The top shelf of LODO steak spots. High end, with food, wine and prices to match. An expense account haunt, in Larimer Square.

Good-to-great steaks, and a friendly slightly more laid back steak house. A great bar with live jazz.

For a casual and approachable steak, The Keg (and it’s neighbor the Chop House) are quality choices. The Keg wins for a lively setting, with a large bar and deeper bar menu. The Chop House, a Denver institution is also a quality spot across the street.

A quality wine bar with an extensive appetizer and tapas menu. Early happy hour with 50% wines and a decent selection of food. Weekend music, but generally a bit quiet for my taste. Cool brick and beam setting.

A bustling modern seafood restaurant in a hip urban style. Great seafood, very fresh and a bistro style modern menu, alongside a top shelf raw bar. Not great for more than 4 people, but ideal for a small crew.

Go for the bar side, not the formal fish house restaurant side. This is the best happy hour spot in LODO for pub-style food. Lively, with a decent outside street patio, it’s a great place to meet friends. While some like the restaurant, I find it stuffy and devoid of character. This place adjoins the Cruise Room, which is a classic local art deco era bar, very worth dropping in on.

The sister restaurant to Tamayo, Zengo offers Asian and Latin fused menu is an hip loft style atmosphere. An eclectic menu, and good bar scene. Summer is great, with a nice outside patio across from Commons Park. Cross the “Millenium Bridge”, the hard-to-miss LODO landmark behind Union Station, to get to Zengo.

Fast becoming many people’s #1 sushi restaurant in Denver, Sasa is getting very busy. It’s “good not fantastic” in my experience. A very hip spot, on the border of Lodo and “lo-hi”. It runs on the expensive end for sushi, very fresh and pretty creative modern sushi interpretations.

The best happy hour deal in LODO. An upscale genuine Italian restaurant in a beautiful setting and great location. I’d rate it high on happy hour and average on the full meal deal. Not top of the line Italian, but when you’re paying $4-5 for sampler plates, it’s damn hard to complain. Also happy hour covers most of the day and early evening, so it’s also a find for lunch.

Having a place four stories directly above this spot makes this feel like a real neighborhood joint, complete with a back door for loft residents! Good modern interpretations of Italian, with a great brick oven selection. Choose Venice for traditional/nice, Via for casual/modern. Via has a mod vibe, and a really great Summer patio spot. The restaurant is very well set up for larger groups, too.

One of the first anchor tenants in LODO dining, Vesta hit on a winning formula a decade ago, and still keeps a busy pace. Grilled kebabs of all varieties, with an array of dipping sauces form the core of the menu; this makes for a neat place to experience and explore (great for control freaks!). Very lively cool space in a renovated timber and beam warehouse space. Busy and crowded, in a good way.

Med-inspired top shelf bistro fare. This one consistently occupies a top 5 or 10 position on every foodies list, deservedly. Eclectic and varied menu, flawlessly executed. Nice modern atmosphere, upscale but very approachable.

Denver’s poster child establishment for “new west” cuisine. An excellent and very inventive menu, with a strong nod to mexican and eclectic modern flavors. Prime location, with one of the best outdoor patio (rooftop) scenes in Denver. Their Guacamole and Roasted Corn soup are homemade gems.