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Time Out Denver •

The very best restaurants in Denver

From trendy hangouts to fine dining and Italian to Japanese, here are the best food spots in Denver right now.

May 2025: Since our last update, the Michelin Guide team finally made its way through the city and doled out its coveted honors. We’ve been bringing our crew to as many of these hot spots as we can, from throw-down special occasions to family-nights-out to the occasional solo mission at a barstool. This time around, we’ve added a few killer new spots to replace three closures on the previous list (RIP to beloved farm-to-table pioneer Fruition, buzzy Japanese outpost Sushi Ronin and the enchanted forest-esque Beatrice & Woodsley); replaced our taco pick with the line-around-the-block Kiké’s Red Tacos; swapped an Italian selection for the exquisite hand-cranked pasta house Restaurant Olivia; and bumped a pick or two off the list in favor of some indisputable standouts that have truly leveled up Denver’s culinary game (lookin’ at you, Brutø and Alma Fonda Fina). Click here for more information on how we curate guides.
5280 Home •

Chef Dana Rodriguez Shares the Kitchen Tools She Cherishes Most

When Dana Rodriguez moved to Denver from Mexico in the late 1990s, she applied to work at the iconic Lakewood restaurant Casa Bonita. The management said she wasn’t qualified. Fast-forward to today, and the award-winning restaurateur and chef behind Work & Class, Super Mega Bien, and the new Mexican street food–inspired Cantina Loca is getting ready to relaunch the kitschy Colorado eatery and entertainment venue as its new executive chef and culinary partner.
Denver Life •

Our Happy Place: The Lifestyle We Live And Love [cover story]

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past year, it’s to appreciate the place we live—because, well, we’ve all been spending a lot of time here. We found ourselves rediscovering what we love about the institutions, venues, businesses, restaurants, parks, and people that make up our (suddenly smaller) world. Sure, the way we go about crafting our lifestyle has been—and will continue to be—outside the norm these past months, and the places that infuse the personality of our neighborhoods may operate differently or more intermittently than they ever have, but their contribution to the character of our city remains.
Johnson & Wales University Magazine •

Doctoring the Menu: Food as Medicine

Clad in a crisp white apron and chef’s hat, Eric Sharer ’08 zips around a gleaming kitchen setting mixing bowls, utensils and ingredients on the island countertop. Butternut squash, cumin, paprika, chickpeas, kale — the foods and spices pile up beside the cutting board as Sharer consults his recipe. “We’re going to make something really fun today,” he tells his aproned co-chef, “using things you typically have on hand at home.”

The scene is straight out of a cooking demo TV spot, but there’s no studio audience, and Sharer’s 40-something co-chef isn’t a morning show host; she’s a patient enrolled in a 12-week weight-loss program at the Stram Center for Integrative Medicine in Delmar, New York, outside of Albany.
Rhode Island Monthly •

Forage for Wild Mushrooms in Rhode Island

'You might call it something like a treasure hunt: Hiking along a heavily wooded trail in western Rhode Island, Ryan Bouchard and Emily Schmidt keep their eyes low, expertly scanning the forest growth for possible loot. Suddenly, they veer off the path. An otherwise unremarkable tree stump sits in the underbrush, sprouting about a dozen glossy, shelf-like mushrooms up to eight inches wide in hues from gold to rusty red. The reishi mushrooms are edible but tough, used mostly for tea. Bouchard pulls out a pocketknife, and the Southern New England Mushroom Hunters begin to harvest.
Time Out •

The 20 best restaurants in Denver

Denver locals have the work-hard-play-hard lifestyle nailed – and it's that philosophy which shines through in the explosion of restaurants, things to do, cafes and food hall collectives. Plus, the ongoing revitalization of downtown’s perimeter neighborhoods like Lower Highland (LoHi) and River North (RiNo) continues to attract ambitious new culinary projects, which in turn pushes longtime pioneers to strengthen their commitments to patrons.
Time Out •

The 10 best brunch restaurants in Denver

If you’re not brunching in Denver, you’re doing the city wrong. In the past few years, the lingering weekend meal has been elevated to an art form in the Mile High City. With the recent residential and dining boom in Lower Highland (LoHi) and the revitalization of the River North (RiNo) warehouse-turned-art district, it’s no surprise that the brunch scene and options for things to do on that buzzy side of the city has followed in a big way. But the cool thing about Denver is that the longtime stalwarts in the quieter city ’hoods continue to thrive, even amid the sea of see-and-be-seen brunch spots across town. What the places on this list have in common is that they know what they do well—and they’re committed to their craft, whether it’s trendy small plates on a gritty-turned-glam block, a lavish champagne spread in a historic hotel or beignets and Bloody’s with mismatched napkins. So decide what you crave, then check out these Denver restaurants to get your brunch game on.
Time Out •

The 10 best restaurants in Fort Collins

Colorado’s fourth-largest city and the northernmost hub of the Front Range, Fort Collins used to be considered one-part outdoorsy, one part college town, and one part agriculture. Today, it’s got another part: a growing foodie reputation. Buoyed by the exploding craft beer scene—it’s got nearly two dozen breweries that produce almost 70 percent of the state’s craft beer—Fort Collins is home to everything from wallet-friendly gourmet taco shops to historic farmhouses-turned-eateries that plate up the harvests from all those nearby farms and ranches.
Time Out •

The 10 best restaurants in Boulder

If Boulder is best known for its out-the-back-door access to all things bike, hike, and mountain, a close second is its burgeoning upscale culinary scene. Chefs with the best pedigrees in the business gravitate toward the buzzing town flanked by the Rockies to the west and farms, pastures, and green space in, well, every other direction. It’s a veritable haven for locavores in search of inventive farm-to-table meals, whether served as a five-course artisan tasting menu or a juicy grass-fed burger and a microbrew. No longer a city where the food and drink come second to your list of adventurous things to do, Boulder’s dining scene is the adventure these days.