The Ultimate Guide to the Best Food in Denver and Where to Get It Now
Denver, Colorado, is one of the coolest capital cities in the US. If you are looking for chill vibes, beautiful mountain landscapes, and delicious food, this is the place to be! Some of the most popular dishes in Denver include bison steak, mountain pizza, craft beer ice cream, and many more interesting foods that you can only get here.
I’ve compiled a list of the best food in Denver and the restaurants to get it at so that you can try these Colorado delicacies for yourself!
Bison Steak
We’ll start off this list with a Denver classic bison steak. This is just like normal steak, but the meat comes from a bison and not a cow. People say that this differs from normal steak because of the lighter texture of the meat and the more earthy taste it has, but not gamey. It’s also richer in protein than cow steak and less fatty.
Buckhorn Exchange is the perfect place to try your first bison steak. Not only do they have bison steak, but they also have almost everything else on this list! If you want a place where you can try all the most famous food in Colorado in one place, this should be your first stop when in Denver.
Rocky Mountain Oysters
I guarantee that these are not what you think they are. When you hear that there are oysters in Colorado, you might be thinking “Colorado is pretty far from the ocean to have oysters”. That’s because they’re not oysters. It’s deep-fried bull testicles! The reason they’re called oysters is up for debate, some people say that it’s because it’s an aphrodisiac like actual oysters are known to be, and others say that it’s because they are prepared and look the same as fried oysters when they’re served. After the bulls are castrated, their testicles are cut into thin slices, covered in seasonings and cornmeal, and then deep fried.
If you are looking for the best restaurant for this weird mountain appetizer, head to The Fort. Here, you’ll find all the mountain food you can think of, made with the highest quality ingredients. This, however, means high prices, but hey, when in Denver!
Mountain Pizza
Mountain pizza or Colorado pizza or mountain pie is a pizza famous in Colorado. It has a thick crust that’s hand-rolled and honey is used instead of sugar. Unlike traditional pizza, where you usually would dip the crust in ranch or marinara, this crust is dipped in honey! The pizza usually comes with honey as a side, but if not, you can ask for it.
Beau Jo’s is one of the most famous places with multiple locations throughout Colorado. They serve up some of the finest Colorado Mountain Pies in the state and have excellent reviews!
Lamb
Colorado lamb is known for its gamey flavor, which gives it a little tougher texture than average lamb. Colorado lambs are raised in a more rugged environment than other sheep, which makes the meat less fatty and larger than other lamb.
For everything lamb, head to Work & Class. Here, you’ll find lamb fritters, lamb sausage, lamb chorizo, lamb meatballs, lamb steaks, and more! This is the place if you are looking to experience Colorado lamb in a restaurant that gets Colorado culture and cuisine.
Trout
Colorado is one of the best places on earth for trout fishing. If you like river and lake fish, Denver is the place to try them all! The way that the trout is prepared depends on the restaurant you eat it at. It could be in a sandwich, cooked in lemon, fried with a side of lemon, or a hundred other ways.
For the best trout in Colorado, head to Lucile’s Creole Café. They have seven locations around Colorado and are famous for their trout po’ boy, which is a sandwich with all the fixings and tartar sauce. Don’t miss out on this Colorado classic when in Denver!
elk hotdog
America is famous for hotdogs. However, many of the hotdogs in America are filled with mystery meat from an unknown origin. In Colorado, you can choose the meat that you have in your hotdog. Rocky Mountain Elk is one of the most famous Colorado game to hunt and tastes great in hotdog form!
Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs is where to go to get the perfect elk hotdog and any other meat that you can imagine in hotdog form. They have ostrich, boar, rabbit, and even rattlesnake! If you are looking for an experience you can only have in Denver, Biker Jim’s is the place to be.
Green Chili
Green Chile can be found on almost every dish in Denver and if it’s not on a dish, just ask and they’ll add it. Green chile comes in a variety of forms and is usually served with Mexican food or breakfast food.
Chakas Mexican Restaurant is one of the best places to try the famous Colorado green chile. Almost everything on their menu has the option to be smothered in green chile. Be careful! It does have a little kick to it!
Native American Food
The city of Denver was built on the land of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Nations. Denver does its best to acknowledge the tribes that came before the city by encouraging visitors to eat at one of the many Native American restaurants around town. Some of the most popular foods that Native Americans are famous for are frybread, cornbread, corn mush, and many more.
Tocabe, An American Indian Eatery is the most famous Native American restaurant in the city. It’s kind of like the Chipotle of Native American food. You can choose from an Indian Taco, Melting Pot Salad, Stuffed Frybread, or Medicine Wheel Nachos. Then you choose what protein you want and add toppings for a delicious lunch or dinner.
Game Meat Tartare
You might have heard of beef tartare, which is seasoned raw or nearly raw ground beef topped with raw egg yolk, but what about venison tartare? That’s right, as if eating raw beef isn’t weird enough, in Colorado, they also have raw deer meat that you can eat.
La Forêt is a French restaurant in Denver and is one of the few places in Denver that serves Elk Tartare. If you are a fan of beef tartare, then you need to give some of the other game meats a try.
Mexican Hamburger
What if you could combine your two favorite foods into one and have it be the best-tasting thing you’ve ever had? That’s what this dish does! A Mexican Hamburger is a burger that’s smothered in green chile and cheese and is then heated up so the cheese melts all over the burger. It combines flavorful Mexican spices with hearty American food to make something you’ve never experienced!
The Original Chubby’s Denver is the best restaurant to try this meal at and is one of the most legendary hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants in all of Denver. They have a ton of other great options here that will be sure to hit the spot!
Craft Beer
Colorado has some crazy craft beers, but Denver, in particular, is home to some of the strangest. Some examples are Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout (you remember what Rocky Mountain Oysters are, right?), Green Tea Chocolate Milk Stout, Cherry Chocolate Zombie Bang, and many more.
One of the best places to find some of these craft brews is Strange Craft Beer Company. Here, they have over ten options for you to try with a rotating menu of different beers. They have a lot of fruity options that will leave you wanting more!
Smothered Burrito
Basically, any food that you can think of can be smothered in Denver, but the simple smothered burrito is one of the most popular options. As a Californian, I don’t know how I feel about smothered burritos when normal burritos are already perfect but Colorado is crazy about them! I guess it’s because of the green chile obsession that they have.
El Taco De Mexico makes one of the best smothered burritos in all of Denver. You can get any burrito here smothered in green chile and cheese for an additional $3, which will instantly add so much flavor to your burrito.
Cheese Burger
This might seem like a pretty standard food, but in Colorado, they do cheeseburgers different. This might be because Colorado is the birthplace of the cheeseburger! They even have a little monument to the Humpty Dumpty Barrel in Denver that patented the cheeseburger back in 1933, but this restaurant no longer exists.
The Cherry Cricket is the most famous burger joint in Denver that has a build-your-own burger option, along with many other menu items. You can get a half-pound burger, quarter-pound burger, turkey burger, veggie burger, bison burger, chicken burger, or hotdog, and then add toppings from there.
Cinnamon Rolls
Last up, we got dessert! I think that cinnamon rolls might be the best baked goods in the world. The gooey center, the cinnamon, the frosting? What could be better?! In my opinion, the perfect cinnamon roll should have so much frosting on top that you can’t see the actual roll.
Kolache House Bakery does just that. They slather on the frosting and keep the roll nice and soft and packed with flavor. They serve lots of other tasty treats here so make sure to leave room!
What do you think?
What’s the food that you want to try the most in Denver? Is there anything on this list that you’ve tried? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading!
