Chef Theo Adley (left) plating Heretik’s signature rotisserie chicken dish.
Antony Bruno
Just hours after the Michelin Guide released its latest edition of Colorado restaurant awards, the New York Times unveiled its annual list of 50 Best Restaurants in the U.S., naming two Denver-based establishments among those honored.
Both are newly opened restaurants, not yet a year old, but entirely deserving. They include Heretík, from chef Theo Adly, which opened this past May with a serious bang, and Johnny and Kasie Curiel’s Milpero, which splashed onto the scene that same month. Both also received Michelin Guide recognition this week when the guide introduced its 2026 list: Milpero earned one star while the guide listed Heretík as Recommended.
That another Curiel concept made the list is hardly a surprise. The group’s Mezcalería Alma made last year’s list as well, and Alma Fonda Fina appeared on the publication’s list of best Mexican restaurants in the country.
Big bowl, bigger flavor: the squab dish at Milpero.
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So it’s fitting the Times’ blurb on Milpero opens by acknowledging Curiel’s “hot streak” and “virtuosic, restless ambition” as momentum to the inevitable tasting menu format that is Milpero. It gives the obligatory nod to the restaurant’s corn motif before praising the “host of lesser culinary gods” of Hokkaido uni, fatty bluefin otoro, and, of course, the five “distinctive revelatory moles” that serve as the unexpected heroes.
Milpero is no feat for an out-of-town publication to recognize. To include Heretík — and to nail its strengths — gives the list a bit more street cred. “This is just the kind of restaurant where you want to be, especially if you can find a perch at the counter by the big roll-up door,” the blurb reads, noting that “Heretik is unfussy but deliberate and delicious.” It then calls out Heretík’s signature rotisserie chicken and the pan con tomate, standout dishes both.
After watching the chicken spin in their rotisserie oven all night, it’s nearly impossible not to order the simple-but-satisfying signature dish.
Colorado has been a regular stop for the Times’ Best Restaurant List. Past mentions have gone to such Denver establishments as Yuan Wonton, Sap Sua, La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal and Molotov Kitschen & Cocktails. The Times has also ranged to Grand Junction’s Bin 707 Foodbar and Meander Eatery in Pagosa Springs. That’s over just the previous three years.
Other national publications are also giving Colorado its due. Western lifestyle magazine Sunset just released its 2026 Sunset Travel Awards, which in addition to long lists of hotels, wineries and “experiences” list three Colorado restaurants in the “destination dining” category. They include, of course, another Cuirel eatery — Alteño — as well as Xiquita, by Erasmo Casiano, the two-time James Beard Rocky Mountain semifinalist chef. Mawa’s Kitchen, in Aspen, was also included.
In the “new classics” category, the magazine listed Denver mainstays like Bonanno Concepts’ Mizuna, Dave Query’s Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar, and Frasca Hospitality Group’s Tavernetta Vail (but not Denver?). Three Denver bars also made Sunset’s best: Call Me Pearl, FiNO, and — oddly, as it’s a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant with a bar — Pig & Tiger.
Denver’s dining scene stopped being our little secret years ago. But these days you can scarcely unfold a napkin without bonking the elbow of a national food writer hot on our scent.
Want a more local perspective? Read Westword’s Top 50 Restaurants in Denver Right Now and Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now. Got suggestions of your own? Email us at editorial@westword.com.
Dining and Cooking