82 APRIL 4-10, 2024 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC & VENUES | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | SHOPPING & SERVICES | CONTENTS | boba tea choices, and we especially love that we can get them late — until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, which is later than any other pho joint on Federal. Best New Restaurant in a Convenience Store Conu’s Corner Cafe and Banh Mi Sandwiches 4400 West 29th Avenue 720-577-5667 conuscorner.com Thuc-Nhu “Nhu” Hoang and her husband, Huy Pham, signed the lease for this spot in 2019, intending to open a coffee and sandwich shop. But faced with pandemic- related delays, they kept the business afl oat by running it as a convenience store called Conu’s Corner — and it continues to sell lottery tickets and stock the shelves with snacks and household items, only now it also has a food menu that includes pho, rice and noodle bowls, springs rolls and the highlight, banh mi sandwiches on rolls that are made in-house and are the perfect vehicle for the also housemade mayo and pickled veggies that accompany choices like char siu barbecue pork and pâté. Best Non-Traditional Hamburger NBX Asian Cuisine 9068 Forsstrom Drive, Lone Tree 303-643-6464 nbxasiancuisine.com China lays claim to the world’s oldest hamburger, also known as a roujiamo, which dates back more than 2,000 years. You could dispute the use of the word “hamburger,” but it’s more fun to think of teenagers in ancient China wearing paper short-order-cook hats speedily fi lling or- ders at whatever passed for a drive-thru back then. At NBX, a chef-driven Chinese eatery with a short but intriguing menu of regional specialties from Shandong and Si- chuan provinces (among others), the pace is more relaxed, and the Chinese ham- burger (as it’s called on the menu) takes the form of a housemade bun that’s somewhere between a croissant and an English muf- fi n, split and loaded with seasoned ground beef. It’s a simple preparation, but the bun is light and delicate, and the meat holds layers of complex fl avors. Best Bar Snack in a Chinese Restaurant Bistro King Asian Restaurant 3542 South Fox Street, Englewood 303-781-9898 ruanbistroking.com Bistro King is one of those timeless neigh- borhood joints that seems to have always been there, and its menu of typical Amer- ican-Chinese dishes interspersed with a little Thai, Vietnamese and even sushi does nothing to help it stand out. But last year, a new menu all in Mandarin appeared, giving in-the-know seekers of Sichuan specialties a new destination. Among the noodles and hot pots, something different lurks: jinsha corn. This dish would sell well at any bar, where salty, savory snacks are just the right foil for cold beers. Also called golden sand corn, it’s a mound of wok-fried corn kernels coated in salted egg yolk and light season- ings — and a dusting of sugar, if that’s your preference (it should be). Best Rotating Dumpling Menu Yuan Wonton 2878 Fairfax Street 303-320-5642 instagram.com/yuanwonton After many delays, popular dumpling-cen- tric food truck Yuan Wonton fi nally opened its shared brick-and-mortar in Park Hill in September 2023. Chef/owner Penelope Wong has had to make a lot of adjustments as she settles into the new setup, but the move has been especially great for diners, as the increase in space and team mem- bers means that Wong has been able to get even more creative Food and Drink continued from page 80 continued on page 84 GETT Y IMAGES/ JUDYJUMP
