Gourmet Dogs? You’d be hard-pressed to find one, but that only partly explains the rise of this brick and mortar that began as a simple (and yet gourmet) hot dog cart. I went to the location in downtown Denver and struggled to find the right sausage for me.

But alas, I found my sausage and it went by the name of Rattlesnake and Pheasant because it was made of both the former and the latter. The funny thing is that it’s probably more likely that a rattlesnake would eat a pheasant than I would eat either of them, but yet here I was. I got it topped with The Desert, which meant harissa roasted cactus, Malaysian curry jam, scallions, cilantro and onions two ways (I actually only opted into the crispy onions so it was onions one way for this guy). I also snagged the Fried Mac ‘n Cheese as a side.

One particularly awesome innovation at Biker Jim’s was that they had a bunch of shredded cheese available to grab along with their sauces, so you didn’t have to pay extra if you just wanted to get some cheese on your tube meat. With that said, but sausage had no need for cheese, as it was packed with a slight kick and delicious seasonings, as well as the delicious toppings.

The fried mac and cheese was also tasty, but truthfully unnecessary because I just didn’t realize how big the sausage would be. In the future, a side like that is really more for when you aren’t eating alone like Steven Glansberg.

Places like Biker Jim’s are few and far between, yet I haven’t been to one gourmet dog place that has disappointed. Fortunately, Biker Jim’s continued that trend and showed me that a rattlesnake and pheasant can coexist in a casing and in my stomach in a beautiful way.

While in Denver, I found myself at a trendy spot downtown called Hearth and Dram. It’s unquestionably the kind of name that was pulled out of the random trendy restaurant name handbook, but that didn’t change the fact that the menu looked like an unvegan dream. Sure, there were vegetables, but I liked to think they were an afterthought compared to the real food.

So it began with a bologna sandwich, or as they called it, “Grilled Bologna & Cheese.” It was exactly what it claimed to be, but easily better than what I lived off of during grade school. It probably had to do with grilling the bologna to a bit of a char and using pillowy buns for bread. Whatever the reason, it was a good throwback to kick things off.

For the main course I ordered the Medium-Rare Short Rib (and yes, that was the exact name). This came with root veggies (carrots), cracked wheat and some shaved, fried garlic. It turned out to be nothing short of delicious. The meat was so tender it seemed to melt in my mouth, but it also had a perfect texture due to a char on the outside that seems to be pretty rare in the short rib world. The accompaniments were nice, but they all played a distant second fiddle to the meat. Truly, had this short rib come out a la carte I would not have complained.

We also had some tempura onion rings and roasted potatoes with bacon for sides to share as a table. Both of these were tasty in their own ways, but beyond the presentation there was nothing overly special about the onion rings. The potatoes, though were packed with big chunks of bacon that again reminded me that the vegetables were an afterthought. Almost like the chef though he needed bacon on the menu and potatoes sounded like a good excuse to do so.

I’d definitely head back to Hearth and Dram if I found myself in Denver again and in need of a slightly upscale spot that does good by meat. It’s really all you could ask for.

What do you do when combine Chipotle and Brazilian food in the city of Denver? Apparently a spot called Five on Black. It has the element of walking down the line to make an order, puts it all in a bowl instead of tortillas. Seeing as I and the world seem pretty bored of Chipotle these days, this seemed like a nice change of pace.

I picked a base of white rice, then topped it with steak, feijaoda (a special stew with beef, bacon sausage, black beans and a ton of flavors that they gave me for free because it was my first time), spicy coconut sauce, more black beans, lime, chimichurri and cilantro. I also snagged a pao de queijo (cheese bread) for good measure. And let me tell you, it was all good measured. The flavors all worked in holy harmony to make me one very happy unvegan. The meat was cooked nice and tender, while the coconut sauce added a nice hot kick that was perfectly buffered by the black beans. If I had to do it all again, I’d be hard-pressed to pick something different. And that’s not because of a lack of options, but simply because I kinda nailed it on this first try.

Five on Black is anything but boring, and the kind of place I wish was right down the street from my office, as opposed to simply being right down the street from a hotel I’m in for a business trip.

Brio may be a chain, but it’s the kind of chain I can get behind. After all, steaks are a central component of the menu at the place. Of course, with an Tuscan theme it’s possible to get some light pasta or something else crazy, but I am a man who doesn’t generally turn down the opportunity for a steak.

But I couldn’t just start with that. After all, I was at a table with others and we began with a few appetizers. But as much as I liked the the bruschetta, spinach-artichoke dip and flatbread, it was merely filler on my way to steak.

I usually like to go with a ribeye, but Brio’s was said to be espresso rubbed. I ain’t got time for coffee because I hate the stuff, so instead I went with the New York Strip. Through my waiter’s thickly-accented and nearly indecipherable suggestion, I had mine crusted with gorgonzola and ordered medium-rare. It arrived with a random spring of rosemary, but otherwise just as I had intended. As far as New York Strips go, this steak delivered. The gorgonzola was a bit of a distraction from the beefy flavor, but I can never complain about cheese and this doesn’t seem like the right time to do so because it was still delicious. The steak had been cooked to a perfect medium-rare, but at times was somewhat dry. I can chalk this up to the steak not being as fatty as the ribeyes that I am used to, but alas I couldn’t help but desire a bit more in the juiciness department.

I should also mention that the steak came with a choice of sides. I went with the Fingerling Potatoes Brio, which were topped with a delicious cream sauce and cooked until the outsides were crisp and the insides were nice and tender. There was nothing not good about these.

