As Denver natives, we remember when the area the restaurant Honor Society is in was just darned scary. It was dark, dingy and there was just no reason to be there unless you were trying to hop a train to get out of town. Now, it’s
a hip area with tall, glossy buildings, renovated lofts, the Millennium Bridge and illuminated views of downtown Denver. It makes us feel all glowing and healthy inside, then, that a restaurant devoted to eating healthy and fresh should be located in such a formerly counter intuitive location.
Honor Society’s concept is to live a healthy and sustainable existence with foods full of nutrients “to make our guests feel better and more productive in their everyday lives.” The food is prepared from scratch, as you easily see from wherever you are in the restaurant thanks to the open kitchen. With so much to look at upon entering, it can take a couple of minutes to take all that in and still make sense of the menu. Honor Society directs you in Step 1 to pick what you’re craving (Roasted Vegetables, Grilled Chicken, Short Rib, Fried Chicken or Cedar Plank Salmon.) Each of those has a price, ranging from $10.50-$12.75. In Step 2 you pick how you want it served – On a Classic Salad, On a Plate (with two sides) or On a Sandwich. Each of those options gives a description of ingredients.
We chose the intensely flavorful Short Rib Sandwich with roasted poblanos, roasted red onions, arugula, Romesco sauce and a citrus vinaigrette on a housemade roll. Sandwiches are served with your choice of either one Seasonal Side or one Side Salad. Because we went during their Winter Menu which will be changing now, I won’t bother telling you the side options available because they’ll likely change. But at the suggestion of the woman taking our order, she said the roasted fingerling potatoes were to die for.
We also ordered the Honor Society Salad ($9.75) with Power greens, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, tomato, edamame, red onion, radish, avocado, Sicilian black olives and a herb yogurt dressing. Both of our meals were delicious and made us envy the others’ choices. So naturally, we went halvsies and each enjoyed both meaty, rich sandwich and light, flavorful salad with potatoes to boot. Both were comfort foods in their own way.
There were also Handmade Pizzas which we saw being made and were really tempting, especially The Farmer with edamame hummus, butternut squash, cranberries, kale and pumpkin seeds. Pizzas run $8.75-$11.75. From 7-10:30am daily, Honor Society also serves breakfast including a Chicken Chorizo Rolled Taco ($3.95) and Metabolic Paleo Coffee with organic coconut oil, grass-fed butter, molasses, vanilla, maple and maca root ($4.25) if you are so inclined. The Acai Bowl topped with granola, strawberries, blueberries, banana, goji berries, organic coconut shavings and honey, served all day for $8.75 caught our fancy too. I have to laugh, thinking of the people who used to frequent the area and what they’d think of Paleo coffee and a bowl of Acai! Denver, and its way of eating, have come a long way, baby.
There’s also a bar next door, that is Honor Society’s but is divided by a wall. It offers cocktails, beer and wine. The nice thing about Honor Society is that there’s something for everyone whether they are trying to eat healthy or not. And if you are trying to eat healthy, you can go full-in. And if you aren’t, you really won’t know the difference because the flavors are so good. It’s just good eating.
Honor Society is located at 1900 16th Street, Unit 150. in lower Downtown Denver, northwest of Denver Union Station.
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