Bus It: Take Route 0 to Explore the Bars and Restaurants of Broadway

During all of July and August, riders can take any bus and light rail line for free thanks to RTD’s Zero Fare for Better Air program. Many of the routes traverse some of the city’s best areas for eating and drinking, so we’re breaking down some highlights. This week, take a ride on the 0 bus.

Route details: The 0 runs every fifteen to thirty minutes, depending on the time of day, from Union Station to Highlands Ranch. See the full schedule for the 0. The 0L is a very limited weekday-only run from Civic Center Station at Colfax and Broadway to 1-25 and Broadway.

Neighborhoods: Downtown, Capitol Hill, Speer, Baker, Washington Park West, Platt Park, South Denver, Englewood, Highlands Ranch

Where to eat and drink: Broadway, which you can traverse on the route 0 bus, is a place for everyone. There are bars for introverts and extroverts, restaurants for vegans and meat lovers, stores for music and book lovers, and a number of surprising bakeries.

At the stops between Fifth Avenue and Alameda in the Baker neighborhood, nearly every block offers places to eat and imbibe. Visit Postino for wine and bruschetta boards, or Stoney’s Cantina, the Mexican offshoot of Stoney’s Bar & Grill. The Hornet has solid food and drinks as well as a hidden patio out back, while Pie Hole is perfect for a quick slice and Karma Asian offers $3 pours of sake during happy hour. There are also a number of coffee shops, including Mutiny Information Cafe, which is also a bookstore, a music store and a community gathering place.

Beer lovers can visit the taprooms at Baere or the heavy metal-themed TRVE, which is also home to the Denver location of Music City Hot Chicken. The stretch is also home to a high concentration of dive bars, including Bar 404, Barry’s on Broadway, Badger’s Pub and Dougherty’s. A bit farther south on Broadway, you’ll find the Dive Inn, which has an actual boat inside that offers the best seats in the house.

At the Louisiana Avenue stop is TrashHawk Tavern, which opened in 2021 but already feels well worn. You won’t find any fancy cocktails here, only simple mixed drinks, though it does always keep MalÁ¶rt in stock. The beer list includes a few local brews alongside dive classics like cans of Hamm’s and Genesee Cream Ale on draft. On a hot day, settle in with an Iceberg, which is half Pacífico, half slushie. The bar typically hosts food trucks on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, though you can always snack on “trash charcuterie,” aka Lunchables. It also has a long happy hour with drink specials from 2 to 6 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 6 p.m. on weekends.

Heading south, you’ll find the Botanical Bakery of Denver at West Bates Avenue, which is a small, plant-filled cafe with floral-inspired pastries. It shares its space with Birdsall & Co. Garden Boutique and Petals & Pages bookstore.

When the bus crosses into Englewood, hop off at Floyd and head for the Englewood Grand, a neighborhood watering hole with a popcorn maker, shuffleboard table, pinball machine and three creepy mannequins lining the bar. Across the street is Gallo Italian Supper Club, where the bakery cases are piled high with desserts, including cannoli, traditional Italian cookies and giant almond croissants.

The area also boasts two restaurants that offer goodwill alongside good food. Cafe 180 is a pay-what-you-can eatery, serving a daily selection of salads, sandwiches, pizza and soups. A block away, Brewability employs adults with disabilities who work the bar, run food, manage the kitchen and front of house, make the food and brew the beer. The bar serves its own beers and selections from Woods Boss Brewing. The food menu includes shareables like breadsticks and buffalo chicken dip, salads, pizzas and a lineup of skillet-baked mac and cheese. The menus are color-coded and written in braille, as are the taps, to accommodate both staff and guests with disabilities.

Broadway also has a number of vegetarian- and vegan-friendly restaurants. Wanna go on a meat-free culinary tour? Start at Sputnik at First Avenue, a dive that has a vegetarian option for nearly every item on the menu. At Mississippi is Somebody People, which offers a $38 multi-course Sunday Supper menu weekly.

At the Floyd stop, you’ll find Noon Thai Plus Vegan; Zomo, where much of the menu is or can be made vegan; as well as Fellow Traveler, which owner Joe Phillips, a vegetarian himself, opened in 2022 after bartending at Sputnik for over a decade. The restaurant’s name is an homage to his former employer – “sputnik” is Russian for a path, or traveler – as is the painting by Mutiny’s Jack Jensen, which hangs behind the bar. Alongside a fallen hand and coffee cup, it reads, “I’m tired of Sputnik’s shitty coffee,” a jest that’s all in good fun. “We actually serve the same coffee,” Phillips jokes.

Bonus stops: Books are definitely not going out of fashion on Broadway. In addition to Mutiny Cafe and Petals & Pages, there are three bookstores at the Louisiana stop alone: Printed Page Bookshop, which has a huge selection of signed copies and first editions, Gallagher Books & Antiques and Fahrenheit Books, plus Colorado’s Used Book Store, off of the Floyd stop. 

Broadway is also home to many live-music venues. Explore some of them during the Underground Music Showcase, which takes place July 28 through 30 and includes shows at options such as the hi-dive and Skylark Lounge. Riding the 0, you can also check out the recently opened BurnDown at the Center Avenue stop, Swallow Hill Music at Yale, and the Gothic Theatre at the Floyd stop.