Each year when I sit down to write the Dining in Denver feature, patterns emerge. The bistro was hot in 1998 and last year every restaurant in town wanted a cut of the dot-com action. Comfort food also came back into vogue. Now that we’re in the year 2000, the trends are all over the place. Comfort food is still hot, and the steak craze is, well…crazy. Websites have taken a giant leap forward in allowing customers to make online reservations at their favorite restaurants. Chain eateries are arriving in droves, while the independent restaurants are making commitments to local farmers. Tequila is the poison of choice, and Latin-inspired dishes are showing up here, there, and everywhere. Ceviche, with its Latin roots, is making a huge splash on menus. And take-out is going gangbusters. If the year 2000 has one bona fide trend, it’s that you certainly won’t go hungry.

This year’s Dining in Denver cheat sheet dishes up the top trends, Denver’s best restaurants, places that need a kick in the butt or are grossly overrated, hidden haunts, carryout markets, and a whole slew of other restaurant information to get you through another year of dining out.