The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Orejano Restaurant
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Rank 4. 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 2026 · Best Place to Watch Tofu Being Made While Eating Tofu · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best Tofu Menu for Non-Vegetarians · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · The 25 Best Restaurants in 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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- 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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Rank 8. Dân Dã
Vietnamese
In a narrow room vibrating with order tickets, Dân Dã opens its sprawling menu onto curried beef in clay and salads layered with cuttlefish, jellyfish, and pickled lotus. The bar works tamarind and guava into drinks that meet the kitchen's unapologetic ambition with equal rigor.
- 5280 2025 · Top Vietnamese · Top of the Town
- Westword 2025 · Best Place to Dine With a Group · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
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Rank 9. Molino Chido
Mexican
Two chefs with Michelin pedigree run this Aurora taqueria where corn is ground fresh daily and the mood stays refreshingly casual despite sophisticated touches like bison tongue and tamarind. Counter seats promise a five-course tasting, but folding chairs and bright lights signal that excellent carnitas tacos and a strong margarita suit just fine.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Tommy Lee
- Westword 2026 · Best New Taco Joint · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
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- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Eater The Best Bars in Denver
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A refugee community center in Aurora hosts six rotating food stalls whose menus shift unpredictably, requiring the visitor's patience and rewarding it with ful mudammas, weh da nah curry, doro wot, and momo that speak plainly to their origins. The fluorescent anonymity of the space dissolves the moment a dish arrives.
- Westword 2026 · Best International Food Hall · Best of Denver
- Westword 2024 · Best International Food Hall · Best of Denver
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Denver
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Chef Caroline Glover's cooking at this Aurora kitchen trades flash for clarity: roast chicken with bitter greens, steak frites with grilled onion butter, seasonal vegetables treated with the care of main courses. The wine list and cocktails are pitched to match her restraint, making dinner feel like a conversation rather than a performance.
- Westword 2023 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Denver
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- Westword 2026 · Best Hot Pot · Best of Denver
- Westword 2023 · Best Korean Restaurant · Best of Denver
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- Westword 2024 · Best New Coffee Shop · Best of Denver
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Denver
- 5280 Denver's 25 Best Coffeeshops
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Rank 23. 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 26. Bánh & Butter Bakery Cafe
Asian-fusion Bakery
Pastry chef Thoa Nguyen runs this bright corner bakery where croissants and crepe cakes share shelf space with banh mi and jambon-beurre sandwiches. It's the kind of casual spot where you queue at the counter for coffee and a buttery pastry, or sit down for something more substantial, all rooted in Nguyen's vision of marrying French technique with Asian flavors.
- Westword 2023 · Best East-West Bakery · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · Best Breakfast Sandwich · Best of Denver
- 5280 Bánh Mì · The 17 Best Sandwiches in (and Around) Denver
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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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Rank 28. 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 29. 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 31. BaekGa
Korean
- Westword 2025 · Best Homestyle Korean · Best of Denver
- 5280 2024 · The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
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An Armenian kitchen tucked into an Aurora strip mall that opens a door to the Caucasus through khachapuri, khinkali, and jarko—each dish substantial enough to anchor an evening. The eggplant rolls and hand-pulled lagman suggest restraint exists here too, best matched with a Georgian wine that feels less like a pairing than a pilgrimage.
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Rank 36. Viva! Mexi Coffee Shop
Mexican
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Rank 37. 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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- Westword 2024 · Best Noodles in a Tea Shop · Best of Denver
- Eater The Best Chinese Restaurants in Denver
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Rank 47. 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 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Bo Porytko
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mountain · Bo Porytko
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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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- 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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Rank 59. Golden Falafel Restaurant
Middle Eastern
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Rank 61. 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 66. 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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Rank 70. 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
- Esquire 2023 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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The fortress-like exterior on a side street near MLK Boulevard gives way to genuine warmth and a kitchen that knows its business with fried chicken, gumbo, and collard greens shot through with ham hock and cabbage. This is a no-frills neighborhood spot where the soul food is built on real technique and care, not nostalgia.
- Westword 2023 · Best Southern/Soul Restaurant · Best of Denver
- 5280 2025 · Top Fried Chicken · Top of the Town
- Westword 2024 · Best Soul Food · Best of Denver
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Rank 78. 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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Rank 79. 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 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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- 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 95. 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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Rank 96. 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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- Westword 2025 · Best New Taco Joint · Best of Denver
- Westword 2025 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now