Why? Not for the access to world-class ski resorts or the immersive arts emergence. No, it's all restaurants, restaurants and more restaurants in a "polychromatic food scene." If you follow this guide, you may never see our much-vaunted scenery.
Here's the description from Katie Kelly Bell:
Enjoying the outdoors is practically a requirement in Colorado, but Denver’s buzzy dining scene is finally making a good case for spending more time indoors. Following a banner year of openings in 2023, the Mile High City’s culinary scene has seen another wave of exciting chefs celebrate their culture and heritage in unique ways. Mexican cuisine that’s long been vital to the city continues to enjoy a renaissance at the hands of chefs including James Beard–nominated Ras Casiano, who brings Mayan, Aztec, and ancient Meso-American culinary traditions to Xiquita, which opened in August. Casiano looks to the tres hermanas (three sisters) Indigenous crop trio of corn, beans, and squash for his inspired cooking—think dishes like crispy masa with fermented beer salsa and beef tongue barbacoa. At Alma Fonda Fina, which opened in late 2023 and got a Michelin star in 2024, Guadalajara-born Johnny Curiel gives heritage Mexican dishes a creative spin. Pull up a seat at the chef’s counter and dig into a decadent taco de suadero with an heirloom corn tortilla, and a 12-hour Colorado brisket with salsa de arbol on top. At Odell’s Bagel, which opened in October 2024, Miles Odell lends the nuances of Japanese cooking to bagel culture, hand-rolling every bagel, house-smoking his lox, and koji-curing his pastrami. Over at Sắp Sửa, one of Denver’s hottest tables since it opened in summer 2023, owners Ni and Anna Nguyen bring a “nontraditional” approach to Vietnamese cooking, with dishes inspired by Ni's childhood like lemongrass pork meatballs with Colorado peaches and pickled jalapeño; and soft scrambled egg with brown butter, trout roe, and rice. If all that food makes you thirsty, head south of downtown Denver, where Laws Whiskey House just debuted its long-awaited Whiskey Church, a state-of-the-art tasting room with big vaulted windows, pews, and spectacular views of the Rockies. New urban hotels, big and small, are joining in on the fun. Book a stay at the long-awaited Studio Gang–designed Populus, the first carbon-positive hotel in the US and an arresting addition to the city’s skyline, or at the recently opened Urban Cowboy in a historic Queen Anne–style Gilded Era mansion. To really immerse yourself in the city’s history, though, base yourself at the Crawford Hotel in the elegantly revamped Union Station, which just underwent a stunning makeover of its own.While Denver's restaurant scene is certainly buzzworthy, there are definitely other things to appreciate about the Mile High City. The New York Times shared some of them in its recent piece on how to spend 36 hours in Denver. And for that matter, Condé Nast Traveler laid out seventeen of the best things to do in Denver in another list this past summer.
What would you recommend a tourist do in Denver?
