The Best Places to Eat and Stay in the United States

Cannonball Creek doesn't distribute cans, so if you want these hop-forward IPAs and crisp lagers, you're making the drive to Golden. It's a taproom with rotating food trucks and an easy outdoor vibe that pairs well with whatever trail or climb you just finished. The range stretches from pilsners to saisons to Belgian golden ale, which gives non-IPA people something to do. Westword named it Best Brewery in 2023.

Gold palm fronds hang over the bar like a permanent vacation has been declared, and the drinks menu at this Cuban cocktail bar treats rum the way a serious wine list treats Burgundy. The daiquiri and mojito get thoughtful treatment alongside wilder tropical builds. The same team runs Pigtails and Rough Rider, so the pedigree tracks. Pink tiles, cozy booths, and food to keep things grounded.

The turquoise mountain mural running behind the bar sets the tone at this east Denver brewery taproom: a little outdoorsy, a little groovy, comfortable enough to settle in for several rounds. A dozen or so rotating taps cover the range, with porters and Munich dunkels among the regulars. Food trucks pull up outside when hunger strikes. The bar stools have backs, which sounds minor until you've spent an afternoon somewhere they don't.

Drusie & Darr is the Hermitage Hotel's dining room, a Jean-Georges Vongerichten production that took over from the old Capitol Grille without scaring the regulars off. The vaulted rathskeller ceiling is now painted in pinks and peaches, and the open kitchen has a wood-fired oven doing smoky things to pizzas and vegetables. Dinner here is a proper hotel-restaurant occasion, and the ladies' room is aggressively pink.

Game Terminal is an arcade bar in Berry Hill with more than 200 games, nearly 100 of them pinball machines that cost a single token each, plus rows of others that cost nothing at all. You buy tokens at the door, order a drink, and lose track of time while a low-key birthday party unfolds two machines over. Trivia Tuesdays are on the calendar. Nashville Scene named it Best Arcade Bar in its 2023 Best of Nashville.

Golden Pony is a cocktail bar in East Nashville's Highland Yards, done up in midcentury modern with a bohemian streak and a queer-centric bent. The drinks are bespoke, the snacks are there to keep you upright, and the room is cozy enough for a first date or a long overdue catch-up with an old friend. Nashville Scene named it Best New Bar in 2023, and the bathroom mirrors keep getting mentioned, so budget a minute for them.

Slice shop meets cocktail bar on a busy North Denver corner, loud enough that whatever conversation you're having will stay between you and the ceiling. Happy Camper runs casual and crowded, the kind of place where the noise does you a favor. The menu leans big, sloppy pizza and stiff drinks, and the room fills fast most nights, which suits the regulars just fine.

The self-proclaimed home of "the fastest egg in the West" is a classic American diner on Colfax that holds the line while Denver's old-school spots keep disappearing. Cinnamon roll French toast and a six-pound breakfast burrito smothered in green chile are the kinds of details that explain why regulars don't bother with the menu. The green chile is gluten-free, which the burrito's sheer scale makes feel almost responsible.

Vinyl spins in a moody room at this Sylvan Thirty cocktail bar that went dark, then came back with a new team and the same instincts. Matcha and Parmesan were already on the menu here before either showed up everywhere else. The current list keeps crowd favorites like the Red Headed Oaxacan alongside new experiments. No reservations now, which suits a place this comfortable with walk-ins pulling up to a well-stocked bar.

Melrose is a basement dive bar where the entertainment is built in: pool, ping pong, foosball, darts, and shuffleboard, so nobody is ever forced into conversation. It has survived floods, an era of indoor smoking, and a brief closing, and it came back with a light spitshine and most of the old character. Drinks are local beer and basic liquor, the popcorn is free, and dress code is whatever you wore to work.

Old Glory is a candlelit cocktail bar in a former industrial steam plant, where the old boiler still sits in the corner and a coal hopper hangs overhead like a very heavy chandelier. Weeknights are quiet and date-friendly, while weekends turn the floor into a dance party. The drinks are spirit-forward, and the monthly lineup of drag, circus acts, and jazz nights suggests the boiler has seen weirder things than you.

A door off the alley and a staircase down puts you in a basement sports bar that feels like a secret the Wash Park neighborhood has been quietly keeping. Screens everywhere, local taps, and a kitchen that stays focused no matter how loud the room gets. A Westword Best Sports Bar pick, and the kind of place where losing doesn't sting quite as much when the food and drink tabs are this manageable.

Cash only, dark inside, and on any given night you might have to squeeze past a metal band unloading gear in the parking lot just to get through the door. Palo Verde is a Tempe dive bar where construction workers in hi-vis vests share the rail with ASU newcomers and neighborhood lifers. Drinks are cheap and poured strong, and the bartender has your order memorized before you've taken your jacket off.

The gleaming neon martini sign outside has been pulling people off East Colfax since the bar was basically a secret, back when "mixed" was code for something. Now it's out and proud, a classic dive bar with cheap drinks, a pleasantly deteriorating interior, and the kind of regulars who keep it honest. If you're looking for polish, Colfax has other options.

The 12 tap handles are mounted in a repurposed fire truck behind the bar, which tells you everything you need to know about the vibe. Roosters is a country bar that's been an East Valley institution forever, with a red-and-black checkered dance floor, pool tables, live music most nights, open mics, and karaoke. A second stage and beer tubs sit out on the smoking patio. Strangers introduce you to their friends before the first round is done.

