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Nibbles, May 18

Published May 18, 2007 at midnight

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Besides lilacs and afternoon thunder showers, this is the season of awards and surveys, especially ones that have to do with dining.

Travel + Leisure and CNN's Headline News have named Denver one of America's top 25 cities. That's nice, but these media folks now want you to rank everything about the towns from weather and affordability to people and dining.

The last time the survey was done, in 2004, Denver tanked miserably as a restaurant destination. Out-of-towners ranked the city 23rd, and, incredibly, local residents ranked Denver 24th (out of 25) in dining.

You can't blame folks in Chicago if they're oblivious to our fine local fare, but we have no excuse. If you, like me, love the restaurant renaissance that's taken place in Denver in the past few years, take a few minutes to register your honest feelings about the city and its yummy entrees.

So visit travelandleisure. com/afc and fill out the Denver part of the survey by July 15 - and then go out to dinner.

• Denver didn't make the recent Forbes Traveler top-10 list of America's Best Restaurant Cities, topped by New York, Chicago and San Francisco. On the upside, no Colorado eateries were included in the Forbes.com list of Most Expensive Restaurants in America, topped by New York's Masa, which costs at least $446 a person.

• Once again, Spain's El Bulli took the top spot in the S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Runners-up were Fat Duck (England), Pierre Gagnaire (France), The French Laundry (U.S.) and Tetsuya's (Australia). You can see the complete list at theworlds50 best.com.

And no Colorado restaurants or chefs were nominated this year for the annual James Beard Awards.

• Finally, eateries in various categories were honored in the annual Boulder Weekly Best of Boulder County. The list included Lucile's (breakfast), Breadworks (bakery), the Flagstaff House (fine dining), Efrain's Mexican Restaurant (Mexican), V.G. Burgers (new), The Kitchen (overall best restaurant), Khow Thai (Thai), Frasca (wine) and Laudisio (Italian).

Old Spaghetti Factory

1215 18th St.

303-295-1864, osf.com

Grade: C-

What to expect: very cool landmark building with lots of stained glass but extremely blah-but-very cheap American-Italian fare

Be sure to try: spaghetti with mizrithra cheese and brown butter

How much to bring: $7.15-$11.10 dinners

Sushi Yoshi

406 Center Drive, Superior

720-304-0300, superiorsushi.com

Grade: A-

What to expect: a wonderful little Japanese eatery and sushi bar

Be sure to try: mackerel Osaka-style pressed sushi and sake sampler

How much to bring: starters $3 to $13, entrees $8 to $23

Montecito

1120 E. Sixth Ave.; 303-777-8222

montecitorestaurant.com

Grade: B

What to expect: a cozy California-Mediterranean bistro from the folks behind Mel's

Be sure to try: juicy roasted Moroccan-spiced half-chicken with Medjool dates

How much to bring: starters $7 to $12, entrees $15 to $21

Chada Thai

2005 E. 17th Ave.

303-320-8582, 534togo.com

Grade: B-

What to expect: authentic, modestly decorated Thai cafe

Be sure to try: tom ka coconut-milk soup; snapper sriraja

How much to bring: starters $5.75 to $10, entrees $8.75 to $10.25

BB's on Pearl

1475 S. Pearl St.

303-777-3463, bbsonpearl.com

Grade: B+

What to expect: an American bistro downstairs, a lounge with free live music upstairs

Be sure to try: lamb chops in garlic and rosemary

How much to bring: starters $4 to $12, entrees $16 to $32