Giggling Grizzly

BEARy Nice

Getting There

The Giggling Grizzly is located close to Coor's Field on 20th between Larimer and Market.  There are three pay lots close to the bar and street or metered parking is available if you can find it.  We visited the Grizzly when it opened around 5pm so there was no crowd for us to contend with; however, during and after a Rockies game we're betting it can be a pretty packed place.

The Atmosphere

The Giggling Grizzly has a rustic, cabin feel with a few booths, several tables, and stools.  A small game room is in the back containing a pool table and some video games.  All the gang is there - Jose, Jim, and Jack - they have a few beers on tap, and good whiskey and tequila selections.  Rustic it may be but lacking in technology they are not.  Multiple televisions are located throughout the bar to watch the Nuggets, the Broncos, the Avalanche, or the Rockies.  Music plays in the background at a good level (not overly loud so you can still have a conversation) and you can always select your own by utilizing the jukebox.  The wagon wheel chandelier and large stuffed bear are quirky touches that made us literally giggle at the Giggling Grizzly.

The Eats

People were actually confused as to why we would be blogging about this place at all since The Giggling Grizzly is known as a bar and not a restaurant.  When we started this endeavor, it was to try all "food type places" in the glorious state of Colorado.  We draw a place from our bucket and go with no expectations and with an open mind.  With that being said, The Giggling Grizzly really surprised us.

We chose two appetizers to start our meal.

First we tried the Pouline.  This was a basket of french fries smothered in brown gravy with fresh cheese curds.  This was a straight forward dish with crispy, tasty fries and a simple brown gravy.  It was not overly salty and had a really good flavor.  The cheese curds were not fried but were fresh pieces of cheese that were slightly melted from the gravy.  The fries stayed crispy even though they were smothered.  That's a rarity with this type of dish.

We also tried the Famous Grizzly Wings with the original sauce.  There were several sauces available including a Ghost Chili sauce that, according to our server, would allow a woman to see her man's feminine side.  Hot enough to make a man cry?  For those of you that enjoy spice, the gauntlet is thrown.  If you try it, please let us know how it goes.  We'll even supply the Kleenex.  As far as the wings themselves, they were not over cooked so they were not dried out.  They were juicy and had excellent flavor.  Both blue cheese and ranch dressing were offered as dips.  We chose the blue cheese and as always, it was an excellent match to the classic buffalo sauce.

The Grizzly does not have a large menu because it is first and foremost a bar, but they have a decent selection.  We chose three entrees to get a good understanding of what they had to offer.

They were running a $2 taco special so we tried the Beef Barbacoa 20th Street Tacos.  The tacos had good seasoning, good portion size, and excellent flavor.  Tacos are served with a side of salsa and fresh lettuce and tomatoes.

We also chose a grilled cheese with freshly made onion rings.  Grilled cheese seems like a simple choice; however, you would be surprised how many places mess up this sandwich.  The Giggling Grizzly did an excellent job.  The bread was crispy without being oily or burnt and the cheese was perfectly melted and creamy without being clumpy and stringy.  The onion rings were breaded and seasoned perfectly.  The issue we typically have with onion rings is that when you bite into them, nine times out of ten the whole onion is pulled out in one piece leaving only the breading behind.  That was not the case with these rings.  With each bite, we had a flavorful breading and piece of tender onion.  That was a good find.

The final choice was a Bacon Cheesburger with Sweet Tots.  It was obvious that this was a hand made patty and not frozen.  It wasn't the largest patty but it was very thick and well cooked.  We chose American cheese although they have other choices such as pepper jack and cheddar.  The bacon was not burnt to a crisp and the lettuce, tomato, and onion were fresh and not wilted.  The bun was also grilled making it buttery, crispy, and a little chewy.  Perfection.  The sign of a good burger is a grilled bun.  Excellent choice!

There is no dessert menu at The Grizzly; however, if you are wanting something a little sweet, we suggest the Sweet Tots.  These are tater tots made from sweet potato and had the slight hint of brown sugar.  This was the first time we have come across sweet potato tots and we were impressed.  They were very tasty.

The People 

There are no servers at The Giggling Grizzly, only bar tenders.  In fact, there was a very small crew on staff while we were there, only the bar tender and the cooks.  We imagine the busier it gets and the later it gets, there would be more staff but the skeleton crew did an excellent job of helping us out and answering questions.  Erik was amazing.  He knew everything about the bar and answered all our questions without hesitation.  Thanks for a great time, Erik.

Summing Up

The Giggling Grizzly is well known throughout the city.  It is a great place to have fun with a group of friends.  The large, table top Jenga game is very popular with patrons and it is an excellent place for friends to come together to cheer for their favorite sports teams.  According to Erik, the bar is a sponsor of the Nebraska alumni organization.  One of the coolest things we discovered about The Grizzly is that they are moving towards using local spirits such as Elevate Vodka which is distilled by Mile High Spirits here in Denver.  We love it when local establishments use local Colorado companies.  Their food is excellent and they offer good service, good prices, and drinks that are a good size and not watered down.  We give The Giggling Grizzly a fork.  We had so much fun and look forward to returning with our friends to try out that Jenga game.


March Lunch Pick - JaJa Bistro

The Officially Unofficial Voting Legend
Take it with a grain of salt, we're not professionals.
	Awesome place, we’ll shovel more food in our face!
	It was okay. Not our favorite, but we’ll take another stab at it.
	Didn’t make the cut.