Ask the Critic: Green power

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Last week's review?  All about a particularly good green and organic restaurant in Denver.  The column?  More about the green movement.  I wrote blogs about green eateries, made lists of them, and basically spent a week obsessing over the buzzword-heavy culture that has invaded the modern restaurant marketplace.

This week, my mind is still on green--but green of a different kind.  Now it's chile--straight Colorado verde--and it's on my mind because I've been eating a lot of it lately, and because, while wandering around Federal Boulevard over the weekend, I saw that the roasters and tents are already starting to go up in anticipation of green chile season.

So today's question is a two-parter: First, tell me your favorite classic Colorado restaurant green chile (meaning no new places, no fancy places, only joints that have at least a little bit of history behind their operation), and then second, let the people know where you go to get the best fresh-roasted chiles in town.

I'll get us started this week with my picks.  For restaurant chile, I'll go with Santiago's--which also gets bonus points for having so many locations, meaning that I am never far away from a quart of take-away chile when the urge strikes.  And for roasters, I like Nick's Garden Center out in Aurora, which ought to be starting up the fires within the next couple weeks, I hope.

Now it's your turn.  Stand up and defend your favorite, folks.  And though I find it unlikely, maybe we'll even come up with some sort of consensus here on who has the best.