Delicious Denver Restaurants

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Over the past year, Denver has experienced a resounding restaurant resurgence spearheaded by a bumper crop of innovative, food-savvy chefs committed to blazing new eating trails in a city that has long suffered from a culinary complex. “The Denver restaurant scene has busted wide open to creativity and fresh ideas,” says Mel Master, a former New York restaurateur and owner of his namesake Denver restaurant, Mel’s Restaurant and Bar.

When you visit this world-class city of 2.5 million residents, you’ll still find plenty of places conducive to sightseeing – the Colorado State Capitol, enviable museums and parks, and Coors Field, just to name a few – but it’s likely that you won’t have time for a full-fledged attractions itinerary.

You’ll be far too busy experiencing the city’s glut of glorious restaurants.

What follows are Denver’s top tables, 30 temples of gastronomy that mix confident cooking with championed chefs. Some are familiar gems, while others shimmer off the beaten path, but all are contributing to the diversity, excitement and elevation of Denver’s dining scene. Straightforward or groundbreaking, rebellious or romantic, inexpensive or pricey, kitschy or clubby, these are the restaurants that make dining in Denver as engaging as the city’s majestic setting at the base of the regal Rocky Mountains.

Larimer Square Restaurants
Start your culinary escapades in über-hip Larimer Square, where rollicking nightlife intersects with exhilarating restaurants like Rioja, a sleek and stylishly appointed Mediterranean-inspired dining den spearheaded by effusive chef-owner Jennifer Jasinski. The food-obsessed nosh on house-cured meats, sashimi of tuna and tuna tartare, duck confit ravioli, artichoke tortelloni, and two-way Muscovy duck – all of which exemplify Jasinski’s devotion to unassailable ingredients and multifaceted flavors. Next door, at the seductive Corridor 44, the chandelier illuminated lounge bubbles over with a steady stream of well-heeled urbanites sipping champagne and grazing on small plates like oysters on the half shell, steak tartare, and ceviche. Bistro Vendome, a convivial Parisian-style bistro, attracts romancing habitués who cozy up to candlelit corners for French onion soup, escargot, seaworthy platters of fruits de mer, and Bouillabaisse bobbing with monkfish, clams, and mussels. The city’s best upscale Mexican food draws diners to Tamayo, also on Larimer Square. Chef-owner Richard Sandoval, whose restaurant empire includes Maya and Pampano in New York, woos diners with his sumptuous pan-roasted salmon enchiladas and coveted corn soup floating huitlacoche dumplings. From the restaurant’s rooftop patio, revelers can soak up the sun and panoramic mountain views while savoring the sure-handedly spiced guacamole.

The Riverfront Restaurants
Riding on the coattails of Tamayo’s success is Zengo, Sandoval’s flamboyantly festive food temple located in the newly developed Riverfront area just a short skip from Larimer Square. Typical of the city’s new style of upscale restaurants, Sandoval created stunningly stylish digs decked out in riots of color that are right in step with the exemplary Latino food fused with Asian flavors. Small plates meant for sharing are the way to go here: tantalizing ceviches, duck Peking rolls, and a fabulous red-curried Thai noodle soup.

Also making a splash in the Riverfront ‘hood is Sushi Sasa, a streamlined, ultra-modern, urban-Zen space that rivals the kind of sleek Japanese hangout you'd encounter in New York's Soho. Seasoned raw fish-goers don't blink an eye at spending upwards of $100 for omakase, a multi-course selection of chef Wayne Conwell’s best offerings. The spectacular menu also touts an endless syllabus of soups, salads, sushi, sashimi, and tempura dishes.

Lower Downtown (LoDo) Restaurants
In Lower Downtown Denver – affectionately dubbed LoDo by locals – citified foodophiles frequent Vesta Dipping Grill, a high style eating space with an eclectic, but artfully conceived creative American menu courtesy of top toque Matt Selby, a risk-taking young gun whose claim to fame are his 30 different signature dipping sauces. Don’t miss the chef’s mole grilled lamb loin served with earthy calabacitas.

