Besides the Nuggets and the high altitude, Denver is home to some of the nation's most innovative restaurants rooted in hyperlocal produce and cultural influences. Don't believe us? Just check out the 2023 Colorado MICHELIN Guide, where 5 One Stars and 4 Green Stars were minted in the Centennial State. And with the 20th anniversary of the Denver Restaurant Week coming (March 1st-10th), there's no better time to take a tour of the culinary scene in Mile-High City. So pack your bags and hiking shoes, because this is the MICHELIN Guide way to dine (and stay) during the 2024 Denver Restaurant Week.
Downtown
Mercantile Dining and Provision
Cuisine: American
Price: $45
The elevated take on American comfort food wins over guests who dine on starters, pastas and meat-forward entrees like venison and Tomahawk steak. Portions are large, but expect spot-on flavors and executions.
Inspector notes: "Tuck in to a half confit Miller farms chicken with gorgeous golden-brown crispy skin for a dish that feels at once classic and unexpected."
Stay Nearby
Rooms are located on the upper floors in what used to be offices ringing the soaring 65-foot central hall. It took a massive renovation to make these spaces habitable, and the results are impressively luxurious, with nods to Victorian elegance, Art Deco swankiness, and contemporary post-industrial loft living, depending on the room type. And there’s more to the Crawford than just the rooms and the lobby — a selection of shops, restaurants, bars and cafés share the space.
RiNo
Dio Mio
Cuisine: Italiain
Price: $45
Chefs/owners Spencer White and Alex Figura have a background in fine dining, but this popular fast-casual concept thrives on an accessible, laid-back format.
Inspector notes: "Creativity and a clear understanding of flavor go hand in hand on a small, seasonal menu, with house-made forming the centerpiece of the operation.—from tradition-adjacent mafaldine cacio e pepe, boosted with pink peppercorn, to totally iconoclastic combinations like casarecce with shrimp, dill and toasted parmesan."
Stay Nearby
Denver’s River North arts district — RiNo for short — is the city’s latest urban-redevelopment success story, and the Source Hotel is an important part of its evolution. It’s an ultra-contemporary building on the site of an old iron works, in a neighborhood that was fairly recently an industrial one. And within its walls are 100 modernist-inspired boutique hotel rooms that wear this industrial heritage on their metaphorical sleeve — polished concrete and Baltic birch meet simple Japanese-inspired furniture and, in some rooms, rolling garage-door-style windows that can be fully opened to the crisp Colorado air.
Highland
Ash’Kara
Cuisine: Israeli
Price: $55
At this brightly hospitable neighborhood spot, Chef Reggie Dotson offers up an exploration of contemporary Israeli cuisine, pulling in influences from the Mediterranean, North Africa and Middle East. The menu leads with mezze, featuring top-notch versions of familiar staples like hummus, babaganoush and falafel, paired with excellent wood-fired whole-grain pita made from heritage wheat.
Inspector notes: "The cooking is vegetable-forward, and takes pains to accommodate all dietary restrictions (there's even a gluten-free pita option), but there are no gimmicks here, just thoughtful, full-flavored dishes made with high quality ingredients and a bit of extra style."
Noisette
Cuisine: French
Price: $55
Chefs Tim Lu and Lillian Cho earned their chops in some of New York's top restaurants but thankfully chose Denver to open their own place. Sophisticated and spacious with a separate patisserie up front, the dining room is elegant, but the real draw is the precisely crafted dishes bound by tradition while reflecting a creative approach.
Inspector notes: "A lush beef entrecôte enthralls with tender meat topped with petals of sweet roasted pearl onions and a Bordelaise sauce that offers indulgence in every last bite."
Stay Nearby
Denver, Colorado’s Highlands district is one of the most vibrant and fast-changing corners of town; art galleries, breweries, restaurants, bars, and now hotels balance the change that necessarily accompanies innovation with the need to hold on to local history. Life House, Lower Highlands, the third of a new brand with exemplars in Miami and Nantucket, is devoted to both efforts. It’s a new build, and an attractive one, a modestly sized contemporary building in a neighborhood that’s part commercial, part residential. Inside, however, modernity gives way to Victoriana, in a tribute to the era of LoHi’s founding.
Capitol Hill
Fruition Restaurant
Cuisine: American
Price: N/A
Chef Alex Seidel is one of the Denver dining scene’s leading lights, at the vanguard of ingredient-centered eco-conscious cuisine. Whether it's a crisp golden-brown latke served with sweet onion creme fraiche and smoked trout roe, or impeccably seared scallops with creamy farro, the dishes here impress with their strong technique, pristine products and rich flavors.
Inspector notes: "An element of playfulness is also apparent, as in a fried maitake slider in the style of Nashville hot chicken."
Stay Nearby
A few miles to the south of downtown Denver and the stadium district, in the upscale country club–adjacent enclave of Cherry Creek North, the Clayton Hotel & Members Club aims to thread a very particular needle: to be desirable yet inclusive, chic yet unstuffy, to be a private members’ club without universally drawing from among the already privileged.
Hero image: © Life House
