The five best bites we had in May

It was a busy month for new restaurant openings, many with chefs from long-established restaurants now stretching their wings with new concepts, visions and ideas. Add to that an abundance of fresh spring ingredients, and this past month created a delicious tour of a still-evolving Denver dining scene getting more exciting by the week. 

But the best bites of the month didn’t start off at a new restaurant or with a dish of seasonal vegetables. Rather, it was the fried shrimp paste at Dân Dã that has wowed diners from the day it opened in 2024. Sheets of rice paper are smeared with a seasoned paste of ground shrimp, then deep-fried until crisp. The result delivers the crispy-chewy texture of a Vietnamese fried spring roll, but with the full, open-handed slap of the spongy shrimp layer. I can’t wait to see what sisters An and Thao Nguyen have in store for their highly anticipated Rễ Tre, reportedly coming later this year.

Sticking with the older guard, I also need to give a shoutout to Potoger, which I visited for some much-needed veggies between best-burger research stops. Chef Paul Warthen delivered the goods with a delicious, earthy-sweet bowl of braised carrots, soaked in a sweet rhubarb aquachile and accented with sliced cucumbers. My soul (and cholesterol count) were satisfied. To top it off, I enjoyed this with the Orgo ‘Dila-O’: a skin-contact white blend from Georgia that you can try with a half-glass for only $8, or a full glass for $14. 

Maybe the biggest surprise of the month was at Monarch, which I visited shortly after it replaced Little Johnny B’s in the Urban Cowboy Public House. I walked in expecting to find charred, wood-fired pizza (I did) and flame-kissed, sticky-fat roasted chicken (which is excellent). But I walked out dreaming of the deep-fried crispy spinach dressed in a sweet-hot vinaigrette that just might become chef Justin Freeman’s calling card. 

Of course, any report of May’s best bites wouldn’t be complete without a taste of chef Johnny Curiel’s new culinary adventure, Milpero. With 18 courses over three hours, picking just one as the standout bite is a bit ridiculous. Every plate was a masterclass in technique, execution, creativity and storytelling. You’d think by the end, my palate would have been bludgeoned into submission. But in fact, it was the last savory dish — a squab in a brick-red mole and charred onion jam — that got the nod. Maybe because of the perfectly cooked version of a bird not often found on dinner menus, or perhaps because of the duo of sauces that layered flavor on flavor like a funhouse maze of mirrors. Regardless, if Curiel is trying to teach us something about Mexican cuisine, that’s a class I’ll never skip. 

What better way to end than with a decadent dessert? By far the star of the month was the soufflé-like Basque cheesecake at the newly opened Heretik in RiNo. Chef Theo Adley aimed to bring a slice (pun intended) of Basque cuisine to Denver, and with Heretik, he delivers: The menu of small plates and entrees is as strong as the point of view. The knowledgeable servers were more than happy to guide me through the wine list, which offers half-pours for optimal experimentation and discovery. Just be sure to keep your dessert stomach available for this light, lucious charred cheesecake that puts the perfect exclamation point on the end of a wonderfully long, run-on sentence of a meal.