Directly next door, you’ll encounter the remarkably sensual 9th Door, a tapas lounge flanked by lush fabrics and textures, flickering candlelight, paisley-patterned banquettes, and cozy booths made for cuddling. The sexy menu flaunts a smorgasbord of small plates that thrill: traditional Spanish potato salad sharing space with fresh asparagus and hard-boiled eggs; goat cheese stuffed piquilla peppers; and sherry-kissed, chili-tinged Manila clams steamed with Serrano ham.

When you’re in the mood for indelible Indian fare, LoDo’s India House, delivers in excess. Denver is sprinkled with dozens of strip-mall, curry-in-a-hurry joints, but this temple of heat, smoke, and spice achieves remarkable new depths thanks to a romantic, streamlined decor and spirited menu that gratifies beyond the ubiquitous chicken tikka masala. It’s on the menu to appease loyalists, but other dishes, such as dal tarka (black, urad lentils laced with cream), bhindi masala (okra cooked with dried mango and caramelized onions), and sultan-a-gosht (tandoori-roasted leg of lamb), are fit for royalty.

Downtown/Golden Triangle Restaurants
And no holiday to Denver would be complete without a gastronomic forge into the creative American cookery at Restaurant Kevin Taylor. Perched in the Hotel Teatro, just adjacent to the Colorado Convention Center, this dashing restaurant overseen by chef-owner Kevin Taylor – one of the city’s most revered impresarios – pampers patrons with white-glove service and stellar kitchen offerings: decadent roasted squab breast sharing space with duck confit ravioli, for instance. Taylor is a chef who unabashedly advocates assertive tastes: "I'm not interested in food that looks good, but has no flavor. In my restaurants, flavor is paramount," he says. For concrete evidence, look no further than his rosemary-studded pork chop shrouded in a diabolically rich foie gras sauce and sided with caramelized apples and au gratin potatoes pelted with sharp Tillamook cheddar.

Taylor’s newest namesake restaurant, Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, takes both culture seekers and epicureans down an opulent staircase that gives way to a superbly stylish and artsy dining room housed in the basement of the equally gorgeous, recently renovated Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Taylor crafts mesmerizing dishes like jumbo lump crab cakes spiced with mango chutney and pooled in a vanilla coconut sauce, tomato gazpacho floating almonds and housemade croutons, and lobster risotto dotted with pea shoots and porcini mushrooms.

For urban chic dining, look no further than nine75, an upscale comfort food emporium situated in the fancy Beauvallon Towers in the up and coming Golden Triangle district. The kitchen turns out spirited grazing plates and main dishes, most of which are designing for sharing. The wonton tuna tacos, buttermilk-soaked onion rings, and Kobe beef sliders are among the most popular dishes, but don't overlook the blackened sea bass, lemongrass roasted chicken, or the fancified flash seared yellowtail sashimi.

Cherry Creek Restaurants
In the swanky Cherry Creek area, customers marvel over the culture-spanning foodstuffs at Mel’s Restaurant and Bar, a New American temple of cuisine exposing the ingenuities of chef Tyler Wiard, a kitchen magician who enamors dedicated foodies with flirty, but disciplined culinary creations such as the succulent roasted duck breast pooled in a smooth green chile and crowned with a perfectly poached duck egg jiggling with a rich yolky center.

There’s a whole world to devour at Euro, an esoteric European oasis that attracts Cherry Creek fashionistas who feast on lobster cappuccino with American caviar, citrus-sprayed escabeche, paella, Kobe beef burgers, and myriad steaks festooned with classic sauces. Over at Sketch, a new restaurant and wine bar helmed by veteran restaurateur Jesse Morreale and top toque Sean Yontz, citified hipsters come to sip and swirl from the impressive wine roster while noshing their way through the Americana menu touting oysters Rockefeller, grilled hanger steak with Maytag blue cheese, and lobster bisque.

