The List: Denver's best green restaurants

Mark Manger

Organixx is Sheehan's most recent green adventure. But is it his favorite?

​ This week, I talk a lot about green -- about green restaurants and the green movement, about organic foods and natural foods and the perils of being a mountain locavore.  So for this week's List, it seems only appropriate to slap together a spread of restaurants which, while sticking tooth-and-nail to their political and social convictions, also manage to put out some pretty decent grub as well.

So for those of you going out this weekend looking to bump up your karma or assuage your consciences along with getting your belly full, here's a spread of joints where the intentions are almost as good as the food.

1) Organixx, 1520 Blake Street.  Of course, this place is going to be listed first.  And not just because its the one that happens to be most on my mind, but because I kind of want another one of their sandwiches with smoked turkey and gingered apple-cranberry chutney right now.

2) Sunflower, 1701 Pearl Street, Boulder.  Granted, I haven't been back to the place since it switched owners, but I am curious since, a couple years back, this was the best of the area's local/organic/all-natural/partially-vegetarian eateries.

3) Black Cat, 1964 13th Street, Boulder.  Chef Eric Skokan is totally committed to the green and local restaurant game.  Good thing that he's just as committed to making killer dinners for the crowds that flock to his small restaurant on 13th Street.

Mark Manger

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4) Shazz, 4262 Lowell Boulevard.  Crazy name, weird concept, but excellent grub.  And the fact that a lot of it is organic and/or local?  That's just a bonus.

5) Z Cuisine, 2239 West 30th Avenue.  Okay, so not exactly the first place one thinks of when casting about for green and organic restaurants, right?  But chef Patrick Dupays is serious about his greenmarket menu and does most of his shopping locally.  And when the food is as good as it is at Z, that's green enough for me.

6) City, O' City, 206 East 13th Avenue.  Organic, local and vegetarian--this coffeeshop from the folks behind WaterCourse Foods hits the trifecta.  And so long as you stick to the breakfast offerings, you'll hardly even know you're in a vegetarian restaurant.