New Denver Restaurant Openings: Taco Star on Colfax, Chick-fil-A Drive-Thru, and More

Taco Star — East Colfax Avenue

Taco Star now has a location at 6151 East Colfax, directly behind one of the new white arches on the street. This is their seventh metro location, and the one detail that makes this one worth knowing about: it's open 24/7. Drive-thru, all hours, on Colfax. That's a genuinely useful thing for that part of the city.

The Couloir — South Broadway

The Couloir is a new bar inside Meier Skis at 1775 South Broadway. You can drink while watching skis being made in the shop behind you. It's a specific kind of experience — part après-ski, part factory floor — and I don't know of anything quite like it in Denver. Worth checking out even if you don't ski.

Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. — Aurora

Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. opened its first Colorado location at 15464 East Hampden Avenue in Aurora. The company started as a wholesale operation focused on beans sourced from Haraz, Yemen, then expanded into a franchise cafe model. If you care about where your coffee actually comes from, this is one to try.

Spice Trade Brewery & Kitchen — Greenwood Village

Spice Trade Brewery & Kitchen celebrated its grand reopening at 8775 East Orchard Road in Greenwood Village. The space had been transitioning back from Yak & Yeti over the past month. Good to see it back under the Spice Trade name.

Chick-fil-A Runway 35 South — Central Park

Chick-fil-A opened a drive-thru-only location on April 16 at 9111 East 40th Avenue — Colorado's first prototype of this format. It's designed around speed: drive-thru lanes, a walk-up carry-out window, Mobile Thru ordering, and third-party delivery. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 6am to midnight.

Local owner-operator Jason Sutton, an Army veteran, is running his second Chick-fil-A location here. He's awarded more than $150,000 in Remarkable Futures scholarships to team members at his Quebec Street location over the past ten years. The new spot will create around 65 jobs and comes with a $25,000 Feeding America donation tied to the opening.

Coming soon: Monarch at Urban Cowboy

One I'm actually looking forward to: Chef Justin Freeman is bringing Monarch to Urban Cowboy, and it's expected to open in May. Freeman has cooked at Nobu, Upland, Ai Fiori and Seamore's. He came to Denver and landed at the Greenwich in RiNo, where he started working seriously with sourdough pizza. In 2023 he moved to Somebody People, and now he's got his own room.

Sourdough pizza at Urban Cowboy is a pairing that makes a lot of sense on paper. I'll be going.