Just adjacent to the Cheery Creek Shopping Center sits Elway’s named, of course, for John Elway, Denver’s most celebrated quarterback. And while the football great often patronizes his own restaurant, the steer-crazy crowds come to tackle the Prime-grade steaks and chops, traditional side dishes like the creamed spinach, and rhapsodic desserts, most notably the chocolate Ding Dong.

At Tula Modern Mexican, rustic accents mingle with contemporary flourishes to create a warm and inviting space in which to sample tequila flights in between bowls of tortilla soup brimming with roasted chicken, potato and pork-stuffed chile rellenos, or ancho-seared tuna bolstered by a simultaneously sweet and spicy coconut chipotle sauce.

Highlands Restaurants
In the neighborhood known as the Highlands, just north of downtown, gastronaughts are celebrating places like Parisi, a clamorous Italian trattoria and deli that also happens to toss some of the city’s best pizza – charred crusts that are uniformly texture perfect, thicker than cracker-thin, but still light and refined and judiciously ladled with a hearty, herby tomato sauce. Toppings, including asparagus, soppressata salame (don’t even think of asking for pepperoni), bresaola, arugula, pungent anchovies, smoked salmon, and rich Italian sausage, are primo quality. Proprietor and chef Simone Parisi, a native of Florence, makes eating here as pleasurable as any trip to Italy.

A short stroll down the street transports you to Café Brazil, a funky neighborhood hot spot that ministers to assertive palates, especially those with an affinity for hot Brazilian peppers, lime leaves, dende oil, coconut milk, and utterly fabulous creatures of the sea. Chef-owner Tony Zarlenga knows his way around the ocean blue, and his translucent sea scallops, the size of a baby’s fist, are the silky proof. Big, bold flavors wash up in the cazuela Colombiana, a tangle of large, tender prawns and fork-tender chicken bites swaddled in a rich gorgonzola cheese sauce aromatic with the mellow sting of chilies.

A combination of Vintage charm and fresh-from-the-garden cooking attracts the food-immersed to Highland’s Garden Café, two lovingly restored Victorian homes turned single restaurant that flaunts the kitchen talents of Patricia Perry, a phenomenal chef whose cooking philosophy preaches perfection – both in the first-rate locally produced ingredients she emphatically advocates on the plate (many of which are grown in her own garden) and in her commitment to allowing the flavors speak for themselves. Perry’s menu changes according to what’s seasonal, but recent offerings have included grilled quail slicked with a molasses-pomegranate glaze and lemon-caper buttered John Dory served alongside baby scallops.

If mind-altering green chile is more your style, then look no further than Jack-n-Grill, a perpetually packed and rollicking New Mexican joint near Invesco Field at Mile High. The proprietors, Jack and Anna Martinez, hail from Albuquerque, and their bustling kitchen turns out piquant, flavor-packed foodstuffs like stacked enchiladas doused with red or green chile and fresh corn scraped from the cob and doused with butter, hot sauce, chile powder, and fresh lime juice. The result is heaven in a cup.

For more ethnic persuasion, head to New Saigon, arguably Denver’s top Vietnamese haunt. The décor won’t win any awards from America’s next domestic diva, but that doesn’t stop the hordes of in-the-know food-savants from lapping up steaming clay pots swelling with seafood, noodle bowls brimming with fresh vegetables and meats, and chowhound quality goi cuon – expertly assembled springs rolls popping like buttons with rice vermicelli, shrimp, shredded pork, and mint and cilantro leaves.

In the blossoming East Highlands area, Francophiles get their fix at Z Cuisine, a snug bistro with tapestry-topped wooden chairs, creaky hardwood floors, and countrified tables. The fantastic French fare, prepared by chef-owner Patrick De Pays, is all about parlaying his passion for top-quality ingredients into truehearted dishes such as the duck leg confit tumbling with frisee, white beans, and a tomato and mushroom pesto ragout or perfect crepes blanketed with veal sausage, sautéed apples, and crème fraiche.

