We found 116 reasons to fall in love with the Mile High City all over again. From the tastiest scoop of ice cream to the most inviting patio for summer sips to the hippest new lodging in town, we tracked down the best of the best that the Mile High City has to offer. The result is a curated list of 37 editors’ choices that complement our 79 readers’ choice winners.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Some might say Colorado Springs has long occupied the culinary shadow of its booming neighbor to the north, Denver. But the chefs and restaurateurs in this Front Range hub are committed to pushing the foodie envelope farther and farther, even as they strive to preserve the dining traditions that anchor this picturesque urban oasis at the foot of the Rockies.
Fall in New England is a lot of things: Blazing foliage, pumpkin patches, cider doughnuts....we could go on. We're adding one more to the weekend list: Wine tasting. Southeastern New England is home to a stash of vineyards and wineries—set on historic farmland, wooded hollows, and coastal inlets—that harvest grapes between September and November.
The Denver restaurateur takes us inside his Stapleton home to talk tools, ingredients, and family-friendly design.
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.
Ayla Bystrom-Williams wants you to drink more beer. (We know, we like her, too!) But it’s not your garden-variety microbrew or local IPA. Instead, the founder of Santa Fe–based HoneyMoon Brewery suggests you start guzzling kombucha beer.
'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.
Warm weather in the mountains means new ingredients, fresh menus, and lighter fare from the grill. Here’s how to complement your order with the perfect bottle.
Monica Hamilton's backyard is home to 18 trees, three raised gardens, and a blanket of extensive xeriscaping. Overkill in a Colorado subdivision? Maybe in a typical neighborhood. But for the new Bucking Horse development at South Timberline and East Drake in southeast Fort Collins, it’s about right.
Every Wednesday into early autumn, Greenwood whips up a rustically elegant feast for his lucky guests with fresh ingredients pulled from the hillside garden near the original cabin of homesteader and lettuce farmer Frank Bienkowski—known as “Beano”—who arrived in the early 1900s.
10 culinary delights to satisfy a mountainous hunger.
Celebrating an anniversary? Taking your crush on a first date? Want to rekindle the spark? Funky eateries, cozy hideaways, outdoor adventures, the perfect night in—we’ve planned for every occasion. We’ll leave the hard part (finding that special someone) up to you.
A year’s worth of ideas for what you should do when 5 o'clock on Friday (finally) arrives.
