Snooze, Denver, CO

There is no shortage of breakfast restaurants in Denver, so I was surprised when more than one person steered me towards Snooze as I planned my recent trip to the mile high city. Snooze is a funky little breakfast place that sprang up in 2007 in downtown Denver and proved to be so popular that they expanded to three locations in the past couple of years. I couldn’t turn down all those recommendations – even though I was warned that there might be a long wait – and got up early to head to the nearest Snooze.

I arrived at about 8am and there were quite a few people waiting outside already. I would estimate that my friends and I waited about 40 minutes for a table, but since the restaurant serves free coffee to everyone while they wait, the time until we were seated just flew by. The menu is cute and features lots of delicious sounding options, many with seasonal twists. Everything sounds good, but they’re best know for their pancakes and their Benny (variations on eggs benedict). Luckily for me, I was with several equally curious diners and we got a little of everything.

The Benedicts, of Bennys, at Snooze are definitely popular and they are justly proud of their creamy hollandaise sauces. The above dish is a Ham Benedict, made with shaved hickory smoked ham, poached eggs and smoked cheddar hollandaise. It was good and had a very strong smokey flavor to tie everything together.

Another dish that our super-friendly waitress told use was popular was Juan’s Breakfast Tacos, which we got with chorizo in addition to the scrambled eggs, shredded hash browns, jack cheese, and ranchero sauce that they come with. These were good, but I’d recommend getting the flour tortillas instead of the corn, as the corn tortillas weren’t quite strong enough to hold up to all that filling. They’re also good with Snooze’s green chili sauce.

Huevos Rancheros were also on the menu, with black beans, jack cheese, ranchero sauce, three eggs any style, and salsa fresca layered on a big tortilla. We got some avocado on top of this, which was a good choice. It was so huge, I almost wanted some tortilla chips to scoop up the leftover beans, cheese and sauce!

But no matter what kind of breakfast food you like, the real reason to come to Snooze is for the pancakes. Their pancakes are huge, sweet, fluffy, tender, buttery and incredibly good. They also come up with some really indulgent flavor combinations and and specials on the menu every day. The best (and probably the mot popular) are the Cinnfull Pancakes. They’re buttermilk pancakes with white chocolate chips, drizzled with house-made Bacon Caramel syrup, vanilla cream sauce, and topped with pecans and cinnamon butter. They’re very sweet, but ridiculously good and you can really taste the bacon in every bite. Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, order these and spit them for the table.

Of course, there is another breakfast option that I love here and it is the Pancake Flight. With this dish, you can get one each of three flavors of pancake, including the Cinnfull Pancakes I mention above. Since we had a big plate of those, I ordered this with Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes, Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes, and Sweet Potato Pancakes. They were all excellent, with great buttermilk flavor, just-crisp edges and fluffy centers. Cinnfull would still be my favorite, but I’d take a plate full of these any day.

Other things to like about Snooze are the cute decor, friendly service and free coffee while you’re waiting (which I know I mentioned but can’t really stress enough what a great feature that is). The pancakes were awesome and everything else was good. I’d definitely come back for more and it’s easily worth a stop for a fun, leisurly and filling breakfast in Denver.

Snooze
Mon – Fri: 6:30a til 2:30p
Sat & Sun: 7a til 2:30p
Location #1 Ballpark @ Park Ave & Larimer: 303.297.0700
Location #2 7CO @ 700 N Colorado Blvd: 303.736.6200
Location #3 Ft Collins @ College & Mountain: 970.482.WAKE