100 Favorite Dishes: Chicken potpie from Devil's Food

Lori Midson

No. 82: Chicken potpie from Devil's Food

I have the good fortune to live in Washington Park, a neighborhood strewn with willowy trees, neighbors that sell fresh eggs from their country farm and gorgeous old houses that have closets the size of pin cushions, but pretty cool interior woodwork. The misfortune of living in this neighborhood -- namely the east side of the park -- is the lack of great restaurants. South Gaylord Street is littered with fraternity bars, a substandard sushi house, a grill that's good for a drink, but that's about it and a fish restaurant whose service often sinks below the ocean floor. If it weren't for Devil's Food, quite possibly the top breakfast zone in Denver at which to discover the world's best eggs Benedict, I'd be inclined to put the house on the market.

But Devil's Food isn't just a diabolical stop for breakfast, or weekend brunch. Turns out, it's just as fiendish at lunch (and dinner), when the kitchen seduces its patrons with chicken potpie. Topped with flaky biscuits blanketed with Gruyere, bubbling with root vegetables and near-perfect dices of tender chicken and scented with thyme and sage, it's of the nostalgic old school, where butter, humble plants plucked from the earth and cream collide to form one splendid dish that's to winter what romance is to summer.

Hungry for more? All the dishes in our countdown are linked below:

No. 100: Italian wedding soup from the Squeaky Bean
No. 99: American Classic Burger (and fries) from Tarbell's
No. 98: E's clam linguini from Mangiamo Pronto
No. 97: Queso a la plancha taco from the Pinche Tacos wagon
No. 96: Prosciutto-wrapped jalapeño poppers from Tony's Market
No. 95: Fried chicken from the Pinyon
No. 94: Seafood soup from Farro
No. 93: Posole from The Porker
No. 92: Breakfast Burrito from the Taco Wagon in Lafayette
No. 91: Hummus from Shish Kabob Grill
No. 90: Albondigas meatballs from Solera
No. 89: Lemon-ricotta doughnuts from Olivéa
No. 88: Döner kabob from Shondiz
No. 87: Roasted cauliflower salad from Euclid Hall
No. 86: Beef cheek enchiladas from El Diablo
No. 85: Fried Brussels sprouts from Panzano
No. 84: Pork osso buco from Osteria Marco
No. 83: Cazuela Colombiana from Cafe Brazil

In late 2009, we embarked on a culinary journey that took us through our favorite dishes in the Mile High City -- one hundred, to be exact -- as a precursor to the Best of Denver issue. Now we're back with round two, counting down (in no particular order) a hundred more of our favorite Denver dishes in a list that, by our imperfect calculations, should be wrapped up by the time the Best of Denver 2011 hits the streets on March 31. In the meantime, if there's a dish you think we need to try, tell us about it in the comments section below, or shoot us an e-mail at lori.midson@westword.com.