The Best Places to Eat and Drink in Highland & Sunnyside

A binchotan grill, a wood-fired oven, a fermentation program, and a garden out back: the kitchen here builds its multicourse tasting menus from the ground up, milling its own grains and composting its own pretensions into something genuinely novel. The cooking pulls from Chiang Mai, Mexico, and Colorado without really belonging to any of them. Two Michelin stars. The beverage program matches the ambition, cocktails and all.

1. Michelin Guide 2 Stars
2. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Erika Whitaker and Kelly Whitaker - ID EST
3. Bon Appétit #10 · America's Best New Restaurants

The agave-roasted sweet potato with salsa macha and fennel-whipped requesón has its own Eater listing, which tells you something about the ambition here. Alma Fonda Fina is a creative Mexican restaurant with a Michelin star, where the chef draws on a Guadalajara upbringing and runs a menu that skips dessert entirely, the logic being you should just order another dish. The chef's counter is the seat to want.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. Sunset Restaurants · Where to Eat and Drink
3. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant

Tucked next to chef Johnny Curiel's flagship, this agave bar doubles as a serious kitchen, and the two halves push each other into strange, good territory. The mezcal list is long and thoughtful, the cocktails inventive, and the food pulls from Mexico City's restless energy with Japanese and other detours woven in. A Michelin star and a New York Times nod followed quickly. Plan around the bar counter if you can.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. Punch Best New Bars
3. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants

1. Punch Best New Bartenders · Mak Kelly
2. Westword 2024 · Best Bar for Girls’ Night · Best of Denver
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar

The old firehouse brick is still there, but the menu skews izakaya, routed through Connecticut and landing somewhere delightfully hard to categorize. Chef Bill Taibe runs a freewheeling Japanese kitchen where kung pao karaage shares space with kimchi udon finished like carbonara. The bar is walk-in only and pairs well with sake or cocktails while you figure out whether to order one more round of small plates or just order everything.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. 5280 The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
3. Westword The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now

The bookstore on the corner of Tejon is not a bookstore. Push the right shelf and you're inside one of Denver's favorite cocktail bars, a speakeasy that takes both halves of the conceit seriously: a library of over 500 spirits backs a menu of originals alongside some 60 classics. No standing room means the wait is part of the deal, so arrive with patience and someone to talk to while you queue.

1. Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
2. Eater The Best Bars in Denver
3. Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now

The concept here is a Japanese jazz kissa, a vinyl-focused listening bar, filtered through a chef who thinks huitlacoche and yuzu belong on the same plate. The food runs "Nikkei-Mexa," meaning Mexican and Japanese ingredients trading places freely, and the cocktails follow the same logic: sotol meets sake, charanda meets shochu. A taco cart parks out front most nights. Small room, big sonic ambitions, and a crowd that showed up for all of it.

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in Denver
2. Westword 2026 · Best Dessert With Salmon Roe · Best of Denver
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Denver

A smoked rabbit and pecan pie with sharp cheddar and mustard gelato will tell you everything you need to know about this LoHi all-day cafe. The chef behind it has cooked her way through Italy, Israel, and Mexico, and the menu shows every mile, running from posole verde at lunch to butterflied branzino at dinner without ever feeling scattered. Come morning for the bakery case, stay because the room earns it.

1. 5280 The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
2. Westword The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
3. 5280 The 43 Best Places to Brunch in Denver

The Indian-inflected Italian restaurant in the Highlands neighborhood where the chef's masala aioli turns up on elk tartare and the pasta always involves goat. Her husband painstakingly sources small-producer wines from across Italy and makes his own amari in-house, which is either obsessive or exactly right. The room is intimate and the hospitality famously warm. A James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality, and the reputation makes sense from the first drink forward.

1. 5280 The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver
2. Westword The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Denver

Wood-fired whole-grain pita, made from heritage wheat, is the opening argument at this neighborhood Mediterranean restaurant in the Highlands. The menu leans mezze, moving through hummus, baba ganoush, and falafel before settling into tagines for dinner, and it skews vegetable-forward throughout. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a room this warm and a bill this reasonable.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. 5280 Denver's 25 Best Coffeeshops
2. Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Denver
3. Westword 2025 · Best Avocado Toast · Best of Denver

1. Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
2. The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver

This is a small, counter-service Hawaiian spot in LoHi, built around poke bowls and griddled spam musubi, the kind of lunch that fits in one hand while the other holds a phone. Seating is a handful of painted picnic benches inside that fill up quickly, so plenty of people carry their food across to Hirshorn Park. It's a cheap, easy, solo-friendly stop, and the sort of room where nobody asks what you do for work.

