The Best Bites We Had in March

In mid-February, Mama's Jo's Biscuits & BBQ moved into the former home of Steve's Snappin' Dogs on East Colfax Avenue, after operating as a food truck for four years. Owned by Ben Polson and his wife, accomplished pastry chef Jodi Polson, Mama Jo's fried chicken biscuits made us fans from the start — but on our first visit to the brick-and-mortar spot, ithe barbecue, sides and desserts stole the show.

I'm no barbecue purist, and I love a good sauce lineup. The pulled pork proved an ideal canvas for trying out the options, which include Alabama white, Carolina gold, a tomato-based KC-style sauce in both original and spicy, and an apple barbecue sauce.
There's also a Carolina vinegar, which I generously doused over the tender collards. The baked beans and fried green tomatoes were on point, too, but the biggest hit was the pimento mac and cheese. Often, restaurant mac and cheese is dry or bland, but this one was properly seasoned with a little extra flavor from pimento peppers. Plus, it was supremely cheesy — just look at that cheese pull action.

With Jodi's pastry chef background, it's no surprise that the desserts were excellent as well. A fried banana pudding pie would please any banana fan, but I'll be back sooner rather than later for the apple fritters with a downright dreamy salted butterscotch dipping sauce.
Another spot that's not messing around with cheese: the Pizza Bandit. Each of the three new stalls operating at Avanti's Denver location made a tasty first impression. But as someone who has eaten a lot of pizza in the metro area, I can confidently say that the Pizza Bandit is primed to stand out in the scene.

Husband-and-wife owners Federico and Melina Felix are clearly passionate about using high-quality ingredients and getting creative with topping combos. Even after a whirlwind turnaround from operating a food truck to moving into their first brick-and-mortar spot in just a few weeks' time, Melina was on top of ensuring the quality of the Pizza Bandit's pies was on point. "We're always upgrading and evolving," she told me, noting that they'd swapped the cheese for a new brand after testing the pies on their new oven at Avanti for the ultimate cheese pull.

No matter what stall you're ordering from at Avanti, be sure to add one of the Pizza Bandit's root beer floats made with Old 121 Brewhouse's root beer, vanilla ice cream from Right Cream and a freeze-dried cherry Starburst from Colorado Springs-based CosmoCubes.
The buzziest new spot I visited in March was Alteño, the most recent — and largest — eatery from the Michelin-starred owners of Alma Fonda Fina, Johnny and Kasie Curiel. Located inside the Clayton Hotel in Cherry Creek, it's got a dark and sexy design that screams date night. Johnny said he thinks the cornbread will become the staple dish at this spot; it's a rich treat served with shaved black truffles on top of huitlacoche butter.

But he also spoke passionately about his memories of eating his dad's crab-stuffed mushrooms, and his take on it is a must-order. A bed of tangy, creamy hoja santa remoulade is topped with a portobello that acts as a bed for a crab cake-like blue crab patty; the dish feels like a true indulgence.
March also brought a sneak peek of one of the most anticipated openings of the year, Boombots. Cliff and Cara Blauvelt recently opened a second location of Odie B's in RiNo, but they're also creating a third restaurant this year next door to the original Odie B's in Sunnyside. "Pasta is across all cultures, and nothing is off the table," Cliff says of the project. The team has been testing menu ideas at pop-ups; at the most recent, dishes included an Asian-inspired tortellini with maiktake mushrooms, bok choy and mushroom chile crisp in a lemongrass broth. If you have the chance to go to a Boombots pop-up this spring, make it happen.
Last week, Westword published the 2025 edition of Best of Denver, which includes over 100 editorial picks in the Food and Drink section alone. One of those is Marigold, which we named the Best Restaurant That’s Worth the Drive. This forty-seat stunner from chef Theo Adley has been open since 2022, and he and his team have really hit their stride. The restaurant is currently closed for its annual spring break, but there are a lot of reasons to book a table for its reopening. Exhibit A: the best Caesar salad of the year so far, which is topped with gin-washed trout roe and has become one of Marigold's staples.
It's been quite the journey since former hockey player-turned-lawyer Natascha Hess launched Ginger Pig as a food truck nearly a decade ago. Today, she has a brick-and-mortar in Denver, which earned Michelin Bib Gourmand status in 2023, the same year she added a second outpost in Boulder.

Our current favorite on the menu: the Hong Kong French toast, which appears under both the appetizer and dessert sections because, frankly, it's good at any point of the meal. When I recently visited with a friend, we ended with this crunchy, buttery treat. "If you don't finish, you'll be dreaming about it later and wishing you had," our server warned as we eyed the last bites with very full stomachs.

Spoiler: The server was right. We did get too full, and hours later, we were texting about our regrets. Next time, I'm ordering this sweet treat to start.