The Ten Best New Denver Restaurants in 2024

It's been a tough year for the restaurant industry, with rising costs, pushback on service fees and plenty of sad losses in the local scene. But there were also a lot of bright spots.

We recently celebrated our favorite places to dine, both old and new, with the updated edition of our Top 100 Restaurants list. While that lineup includes sixteen eateries that debuted between Labor Day 2023 and Labor Day 2024, a few notable additions hit the scene in the last months of the year.

So now we're serving up the top ten spots that opened over the last twelve months, in alphabetical order:
Alma Fonda Fina and Mezcaleria Alma
2550-2556 15th Street
Last December, Johnny and Kasie Curiel debuted their first restaurant, Alma Fonda Fina, in LoHi. Because the upscale Mexican spot with an à la carte chef's counter was so new, it didn't quite make the cut for last year's list of the best new restaurants, which came out just over a week after its debut. But it quickly proved to be a culinary powerhouse — a fact underscored in September when it earned a Michelin star. Thankfully, the Curiels, as promised, haven't pivoted to a pricier tasting-menu concept. Instead, Alma continues to showcase reimagined versions of the homestyle food Johnny grew up eating.

Those in Boulder can get a taste of the chef's fare at Cozobi Fonda Fina, which opened in July. And just weeks ago, the Curiels opened their third restaurant in a year. Mezcaleria Alma is located right next door to Alma Fonda Fina, but it's focused on food inspired by Mexico City — and it has a vibrant, high energy to match. Our first meal there included many of the best bites of the year, and these neighboring sibling spots should be on your shortlist.
Dân Dã
9945 East Colfax Avenue, Aurora
Savory Vietnam was a favorite for sharing big platters of make-your-own spring rolls and giant bowls of steaming soups with friends — until it closed at the end of 2023. But that news came with a silver lining: Its chef and part-owner, who is one of the daughters of the original owners of the late, lamented New Saigon restaurant, had plans to strike out on her own.

In April, An Nguyen introduced Vietnamese restaurant Dân Dã (pronounced "yuhng-yaa") next door to her sister Thoa's Banh & Butter Bakery Cafe, and it more than replaced Savory Vietnam — it's brought the best of that restaurant to a more modern space. The business is a family affair, and that's evident in the warm service. We're still working through the lengthy menu, but favorites so far include a new version of make-your-own spring rolls served on towers, the spicy lemongrass pork clay pot and the whole deep-fried fish.
Kawa Ni
1900 West 32nd Avenue
This East Coast transplant officially opened in November 2023, but it really settled in and became a favorite in the LoHi neighborhood over the past twelve months. The original Kawa Ni is a small Japanese izakaya-inspired spot in Westport, Connecticut, founded a decade ago. When owner Bill Taibe decided to expand, he chose Colorado for personal reasons, including a love of skiing and the fact that his son fell for the University of Colorado Boulder.

While Taibe has been a successful restaurateur for years back east, he launched Kawa Ni in Denver with a humble outlook. "It's all gonna be us earning our stripes," he told Westword ahead of the opening — and that's exactly what he and his team have done. Today, the restaurant is a hot spot that's regularly packed with diners who keep coming back for bites like shaved broccoli miso goma, the aptly named Addictive Cabbage and spicy lamb dan dan.
La Forêt
38 South Broadway
The whimsical Beatrice & Woodsley was a favorite in the Baker neighborhood for years. But its space, complete with real aspen tree trunks throughout the dining room, sat empty after the pandemic shutdowns of 2020 — until the owner of cocktail bars Union Lodge No. 1 and the Tatarian finally stepped in.

Instead of scrapping the place's legacy and starting fresh, Mike Huggins upped the ante, building upon the ethereal decor to create a place that feels like a magical woodland escape. Paired with an impressive cocktail program that includes a pastis hour plus French fare with a rustic, Colorado-inspired twist, La Forêt quickly proved to be a stunner and has continued to impress ever since. Executive chef Jamie Rutherford took the helm in October, and we're excited to see how the menu evolves in the months to come.

Little Arthur's
205 East Seventh Avenue
AJ Shreffler was working as the sous chef at Bar Dough when we fell for the Philly-inspired hoagies he started slinging via pop-ups in 2021. Eventually, he made the leap and took Little Arthur's from a side hustle to his full-time gig. This year, the business made its biggest move yet, settling into the kitchen at Out of the Barrel Taproom in August.