A pirate-themed dive bar in Sunnyslope that opens at 6 a.m., which should tell you most of what you need to know. Drink specials are listed on the wall under "Grogs," free pool and shuffleboard tournaments fill the back, and biscuits and gravy come with your first drink if you show up early enough to need them. Burgers and corn dogs handle the rest. The merch, featuring a peg-legged mascot, is genuinely good.

Shrek raves, all-trans oil wrestling, and Christmas burlesque in July: the weekly calendar at this LGBTQ bar on 7th Avenue reads like a dare. The dance floor splits the difference between intimate and actually dancing, surrounded by decor that suggests Dracula discovered neon. The back patio exists for the moment you want to learn someone's name. Karaoke, drag brunch, and gothed-out Wednesday nights fill in the gaps.

A ski-lift chair salvaged from Keystone sits in the front of this sprawling Denver sports bar, which tells you everything about the vibe: proudly, unironically Colorado. Two full bars pour local taps, a stage hosts live music, and somewhere in the back there's a miniature bowling alley that shouldn't exist but does. The Slopper, a Pueblo green chile sandwich situation, is the menu's main argument. Westword named it Denver's best bar for watching games in 2023.

The Cafe at Thistle Farms is a daytime counter-service cafe on Charlotte Pike, run by a nonprofit that employs women survivors of trafficking, addiction, and prostitution, so the sandwich arrives with a mission statement attached. A teacup chandelier hangs overhead, and the menu leans toward BLTs, breakfast bowls, and a case of cakes. Nashville Scene named it Best Cafe in its 2023 Best of Nashville, if that helps you decide on lunch.

A bar that closes at ten, and that's the whole point. The Joy Lush Club is a low-key neighborhood wine and beer bar with 16 taps, a serious wine list, live music, and food trucks rotating through. You can even take a bottle home on your way out. It draws the kind of crowd that wants a proper drink without the performance of a late night. Think comfortable chairs, zero pretension, and somewhere to be by morning.

Sticky floors, cheap drinks, and a back patio where beer pong and giant Jenga coexist peacefully: Monkey Bar is a no-frills dive that has held its ground in Denver's Santa Fe art district as everything around it got progressively fancier. Darts, pool, ping-pong, foosball, N64, and four-person Pac-Man are all free to play, first-come basis. Dogs are welcome, and the house move when someone loses is apparently a round of pickle shots.

A hanging mobile about Phoenix's infamous trunk murderess sets the tone before you've even ordered a drink. Valley Bar is a basement dive, reached through an alley off Central Avenue that will make you question your life choices right up until you hit the stairs and descend into genuinely good energy. Cheap beers, cocktails named after Arizona politicians, skeeball, shuffleboard, and live DJs on weekends round out a room that has no interest in taking itself seriously.

A 9,000-square-foot taproom with a basketball court tends to set expectations, and Wonderland Brewing's beer menu swings just as wide, running from Belgian-style and barrel-aged English ales to high-IBU IPAs and wild sours. The Broomfield brewery keeps a permanent food truck on-site, so there's no rush to leave, which is convenient given that there's also ping-pong. A good place to spend a longer afternoon than you planned.

The smoked meatloaf plate, with house-ground beef, gravy, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese, tells you everything about what this downtown Dallas dive bar is up to. Hockey on the TVs, whiskey and craft beer behind the bar, and a menu that takes bar food more seriously than its gritty room suggests it will. The fancy bologna sandwich is a standing option; the pork tenderloin shows up Friday through Sunday for those who plan ahead.

Arcade games and sticker vending machines frame the room at this slice joint in the Beacon Hill area, where the team behind Fremont's Lupo traded sourdough pies for New York-style foldable slices. The crust is the work of serious dough people, and the housemade ice cream could survive a white-tablecloth setting but seems happier alongside paper plates and plastic tumblers. Salads, too, punch above the room's decor.

Arcade games and sticker vending machines line the walls of this East Coast-style slice joint in Olde Burien, which is exactly the vibe the team behind Fremont's Lupo was going for. The crust is the work of dough obsessives, foldable and crisp in the New York tradition. Side salads and housemade ice cream are better than the paper plates and plastic tumblers would suggest, but nobody seems to mind.

Pork belly sisig arrives still sizzling on a cast-iron plate, which tells you most of what you need to know about the room. This Filipino restaurant near the Beacon Hill light rail grew out of a food truck the family started after redevelopment shuttered their first spot, and the new stationary digs feel more like a return than a debut. The menu runs to lumpia, bistec, and adobo, with flavors on the gentler, pull-you-in end of the spectrum.

An Italian cafe tucked inside a streetwear and sneaker shop, which is either a strange choice or the most Pioneer Square thing imaginable. Counter-service focaccia sandwiches and housemade pasta land in that comfortable zone between careful and fussy, and happy hour swings toward spritzes and antipasti without much ceremony. The kind of spot that handles a pre-game and a leisurely lunch date with equal ease.

The patio hangs so close to Lake Washington you could lose a chip in it. El Encanto is an upscale Mexican restaurant where the room is very white, the crowd is very photogenic, and the chef quietly runs circles around the decor. The chile en nogada, made daily with help from his mom, is the kind of detail that earns its reputation. The cocktail list takes the tequila selection seriously, which helps when the selfie-to-taco ratio tips the wrong way.