Celebrate the Olympics with Denver's Asian Food Scene

August 11, 8:15 AMDenver Food ExaminerAndrea Spikes

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I confess: I have a hard time finding what I consider good Chinese food. So often, what I do find in restaurants is what passes for Chinese, but is actually a concoction created in America for American tastes (read: familiar ingredients, narrow flavor profile). However, as the Asian community in Denver continues to grow, so do our options for dining and purchasing the lesser-known ingredients that are required to cook authentic Chinese and other Asian dishes.

A trip through the nearest bookstore (the Tattered Cover is practically a pilgrimage for Denver bibliophiles) quickly reveals shelves of cookbooks centered on Asian cooking, such as The Complete Idiot's Guide to Asian Cooking (Alpha Books, 2002). I'll never admit to being a complete idiot, but they do have a knack for simplifing what could be challenging for the exotically-challenged.

Getting a cookbook is one thing - sourcing the ingredients can be another. The best (and often cheapest) way to get your galangal leaves and Thai red curry paste is to visit your local Asian grocer. Downtown in Sakura Square, Asians and the exotically-curious head for Pacific Mercantile Company, a combination grocer and gift shop that's been catering to Denverites since 1944 (and has great prices on sushi-grade fish, by the way). West Denver's biggest hit (with an emphasis in Vietamese goods) is Viet Hoa Supermarket on Alameda just a few blocks east of Federal (Pacific Ocean International Market is nearby as well). Northern Denver flocks to Pacific Ocean Market Place, located at 120th & Sheridan.

What I really like about Asian supermarkets is that they give me an opportunity to discover something new: a new taste, new texture, new packaging. Who knew that lychees would look so... interesting... in a can?