Devotees of John Broening, the former chef of the late Brasserie Rouge, are now clamoring to Duo, a fetching new food temple flanked by wide planked hardwoods, exposed brick, rusted steel accents and a bustling exhibition kitchen. Broening’s fuss-free American creations tout seasonally-charged, market fresh ingredients and restorative flavors. To wit: housemade mushroom ravioli pooled in a porcini broth and escolar braised in a fennel, rock shrimp, tomato, and orange zest ragout.

More Delicious Denver Restaurants
Washington Park residents pack the dining room at Lucile’s Creole Café, an overindulgent breakfast, brunch, and lunch spot that parades a litany of French Quarter classics such as the eggs Sardou paired with diabolically rich creamed spinach, shrimp, and poached eggs crowned with housemade hollandaise. Louisiana patriots can’t get enough of the cheesy grits and buttermilk biscuits the size of a sumo wrestler's forearm.

For Denver’s finest neighborhood dining, local folk flock to the urban enclave of Governor’s Park, a bustling thoroughfare located just minutes from downtown. Chef-owner Frank Bonanno received a hero’s welcome from the culinary cognoscenti when he graced us with Mizuna, a charming New American restaurant fueled by passion, luxurious ingredients, and polished flavors. When it comes to Bonanno’s foie gras, for instance, there is none better. But even less plush dishes, like the hearty duck cassoulet, reveal rich forkfuls of tastes that explode into your mouth. Best of all, the flavors linger long after you’ve swallowed.

Right around the corner from Mizuna, you’ll find Italian food aficionados jostling for seats at Bonanno’s second restaurant, Luca D’Italia. The bold blood-orange and Lamborghini red walls create the ideal foil for Bonanno’s impossibly perfect rustic Italian fare. In this handsome space, patrons go giddy for the chef’s upfront, vivacious pastas, like the white-truffled fusilli. Other dishes, such as the rabbit presented three ways – confit, grilled, and braised – reveal profoundly flavored, feather-tender meat. Bonanno continually draws raves from local critics, including being named Denver Chef of the Year by Denver’s city magazine. No surprise, given the fact that this is a chef who cut his teeth at famed restaurants like Gramercy Tavern, Restaurant Daniel, and the French Laundry. “Denver is experiencing a culinary explosion of young chefs who are really driving up the quality of the city’s restaurants,” says Bonanno.

Just a few blocks east of Luca sits Somethin’ Else Café, chef-owner Sean Kelly’s concert of whimsy small plates. Kelly, who steadfastly believes in allowing his flavors to stand on their own, uses only top-notch ingredients, which means he plucks, pokes, and prods from local farms, markets, and purveyors. Revel in his bleu cheese fondue with potato chips, crispy baby artichokes crowned with aioli, Moroccan lamb ribs, and country-style pork pate while sharing space at the community table with fellow gastronaughts.

A short jaunt away, along the refurbished stretch of East Colfax, you’ll come face to face with Café Star, a popular destination for in-the-know foodies who hail from near and far to sample chef Rebecca Weitzman’s map-spanning fare. Her innovative menu, which reads like a mini world travelogue, touts fanciful creations like lobster pot pie, baked grouper with celery root puree, and goat cheese–stuffed lamb loin.

Savvy diners are also falling head over heels for the gutsy New American fare at Solera Restaurant and Wine Bar helmed by Christian “Goose” Sorensen. Sorensen’s eclectic menu features Thai-inspired calamari, brown sugar grilled quail, Asian barbecued tuna and sautéed sea scallops paired with white truffled macaroni and cheese. The restaurant’s boutique wine list is as captivating as Sorensen’s food concoctions.