1. Westword The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
2. Westword 2026 · Best Sunny Day Lunch Spot · Best of Denver
3. The Infatuation The Best Lunch Spots In Denver

1. 5280 Denver's 25 Best Coffeeshops
2. Westword 2026 · Best Use of a Former Firehouse · Best of Denver

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Tommy Lee
2. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. Eater The Best Bars in Denver
2. Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
3. Eater Johnny burger · Denver’s 20 Most Iconic Dishes

Kumoya is a stylish LoHi sushi bar where the fish list runs to monkfish liver, toro dry-aged for more than a month, and species most of us only meet on a menu, with an optional wasabi flight for anyone who wants to compare. The kitchen also fries a pork sando on milk bread, which 5280 put on its Denver sandwich list, and the bar pours Japanese whisky and rice spirits. Expect to dress a notch above a Tuesday.

1. 5280 Katsu Sando · The 17 Best Sandwiches in (and Around) Denver
2. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

Sonny's is a bright counter-service spot in the Highlands where the whole decision tree fits on one hand: pita, salad, or plate, then falafel, chicken, or both. The chef came over from Safta, and the sauces are all made from scratch, so an extra cup of harissa is the move. The zhoug is for people who have lost an argument with their taste buds before and want a rematch.

1. Westword 2024 · Best Pita Sandwiches · Best of Denver
2. Westword 2025 · Best Takeout · Best of Denver
3. The Infatuation The Best Lunch Spots In Denver

1. 5280 The 13 Best New Places to Eat and Drink in Denver

1. Westword The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
2. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. Westword 2024 · Best Delicious Date Night · Best of Denver
2. Eater Ice cream · Denver’s 20 Most Iconic Dishes

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in Denver

1. 5280 Denver's 25 Best Coffeeshops

1. Westword 2024 · Best Vegan-Friendly Spot for Special Occasions · Best of Denver
2. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. 5280 The 43 Best Places to Brunch in Denver

1. 5280 Denver's 25 Best Coffeeshops

A tiny, no-frills taqueria on the old Northside where the pricing seems to have missed the memo about LoHi. Five tacos come with guacamole and tomatillo salsa, and the fillings wander from fresh fish to browned bison to zucchini and mushroom. There are also tortas, tostadas, and Mexican hamburgers, which are basically burritos stuffed with a patty. Order at the counter and wear whatever you've got on.

1. Westword 2024 · Best Budget-Friendly Mexican Restaurant · Best of Denver
2. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. 5280 The 43 Best Places to Brunch in Denver

1. Westword The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
2. Westword 2026 · Best New Thai Restaurant · Best of Denver

1. 5280 The 11 Best Breakfast Burritos in Denver and Beyond

1. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. Eater A Complete Guide to Dining in LoHi

1. Westword The Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now
2. Westword 2024 · Best Fried Chicken Entree · Best of Denver

1. Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now

1. Westword 2025 · Best Lunch Break Sandwich Stop · Best of Denver

Slice shop meets cocktail bar on a busy North Denver corner, loud enough that whatever conversation you're having will stay between you and the ceiling. Happy Camper runs casual and crowded, the kind of place where the noise does you a favor. The menu leans big, sloppy pizza and stiff drinks, and the room fills fast most nights, which suits the regulars just fine.

1. Westword 2023 · Best Bar/Restaurant for a Breakup · Best of Denver

1. Westword 2024 · Best Chicken Tenders and Fries Combo · Best of Denver

1. Westword 2024 · Best New Dumpling Restaurant · Best of Denver

1. Westword 2023 · Best Italian Restaurant · Best of Denver

Pochitos is a north Denver tortilla factory that also sells tamales by the dozen, and that second fact tends to overshadow the first. It's a bulk-buy, family-run shop where you stock the fridge: tortillas, chips, salsas, refried beans, rice, and masa for the ambitious. The tamales come in red and green, and they sell masa too, in case you want to make your own, though most people try one and quietly put that plan away.

1. Westword 2023 · Best Tamales · Best of Denver

A LoHi brewery where the patio is basically the point: a massive open-air front deck and an enclosed back area with picnic tables sized for groups, dogs included without a second thought. The taps are solid, food trucks rotate through on a regular schedule, and live music fills out the week. If you happen to be walking a dog in the neighborhood and need a reason to stop, Zuni Street has already thought of that.

1. Westword 2023 · Best Patio for Pets · Best of Denver