Duo’s Fried Chicken and More of the Best Bites in Denver Right Now

Checking out the new, buzzy places is fun, but Denver is home to many spots that have been making the city tastier for years. Such is the case with Duo, a longtime restaurant in LoHi that’s surrounded by more recent additions, including Kumoya right across the street. One of the Mile High’s OG farm-to-table innovators, Duo will turn twenty next year and is already looking forward to its next two decades, thanks to Tyler Skrivanek.

He joined the restaurant’s kitchen team shortly after it opened, moved up to become its executive chef and, last year, became its owner after he purchased the place from founders Keith Arnold and Stephanie Bonin. We recently caught up with Skrivanek to talk about Duo’s past and future – and got a taste of its present. Our meal there was one of the best of the year so far, anchored by some of the restaurant’s classics, including the buttermilk fried chicken. Crispy, moist and perfectly seasoned, it’s the definition of comfort food. Served over mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies, it also comes with a Colorado twist in the form of a creamy green-chile gravy. Other highlights include chicory Caesar salad with whole white anchovies and garlic croutons, the veal short rib gnocchi and the sticky toffee pudding with maple bourbon ice cream.

Bonus: Duo is participating in this year’s Denver Restaurant Week, which runs through Sunday, March 10. Its $55 three-course menu options include that sticky toffee pudding plus other tempting choices like the risotto with mushroom duxelle and Gruyère fondue to start, and a duo of lamb as an entree.

Another restaurant from the same era is Frasca in Boulder, which earned its first Michelin star in 2023 and is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, it’s hosting a series of events including one that took place on March 5. Owner Bobby Stuckey (aka one of the fifty most powerful people in American fine dining) was dressed to the nines as usual, and blasted Usher in the dining room before cracking a Super Bowl joke and introducing guest chef Gregory Gourdet, a Top Chef alum who ran Departure in Cherry Creek until it closed in 2019.

Last year, Gourdet opened Kann in Portland, Oregon, as an homage to his Haitian heritage – it shares a birthday with Frasca, though nineteen years apart. He and Stuckey developed a friendship over Zoom as they fought to support the industry through the pandemic via the Independent Restaurant Coalition.

The meal was a stunner, from the kampachi crudo starter in a punchy smoked coconut broth to the meringue-covered Baked Haiti, a coconut sponge cake with spiced pineapple and Bavarian cream. If you’re traveling to Portland, be sure to put Kann on your must-visit list.

Side note: If Frasca is too much of a splurge and a trip to Portland isn’t in your future, we also recommend happy hour at Tavernetta, Frasca’s sister restaurant in Denver, where we noshed on arancini, cacio e pepe and meatballs last month.

Hop Alley recently added a six-seat chef’s counter where you can order from the ever-changing, handwritten menu Á  la carte – our current favorite way to dine. When we visited, there was a dessert on offer that we couldn’t pass up. Sure, it was $45, but it was also the most indulgent bite we’ve had in recent memory – a huge portion of foie gras seared and served on a piece of housemade milk bread covered in fig jam. Though it sounds like it might lean too sweet and rich, it proved to be well-balanced; it could make for a fun treat all on its own or as a real bang to start the meal, too.

There’s a dumpling boom happening in Denver right now, and one of the standouts is Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings, which opened late last year in the former Old Major and the Fifth String space on Tejon Street. Be warned: There’s usually a wait, and the restaurant enforces a strict ninety-minute time limit for parties of four or fewer, and two hours for larger groups. Reservations are available, but only for six or more guests.

If you’re able to arrive right around opening (4 p.m. most days), getting a seat is much easier. Orders are placed sushi style, using a pencil and a paper list of menu items. Some of the favorites from our first trip were the crab rangoons with extra crab served on the side ($20 for six); the hot and sour soup dumplings ($18); and the Pan Fried Thumblings, little flavor bombs that come with twelve to an order for $15. The menu is pretty extensive, so we’ll certainly be back for another round.

There was a lot of pizza consumed over the past several weeks as we worked on our ultimate guide to the best pizza in Denver. Last year, White Pie in Uptown was our Best of Denver pick for Best Pizzeria, and we recently did a deep dive into what makes its wood-fired New Haven-inspired pies so good. When we visited in January, the Fromage a Trois, with roasted garlic crème fraîche, Brie, mozzarella, pecorino and carmelized onions, remained a favorite, but we were also impressed with a newer addition to the menu – thicker, rectangular Sicilian-style pizzas.

Tempted to try one? We recommend the Spicy G with red sauce, pepperoni, pickled chiles, ricotta and hot honey with a poppy seed-studded crust.

Have you had a standout meal in Denver recently? Tell us about it at cafe@westword.com.