Restaurant Peek: Uncle Joe’s

Restaurant Peek: Uncle Joe’s
891 14th Street, Denver, CO 80202 | Tel: 720-330-8487
HOURS: Monday: 11am- 9pm | Tuesday – Thursday: 11am- 10pm
Friday: 11am- 11pm | Saturday: 11am- 11pm | Sunday: 11am- 9pm
www.unclejoeshkbistro.com

Uncle Joe’s has made it to Denver to make a name for itself. This modern Hong Kong Bistro opened earlier this year in Downtown Denver, across from the Convention Center and Denver Performing Arts Complex. Its sister restaurant opened in Hong Kong over a year ago. These new restaurants are off to a great start, offering a modern dining experience with Hong Kong style inspired food that caters to busy patrons.

Uncle Joe’s has captured the essence of American contemporary dining with its modern atmosphere of purple and bright green hues and large murals of Hong Kong’s city view at night and colorful mural of a traditional Asian women, and dark wood elements—never boastful and always with a restrained sense of style.

The menu offers something for everyone at more than affordable prices. Signature items include Uncle Joe’s Hot Wife’s Kick Ass Tofu and the Cha Shao, a Hong Kong style BBQ Pork, both which are customer favorites.

For the diet conscious, Uncle Joe’s offers satisfying salads like the mango noodle salad, which comes with wheat noodles, mango, avocado, charred peanuts, herbs, and chili lime vinaigrette. Order a side of protein to accompany your salad, the ginger shrimp and the jumping chicken (on the spicy side) are both great choices.

The coalescing of ingredients seems to be where most of the dishes shine. Rather than a hodge-podge of ingredients that amount to little identifiable flavor, Uncle Joe’s dishes retain depth. The crispy tofu, for example, is a simple fried tofu with garlic and sea salt, and a dipping sauce that consists mostly of soy sauce, but in its entirety, the tofu has a complexity of flavor similar to wine: it starts with an initial burst then goes into nuanced spice.

Nuance is the key to Uncle Joe’s. It doesn’t throw Asian in your face like P.F. Chang’s, but it’s certainly not embarrassed by its traditionally inspired fare. There are aspects of adventure to its character, but it also offers comforting renditions of classics. Even if the downtown location has only been open for less than a year, it has the potential to stay around for the long haul—and better for us that it does.

MENU HIGHLIGHTS

Entrees $13
Choose one:
Cha Shao– Hong Kong Style BBQ Pork
Devil Cha Shao – An Uncle Joe’s Special
BBQ Beef – An Uncle Joe’s Special
Jumping Chicken – Sichuan Style (spicy)
Choose one:
Jasmine Rice, Brown Rice
Cantonese Wheat Noodle, Rice Noodle
Add one side dish:
Sweet Potato Tots – plum salt
Crispy Pepper Sea Salt Tofu – with garlic
Green Beans – sauté Sichuan style

Small Plates
Kai Lan, $7
Steamed Chinese broccoli topped with scallions, ginger, light soy sauce and sesame oil
Crispy Pepper Sea Salt Tofu, $6
Fried tofu with sea salt crust, laced with garlic and pepper
Pork Dumpling Soup with Shaved Scallions, $6
Uncle Joe’s “wonton soup” with shaved scallions

Specials
Hot Wife’s “Kick Ass” Tofu, $9
Spicy tofu with minced pork, classic Sichuan dish
Chinese Scallion Pancake Wraps, $10
Cha Shao, Devil Cha Shao, BBQ Beef or Jumping Chicken with cucumbers, cilantro, napa slaw, hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce