The best bites from the 2023 Denver Food + Wine Festival

Here's where we want to eat again:

🙌 John: Noisette's Vol-au-vent de Volaille et Truffe, served at the grand tasting Saturday, is a mouthful to say but worth every syllable and nibble. The rich flavor from the sauce, combined with a weightless pastry base was a mind-blowing combination.

• Church and Union's shrimp rillette with smoked trout roe, served on a prawn crisp — a colorful seafood version of a chicharron, the most under-appreciated food — hit all the flavor and texture marks.
• Urban Burma's tea leaf salad and samosa at the food truck showdown featured so many flavors and bites it kept you interested until the final crunchy yellow lentil.

🦞 Esteban: The lobster quesadillas from Toro Denver were such a fun and delectable surprise to one of my favorite go-to snacks.

• The elk crostini from Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs and the Spanish octopus from the Bindery were the other highlights for me from the grand tasting.

Editor's note: Axios Denver was a media sponsor for the festival.