Our mission was to find the best grilled artichoke in the Cherry Creek section of Denver.
We visited 3 restaurants in one evening. Starting with Hillstone, then Del Frisco’s Grille, and ending at the Cherry Creek Grill. To keep it simple, we sat in the bar areas and only ate artichokes.
The Hillstone is located at Third and Josephine (free parking) and it makes the best grilled artichoke. They are extra large in size with lots of salt and oil. The provided dipping sauce is not even needed One dining guest not involved in the artichoke quest had the prettiest dessert, a brownie topped with ice cream and caramel sauce. See the picture below. 
Next, we went to Del Frisco’s Grille, located at 100 St. Paul St, just north of the Cherry Creek Mall. No free parking but a complimentary valet parking. Close to free. The bar area is too dark compared to the dining area. See the picture of the dining area which is nice and bright. 
The grilled artichoke did not make things better. It was small in size and flavor. Salt was badly needed.
It was given an OK, my lowest rating.
The third stop was at the busy and long term establishment, Cherry Creek Grill, located at Second Avenue and Steele St, (184 Steele St.).
Sorry no free parking. We had trouble finding a empty seat at the bar area but finally were able to squeeze into the end of the bar and shared a seat. Attached is a photo of the busy bar area. 
The grilled artichoke was good and similar to the Hillstone as they are owned by the same group. In fact, the menu describing artichokes are almost the same. The artichoke was a little smaller and a lot less salty than Hillstone, thus the rating of good.
My ratings are It’s OK, Good, Very Good, and Excellent.
Overall, the Hillstone grilled artichoke wins easily and is rated Excellent.
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