This year, Denver Restaurant Week can technically have a drink with its dinner.
The 10-day eat-a-thon, celebrating its 21st year, returns March 7-16. Nearly 250 restaurants, bars and casual eateries are participating by preparing multi-course meals for customers at set prices of either $25, $35, $45 or $55.
The city’s tourism bureau, Visit Denver, released the list of restaurants on Wednesday on the event’s website and is encouraging customers to make reservations in advance.
For an eater on an average income, Denver Restaurant Week opens the door to unique fine-dining experiences across the city, including restaurants recommended by the Michelin Guide, as well as those with James Beard nominations or awards.
We’ve put together a list of five higher-end spots to try.
El Five (2930 Umatilla St.; $55 menu)
El Five is a tapas bar located on the fifth floor of a building in the Highland neighborhood facing the downtown skyline. It opened in 2017 and is owned by the employee-owned Edible Beats restaurant group, which also operates Root Down and Linger. El Five has a four-course menu for the festivities, offering Spanish delicacies such as jamon ibérico, goat cheese with quince jam, patatas bravas, paella and crème brûlée.
Luca (711 Grant St.; $55 menu)
Longtime Denver restaurant company Bonanno Concepts rules a stretch of East 7th Avenue with several concepts. At Luca, the pasta is handmade and pizza is baked in a wood-fired stove. Its three-course special menu teases braised short ribs and branzino, or European sea bass, as well as shrimp tagliatelle and wild mushroom fusilli.
Mercantile Dining & Provision (1701 Wynkoop St.; $45 menu)
Wednesday’s details surrounding Denver Restaurant Week included a bit of standalone news: Participating will be Mercantile Dining & Provision, a James Beard award-winning restaurant at Union Station that closed late last year for renovations, several months after founder Alex Seidel sold a majority stake to local hotel and restaurant operator Sage Hospitality. That means a March return is all but certain, although a specific date hasn’t been set. The special menu will offer a choice between triangoli pasta, baked Icelandic cod or pork ossobucco.
Toro (150 Clayton Lane; $55 menu)
Chef Richard Sandoval brought his world-spanning concept to Denver in 2020, almost twenty years after he opened the bustling Tamayo on Larimer Square. Located on the first floor of Hotel Clio in Cherry Creek, it’s an upscale setting for modern Latin cuisine. Its Denver Restaurant Week dishes include shrimp cocktail aguachile, braised beef enchiladas, and flan with cajeta.
Wildflower (3638 Navajo St.; $55 menu)
Also on the first floor of a lavish hotel, Wildflower in LoHi sells shareable plates along with a beverage list featuring four different varieties of mead. Its special menu is fixed but decadent: a grilled artichoke salad with focaccia; cavatelli pasta with sausage and broccolini; chicken cacciatore; and a kiwi tres leches cake. If mead doesn’t suit you, perhaps a natural wine will.
