Shawn Bergin's tiny sourdough bakery is only open from 8 a.m. to whenever the goods sell out on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, so a line often forms before 7:30 on those mornings. Neighbors appear quickly to abscond with rustic country loaves, delicate croissants, decadent morning buns and whatever else Bergin is baking that day. So showing up early is key, and you can also grab a cup of coffee once you're in the door. Bakery Four expects to add Thursdays soon, and later this year, Bergin is making the move to a bigger space on Tennyson Street to share the love with more of Denver.

This Armenian bakery offers a full range of pastries, cakes, breads and deli products, so you'll find traditional barbari and matnakash breads along with pans of savory manti dumplings. But you don't want to leave House of Bread without ordering a few lahmajun, small flatbreads topped with finely ground beef, or the ajarski, a canoe-shaped bread filled with cheese and eggs in its hollow center. These have their origin as khachapuri in Georgia, but there are several styles of khachapuri, including a flaky, cheese-filled turnover that House of Bread also makes. For a full meal (as if you won't stuff yourself on ajaruli!), there are several kinds of kabobs; just be sure to order them at least two hours in advance.

So many breakfast burritos in town are nothing more than mushy tubes of eggs, potatoes and a little meat, with a splash of green chile that adds a hint of flavor but does nothing for the texture. Tacos Rapidos takes a different approach, overstuffing each burrito with nearly equal parts eggs and meat, whether you choose chorizo, bacon, steak, sausage or our favorite, machaca. Potatoes and cheese are also options, depending on your choice of combo, but don't even bother asking for green chile. These aren't Den-Mex breakfast burritos, they're Rapidos style: fast, cheap, filling, delicious...and chile-free.

One of the most interesting things about restaurant green chile is that the best versions — the handmade ones — never taste quite the same way twice. Sometimes the chile's a little more concentrated, sometimes a little darker or lighter. And the green chiles that add heat and flavor vary from batch to batch, too. At El Tejado, the green chile is always good, even if it comes a pinkish-orange over your burrito one day and slightly more greenish-brown on another visit. Like the customers in the house on any given day (you may see a group of cops at one table and a party of high school kids at the next), the mix is always a little different. But over time, the differences blur together and the chile's commendable qualities stand out in a rich and spicy blend, with a gravy-like backbone that sticks well to your relleno, your chimichanga and your ribs.

A grab bag of multiple cooking styles and regional influences seldom works — but that's not the case at La Calle. The little orange casa turns out delicious examples of cochinita pibil from Yucatán, tacos al pastor from Mexico City, and many other grilled, stewed and roasted meats. Our favorites are the Campechano (carnitas with soft pork skin), chivo (shredded goat) and cabeza (rich and fatty beef from the cow's head) tacos, but you can mix and match; just be sure to choose the best salsa from the salsa bar for each taco.

You won't find steamy bags of tamales by the dozen at Kahlo's; instead, the Westwood restaurant serves a large, Oaxacan-style chicken tamal wrapped in banana leaf and napped in mole, or a pair of delicate tamales de elote bursting with the flavor of sweet corn and drizzled with salsa verde and crema fresca. Order them both for a taste of two distinct Mexican regions; the mole's the best in town, too, so you won't be sorry. Chef/owner Noe Bermudez also runs Tarasco's, at 470 South Federal Boulevard, where you can get the same great tamales in a smaller, more casual setting.

El Borrego Negro isn't your typical hole-in-the-wall taqueria. In fact, it's little more than a hole in the ground. Chef Jose Avila founded the sheep barbacoa operation in late 2020 to bring the taste of real Mexican barbacoa de borrego to Denver. He acquired a flock of sheep that roam a farm in northern Colorado, built a brick-lined oven in the earth behind the RISE Westwood building on Morrison Road, and began sourcing maguey leaves, herbs and heirloom corn for his barbacoa and handmade tortillas. He cooks the whole sheep in the underground oven every Saturday night, along with an out-of-this-world consomé glistening with fat drippings, and serves the shredded meat every Sunday morning out of his X'Tabai Yucateco food trailer, along with nixtamal tortillas, salsas, a quart of the consomé and sides of onion, cilantro and lime. The whole setup feels like one of Denver's best-kept secrets, since there's no phone number, no menu and no website. You just pre-order through Instagram DM, or show up and take your chances — a big risk, because the barbacoa always sells out.

While you could be forgiven for assuming that the sense-clearing green chile at La Fiesta could kill almost any virus, who could have predicted that the orange vinyl booths in a vast Safeway-turned-Mexican-food joint could seem so comforting, so safe, during the pandemic? For almost sixty years, this spot on the edge of downtown has been a lunchtime haven for everyone from cops to judges to neighborhood kids seeking big, cheesy plates of Mexican food, Denver style. But this past year, the Herrera family, who've run the Den-Mex eatery from the start, made La Fiesta seem particularly welcoming...and delicious. And thanks for adding Saturday hours!

The Ramirez family, which opened the first Los Dos Potrillos in Centennial two decades ago, has always been accommodating. But over the past year, the Ramirezes may have pivoted faster than any other restaurateurs around. When eateries across the state were ordered to cut off in-door dining in March 2020, the family quickly geared up their to-go systems to maximum efficiency, making sure the beers brewed at their Parker brewery were available, as were their big, strong margaritas; pick-up was fast and flawless. And once restaurants could reopen to indoor seating, Los Dos Potrillos pivoted again, adjusting to doing business in three counties in the metro area with different rules, always with a smile...and complete competence.

You know you're from Denver when...you don't bat an eye at a Vietnamese-Mexican food truck sporting a big blue bear wearing a gold crown at a rakish angle like Biggie Smalls. The blue bear is an iconic symbol of Denver, the word "Rapidos" a familiar one to west-side residents in need of a late-night taco fix: The smell of pho in that part of town is as common as the whiff of Greeley on a brisk winter night before a snow. Combine them all and you have Pho King Rapidos, launched last year by Long Nguyen and Shauna Seaman as a "Vietnamese-ish" food truck turning out killer bun bo Hue and pho, but also mashing up street food in the form of a birria bo kho (Vietnamese beef stew) banh mi — a cheese-encrusted sandwich that comes with broth for dipping and al pastor fries. Nguyen grew up around Federal Boulevard but has worked in fine dining in New York and Denver; the combination of street cred and culinary chops makes Pho King Rapidos a B.I.G. deal.