It was Wednesday, mid-week, and we were hungry for something other than middle-of-the-road food. Certainly, it was too hot to fire up the kitchen stove or even the backyard barbecue grill, for that matter.

So we ventured out. Along 20th Avenue, in the Clement Historic District all awash in the charm of Victorian houses known as painted ladies, we found Painted Bench. On the sidewalk outside the door was written a chalk message: Dogs drink free, people not so much. Situated in a well-seasoned 100-year-old brick building, the restaurant has a funky and friendly neighborhood feel. Diners were dressed in everything from shorts to business suits.

We appreciated the wine list that offered a variety of vinos by the glass. We settled on a pinot noir and a merlot as we read to one another the mouthwatering descriptions of appetizers as if they were love poems: mussels steamed with white wine and capers and served on roasted garlic bread pudding; tuna tartare in a ginger citrus marinade with tobiko caviar and soba noodle salad; wild mushroom and Gruy8Fre cheese gratin.

Naturally, for an establishment bent on serving fresh foods at their prime, the menu changes with the seasons. Autumn, for example, brings Sonoma Valley foie gras with Cabernet-poached pear, apple-smoked bacon and maple syrup reduction.

While we debated entr8Ees, we nibbled on the charcuterie plate with an assortment of salami and proscuitto, duck pat8F and smoked salmon served with toasted baguette slices, strips of roasted red peppers, plump caper berries and shaved almonds. Coupled with the soup du jour — a chicken and vegetable medley in a tomato broth thick enough to double as pasta sauce — it could have qualified as a light summer meal.

That soup set me wondering about the pasta, which I overheard a woman at a nearby table raving about to her dining partner. The menu lists penne with roasted tomato, garlic and basil; fresh ravioli filled with sweet roasted carrots; and fusilli with shrimp and calamari in a sauce of white wine, shallots and fresh herbs.There’s also gnocchi, another telltale sign of the restaurant’s Italian undercurrents.

But I needed a protein fix, and since I so often prepare pasta at home, but rarely meat, I noodled on the possibilities of fish or beef or even pork. Something about the combination of savory grilled pork coupled with tart wild cherries fired my curiosity and made my mouth water. Anyway, isn’t part of the pleasure of going out to eat selecting something out of the ordinary?

I wasn’t disappointed. The dish induced that party-in-the-mouth sensation that gets all the taste buds involved. The charred pork tenderloin wrapped around tart dried cherries was served with tender and buttery fingerling potatoes and green beans. Our burning question, when it comes to restaurant food is this: Would you order it again? My answer was yes.

My guy opted for chicken with feta cheese and roasted potatoes. We are both finicky about fowl. This dish got it right with the chicken cooked all the way through, yet still juicy.

Next time I’m in the neighborhood at lunchtime, I’ll try one of Painted Bench’s innovative sandwiches. The cutting board choices include chicken salad, BLTs and standard burgers, but also elk burgers and more exotic offerings. The more adventurous palate might enjoy a lamb sandwich with caramelized onions and blue cheese crumbles and Italian pancetta served on sourdough.

Rabbit food aficionados will appreciate a selection ranging from spinach salad with fresh apples, candied walnuts and goat cheese tossed in warm balsamic and apple cider vinaigrette; Caesar or Ni8Doise salad or pan-seared mahi-mahi served on a bed of vegetable tabbouleh with sliced tomatoes.

True to form, we opted for doggie bags for the remainders of our entr8Ees so we could sample dessert. In the name of decency and restraint, we often split a sweet. He cast a vote for the apple tart with vanilla bean gelato. I lobbied for Papa Bill’s Cheesecake with Grand Marnier-marinated strawberries. We met halfway with a lemon tart; and though it is normally served with raspberry sorbet, we requested instead the vanilla bean gelato.

And we requested to have dessert served in the Fountain Bar, where a fresh breeze and an enormous Great Dane wandered in and out the open front door. Imported from a now defunct Wisconsin establishment, the handsome wood bar is one of the best features of the building. One-inch octagonal floor tiles and vintage light fixtures set the mood. Black-and-white photographs of downtown Denver of yesteryear hang behind the bar, and a couple of other images show the 100-year-old building in its previous incarnation as a drugstore.

The Fountain Room takes its name from its history as a pharmacy with a soda fountain — the nostalgic sort that served Lime Rickeys and Green Rivers and egg creams. Nowadays, the signature libation at Painted Bench is decidedly stiffer: the John F. Coulson Prescription Manhattan is named for the pharmacist who was one of the building’s original tenants.

In a clever turn on wine pairings, Painted Bench presents a dessert menu of confections paired with cordials. Colorado Sweet Peach Bread Pudding calls for Drambuie, for example; the Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake and Espresso Gelato calls for cognac; the creme brulee, for tawny port.

The dessert plate arrived with the lemon tart centered in a glorious spider web of raspberry and chocolate syrup swirls. The menu pairs the citrus tart with Belle de Brillet pear brandy.

Brothers Bill and Steve Rohs opened Painted Bench in 1998 and subsequently garnered their share of awards from local publications and were included in the 2002 Zagat Survey. At Painted Bench, the food is fancier than the surrounds: There is fois gras, but no finger bowls. They do have white tablecloths, but they’re covered with butcher paper. The result is comfortably casual, complemented by a wait staff that seems friendly without fawning.

And for the record, there is a painted bench. Situated just inside the door, the bench is splashed with colorful hand prints and vivid flowers and smiling faces — which is precisely what the restaurant aims to make yours do by way of imaginative food and a dose of 21st-century urban hip linked to Denver’s past.

Painted Bench is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. They accept major credit cards, but forbid cell phones in the dining room.

Painted Bench
400 E. 20th Avenue
(303) 863-7473