COLORADO
From Tacos to Tasting Menus: These Are Denver’s Top Restaurants
By Eric Barton | Sept. 16, 2025
BRUTØ
AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.
When I showed up in Denver in 1992, I was in Littleton, paying the rent by squeegeeing the picture windows of houses with views my paycheck could only admire. Dinner meant whatever rolled off a truck in a gravel lot or the Colorado-Mex places that treated green chile like a civic duty. It was cheap, it was smothered, and it was exactly what I wanted.
Then the city found its voice. Chefs stopped chasing the coasts and started cooking their own ideas—fermentation projects humming in the back, counter menus that change on a whim, wine lists that wander past the usual comfort zones. Denver restaurants grew up without getting precious, and you can feel that confidence on the plate.
What follows is my short list of where to eat in the Mile High City right now—the best restaurants in Denver, a mix of newcomers and stalwarts worth a reservation. Some are splashy, some are steady, all of them prove this city knows how to cook.
Alma Fonda Fina
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Chef Johnny Curiel named his restaurant Alma, meaning “soul,” which is what he pours into every scallop crudo and pork belly. The decor leans warm and earthy, the staff pays attention, and the chef’s counter is where Denver’s most sought-after seats are. Enmoladas and frijoles charros aren’t afterthoughts—they’re the main event.
Best for: Chef’s counter and soulful Mexican
The Bindery
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Chef-owner Linda Hampsten Fox and director of operations Oren Cohen, previously of Wildflower, run The Bindery as a hybrid—market bakery, daytime café, and polished dinner room—where the menu wanders the world with purpose. Brunch can mean the Beet Cured Salmon Latke (potato pancake, red onion, capers, cream cheese), while dinner swings delightfully oddball with Smoked Rabbit Pecan Pie finished with sharp cheddar and a scoop of mustard gelato. It’s creative without the fuss, the rare spot where coffee and pastries in the morning naturally lead to a reservation you’ll keep for later.
Best for: All-day, globe-trotting creativity
Brutø
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The chef’s counter at Brutø doesn’t do spoilers, and that’s just as well—you’re better off surrendering to the tasting menu anyway. Chef Byron Gomez cooks with Colorado-grown ingredients and the sustainability gospel, but the wood-fired oven and his Costa Rican upbringing have just as much to say. Opt for the drink pairing, on top of the $175 per person price, then settle in and try not to overthink the fermentation projects.
Best for: An expertly executed counter-seat tasting menu
Dân Dã
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Dân Dã calls itself comfort food, but that’s underselling An Nguyen’s menu, which covers snails in XO butter, jellyfish salad, and whole fried catfish in ginger sauce. The tight quarters hum with energy, and the bar leans into tropical ingredients like guava, tamarind, and lychee. This is Vietnamese food with the volume turned up.
Best for: Turned-up Vietnamese and tropical drinks
Hey Kiddo
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Hey Kiddo refuses to sit still—in the best way. One minute you’re pairing a caviar bump with pét-nat; the next you’re into exceptionally crunchy Korean fried chicken and that ever-changing, zero-waste “shaken chef rice.” When you’re done, slip into OK Yeah in the back for mood-based, bespoke cocktails and a hand roll.
Best for: Fried chicken, shaken rice, and bespoke cocktails
Hop Alley
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The party at Hop Alley has been going for years now, but it’s still the kind of place where the bar knows what to do with Sichuan peppercorns and gin. Tommy Lee’s menu riffs on Chinese standards with serious confidence—yes, you should get the duck roll, the tofu in bang bang sauce, and the bone marrow–fried rice. And if you score a seat for the tasting menu at the six-seat chef’s counter, don’t be surprised when the oysters come with heirloom melon and buttermilk sauce.
Best for: Big, bold Chinese riffs
Kiké’s Red Tacos
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The birria tacos that put Kiké’s on the map are now spilling juice and joy inside a LoHi storefront on W 38th. They’ve broadened the hits—quesabirria with consomé, birria ramen, tortas—and rolled out a full bar with Mexican-leaning cocktails, including a spiked horchata. This is fast-casual done with heat and hustle.
Best for: Quesabirria, birria ramen, margaritas
Lucina Eatery & Bar
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Lucina is what happens when a dinner party collides with a Latin American street festival and someone brings mezcal. Partners Erasmo Casiano and Diego Coconati built the place to feel communal, and the menu—empanadas, mofongo, cochinita pibil tlacoyos—makes it easy to say yes to everything. Save room for paella, which only shows up on weekends, like a cousin in town with stories.
Best for: Latin dinner-party energy
Major Tom
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Tucked next to Beckon, Major Tom feels like the lounge where someone else always picks up the wine tab—and makes it Champagne. The menu reads short but thoughtful, with seasonal small plates like mushroom-burrata tartines and duck confit in cherry mostarda. Dress like you’re trying and drink like you’ve earned it.
Best for: Champagne and seasonal small plates
Rioja
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Two decades in, Rioja still feels like the place you book when you want to remind someone you have good taste. Chef Jennifer Jasinski’s pork belly and artichoke tortelloni aren’t going anywhere, but seasonal hits like porcini-cocoa mezzelune and venison with huckleberry jus keep things fresh. The room, the service, the ambition—they all still deliver.
Best for: Downtown celebrations with staying power
Safta
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At Safta, the pita arrives blistered from the wood-fired oven and somehow still manages to be upstaged by the whipped feta with fig vinegar. New Orleans chef Alon Shaya’s modern Israeli menu lives at the intersection of soulful and indulgent—crispy eggplant, duck matzo ball soup, and lamb shank with pomegranate all play starring roles. It’s the pride of the Source Hotel, and for good reason.
Best for: Modern Israeli feasts and pita
Spuntino
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There’s nothing flashy about Spuntino, and that’s the point. Chef Cindhura Reddy folds Indian spices into elk tartare and kofta-style gnocchi with a kind of quiet genius, while her husband Elliot Strathmann builds a bar program that involves homemade amari and wines from winemakers you’ve never heard of but suddenly want to impress. They run the kind of restaurant that makes you feel like a regular on your first visit.
Best for: Quiet creativity and house amari
Tavernetta
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You can hear the trains at Union Station from your table at Tavernetta, which feels about right for a restaurant with the self-assurance to serve Piedmontese vitello tonnato next to mushroom ragu gnocchi and bistecca Fiorentina. It’s Italian, broadly speaking, but not regional so much as seasonal and impeccably precise. The wine list is a commitment to Italian varietals, and the service is the kind that notices not just when your water is low but the precise moment when you're ready for the rum-soaked tiramisu, which is as soon as possible. .
Best for: Refined Italian and serious wine
Wildflower
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What looks like an antique parlor inside the recently rebranded Gravity Haus Denver Hotel turns out to be a wildflower-strewn stage for black truffle tarts and koginut squash risotto. Chef Aiden Tibbetts leans into delicate garnishes and layered flavors, with a menu that tastes like someone actually paid attention to the seasons. Even the kiwi tres leches comes with its own dark chocolate exclamation point.
Best for: Seasonal plates in a vintage parlor
The Wolf’s Tailor
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The Wolf’s Tailor wants your control issues checked at the door, which is fine—the chefs are better at this anyway. The tasting menu throws Nordic, Italian, and Asian ideas into a blender with Colorado ingredients and turns out dishes like robata-grilled bison and pesto dan dan noodles without a single wrong note. Whether you’re in the clean-lined dining room or one of those camping-chic patio tents, expect to drop real money and feel like it was worth it.
Best for: Inventive tasting menus and patio seating
