Studious, focused and intense, John Broening has never been the kind of chef who demands the attention of a fawning public to stroke his ego. Instead, Broening, the executive chef at Duo, a well-loved restaurant in the Highland neighborhood, steals the show by allowing his cooking to sing, strut and speak for itself.

I don't expect that to change when, come April, Broening - along with his wife (and Duo pastry chef) Yasmin Lozada-Hissom and Duo owners Keith Arnold and Stephanie Bonin - opens a new restaurant in the Uptown space that formerly housed Aix.

The restaurant still has no name, but Broening says diners can expect "Mediterranean-inspired small plates, homemade pastas and charcuterie, salads made with fresh greens from local growers, natural-starter flatbreads and unique desserts from my wife, all at recession-friendly price points."

While we wait for the debut, here's where Broening eats when he's not cooking in his own kitchen. And just in case you want to know more about the chef, I picked his brain about music, compliments and challenges, too.

* Best wine program: "I love not just the range and novelty of the wine choices at Frasca Food and Wine (1738 Pearl St., Boulder) but also the accessible and unpretentious way the list is organized."

* Best French restaurant: "There's nobody in Denver like Patrick Dupays at Z Cuisine (2239 W. 30th Ave.) and Z Cuisine A Cote. Rather than some focus-group-tested idea of what a Denver restaurant should be, his restaurants and menus reflect his unique vision, his generosity and hospitality. A quintessentially French dish - and my favorite dish in Denver - is his salade gourmande with gizzards, prosciutto, blood sausage and veal tongue with sauteed apples served over super fresh greens with a vibrant mustard dressing. It's heaven, especially with a big, acidic red wine."

* Best brunch: "I love the unconventional and homemade choices on the brunch menu at Radda Trattoria (1265 Alpine Ave., Boulder), especially the sausages and the bean and tomato ragout. They also have excellent coffee."

* Best desserts: "The fact of the matter is that no pastry chef in Denver knows how to combine a mastery of technique with the ability to season like my wife, Yasmin. Her apple tart, toffee pudding and chocolate dacquoise are my touchstones for what a good dessert should be."

* Best steak: "The lomo saltado at Los Cabos (1525 Champa St.) is my favorite way to eat steak. The meat is cut into strips and stir-fried with onions, chilies, vinegar, tomatoes and French fries and is served with steamed rice and, sometimes, topped with a fried egg."

* Best Denver restaurant that no one talks about: "I have to go with Los Cabos on this one, too. Their Peruvian food is light, clean and vibrant, and the ceviches and tiraditos are characterized by bright, acidic flavor profiles and a good amount of chilies and onions. They represent as much of a sophisticated and established approach to raw fish preparation as their better-known sushi and sashimi counterparts.

"The stews - carapulcra, a dried potato stew thickened with animal crackers; and the seco de cordero, a pea and beef stew swirled with a vibrant cilantro puree - are complex and unusual. I also love their anticuchos - beer-and-oregano-marinated skewers of beef heart, which is the most flavorful part of the cow."

* Best bang for the buck: "To me the best value in town is the bahn mi from Vinh Xuong Bakery (375 S. Federal Blvd. and 2200 W. Alameda Ave.). It's a thick layer of cold cuts, vegetables and pâte on a housemade roll smeared with French butter - and an unbeatable value at only $2.75."

* The biggest compliment he was ever paid: "My friend was talking about Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, the chef at Frasca, and he said: 'That guy is a genius, no doubt, but your food, your food I could eat every day.' It's true: I try to make food you can eat every day. It's not heavy, but it is comforting, and it's not elaborate, but the flavors are, I'd like to think, clean and satisfying."

* His biggest challenge as a chef: "Finding good quality seafood."

* Gets a thrill from: "Seeing the food in this city get better every year."

* Foods he just can't bring himself to eat: "Anything from McDonald's and Domino's Pizza."

* Favorite music while he's cooking: "Charlie Parker with strings."

* Most overrated - and underrated - seasonings: "Truffle oil is the most overrated and porcini oil is the most underrated."

* Denver's restaurant scene: "Is still evolving, but way too much of the culinary top dollar goes to generic chain steakhouses. Any chef knows that steakhouses are a graveyard for culinary talent matched only by country clubs."