Restaurant Roll Call: Every Opening and Closing in May

Bagels, baguettes and birria, oh my! It was another busy month in the local dining scene, with over 25 new openings to report — though none of them are Casa Bonita, which didn't officially open by its own May deadline, opting for a slow-rolling soft opening instead (though we did get a preview of the updated interior and the full food menu).

As has been the trend, many of the additions opted to debut in the suburbs, like Cochino Taco, which shut down its South Broadway location just ahead of the opening of an outpost in Edgewater. Fiction Beer added a second taproom in Parker, while Arvada's Lady Nomada added its own second location in Lakewood. In Wheat Ridge, which continues to draw more and more independent options, bakery/plant store GetRight's finally opened after nearly a year of delays, and the former Mama Sannino's is back as Rossi's.

There was plenty of action inside the city limits, too. Notable additions include BurnDown, a music venue/bar/restaurant just north of I-25 on South Broadway; Rooted Craft American Kitchen, the first brick-and-mortar for former Vesta chef Nicholas Kayser; and Call Your Mother, a D.C.-based bagel spot that impressed with its chewy-on-the-inside, crisp-on-the-outside goods.
Two popular food trucks made big moves in May: Pho King Rapidos is now serving out of Avanti Denver and Kiké's Red Tacos has brought its birria to a brick-and-mortar on West 38th Avenue.

We said goodbye to some places last month, too. Of the eight May closures, a few stand out, like Native American eatery Tocabe. It remains open in Berkeley, but opted to close its Greenwood Village location in order to convert it into a full-time fulfillment center and Indigenous Marketplace operation, which Tocabe has been building since 2021. It also recently launched a Direct-to-Tribe Ready Meal Program in partnership with Spirit Lake Nation.

Then there's the Rotary, which shuttered in Hilltop but plans to reopen as a cloud kitchen. “We just didn't have enough people coming in," co-founder Brian Boyd told Westword, adding that several factors contributed to the closure, including staffing shortages, food cost increases, limited foot traffic and a shift in consumer behavior since the pandemic.

And so that other "p" word is still in play — pivot — as restaurants continue to adapt in order to succeed in a scene that's growing at a pretty impressive pace despite all the challenges.

Hungry for more? Check out all our openings-and-closings coverage. 

Here's the complete list of restaurants and bars that opened and closed in May:
Restaurants and bars that opened in May:*

The Alley, 4940 South Yosemite Street, Greenwood Village
Amá Modern Mexican at Avanti Denver, 3200 Pecos Street
Asuka Ramen + Poke, 4011 South Broadway, Englewood
Bounce Empire, 1380 South Public Road, Lafayette
BurnDown, 476 South Broadway
Call Your Mother, 3870 Tennyson Street
Cochino Taco, 5495 West 20th Avenue, Edgewater
Crab & Shell Cajun Seafood, 2819 East Colfax Avenue
Crisp & Green, 1675 29th Street, Boulder
The Den, 2900 Zuni Street
Fiction Beer Company, 19523 Hess Road, Parker
GetRight's, 6985 West 38th Avenue, Wheat Ridge
Jet’s Pizza, 3800 West 144th Avenue, Broomfield
Kiké's Red Tacos, 1200 West 38th Avenue
Lady Nomada, 7161 West Alaska Drive, Lakewood
Liang's Thai Food, 155 Nickel Street, Broomfield
Mi Tierra Caliente, 5350 West 64th Avenue, Arvada
NBX Asian Cuisine, 9068 Forsstrom Drive, Lone Tree
Pho King Rapidos, 3200 Pecos Street (inside Avanti Denver)
Primo Hoagies, 6200 Leestdale Drive
Puttshack, 2813 Blake Street
Rooted Craft American Kitchen, 3940 West 32nd Avenue
Rossi's Italian Eatery, 5800 West 38th Avenue, Wheat Ridge
Snarf's, 6245 East 14th Avenue
Two Hands, 2076 South University Boulevard
Villa Denver, 1416 Market Street
The Yard Milkshake Bar, 1600 California Street
Yonutz, 7939 East Arapahoe Road, Greenwood Village
Restaurants and bars that closed in May:*

Carbon Cafe & Bar/Habit Doughnut Dispensary, 1553 Platte Street
Denver Ted's Cheesesteaks, 2020 Lawrence Street
Grabowski's, 3350 Brighton Street
Plates by the Pound, 11601 East Montview Boulevard
The Rotary, 217 South Holly Street (reopening as a cloud kitchen)
Ted's Montana Grill, 1401 Larimer Street
Tocabe, 8181 East Arapahoe Road, Greenwood Village
Vons Chicken, 12101 East Iliff Avenue, Aurora

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

Know of something we missed? Email [email protected].