Solitaire Gets the Thumbs Up, Max's Wine Dive Is a Winner

New to the Cap Hill neighborhood, Max's Wine Dive was awarded two stars by the Denver Post in this week's review. Restaurant critic Bill Porter enjoyed the casual space, the fried chicken, and the friendly service at this Texas import focused on offering an expansive wine list. The sole knock on the place was that "the collards were piled atop the mashers." Porter recommended the grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup and found the pulled pork-stuffed peppers to be the absolute highlight of the menu.

Solitaire, the restaurant helmed by chef Mark Ferguson, made a good impression on Westword's Gretchen Kurtz. The critic came to appreciate the quiet and more formal dining room upstairs as soon as dishes started to unfold in front of her. She enjoyed lamb scaloppini, hangar steak, and banana pudding, among other dishes, and lauded the set-up of the menu that works "like a good host at a dinner party, bringing together people of different backgrounds and making everyone feel like the best of friends by night's end."