The big question we face in the coming week is a familiar one:

“Where do you want to eat?”

For metro diners who don’t want to have dinner at the same old bistro, the search for an answer is time consuming but potentially delicious. That’s why I enjoyed reading the new “Gabby Gourmet 2013 Restaurant Guide” penned by radio host Pat Miller for the 27th year in a row. The book continues to be a current source of detailed information about local dining spots, even if you disagree with some of the choices. For instance, I was disappointed that only a handful of Aurora eateries made it into the guide.

As a holiday gift I’d pair it with the recently published “Food Lovers’ Guide to Denver and Boulder” (Globe Pequot) by Ruth Tobias which includes restaurants (lots in Aurora) as well as other foodie destinations.

Despite all the research that went into these books, they will become rapidly obsolete.

I know firsthand about hard is it because I also wrote a restaurant guide book. “Denver Dines,” in 2005 when I was the dining critic for the late Rocky Mountain News. Updating information on the 300 or more places I had reviewed or visited was a daunting task that sometimes required finding translators. By the time my book was published a handful of entries already featured a prominent “Sorry Closed” notation and other details about hours and menu had changed.

Such has always been the transient nature of the restaurant business.

Looking ahead, it’s obvious that the days of the restaurant guide printed on dead trees are numbered. Interactive digital eatery guides or apps for phones and tablets that include mapping and online reservations are the future.

To keep current about what’s happening in the metro restaurant scene I voraciously consume multiple websites, Facebook pages and e-newsletters from eateries, organizations and local publications.

Among the sites I keep an eye on is opentable.com because the online reservation service also features constantly updated information. I read the local reviews on Yelp but I’m always dubious about their origins. Other favorites include culinary-colorado.com, eatdenver.com and Visit Aurora’s ethnic-oriented visitaurora.com/places-to-eat.

In the end the best way to find great dining experiences is to get out and eat. Take a chance on that new strip mall ethnic cafe you drive past every day. It might be an undiscovered gastronomic epiphany. Just let me know when it happens so I can share it with everyone else.

ON THE MENU

Last week I found La Cocina de Imelda at 1074 S. Ironton St. in Aurora because I was semi-lost and turning around in a strip mall parking lot. The small, modest Mexican eatery was opened five months ago by three siblings who learned the business at their family’s restaurant in Guadalajara. They named it after their mom, Imelda. I ordered a burrito filled with cochinita pibil — shredded pork shoulder marinated in citrus juice and achiote and oven roasted in banana leaves. The huge burrito in a house-stretched flour tortilla was doused with a light verde sauce and diced avocado and just a light sprinkle of shredded Mexican cheese, not a thick yellow layer of molten cheese. Inside beautiful shredded pork with a bit of heat, plus refried pintos and Spanish rice. I’ll have to go back to try the lamb barbacoa and the fish tacos.

EATERY UPDATE

Mici Handcrafted Italian opened recently at 2373 Central Park Blvd. in the Stapleton neighborhood. It’s the third local red sauce joint from the Micelli family. … The tasty and good looking culinary winners of the annual Denver Mayor’s Design Awards were Billy’s Gourmet Hotdogs, Denver Beer Co., Ace Eat Serve and GrowHaus. Details: denvergov.org/mda.

A LITTLE BEET POETRY

The hot summer appears to have produced the sweetest crop of beets I’ve ever tasted. Here’s a simple recipe recipe for enjoying beets from chef Jim Cohen at Boulder’s Pizzeria da Lupo:

Beet and Carrot Slaw

6 small beets (mixed red, gold and chiogga), peeled and julienned

3 small carrots, peeled and julienned

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 to 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper. Toss dressing with beets and carrots. Chill for at least one one hour. Garnish with fresh dill before serving. Makes four to six servings.

PIE IS OUT IN 2013

It’s only Nov. 1, but the culinary seers are already prognosticating about 2013. The annual report on dining trends from Baum & Whiteman, a restaurant consultant group, reports that “zip-code honeys” and “edible garden walls” will be “in” next year. Besides kimchee, tasting menus, over-smoked foods and Neapolitan pizza, the “out” list notes: “Grilled cheese will not be the new hamburger. Pies will not be the new cupcakes.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“The homemade pie has been under siege for a century, and surely its survival is endangered.” – From “Pie: A Global History” by Janet Clarkson (Further pie readings at johnlehndorff.com/jl-pie.html

Nibbles appears weekly in the Aurora Sentinel, Buckley Guardian and Life Science and at aurorasentinel.com/colorado-table. Send pressing cooking or dining questions to: jlehndorff@aurorasentinel.com. For regular updates, “like” the Nibbles Facebook page. Radio Nibbles airs 8:25 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU (88.5 FM, 1390 AM, and kgnu.org).