​Two weeks ago, we asked diners and restaurants employees alike to serve up their best tips for surviving Denver Restaurant Week, promising a $52.80 prize for the best advice in each category. More than fifty people complied, posting tips that ranged from remembering not to behave like an asshole to remembering the less fortunate -- and donating $52.80 for each $52.80 DRW meal you enjoy.

We'll be introducing a second Denver Restaurant Week RW contest later today. But right now, keep reading for the winners of this first contest. We like big tippers!

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J. Wohletz

My affection for oatmeal is obvious.

The city of Lafayette has been hosting the Quaker Oatmeal Festival since 1996. This annual celebration starts with an oatmeal breakfast, which leads into an oatmeal baking contest, a health fair and a 5k run, and ends with hundreds of people getting plenty of fiber in their diets -- and free, full-sized cans of Quaker Oats to take home. Along the way, they can also hug a gigantic, inflatable box of oatmeal.

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The home of The Blake, which will soon be named something different.

​When the Blake opened last October, owner Jimmy Calanni planned to unlock his two-story space on the weekends, booking in live music acts, entertaining drinkers on the main level with flat screen TVs and maybe, if he felt the market was right, introducing dueling pianos.

Now, though, the bar is getting a new concept and a new name -- and with the changes, it's offering a chance to score a $1,000 bar tab.

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Lori Midson

​It's been open for exactly 25 days -- an infant -- but Trillium, Ryan Leinonen's Scandinavian restaurant in the Ballpark neighborhood, has already found its way onto one coveted roster -- namely our "Ten Best New Restaurants in Denver" listacle.

And tomorrow night, on New Year's Eve, one Cafe Society reader (and a guest), will get to find out what all of the fuss is about -- for free. Earlier this week, we asked readers to tell us, in ten words or less, why they deserved a night out at Trillium, and we got nearly ninety pleas, some of which were written in (I think) Swedish.

Did you win?

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Lori Midson

Trillium chef/owner Ryan Leinonen

​When Trillium, Ryan Leinonen's highly anticipated Scandinavian restaurant, opened a few weeks ago in the Ballpark neighborhood, the accolades began almost immediately, which was good news for Leinonen. "I want to have one of the top five restaurants in Denver," he told me during a pre-opening interview. We recently spotted Squeaky Bean chef Max MacKissock and his wife, chef Jennifer Jasinski (Rioja, Bistro Vendome and Euclid Hall) having a dinner date at Trillium, and on New Year's Eve, you (along with a date of your choice) can also indulge -- for free.

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​Every year, EatDenver, the city's network of independent restaurants, releases a dining deck of killer meal deals -- a collection of 52 gift cards worth $10 each to spend at some of the best grub houses in Denver. And last week, we posted a contest, wherein we promised to give away, for free, five of those decks to one Cafe Society reader who submitted our favorite food haiku.

And we have a winner.

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​It doesn't matter whether you've been naughty or nice this year: When it comes to EatDenver's annual Dining Deck -- a caboodle of 52 gift cards worth $10 each that you can use at dozens of Denver's top food palaces, all members of the EatDenver Independent Restaurant Network -- Santa isn't remotely discriminatory.

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​Earlier this week, we gave readers and opportunity to score free dinner for two at a restaurant participating in First Bite Boulder, the town's annual feeding frenzy showcasing high-caliber restaurants like Pizzeria Basta, Pizzeria Locale, The Kitchen, The Empire Lounge and Restaurant in Louisville and Terroir in Longmont.

The rules? Just give us six words explaining why you deserve to have your check picked up.

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​Beginning on Friday, November 11 and continuing through Saturday, November 19, a formidable list of more than forty of Boulder's best restaurants -- spots like Pizzeria Basta, Pizzeria Locale, The Kitchen, The Empire Lounge and Restaurant in Louisville and Terroir in Longmont -- are offering diners a chance to nab a table and a three-course meal for just $26.

It's all part of First Bite Boulder, the town's annual feeding frenzy showcasing high caliber restaurants. And while $26 for a multi-course meal is a bargain, we have an even better one: an opportunity to score a free dinner for two at one of the participating restaurants.

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​So, who's the best local startender (okay, bartender) on Twitter? The annual Denver Web Awards are right around the corner, on Wednesday, November 16, at Casselman's, where we'll honor this year's creative, funny, tech-and-social savvy people of the restaurant and bar world. And, yes, we will get someone a lot of followers on Twitter.

Read on for more of the Cafe Society portion of this year's Denver Web Awards.

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