As far as the chains go, though, Brio was pretty tasty. I can’t speak for how true it is to its alleged Tuscan roots, but they sure knew how to cook a steak pretty well.

Highlands Ranch is a crazy distant suburb of Denver, which typically means chain restaurants galore. And that’s pretty much what I found, but I also found a place called Crave Burger that was anything but “chainy.” It felt like the kind of burger place I would open if I were ballsy enough to open a restaurant. The menu was loaded with all sorts of crazy and inventive burgers including toppings like peanut butter, jalapeno poppers and fried white cheddar and eventually I found mine.

Well, at least I got it down to two and my waiter didn’t hesitate to tell me to get the Sin City. This was topped with a tempura coated fried sharp cheddar block, bourbon-glazed onions, avocado, candied bacon and lettuce. I wanted nothing to do with the onions or lettuce, but I did want to upgrade my fries to the Das Fries (with beer cheese, cheddar, bacon and jalapenos).

To say that the results were beautiful would be to understate just how excited I was when the burger arrived. Crave Burger had heeded all of my words and produced a burger worth immediately taking down. To some, this may have been a meal of excess, but for me the sweet smokiness of the bacon played perfectly with the creamy avocado. The block of cheese was basically as thick as the burger, which is a good thing if you really love cheese like I do, or a bad thing if you’re really eager to get some ground beef flavor on your tongue bits.

But for real, while the toppings played perfectly well with each other, the burger itself sort of faded into the background of flavors. It was still a great conduit for toppings but it would be hard to compete with the intensity of the candied bacon no matter how bold the beef may be.

As for the fries, they were just as glorious as they seemed in reading the description. I mean, you really can’t go wrong with cheese, more cheese, bacon and jalapenos. Plus, the fries themselves held up pretty well.

While the toppings may have overwhelmed the burger to a degree, it’s kind of to be expected at a place like this. And hey, if I ever find myself in Highlands Ranch again, I know I have a whole lot more burgers to crave.

Somewhere along the way, someone figured out that sex sells. I don’t know when this time came, but I’m pretty sure everyone in the room looked at each other and nodded in agreement without a word. In the ’80s, Hooters took that genius concept to the restaurant industry and became a household name. And while Hooters is still going strong, the look has become a bit dated. Enter Tilted Kilt, which has taken the Hooters concept, splashed it with Scotch and trimmed the uniforms significantly so that even flat girls have cleavage and they all show some midriff. In other words, the girls at Hooters almost look like nuns in comparison. Yet, while Hooters is gimmicky, they still have pretty tasty wings. Would Tilted Kilt have good fare to offer with their good looks?

To answer this question, I made my way to Tilted Kilt in Denver. This place was huge and had a setup more in line with Buffalo Wild Wings than any Hooters I had ever been to. The menu was chock-full of typical bar food at a reasonable price. For some reason I had decided in my head that I had eaten too many burgers lately and decided against that. I also knew we were in a rush and as the world’s slowest buffalo wing eater, I had to pass that up as well. I landed on The French, We Mean Irish Dip. Yeah, that was a cute way of trying to make the French Dip fit into the theme, but other than the name this thing was pure French Dip.

A pure unvegan dream, this sandwich was filled with shaved rib eye steak, Swiss cheese and nothing else. It was served with au jus and my choice of a side. I went with the fries to keep it real. Despite not mentioning pickles on the menu, this sandwich was served with on in the basket. Unfortunately, it contaminated a few fries and the bun, which was devastating, but not disastrous. Now, onto better things. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert in the field of French Dips (not sure that such experts exist), but I was actually pretty impressed with the sandwich. It contained a fair amount of meat and gooey cheese that would have been enough on their own to satisfy me. Well, sort of. You see, the bun was pretty thick and had me scared at first. Dry, it would have been overwhelming, but when dipped in the au jus, it soaked up those juices perfectly and made for a great French Dip conduit.

The fries were your normal cut, but had been fried to the crispy end of the spectrum that I know and love, then topped with some mild seasoning.

Did the meal at Tilted Kilt blow me away? No. But even without the gimmicky clothing I’d be willing to make a return journey. They may not be the most creative, but they do a swell job with bar food. And the outfits sure don’t hurt.

Colorado is definitely a beer state, and not just because Coors comes from the Rocky Mountain State. No, it is also home to New Belgium (of Fat Tire fame) and seemingly countless other micro and craft breweries. While in Breckenridge for a ski weekend, I decided I had to at least try one of these, and because it turned out to be the only one available at dinner, my choice happened to come from the creatively named Breckenridge Brewery. The brewery, by the way, is actually no longer in Breckenridge, having expanded and moved to Denver in 1992.

The only brew available was their Agave Wheat, and while I have been trying to avoid wheat beers, I still wanted this one to keep things local. It came bottled and when I poured it out it looked like your average wheat beer, but I suspected the agave nectar might give it a bit of a honey flavor.

If it did, my beer palette was definitely not refined enough to notice. Instead, I just felt myself drinking a very good wheat beer. While I usually relegate light and slightly sweet wheat beers like this to summer, I was impressed by how refreshing it tasted in the dead of winter. Yet, while satisfying, drinking this beer only made me realize how much I wanted to drink their other beers. I did not get the chance on this trip, but I hope the many beers of Colorado can one day make their way into my belly and blood stream. It may take a while, but Breckenridge Agave Wheat has assured me that it will be worth the journey. To get in contact with Brewskis Beverage >View more here<.