Top of the Town 2012

Veggie options at too many restaurants come down to a predictable salad or tired take on pasta primavera. So we jumped at the chance to attend Root Down’s Raw Food Night, a monthly dinner prepared every first Tuesday by raw-food-certified chef Daniel Asher (who formerly owned an environmentally focused food service company). Raw food consists of vegan items that aren’t heated above 115 degrees, under the premise that cooking vegetables leeches out essential nutrients. The four-course, organically sourced, gluten-free menu made our standbys look pedestrian—yes, they served pasta primavera, but with noodles made from squash and a tantalizing wild mushroom ragu. And the Northern Lights Citrus Silk Pie, a luxurious combination of fruits, coconut crust, mint, and blackberry coulis, just about made us raw food converts. 1600 W. 33rd Ave., 303-993-4200, rootdowndenver.com