The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near LEO'S DISCOUNT & BIN STORE
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Rank 6. Golden Falafel Restaurant
Middle Eastern
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Rank 7. Dough Counter
Sicilian/NY-Style Pizza
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Rank 8. Kizaki
Japanese
Chef Toshi Kizaki, a Denver sushi pioneer now in his seventies, commands a intimate counter where edomae tradition meets restless innovation. The omakase unfolds through his own hands—marbled tofu, precisely formed nigiri, seared black-throat perch—each course a statement of ingredient and craft refined across four decades.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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- Westword 2024 · Best Vintage Beer List · Best of Denver
- 5280 Pork Tenderloin · The 17 Best Sandwiches in (and Around) Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
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- 5280 2025 · Top New Restaurant · Top of the Town
- Westword 2025 · Best Happy Hour Bite · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
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Rank 11. Margot
Contemporary
An eight-seat counter where Chef Justin Fulton stages a seasonal tasting menu that braids local Colorado ingredients with global technique—think caviar-crowned gnocchi alongside dry-aged duck with cherries and truffle. Warm service and a basket of olive oil brioche baked fresh for each guest set the tone for cooking that feels both refined and unpretentious.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Westword 2026 · Best New Tasting Menu Restaurant · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
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Rank 12. Barolo Grill
Northern Italian
Barolo Grill anchors Denver fine dining with Northern Italian cooking that balances classical technique—spinach soufflés, handmade pastas—against seasonal invention. The wine program, steeped in Barolo and stewarded by an unusually knowledgeable staff, matches the kitchen's ambition without pretension.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service · Ryan Fletter
- Westword 2025 · Best Crème Brûlée · Best of Denver
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 13. Alteño
Jalisco Mexican
Chef Johnny Curiel channels his Jalisco roots through bold seafood and regional Mexican cooking, anchored by standout dishes like kanpachi tostada and braised lamb shank. The moody dining room honors traditional flavors while respecting ingredient quality with unsentimental rigor.
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Westword 2026 · Best Cornbread · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · Top Chef · Top of the Town · Johnny Curiel
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Rank 14. Restaurant Olivia
Italian
At Restaurant Olivia, house-made pasta is the vehicle for assertive flavor combinations that swing from traditional Italian to inventively cross-cultural—bronze-die gemelli with Umbrian sausage, ricotta gnocchi with coconut lobster bisque and black garlic. The room hums with a kind of easy confidence, matched by cocktails designed to provoke rather than merely please.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- 5280 2024 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
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- Westword 2024 · Best Food Truck Lineup at a Bar · Best of Denver
- Westword 2026 · Best Place to Get Trashed · Best of Denver
- Westword 2023 · Best Bar Decor · Best of Denver
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- Westword 2026 · Best Place to Worship Whiskey · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · Top Distillery · Top of the Town
- Westword 2025 · Best New Spirits Tasting Room · Best of Denver
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- Westword 2026 · Best Sushi Restaurant · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
- Eater Banana cream pie · Denver’s 20 Most Iconic Dishes
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- Westword 2025 · Best Custom Cake Shop Serving Hong Kong Eats · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
- Eater The Best Chinese Restaurants in Denver
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- Westword 2026 · Best New Barbecue Joint · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
- Westword 2025 · The Fifteen Best New Denver Restaurants
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Rank 21. Tofu Story
Korean
The dining room at Tofu Story smells of sesame and ferment, a Korean kitchen that makes its own tofu and builds entire stews around its silken texture. Soy-marinated crab and braised monkfish share the menu with rice cakes and short ribs, all meant to be chased with soju or the brewery's own rice lager.
- Westword 2024 · Best Tofu Menu for Non-Vegetarians · Best of Denver
- Westword 2026 · Best Place to Watch Tofu Being Made While Eating Tofu · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
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Rank 24. Somebody People
Vegetarian
Somebody People's bright dining room—turquoise, pink, lemon yellow—hosts seasonal vegan cooking of deceptive simplicity: panzanella with pickled plum vinegar, gigante beans in seaweed broth, baklava with date syrup. The wine list favors biodynamic producers, the cocktails are sharp and affordable, and the Tuesday-Saturday tasting menu costs fifty-two dollars.
- 5280 2025 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Denver
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Rank 25. MAKfam
American Chinese
The narrow room hums with the casual precision of a kitchen staffed by people who grew up around stoves, serving fried wontons stuffed with crab and cheese alongside hand-shaped potstickers that taste like someone's memory made edible. Málà chicken wings and corned beef fried rice arrive with the confidence of dishes that have been thought through, not merely assembled.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Kenneth Wan
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Kenneth Wan
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
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Rank 26. Mizuna
French/American
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Rank 28. LaTinto Cafe
Colombian Coffee
- Westword 2024 · Best Colombian Coffee Shop · Best of Denver
- 5280 Denver's 25 Best Coffeeshops
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Denver
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- Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
- The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver
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Rank 32. Call Your Mother
NY-Style Bakery
- Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)
- 5280 The 43 Best Places to Brunch in Denver
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Rank 33. Molotov Kitschen + Cocktails
Ukrainian Eastern European
Owner Bo Porytko elevates humble Eastern European staples—beets, buckwheat, radishes—into refined dishes like salt-baked celery root with creamed sorrel and porchetta paprikash with herbed spaetzle. Counter seating at this snug East Colfax room pairs the cooking with horilka cocktails and wines from the Balkans, all of it executed with a confidence that makes the rustic feel luxurious.
- The New York Times 2023 · The Restaurant List
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Bo Porytko
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Bo Porytko
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Rank 37. Mar Bella Boqueria
Tapas Spanish
Chef Johnny Curiel's Spanish tapas counter in Cherry Creek trades the reservation frenzy of his other projects for a low-lit room where diners can drift between traditional pan con tomate and creations like coffee-braised oxtail in piquillo peppers. Saffron martinis and wines from lesser-known Spanish regions anchor a menu that reads like an argument for restraint and specificity over spectacle.
