Dinner with a plan
Mizu Izakaya’s menu is vast, but diners will find it tough to make a bad decision
Mizu Izakaya
Organizing a four-day backpacking trip around the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness? You’ll definitely need to do some pre-planning. Finally ready to ask your boss for that raise? Walk into the meeting with a plan. Getting together with friends for dinner at Mizu Izakaya in LoHi? Yeah, you should have a plan for that, too.
The 1½-year-old restaurant’s menu spans small and large plates, a raw bar, binchotan grilled skewers, ramen, and sushi — and that doesn’t even include the daily specials. To get the most out of a meal here, you’ll want to walk in the front door knowing precisely what you’re craving, or with a group that is open to trying a little of everything. (We recommend the latter.)
Mizu’s dishes are all rooted in the concept of an izakaya, a Japanese drinking house that also serves small plates. But Macauborn owner Hong Jian Lee, who also operates East Moon Asian Bistro & Sushi in Westminster, has taken some liberties, most notably adding a sushi bar, entrées (like an A5 Kobe beef hot stone), and ramen, all of which aren’t common at the gastropubs. The requisite social aspect certainly comes through, though, with a drink list as expansive as the food, a mostly open layout, and a lineup of shareable eats. This is a restaurant you’ll return to often — if only to say you ate your way through the entire menu.
Vibe: During the day, Mizu is awash in natural light, courtesy of floor-to-ceiling windows. At night, though, the lights dim and the wood and rope decor, underlit blue bar, contemporary Edison bulb light fixtures, and graffiti art by Jher Seno imbue the corner restaurant with a spirited, underground feel. It’s warm and boisterous, and the range of dining spaces — cocktail lounge, sushi bar, dining room and patio — makes Mizu accessible for Japanese gastronomists of all ages. (Suggestion: Visit with kids on the earlier side, and let Grandpa know the lighting makes the menus hard to read.)
Hits: The best dishes at Mizu creatively highlight Japanese ingredients and flavors. Every meal should begin with the honey eggplant ($8). The aubergine is covered in an umami glaze of honey and miso, roasted and served with thin strips of sweet bell pepper. You’ll want to scoop up any leftover glaze with a spoon.
Next, turn to the yakitori (grilled items on skewers) section. The unagi ($10), which arrives four to a plate (two per skewer) and smothered in a rich eel sauce, is unctuous and meaty. For actual meat, opt for the 7X Wagyu steak ($15), dry-rubbed with black pepper, sea salt and miso. Both are cooked on a binchotan — a nearly flameless charcoal — grill.
Refresh your palate with some options from the raw bar. Beyond the spectacular sashimi selection, there’s the spicy crispy tuna ($14), which combines the familiar zesty mixture with crunchy fried rice morsels, avocado, jalapeño and daubs of masago, and the velvety jalapeño sashimi with hamachi ($15).
If you still have room, you could opt for the miso black cod ($22), a lush Japanese restaurant standby when cooked correctly — which this is — or a whole grilled fish (market price). The ramen, a newer addition to the menu, is another entrée winner. The classic tonkotsu ($17) is based around a layered, housemade pork and chicken broth. The bowl arrives brimming with tender strips of pork, a perfectly soft-boiled egg, and large leaves of bok choy. Fans of Korean cuisine should enjoy the pork kimchi ramen ($16), a customer favorite.
Misses: You may consider ordering a salad to start what’s sure to be a sizeable meal on a healthy note. We say skip that section of the menu. The seaweed salad ($8) gets a lovely hit of acid from grapefruit slivers but falters under the weight of mixed lettuce instead of just letting the briny flavors of the star ingredient shine.
While a lot of the sushi is praise-worthy, the Tokyo roll ($18) is a miscue. Spicy tuna and avocado are wrapped together and topped with tuna tataki and garlic butter. The textures are one-note (a crunchy element, like cucumber, would help), and the meaty flavor of the tataki overwhelms any of the rich fish flavor in the roll. Diners should instead turn their attention to the nigiri and sashimi menu ($6 to $8). The fish, much of which is flown in daily from the sprawling Tsukiji market in Tokyo, is best enjoyed straight. Similarly, when considering what grilled items to indulge in, bypass the soft-shell crab buns ($15). Mizu makes a standard model — crispy crustacean, pickled vegetables, and spicy mayo (three to an order) — that’s satisfactory, but why settle when there are so many other excellent offerings?
Dessert feels like an afterthought — an unfortunate theme at many otherwise great Denver restaurants. Mizu’s small, regularly changing list skews Japanese (matcha chocolate mousse cake made a recent appearance), but the sweets are typically not made in-house. A triangle of green tea tiramisu cake ($8) was too spongy and lacked the main ingredient’s grassy (in a good way) essence; the layers of frosting were overly thick and unsatisfyingly light on tiramisu flavor.
Drinks: This is not the place to order your usual bottle of Sapporo. Not when there are more than 50 sakes available, organized according to tasting notes and curated by local sake expert and master sommelier Sally Mohr; an ever-changing selection of Japanese whiskeys; an array of shochus (a popular Japanese distilled spirit akin to vodka); and a creative cocktail menu with an Asian twist. The pinkhued Chu-Hai ($12), which combines shochu with dragon fruit, lemon and soda water, tastes like grown-up fruit punch, while a strong Vesper ($12) is smoothed out with rose liqueur and lemon oil. If you do prefer beer, try one of the Japanese-brewed selections (like a saison, $12, from Tokyo’s Kiuchi Brewery).
Service: Mizu is a casual neighborhood restaurant and service reflects that. Servers are pleasant and attentive, but they won’t necessarily be able to answer your question about whether the green tea soba is made in-house (it’s not). The one major hiccup is that food delivery is often mistimed: three dishes, from three different sections of the menu, will arrive simultaneously. The kitchen needs to focus on sending out dishes in a more thoughtful and well-timed sequence.
Bottom Line: If you’re debating between ramen, sushi or teriyaki for lunch or dinner, Mizu is your answer. Though its address is in one of the city’s trendiest locales, the restaurant’s convivial vibe and lounge aesthetic make it a reliable option for any occasion.
Price: Small plates ($6 to $14); Raw bar ($14 to $18); Sushi ($5 to $35); Grilled and fried ($6 to $20); Noodles ($14 to $20); Large plates ($20 to $60); Desserts ($8-$10)
Fun Fact: After 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, Mizu’s bar transforms into a high-end cocktail lounge called Bar Ginza. The limited menu (around six drinks) by bar manager TJ Vong is centered around top- shelf booze and house-made ingredients, like lavender bitters smoked with pecan wood and a from-scratch Campari. The results are drinkable works of art. The rum-forward Enchanted, for example, is served in a glass cloche and surrounded by flower petals à la Beauty and the Beast.
Restaurant Info
Mizu Izakaya
1560 Boulder St. 720-372-7100 mizudenver.com
Hours: 4 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday; 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday; noon to 1 a.m. on Saturday; noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday Reservations: Accepted Parking: Metered street parking and valet
Star Rating Guide: Ratings range from zero to four stars. Zero is poor. One star, satisfactory. Two stars, good. Three stars, very good. Four stars, excellent.