Bender’s Bar & Grill – Westminster (Denver), CO

Mr. Novia and I were in Denver for the 2011 Roller Derby World Championships and there was a bar near our hotel. We walked around the giant pond to find something to eat. Bender’s is built right into the Ice Arena (actually called “Ice”), and we were highly amused to see signs prohibiting skating gear in the restaurant. Hilarious.

We were excited to see we could sit along the windows of the restaurant and watch a hockey game being played on the ice below us. Now THAT’s entertainment. Mr. Novia and I now realized we were sitting in the hockey wife section and got to witness all the ladies smack talking on behalf of their significant others and doing shots. Hilarious.

I ordered a Strongbow and perused the menu. Lots of tasty sounding things were listed, but I decided on the burger with ham, salsa, and the most peppers – jalapenos and pepperjack cheese. Hard to go wrong with this one. I can’t remember if it was the volcano burger or Diablo burger or the hangover burger, but it’s one of those, I’m thinking. (I eat a lot of burgers like this and they’re all named something different – sometimes I mix them up in my crazy head) Our waitress asked if I wanted regular fries of curly fries. I said I didn’t even know they had curly fries and I ordered those.

The burger came out pretty quickly. It looked delicious. I was actually a little scared by the slice jalapeno sitting in front of me, but I rolled with it. I put as many of the slices as I could fit onto the burger and cut the thing in half so I could actually eat it. Good meaty flavor from the burger, a delicious salty sweetness from the ham, a hint of salsa flavor, good but mild pepperjack cheese flavor, and just a tiny bit of heat from the peppers. I really thought this thing was going to be painful to eat, but it was just alright. Not a stellar burger, but one I would probably order again if I found myself at Bender’s watching a hockey game again. The fries, on the other hand, were delicious. I didn’t want them to end, and there was a serious pile of them to be eaten.

Overall, just a good meal. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing bad, either.

Top 5 things about Bender’s
1. Curly fries
2. Strongbow is always a plus
3. Got to watch a hockey game while we waited
4. Super nice staff
5. Hangover burger

Bottom 5 things
1. They were out of the Colorado beer Mr. Novia ordered
2. No hockey gear in the restaurant is an OUTRAGE! – Kidding, I don’t own any hockey gear
3. You can’t beat on the glass of the restaurant like you can the glass of the hockey rink
4. Mr. Novia’s meal wasn’t fantastic
5. The team where most of the ladies around us were cheering for lost. Mood dampener!

www.benderswestminster.com