The Best Food Neighborhoods in the U.S.

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Courtesy of Bettola Bistro

Havana Street in Aurora, Colorado

Less than 10 miles east of Denver, Aurora is the third most populous city in Colorado: home to 386,261 residents and more than 250 global restaurants. The Havana Street corridor is particularly dense—the kind of thoroughfare where Indian (Chutney Indian Cuisine), Italian (Bettola Bistro), and Sudanese (Sudan Cafe & Khairat Bakery) restaurants rub shoulders with century-old diners (Sam’s No. 3) and Korean karaoke bars, hot pot restaurants, fried chicken joints, boba tea shops, and bingsu (shaved ice) vendors. From dawn till dusk, you never run out of tasty things to put in your mouth.

For breakfast: Hit up French Asian bakery Tous les Jours for pain au chocolat and walnut caramel scones, plus trickier-to-find treats such as taro cream bread, red bean doughnuts, and honeydew melon buns. The purple ube latte, available hot or iced, is a hit with the Instagram set.

For lunch: Just off Havana, Mariscos El Rey Dos is a seafood restaurant with a biblically long menu. Tuck into the ceviche Campechano (lime-cooked shrimp, fish, octopus, squid, crab, and abalone piled atop a tostada), chased with a Michelada.

For dinner: Get ready for the meat sweats. Whether you choose Korean barbecue (Dae Gee and Shin Myung Gwan are both popular) or Brazilian churrasco (Aroma do Brazil), the decadence is real.

For dessert: Embrace a mountainous “snow bowl” at Snowl Cafe, where the shaved ice flavors include sweet potato cheesecake, black sesame, and green tea.

For a carb fix: Head to Sara’s Market & Bakery for oven-fresh lavash, simit (seeded Turkish bagels), shirmal (saffron-flavored sweet bread), and barbari (yeast-leavened Iranian flatbread).

It’s 5 o’clock, now what?: Round up your happy hour crew for $8 soju and $7 beer at K-pub ThankSool Pocha, every Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.

Late-night haunt: The soju-fueled fun continues at Muse Noraebang & Cafe, a karaoke bar that stays open until 2 a.m. and helpfully serves honghap tang, a hangover soup made with mussels. With eight private rooms and Singapore Slings priced to move at $9 a pop, you’ll need it.

Tip from a local: “Pick up takeout and go paddleboarding at Cherry Creek State Park,” says Chance Horiuchi, executive director of the Havana Business Improvement District. The park surrounding the 880-acre reservoir has a sandy swimming beach; hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails; and an airfield for flying radio-controlled model aircraft.

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