The Restaurants We Couldn’t Live Without This Year

Denver lost so many restaurants to the pandemic — RIP Racines, To The Wind, Tables, Piatti, etc. — but there are great new spots popping up all the time and plenty of old favorites going strong! So we’re looking back at a killer year in Denver dining with Westword’s food editor Molly Martin, who just published her annual list of 100 restaurants we can’t live without. Is the food hall trend floundering? Do celebrity chefs have any cache left in Mile High? And what’s behind the rise of the bakery/restaurant? Molly’s got her finger on the pulse and her eyes on the menu. 

Restaurants Molly specifically mentioned:

• El Taco de Mexico (Santa Fe.)
• Sam’s No. 3 (Glendale, Aurora, Downtown)
• Bakery Four (Tennyson St.)
• Bánh & Butter Bakery Cafe (East Colfax)
• Bourbon Grill (Uptown)
• Oak at Fourteenth (Boulder)
• Corrida (Boulder)
• Three Saints Revival (Downtown)
• The Wolf’s Tailor (Sunnyside)
• Blazing Chicken Shack (Park Hill)
• Hits the Spot (Lakewood)
• Poppie’s (University Hills)
• Mama Lolita’s (Broomfield)
• Stone Cellar Bistro (Arvada)
• Denver Central Market (RiNo)
• Apple Blossom (Downtown)
• Bodega (Valverde)

Bree and Molly also discussed the ups and downs of food halls, including the recent change-up at Zeppelin Station, and the latest celebrity chef to open a new spot in Denver, Ludo Lefebvre. 

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