One of Denver’s Best New Restaurants 🥘

Baker doesn't get talked about enough. Most people drive down Broadway thinking it's just a corridor between downtown and South Denver, and they miss a stretch of restaurants that's quietly become one of the better eating neighborhoods in the city. I've been spending more time down here lately, and the list of places worth stopping for keeps getting longer.

Here's where I'd actually send someone.

MAKfam

This is the one I keep coming back to. MAKfam started as a popup in New York, spent time as Meta Asian Kitchen inside Avanti, and now has a proper brick-and-mortar at 39 W 1st Ave — and the food is legitimately some of the best Chinese cooking in Denver right now. The pan fried noodles and shrimp XO fried rice are the dishes I'd build a meal around, but the Chinatown dumplings and scallion pancakes are worth ordering too. It's a small menu that knows exactly what it's doing, and if you've ever thought Denver was lacking in this category, MAKfam is a reasonable counter-argument.

Lucky Noodles

Right at the edge of Baker on E 1st Ave, Lucky Noodles is the kind of spot that fills up fast on weekends for a reason. The noodle dishes are solid and the price point is fair — this one works well if you're going with a group, since the menu is built for sharing and ordering around. It's one of the higher-rated spots on this stretch of Broadway, and it earns it.

Postino Broadway

Postino is a small chain, but the Broadway location on 145 Broadway fits the neighborhood well. The wine and bruschetta board situation here is exactly what it sounds like — simple, shareable, and easy to spend two hours on without meaning to. Weeknights are the move if you want a table without a wait. It's a good warm-up stop before dinner somewhere else, or just dinner if you're keeping things light.

Bruno's Italian Bistro

Bruno's has been on S Broadway for a while, and it's the kind of Italian restaurant that doesn't need to reinvent anything. The food is consistent, the room is comfortable, and it doesn't feel like a chain even though it could easily coast on reputation alone. If you want pasta and a glass of wine without a lot of fuss, 560 S Broadway is where I'd go.

Aguanile

Aguanile is one I wasn't fully expecting to love, and it surprised me. The Colombian and Latin American cooking here is specific and confident — this isn't a broad "Latin fusion" menu, it's food that clearly comes from somewhere. The space on S Cherokee is smaller and a little off the main drag, which means a lot of people skip it entirely. That's a mistake.

Adelitas Cocina Y Cantina

Adelitas at 1294 S Broadway is a straightforward Mexican restaurant that's been holding it down on this block for years. The margaritas are strong and the food is the kind of thing you want after a long week — nothing complicated, just good execution on dishes that are easy to underestimate. It gets busy on weekend nights, which tells you something.

Joy Hill Denver

Joy Hill at 1229 S Broadway leans into the cocktail bar side of things as much as the food, and that's not a bad thing. The menu is approachable and the vibe skews a little more social than a sit-down dinner spot. Worth knowing about if you're putting together a night that involves more than one stop on Broadway.

Atomic Cowboy / Denver Biscuit Co / Fat Sully's NY Pizza

The building at 141 S Broadway is doing a lot of work. Denver Biscuit Co is the breakfast and brunch anchor here and it earns the lines — the biscuits are as good as advertised. Fat Sully's does NY-style pizza that's better than it has any right to be in a landlocked city, which was not something I expected when I first showed up. The space is big and loud and good for groups. Parking on this block is a little annoying but it's not a dealbreaker.

Sobo 151 Bar & Grill

Sobo 151 is the low-key neighborhood bar on this list — nothing trying too hard, just a solid place to eat and drink at 151 S Broadway without spending a lot. The rating is good and the prices are low, which is a combination that's getting harder to find on Broadway as rents have climbed. I'd go here on a Tuesday.

Illegal Pete's

Illegal Pete's at 270 S Broadway is a burrito spot that's been part of the Denver fabric long enough that arguing about whether it counts as a local institution has become its own sport. The burritos are large and built-your-way, the price is right, and it stays open later than most places nearby. Not a destination meal, but a reliable one.

Sputnik

Sputnik at 3 S Broadway has a dive bar energy that works in its favor. It's been around long enough to feel like it belongs to the neighborhood rather than to any particular moment in Denver's restaurant scene. The food is secondary to the atmosphere here, but the prices are low and the patio is good when the weather cooperates.

Adrift

Adrift on 218 S Broadway is a tiki bar that commits to the bit. The cocktails are the main event, and they're well-made if you're into the genre. The food is decent bar food — good enough that you don't need to eat somewhere else first. If you're already doing a Broadway crawl, this is a natural stop somewhere in the middle of the evening.

La Forêt

La Forêt at 38 S Broadway is a French restaurant at a price point that makes it worth paying attention to — the dollar sign rating on this one is surprisingly low for what it's doing. It's a quieter room than most of what's on this list, which makes it useful when you want an actual conversation over dinner. I'd check it out before it gets more crowded.

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Baker is worth a dedicated evening, especially if you start somewhere around 1st Ave and work your way down Broadway. MAKfam is my first recommendation if someone asks me to pick just one — but the stretch as a whole is in a good place right now.