Your 2021 Guide to Valentine’s Day Food Across the Front Range
From splurge-worthy feasts to festive treats, there are many delicious ways to celebrate in the Denver metro area and beyond.Denise Mickelsen, Noella Williams, Patricia Kaowthumrong •
February 8, 2021
Whether you’re celebrating with your partner, pals, or family members, Valentine’s Day weekend is the perfect time to show the ones you love just how much they mean to you with food and drink, of course. We have a bounty of ideas on how to do that, from Mardi Gras-themed meals to whiskey-and-cupcake gift packages, all from Front Range restaurants, breweries, chocolatiers, and other local culinary businesses. Dig in and enjoy!
Coloradans have always enjoyed après al fresco and snacking on sunny patios, but 2020 brought myriad new ways to dine outdoors for intrepid and safety-conscious restaurant-goers. From polycarbonate greenhouses and plastic igloos to engineer-built private dining pods and mountain-town gondolas, here are some of the very best and most comfortable ways to eat and drink outside right now.
Metro Denver
Patio and igloo dining at Ace Eat Serve. Photo courtesy of Ace Eat Serve
Picture it: Sipping on a ceramic cup of hot junmai sake or an icy pint of Left Hand’s Milk Stout Nitro by a fire pit or inside a translucent igloo as an eye-smiling masked server sets down a sizzling wok filled with crispy lobster, prawns, and sweet potato noodles tossed in a miso-butter-chile sauce. You’re at Ace, of course, where there’s free live music on Saturday afternoons, prizes for Denverites outfitted in their finest retro ski attire, and chef Thach Tran’s tender soup dumplings and curries, which w
Namkeen Is Spuntino’s New Ghost Kitchen
Owners of the beloved Italian spot in Highland reincarnate their South Indian restaurant with a full to-go menu and a family-style feast for al fresco dining, too. Denise Mickelsen •
December 11, 2020
Cindhura Reddy, the chef and co-owner of Spuntino on West 32nd Avenue in Highland, grew up in Cleveland, where South Indian food was always on her family’s table. “My parents moved here from Hyderabad [now in Telangana, formerly Andhra Pradesh] when they were in their 20s,” she says, “and when I was growing up, we sponsored a couple of aunts and uncles that would come live with us. Cooking was a full family endeavor.”
Dining rooms and bars are where we gather to share good food and drink and good times with friends, family and neighbors. And while 2020 made gathering together difficult, restaurants are still here for us, whether we re able to eat their food inside, on a patio or in our own homes. Since eateries are doing everything they can to keep open and keep serving the dining community, we decided to move ahead with our annual Eat Here list of the 100 restaurants we can t live without – and hope we never have to.
Our list recognizes that greatness continues when and where we least expect it, and also serves as a thank you to the people cooking, serving, washing dishes, answering phones, delivering your food, enforcing the rules and making Denver a better city every day. Now get out and eat!