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- Huckberry The 50 Best Dive Bars in America
- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
- The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver
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- Westword 2026 · Best Mac and Cheese · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best Food Truck Turned Brick-and-Mortar · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Fried Chicken Biscuit on Wheels · Best of Denver
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- Westword 2026 · Best Ethiopian · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
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- 5280 The 11 Best Breakfast Burritos in Denver and Beyond
- 5280 Torta · The 17 Best Sandwiches in (and Around) Denver
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Rank 47. sắp sửa
Non-Traditional Vietnamese
The Nguyens' white dining room on East Colfax channels Vietnamese brightness through unexpected ingredients—veal sweetbreads with salsa verde, egg yolk swimming in brown butter and fish sauce—that feel both playful and assured. Cheeky cocktails like the Tiger's Milk, a gin drink perfumed with orange and dill, match the kitchen's refusal to stay still.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- Bon Appétit 2024 · America's Best New Restaurants
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
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In a Wash Park dining room lit by a vintage Pizza Hut lamp, chefs Figura and White play with Italian tradition—squid ink fettuccine with rock shrimp, pizzas topped with sunflower seed pesto—while anchoring every meal with a hoagie salad and Nutella icebox cake. Their sly approach to craft suggests they're having more fun than the tongue-in-cheek name lets on.
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Rank 54. Little Arthur's
Pizza
AJ Shreffler runs this spare beer bar on Seventh Avenue with the precision of a fine-dining kitchen, sourcing each ingredient for his cheesesteaks and Sicilian pies as though they were destined for a tasting menu. The sandwiches cost twenty dollars, the pizzas thirty and up, and every loaded fry and brownie arrives as evidence that ambition has no dress code.
- Westword 2025 · Best Pop-Up Turned Brick-and-Mortar · Best of Denver
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Denver
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Denver
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- Westword 2026 · Best Dim Sum Duo · Best of Denver
- Eater The Best New Restaurants in Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Fifteen Best New Denver Restaurants
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Rank 61. Viva! Mexi Coffee Shop
Mexican
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Rank 63. Tí Cafe
Vietnamese Coffee
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- Westword 2024 · Best Place to Drink With a View · Best of Denver
- 5280 2024 · Best for Day Drinking · The 23 Best Bars in Denver
- 5280 The 43 Best Places to Brunch in Denver
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Rank 71. BaekGa
Korean
- Westword 2025 · Best Homestyle Korean · Best of Denver
- 5280 2024 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
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Rank 72. Le French
French
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Aminata “Ami” Dia and Rougui Dia
- 5280 The 43 Best Places to Brunch in Denver
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Rank 74. Ototo
Japanese
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- Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
- Westword 2026 · Best Wine and Vinyl Club · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Place to Drown Out Your Annoying Friend · Best of Denver
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Rank 86. Lucina Eatery & Bar
Pan-Latin
Erasmo Casiano and Diego Coconati turned their cooking-school partnership into this vibrant Latin spot named for Casiano's mother, where the menu roams from Mexico to Miami by way of Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela. Mofongo and mussels with chorizo anchor the repertoire, while weekend paella rotates through the kitchen's moods.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Erasmo Casiano and Diego Coconati
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Erasmo Casiano and Diego Coconati
- Westword 2023 · Best Central/South American Restaurant (not Mexican) · Best of Denver
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Rank 87. Gallo Italian Supper Club and Bakery
Sicilian Italian
A Sicilian family's five-year-old spot in Englewood splits itself between a bakery counter and a sit-down dining room with a full bar, serving savory sausage-and-jalapeño cannoli alongside chicken parm and lasagna while staff ferry trays of cookies and lobster tail pastries to the case. The house-made limoncello comes creamy and smooth in the Sicilian style, a luxurious finish to red-sauce classics that taste like they've been perfected over generations.
- Westword 2024 · Best Savory Cannoli · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best Sicilian Bakery · Best of Denver
- Westword 2023 · Best Old-School Italian Restaurant · Best of Denver
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Rank 88. Yuan Wonton
Chinese
Chef-owner Penelope Wong runs this Park Hill lunch spot with infectious energy, moving between wonton stations and a rotating menu that pivots on her Chinese and Thai instincts. The twice-fried pork with caramelized pineapple and crispy garlic noodles arrive as proof that constraint—limited hours, small space—breeds invention.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Mountain · Penelope Wong
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Mountain · Penelope Wong
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Rank 92. Fellow Traveler
Cocktail Bar
Fellow Traveler is an Englewood bar where the owner's obsession with unusual spirits—housemade Malört, baijiu, Hungarian digestifs—mirrors the kitchen's commitment to inventive vegan cooking. The drink menu reads like a postcard collection, and the whole place has the air of someone who got bored with the ordinary and decided to build something weirder instead.
- Westword 2023 · Best Vegan Restaurant · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best You’d-Never-Know-It’s-Vegan Restaurant · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Rotating Weekly Margarita · Best of Denver
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- Westword 2023 · Best Pickle Shots · Best of Denver
- Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
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- Westword 2025 · Best New Taco Joint · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
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Rank 98. Noodles Express
Sichuan Chinese
A compact counter-service spot on South Colorado that leans hard into Szechuan cooking, all numbing peppercorns and chiles with proteins like chong qing chicken and spicy boiled fish that pack an addictive kick. The portions are generous enough to share, so come hungry and with friends who don't mind their mouth on fire.
- Westword 2023 · Best Szechuan Fried Chicken · Best of Denver
- Eater The Best Chinese Restaurants in Denver
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