You’ll see carts slinging these burritos on downtown corners, but drive on past those and stop in at 38-year-old El Taco de Mexico. It’s a pretty simple space, but the menu is full of soul-nourishing Mexican food that includes flautas, tacos, and enchiladas, in addition to burritos. When they ask you if you’d like your burrito smothered in green chile, the answer is yes. Just don’t be confused if it doesn’t come out green: In Colorado, it’s tinted orange, thanks to the addition of tomatoes.

Hotel restaurants typically make us want to check out, but not The Source Hotel’s Safta with all its creamy hummuses, honeyed cheese borekas, and harissa-spiked chicken. The pitas are so big and pillowy they could pass as some sort of bread-based balloon. While the fine dining Israeli restaurant serves one of the best dinners in town, don’t overlook their weekend brunch. The all-you-can-eat bagels, lamb, pastrami hash, smoked fish, and pastries are worth making a return trip.

This spot combines Asian, Italian, and Nordic cuisines with Colorado ingredients, but the dishes are so well-executed, you’ll never have to worry about any wonky combos. Whether you eat in the Scandinavian-style dining room or one of the glamping-like private patio tents, this is the place to go for an upscale, unique dining experience that’s worth dropping a couple hundred per person on.

What happens when two of Denver’s most popular food trucks, Yuan Wonton and Pho King Rapids, team up to open a proper restaurant? You no longer have to wait in the snow for the city’s best dumplings, and can sit inside at an actual table while slurping up chewy rice noodles. What makes this operation even more special is that they alternate schedules, so you can get wontons dressed in spicy chili oil on Wednesdays, and a bowl of short rib phở you’ll never forget on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

A5 is a different sort of steakhouse than you usually find in Denver. Sure, there are the requisite whipped potatoes and New York strips, but there are also rare cuts like bavette, Delmonico, and the Japanese A5. Not to mention the must-eat beef tartare katsu sando appetizer, which has a soft-boiled quail egg among all that chopped tenderloin. It’s also decidedly un-stuffy, with tropical wallpaper and a thatched roof bar. Whatever steak you choose, order it “Chef Max Style."

Hop Alley is named after Denver’s 19th-century Chinatown, but it’s also a conversation starter and a tongue-in-cheek wink at the neighborhood’s history. Nowadays, the eight-year-old restaurant is still the cool kid in RiNo, Denver’s trendiest neighborhood. Sichuan chilis numb your tongue to a hip-hop soundtrack, and classics-with-a-curveball run through the menu, like char siu beets, sweet and sour fried parsnips, and the super spicy pork and pickled cabbage dumplings.

Lucina is a place where you can close your eyes, point to anything on the menu, and be wowed by whatever comes your way. You might land on the tlacoyo cochinita, a boat of red masa packed with slow-roasted pork and spicy garlic habanero crema, or some mofongo with pork belly chicharron. Truly everything is delicious, and the fun energy in the dining room and menu of small plates make this spot perfect for a date or a catch-up with a friend.

When you need a cocktail, pizza, ice cream, a green smoothie, and a crab cake sandwich, head to the high-energy Denver Central Market. The only food hall centrally located downtown, DCM has great options for all of your snacking, lunch, dessert, and second breakfast needs. Whether you stop in for a cinnamon roll from Izzio Artisan Bakery, a latte from Crema Bodega, or ice cream from High Point Creamery, you’ll find a large mix of locals and out-of-towners hanging out in the airy RiNo hall.

It didn’t take long for people to latch onto Molotov Kitschen & Cocktails—the restaurant only opened in January 2023, and it’s already one of the busiest spots in town. From the team behind Misfit Snack Bar, Molotov serves Eastern European dishes with creative twists, like smelt and pork pate-filled dumplings and beet-less borscht (it features sour cherries instead). The kitsch-filled space—check out the cuckoo clock collection—is tiny, so you should definitely try and make a reservation.

Mention Uchi to most people in Denver, and their eyes will probably light up. Whether it’s the best, most buttery piece of maguro they’ve ever eaten, the sizzling wagyu hot rock, the crunchy rice loaded with mushrooms, or, better yet, the 10-course omakase tasting that changed their life, a lot of people have a memory of Uchi that makes them eager to come back. And while there are so many different ways to do Uchi, the lively bar is where you want to be.