Tiny Bang! deserves its exclamation point

John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, February 21, 2003

Like the hidden doorway to Harry Potter's magical Diagon Alley, the entrance to Bang! is visible only if you know where to look.

You can't walk in the front door. It opens into the Highland eatery's kitchen that fills the front room where you would normally expect to find a waiting or dining area. You can look in the streetside windows and wave to the cooks.

If you want to go in the restaurant, you must first find the walkway at the end of the building. Make your way down the extremely narrow, yellow-walled path and you suddenly find yourself at the back door that is the front door.

You enter through a small heated patio-tent waiting area. It's a good thing it's heated because there is always a line at the reservations-free Bang! Yes, the name really has an exclamation point. Once you experience a meal here you'll understand why it's worth the wait.

Bang! is cuter than heck. The outside of the renovated home/storefront on 32nd Avenue and the warren of small dining rooms within are all painted in bright cartoon colors and the walls are hung with whimsical art.

The cramped bathroom includes a tub. The Fiestaware-like dishes match the walls. Leave your pretenses and your need for a huge swath of personal space in the alley.

Owners Cissy Olderman and Jeff and Chris Oakley label Bang!'s fare as "modern American cuisine" but it's nothing like the overly contrived, excessively garnished grub proffered by so many of Denver's new American bistros. This dinner-only café serves comfort food with flavor exclamation points.

For instance, the modest list of starters features soothing salmon cakes ($9) made with good fresh fish blended with corn kernels and chopped bell pepper, onion and celery. The two large patties are gently pan-fried and turned out with greens and balsamic cream.

Bang!'s plump fried oysters ($6) still taste like the seas after dipping in mild horseradish cream sauce. We were warmed by the modest soup of the day ($5 bowl, $3 cup), a dense creamy stew of corn and spuds.

The list of 10 entrees is wonderfully, whimsically well thought out. We grabbed forkfuls of tender meat from the big stack of beef short ribs ($15) and dipped them in mashers garnished with braised carrots, onions and whole garlic cloves.

This was further tweaked by wine-rich pan juices and a sprinkle of gremolata: chopped garlic, parsley and citrus peel.

We stretched the taste envelope and our stomachs with a bottomless bowl of linguine enveloped in zesty green chile cream sauce ($11, $15 with chicken). Sprinkled with toasted pine nuts and goat cheese, it exuded oodles of flavor and a modicum of heat.

My slab of juicy, crumbly meatloaf ($12) with its squiggles of spicy house-made ketchup gave meatloaf back its good name. It was buddied-up with lumpy mashed potatoes with a well of real beef gravy alongside neatly sautéed spinach. Dinner doesn't get much better than that.

Dessert at Bang! is like a long, warm hug from grandma. Try a square of genuine gingerbread ($6) with real whipped cream. Consider the unfrosted chocolate cake ($6). This is plain chocolate cake with flour - not a wedge of bitter chocolate fudge - set in a wash of pistachio custard sauce.

Ponder the five spice angel food cake ($6) with a hint of anise and a pretty orange crème anglaise. Contemplate any of them while sipping a reasonably priced cup of good dark-roasted coffee ($1.50).

I returned for a second visit convinced that I had been seduced by one great night at Bang! and that no neighborhood eatery could be that good consistently. I was happily mistaken.

We started off with sweetly sautéed sea scallops ($6) and a swell Caesar salad with cornbread croutons ($5). The crispy Romaine was coated in a well-blended dressing with a hint of anchovy funk with the fresh garlic and shredded Parmesan. It happily wedded with a side of toasted sweet potato bread ($3).

We were wowed by the fact that when we asked for sides of hush puppies, or crunchy sweet potato chips, or sweet potato hash, the servers did not blink an eye and charged us only $3.

Some swank bistro waiters seem outraged that diners might want to taste a side dish from an entrée they aren't ordering. In fact, despite the semi-claustrophobic quarters they work in, the service was uniformly friendly and unhurried. The Bang! servers seem to genuinely enjoy working there.

My theory was further debunked by a plate of perfectly pan-fried catfish fillets ($13) robed in a thin cornmeal and black pepper crust.

The white fish was mounted atop cool coleslaw with jalapeño tartar sauce and dense little corn hushpuppies. I washed those 'puppies down with a cold Red Stripe beer. Bang!'s juicy, crisp-skinned roast chicken ($13) is one of the best chicken dishes you'll taste in Denver.

To demonstrate that homey doesn't have to be bland, our taste buds heard the cockadoodledoo when we worked our way through the bright strata of hot/sweet flavors in the peppered shrimp ($14) with fresh mango, ginger and habanero salsa atop pristine jasmine rice.

The short menu changes a little a few times a year but almost always includes grilled ribeye steak ($18) and Bang!'s notable ground sirloin hamburger ($8) on a fresh-baked bun.

The funny thing is, Bang! is the last place that needs a rave review from me. It's already packed, and deserves to be, with its short-but-intriguing wine list, intelligent seasonings, stellar Denver Bread Company bread, reasonable prices and good portions of pretty food.

We got a kick out of Bang! and smiled all the way down the yellow-walled walkway and home.

John Lehndorff is the dining critic; lehndorffj@Rocky Mountain News.com or (303)892-5103.