The List: Nothin’ but meat

This past week I reviewed Sketch–a restaurant that serves almost nothing but meat.  And a little cheese.  And a few scattered, random plates of olives, cherries, bits of this, pieces of that. I liked the place for its simplicity, for the plain way that it offers some of the best stuff on earth.  I have long said that when the day comes that I am no longer doing this job and am free to eat the way I want to, whenever I want to, entire years will go by when I eat nothing but sushi, diner pie, barbecue and the fruits of the charcutiere’s art.

With such an end in mind, I’m going to list a few places where you can enjoy the best of the meats-and-cheeses world right now. As always, feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments section.

1) Osteria Marco, 1453 Larimer Street. If for no other reason than the prosciutto, the lovely salami and Frank Bonanno’s hand-made buratta, Marco would be high on my list.

2) Frasca, 1738 Pearl Street, Boulder.  It might seem like a shame to snag a seat at this wonderful restaurant and then eat nothing at all from chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson’s kitchen, but trust me: It isn’t. Frasca has some of the best charcuterie in the state.

3) Z Cuisine A Cote, 2239 West 30th Avenue.  It’s more than just meats and cheeses (and actually, if I recall correctly, it doesn’t include any meats), but the assiette de charcuterie at A Cote is an amazing snack for those in the crowd who want to eat the way the French do.

4) The Berkshire, 7352 East 29th Avenue. Two words: Bacon flight.

5) Olivea, 719 East 17th Avenue.  Why?  Because it’s John Broening.  Because, long ago, John Broening used to work at Brasserie Rouge.  And because Brasserie Rouge had the best charcuterie around — a style that Broening has brought back now that he’s installed behind the scenes at Olivea