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reviewed on: June 12, 2009
It’s been over twenty years since I first set foot in Las Brisas Restaurant, and I still remember it to this day. I guess the reason it made such an impression on me was because it was the first time I’d been in a restaurant that was Mexican but wasn’t serving standard Tex-Mex food. The atmosphere was bright and airy—the perfect feel for a restaurant whose name translates as “the breezes.” The whole concept must have been a good one because Las Brisas is still there two decades later, outlasting many places whose names are lost in history.
Which is not to say the road hasn’t been a bumpy one. Through the years there have been fumbles and stumbles that would probably make the basis for a darned good novel, except for the fact that nobody would believe it. In the restaurant world, truth is, more often than not, stranger than fiction.
The amazing thing is that, even though Las Brisas is on its third management/ownership team, the original concept of serving Latin-influenced fare remains. In fact, though time has dulled my recollections, I would say that most of the menu items are the ones that have been there all these years. And through it all, the quality of the food has survived. No one would deny that Las Brisas is badly in need of a face-lift. Twenty years of wear and tear and neglect have taken their toll and, somewhere along the line, some ill-advised person decided to make the predominant color a dark purple.
Yet Las Brisas still has a strong customer base, which says it all. Despite ups and downs, and dings in the furniture, and purple walls, the core premise of the restaurant is bringing people back week after week.
If you enjoy margaritas, a visit to Las Brisas has to begin with their award-winning LB margarita. Just be warned—these are not your typical margaritas. They’re fabulously good, made with real lime juice as opposed to sweet-and-sour mix, go down real easy, and pack a kick like a mule. If you’re going to have more than one, you’ll definitely need a designated driver.
Las Brisas was the first restaurant in Denver to do tableside guacamole and, though it’s still on the menu, we opted for their calamari appetizer instead. Calamari is one of those dishes that is done badly more often than not, so it’s always a roll of the dice. At Las Brisas our order brought strips of calamari steak as opposed to the rings, lightly breaded, tender as butter, and served with a mild chili sauce. At about the same time, our waiter brought a basket of chips with a thick, chunky salsa that was truly superb.
Entrée choices include some interesting takes on standard Mexican fare, but the really exciting and different dishes are the specialties of the house—dishes like the Pollo Naranja of chicken breast marinated in orange juice, chipotle peppers, garlic, and orange liqueur. We enjoyed the Yucatan Lamb—a nine-rib rack of incredibly tender lamb with a mango demi-glaze—and the Pollo con Cilantro of jack cheese, blue tortillas and cilantro rolled inside a chicken breast and served with a jalapeno cream sauce.
So, where we stand twenty years later is that Las Brisas remains a viable restaurant with great margaritas, and food that has survived the test of time. And new ownership brings the promise of much needed renovations to take it through the next twenty years.
Las Brisas
6787 S. Clinton St. (shares the parking lot with Target at Arapahoe and I-25)
303-792-3212
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