There are many reasons to visit Denver, Colorado. The scenic mountains, outdoor sports, ski resorts, and biking trails are all fantastic reasons to visit the city, but Denver also boasts a thriving food scene. Here are some of the best restaurants and local favorites in Denver.
Chop Shop Casual Urban Eatery
This East Colfax restaurant serves up refined and casual American cuisine. The food is skillfully crafted and served up fast. The Chop Shop is a premier, chef-driven eatery that believes good food doesn’t require all of the complications of a full-service restaurant. They also work to reduce their footprint on the environment through efforts such as using sustainable bamboo for plate ware, reclaimed wine bottles for glasses, and reloadable kegs to reduce their glass use. Their menu features salads, burgers, ribs, and salmon filets, as well as tofu and veggie burger options for vegetarians.
Acorn
Chef Steven Redzikowski is a master in the open kitchen at Acorn. This eclectic bar and grill restaurant is a local favorite and the atmosphere is just as contemporary and unique as the food. Frequent diners of the Denver area may recognize the Acorn’s critically acclaimed sister restaurant, OAK at Fourteenth. This family-friendly restaurant offers contemporary American cuisine as well as an impressive selection of artisan wines and beers. Stop in for lunch or dinner where you’ll find options on the menu such as burgers and sandwiches, shared plates of oven roasted pork belly, oak roasted eggplant, or crispy Icelandic cod. There’s something here to satisfy everyone’s tastes.
Fruition Restaurant
Look no further than Denver’s Fruition Restaurant for upscale, high-quality food without the pretense of fine dining. The menu at Fruition is seasonally driven with fresh, simple ingredients. The chef focuses on sourcing ingredients and highlighting them in each dish. The restaurant seeks to bridge the information gap between the farmer and the consumer. As a result of the menu’s seasonality, the options are constantly changing. Even the handcrafted cocktails are on a rotating menu that compliments the flavors of the season. Depending on when you visit, you’ll find dishes such as duck breast, asparagus salad, pasta carbonara, or potato wrapped oysters. Be sure to visit during different seasons for new inspired dishes.
Root Down
Another Denver favorite, Root Down is a restaurant that strives to connect the community to a dining experience in the same way that ingredients are connected to food. Root Down emphasizes sustainability in all aspects of the business. The restaurant is powered entirely by wind energy, they have a garden that produces 20% of the seasonal vegetables served in the restaurant, and over half of the ingredients are sourced locally. All meat served is certified as humanely raised and fed non-GMO feed. The seafood is also sourced sustainably. Cleaning products are biodegradable and Root Down is committed to recycling and composting its waste. Not only is the restaurant environmentally responsible, but they have delicious food, too. The menu consists of organic, natural and seasonally-inspired cuisine. You’ll find items on the menu such as tofu panzella, rack of lamb, black gnocchi, diver scallops, and carbonara risotto.