With a full team in place and more space and equipment, Shreffler was able to launch a new iteration of Little Arthur's complete with a bigger menu anchored by giant East Coast-style pizzas and his signature hoagies on housemade sesame-seeded rolls, plus bites like the pepperoncini wedge salad and meatballs with ricotta.

Luchador Taco & More
2030 East 28th Ave
Chef Zuri Resendiz has built quite a career. He moved to the U.S. from Mexico City in 2002, trained under Elise Wiggins at Panzano and Cattivella, took on his first executive chef role at Shanahan's Steakhouse and has appeared on multiple episodes of the Food Network's Chopped and Guy's Grocery Games. But in 2022, he decided to strike out on his own to create food that combines his fine-dining background with his Mexican roots.

He first launched Luchador, named in honor of his father (a luchador in the ’90s) as a food truck; in August, it moved into Resendiz's first brick-and-mortar restaurant. Leaning into food that has more personal ties has led to some truly creative and delicious bites. The menu includes tacos, of course (we especially love the pulpo, octopus marinated with chiles), but don't miss some of the more unexpected dishes, such as the wild mushrooms with crispy polenta and the  Causa Tartare over aji amarillo chilled potato purée with crispy sweet potatoes and aji verde aioli.

Som Dee Thai Kitchen
1598 East 17th Avenue
Orrapan Botthaisong moved to Denver from Thailand to attend school a decade ago with just $300 to her name and very little experience speaking English — but she also has a lot of drive. Along the way, she became friends with others in Denver's Thai community and learned about the restaurant business. In 2022, she opened a place of her own, La Mai Thai Kitchen, a low-key Edgewater spot that's been popular for takeout.

But she envisioned something else. After securing the former Paxti's space in Uptown, she began building a more upscale Thai restaurant. More than a year of delays later, Som Dee Thai Kitchen finally opened in early December. The interior is stunning, with eye-catching lighting fixtures from Thailand hanging above cozy booths and dark tables, while wood accents and pops of red lighting give the place a moody vibe. While you'll find common staples such as Pad Thai and an excellent green curry on the menu, you'll be greatly rewarded if you order something less familiar, like the Som Dee Steak crusted in toasted sticky rice and served with tangy jaew sauce, which is modeled after one of Botthaisong's father's go-to meals.

Wok Spicy
3021 South Broadway, Englewood
It's always sad when a longtime staple closes, as was the case when Twin Dragon owner Shiou Jefferson decided she was ready for retirement in 2023 after serving Chinese fare in Englewood for 47 years. But the upside is when that space is filled with something the neighborhood needs.

That's what happened when another Chinese restaurant, Wok Spicy, debuted in the former home of Twin Dragon in May. Its specialty: Sichuan dishes that don't skimp on the spice. On our first visit, we fell fast for options like the lotus root dry wok and the excellent mapo tofu, but there's plenty more to explore — including extra-large bao buns loaded with cumin lamb; double-cooked pork with cabbage; and spicy green beans with minced pork.

Xiquita Restaurante y Bar
500 East 19th Avenue
During the pandemic, Erasmo "Ras" Casiano and Diego Coconati began throwing wine dinners at their Stanley Marketplace cooking school, Create. The experience inspired them to open a restaurant where Latin American fare is the star; Lucina debuted in Park Hill in March 2022 and has become a neighborhood favorite.

While the team wasn't looking to open something new, when an ideal space became available in Uptown, they seized the opportunity. Inspired by a trip he'd recently taken to Mexico City, Casiano decided he wanted to "really present Mexico in a very traditional scale — a non-Americanized scale," he told Westword after Xiquita landed on Bon Appétit's most anticipated list.

Since opening in August, Xiquita, like Alma Fonda Fina, has helped reshape the local Mexican dining scene by placing heirloom corn and its ancestral preparation practices at the heart of its modern menu. Along with chef Rene Gonzalez Mendez, Casiano and his team continue to refine the dishes at Xiquita, which include a duck taco that was one of our best bites of the year and the corn-shaped tezcalate dessert created by chef Hannah Lavoy that has become a signature.