A lot of great new restaurants and pubs are opening in Denver this summer, showing how strong the city’s food scene is. There’s something for everyone, from creative restaurants serving food from around the world to cozy bars serving one-of-a-kind drinks.
Whether you live in Denver or are just visiting, these places promise to give you an unforgettable dining experience that highlights the unique flavors and creative skills of the city’s chefs and mixologists.
Come with us as we check out seven of the hottest new spots that are quickly becoming must-sees for cooks and drinkers alike. Get ready to satisfy your hunger and discover Denver’s exciting food scene this summer!
1. Ajax Downtown
A piece of Aspen tree arrived in the Ballpark neighborhood last month. Where Citizen Rail used to be, Ajax Downtown has moved in. It is the nicer brother of Ajax Tavern, which is in the fancy Little Nell hotel.
Even though the name has changed, the high-end restaurant still serves flame-grilled, dry-aged steaks and modern American snacks made by Jared Becker, who used to be the head cook at Citizen Rail and is now in charge of the kitchen at Ajax Downtown.
Becker makes creative meals like wild sea bass with marinated olives, salty artichokes, fennel purée, and bilbaína sauce (oil seasoned with garlic and dried chiles). He also serves seedling tomatoes soaked in Campari with black garlic crème and basil bavarois. The potato pavé with fresh truffles goes well with any main dish.
1899 16th Street Mall—PK is the address.
2. Cookies with butter
There are two words that describe this: cookie window. The Post’s fried chicken and beer were already great, but now the LoHi location has a new takeout-only Window of Happiness where you can get freshly baked ButterPunk cookies and, why not?, drinks made by a robot bartender.
The chocolate peanut butter chip cookie is our favorite, but the founder and executive chef of ButterPunk, Corina Johnson, is great with butter, sugar, and flour, so you should also try the salty chocolate chip and soft vanilla sugar cookies. You can wash it all down with a “botrista’s” boba milk tea, tasty lemonades, iced coffee, or slushes, which the robot may spike for people over 21.
The address is 1575 Boulder Street in Arkansas.
3. Meat
The restaurant is much more complex than its name, Carne, which means “meat” in Spanish. But with chef Dana Rodriguez in charge, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the two-month-old RiNo spot has a menu with flavors from around the world, a great drinks menu, and a lively atmosphere.
The first thing that makes this restaurant stand out is the fancy decor, which includes old-fashioned furniture in the living room, floor-to-ceiling windows, plants, and other green touches. On the cocktail menu, there is a martini cart service at your table and the mezcal-infused Panther’s Milk with dairy-free horchata. If you’d rather drink wine, you can look at the interactive wine wall and pick out your own bottle with help from the staff.
The food is great, as it always is at Dana Rodriguez restaurants. The Colorado lamb lollipops and orange-glazed duck confit were two of our favorites. If you’d rather have a more normal steakhouse experience, you can choose from a number of reasonably priced steaks.
2601 Larimer Street — EP is the address.
4. The Champagne Tiger
The famous Googie-style building at 601 E. Colfax Ave. has been changed a lot in the last few years. The 24-hour greasy spoon Tom’s Diner was there for 20 years. In 2022, it changed its name to Tom’s Starlight, a drinking club that didn’t last long. Champagne Tiger, which came out last month, wants to change its course.
Chris Donato, the owner of Champagne Tiger, spent more than ten years building the Pizzeria Locale brand. He now uses that hospitality experience to create a French-inspired food and drink menu, taking advantage of the restaurant’s position in Denver’s LGBTQ cultural hub.
The restaurant has a special every Wednesday night with a three-course pasta dinner and cabaret show for $39, and on Sundays it has a fancy drag brunch with foods like fried green tomato eggs Benedict and a regular French omelette. We like that the attention is on the food and entertainment. To go with it, a Caddy Issues cocktail with a lot of cognac should be served.
Get in touch at 601 E. Colfax Ave.—EP.
5. Cózobi Fonda Fina
If you go to Cozobi Fonda Fina in Boulder, Chef Johnny Curiel wants you to feel like you’re having a fancy backyard BBQ at his house. He opened the popular spot in the old Arcana building on Walnut Street. It’s a bigger version of Alma Fonda Fina, which has been open for a year.
Alma and Cozobi both serve modern Mexican food in a cozy neighborhood space with soft lighting and decorations made from reused wood. However, Cozobi’s menu focuses on wood-fired cooking and the many ways corn can be used. In reality, “Cozobi” refers to the Zapotec god of maize, and Curiel celebrates him with a number of creative dishes, such as an elote Caesar salad with crumbled chicharrones on top and roasted lamb shank with avocado salsa and frijoles de la olla, which are pinto beans that have been steamed with masa.
Please ask to sit at the counter next to the cook so you can watch them make sweet and spicy young coconut ceviche and tostadas with bigeye tuna on top.
The address is 909 Walnut St., Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301.
6. The Greenwich
It’s important not to forget how hard it is to redesign a menu. Restaurant owners need to show off new dishes that fit the restaurant’s new direction while also keeping popular dishes on the menu to keep current customers happy. The menu should have both new and old dishes that go well together.
It was owned by Delores Tronco, who did just that this summer at the Greenwich (formerly known as the Greenwich 2.0) in RiNo. The restaurant still has one of the best cheesecakes in Denver, a wide range of creative veggie plates, and pizzas with great blisters.
But Greenwich is moving toward Italian and Italian American tastes with new dishes that are both big and small. For example, there are big meatballs with brown-butter polenta and a small plate of Cerignola olives and artichokes. Executive cook Luke Miller thinks it’s best to enjoy both old and new dishes together, so order a mix of the two.
The address is 3258 Larimer Street, EP
7. Little Brazil
Little Brazil, a small Brazilian grocery store and restaurant that had been in Gold’s Marketplace in Wheat Ridge for more than ten years, moved to a bigger space off of 38th Avenue in March. Kallen Marques is a co-owner of the 3,000-square-foot building that now has a sleek bar with green tiles and a sunny back patio. The lunch and dinner menus have been changed, and there is also a small market with sweets, frozen foods, coffee, tea, and other pantry items.
A standard lime caipirinha goes well with the hora de festa, which is a platter of small, dough-wrapped croquettes filled with cheese (our favorite), shredded chicken and corn, and ground beef and bulgur. Feijoada (black bean stew), churrasco-style pork skewers, and mushroom stroganoff are some other Brazilian favorites.
The address is 7333 W. 38th Ave., Wheat Ridge—PK.
Last Words
With these seven new restaurants and bars opening this summer, Denver’s food scene will really take off. Each site promises different foods and lively atmospheres, making each meal a memorable experience for both locals and visitors. Do not miss the chance to visit these must-see places!