Comfort Food: Old Blinking Light

Located a stone’s throw from the Tattered Cover in the Highland’s Ranch Town Center, Old Blinking Light dishes up New Mexican-style comfort food.

The sleek, industrial-looking restaurant is co-owned by chef Joseph Wrede, who is best known for Joseph’s Table, his award-winning restaurant in Taos, and being named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine in 2000. His talents as a chef (Wrede designs the menus) are visible throughout Old Blinking Light’s dishes: fresh ceviche tostadas sing with citrus and diced cucumber; a flash-fried avocado tastes impossibly light and creamy; and steak fries are crisped in flavorful duck fat. The menu is large and varied with burgers (the lamb burger with Munster cheese and red-onion jam is particularly popular), cozy green chile-cheese stacked enchiladas, and Asiago-chicken pizza. You can hardly go wrong, but don’t miss the Old Blinking Light’s take on jalapeño poppers: fire-roasted jalapeños stuffed with white cheddar grits and smothered in tomato butter. 9344 Dorchester St., Highlands Ranch, 303-346-9797 –AMF