Maxwell's: 100% solid brasserie

By Lori Midson, Special to the Rocky

Published February 15, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Istockphoto.Com

The lady at the next table makes a declaration. "I want my spice, but I don't want anything inedible."

Just to make sure the waitress understands the magnitude of her wishes, the woman leans forward, grips the hand of her companion and looks directly into the unwavering pupils of her server before casting the final caveat: "I do not want to die tonight at Maxwell's."

The reason for the drama? The lobster diablo ($27), a bowlful of bucatini - hollowed-out rods of pasta, thicker than spaghetti and thinner than fettuccine - conspiring with plump prawns, translucent scallops and an impossibly sweet and tender lobster tail, swathed in a light tomato sauce flecked with red chile flakes. I'll admit that it delivers a slightly spicy thrust, but is it so hot as to require a defibrillator and an on-the-spot will?

Hardly.

Maxwell's, you should know, is not a temple of fire. It calls itself an American brasserie, a term, much like bistro, that gets tossed around rather loosely. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to call my own kitchen a brasserie, so long as it's un- abashedly loud, flowing with red wine and large in scope.

But my house isn't nearly as comfortable (or spacious) as Maxwell's. This is a vivacious restaurant, pulsating with energy and populated with affluent, fashion-forward crowds who have navigated the maze of the Tech Center to nosh and slosh in cosmopolitan surroundings bedecked with an open kitchen, dark woods, sprawling booths, rustic log beams and chandeliers and, to give it a Colorado spin, re-purposed aspen branches and trunks.

It's a restaurant that's jumped onto the local/ sustainable/support-our-farmers bandwagon with gusto, as evidenced by the menu, which trumpets "all naturally aged, corn-fed, Midwest beef," the "finest Colorado lamb," "only wild domestic shrimp," Redbird Farms chickens and Daz Bog coffee. Boxes, bottles and cans are all re- cycled. Leftover food is donated to the Food Bank of the Rockies and the Denver Rescue Mission.

None of this warm and fuzzy fluffery would matter much if the food didn't deliver, but the kitchen does so in abundance, turning out clearheaded dishes that shun gimmicks and flamboyance. And while Maxwell's certainly has the potential to become a hip and trendy dining emporium for young cool cats, its attitude is decidedly mature: Prices are on the high side, the wine list is both expansive and carefully assembled and service is refreshingly polished and refined.

The menu is a familiar - even predictable - assemblage of steaks, seafood, salads, sandwiches, sides and sauces. But calculable doesn't have to mean a letdown, at least not when you're spoiled by a kitchen that dunks its mussels ($12) - fleshy, pudgy and pliant - into a deep cast-iron pot steaming with an herb-laced broth licked with salt from the sea.

I wasn't sure how I'd take to the crab guacamole ($12), but I luxuriated in its molded sphere of chunky avocados, judiciously spiced and crowned with generous slivers of lump crab meat. And while I like the house-made cayenne- and paprika- dusted potato chips ($2) that come alongside, they're too assertively seasoned for the guacamole, pairing much better with the one-dimensional blue cheese dip ($10).

A Mediterranean bread salad ($10), showered with frisee, spinach leaves and peppery arugula and pelted with goat cheese, kalamata olives and grilled, buttered bread cubes, comes dressed with a sharp and tangy vinaigrette.

Not to be outdone, a grilled fillet of wild salmon ($23), crusted with salt and black peppercorns, flecked at the effortless poke of a fork, its flesh so exceptionally moist you could blow it off the plate with an air kiss. The sizzling char on the New York Strip ($27) was pronounced, its tender interior the hue of rubies, and a trio of lamb chops ($26), lightly glazed with maple syrup and Dijon mustard, was equally estimable.

Most main dishes are accompanied by side dishes ($5 a la carte), including grilled brussel sprouts topped with bacon (no such thing as too much bacon!), hand-cut sweet-potato fries and the irresistible creamed spinach, its fleeting signs of citrus an inspired surprise.

A few dishes, however, could stand to improve: The cheeseburger ($9), for example, is completely devoid of seasoning, and the Manhattan clam chowder ($6), despite its seaworthy broth, arrives curiously absent of clams.

Still, as I'm walking out the door, I overhear a woman say, "I am so impressed."

That makes two of us.

lmidson@gmail.com

Maxwell's

* Grade: B+

* Address: 7340 S. Clinton St., Englewood

* Hours: Lunch: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday. Dinner: 5 to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Sunday brunch: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., beginning March 1

* Food: American/contemporary American

* How much: $2-$14 starters; $5-$20 soups and salads; $13- $30 entrees (plus $7 salmon, $8 grilled-shrimp and $16 lobster- tail supplement for surf-and-turf plates); $5 sides

* Reservations: recommended

* Noise: the far side of loud

* Information: maxwellsco.com or 303-858-0111

* Parking: free lot in front of the restaurant

Trekking for food around the Tech Center

One of the most frequent questions readers ask me is, "Where are the really great independent restaurants in and around the Tech Center?" In an area that's notoriously bound and gagged by chains, that question has long been a conundrum.

But things are changing - and for the better. Maxwell's, which could hold its own just about anywhere, has plenty of non-chain company in the area:

* Jing (5370 Greenwood Plaza Blvd.; 303-779-6888), the latest restaurant from Charlie Huang (Little Ollie's), peddles upmarket Chinese offerings in a glitzy space near the new Landmark development.

* Deli Tech (8101 E. Belleview Ave.; 303-721-6768) unleashes skyscraping sandwiches, using meats from New York's Carnegie Deli, to pad the bellies of devout Reuben warriors.

* Brook's Steak House (6538 S. Yosemite St.; 303-770-1177) brings on the bull in a clubby dining room overseen by astute servers.

* Chianti Ristorante & Wine Bar (5121 Yosemite St.; 303-796-0611) features a menu chockablock with praiseworthy Italian foodstuffs, all prepared with poise and grace.

* Sahara (9636 E. Arapahoe Road; 303-790-4707), a vibrant Lebanese and Moroccan restaurant that takes diners on a magic carpet ride through the Mideast.

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