Despite Denver’s restaurant scene starting off the year with concerns about its well-being, aspiring chefs and restaurant owners have pressed onward. Addresses that shuttered last year are already occupied with new tenants, the turnkey transition opening new doors for diners.
Behold, as the seasons change and the scorching summer sun gives way to autumn leaves, another slate of restaurants is expected to open before year’s end. Here are eight of the most anticipated new eating and drinking establishments in Denver.
Boombots Pasta Shop
Odie B’s second location, which began serving its craveable breakfast and lunch options at the beginning of the year, has helped bring more restaurant and cocktail culture (along with Magna Kainan and Sorry Gorgeous) to the corner of the River North Art District near the light rail station at 38th and Blake. But Odie B’s chef and co-owner Cliff Blauvelt wasn’t done.
He’ll open Boombots Pasta Shop next to the original Odie B’s, at 2647 W. 38th Ave. in Sunnyside. Expect zany Italian dishes — green chile duck mac and cheese, a bucatini with Castelvetrano olives called the “Dirty Martini Bucatini”, and a giant mozzarella stick with pepperoni dust — presented in an impeccably branded environment with hip-hop booming out the speakers. Blauvelt and his team are gearing up for a fall opening with two preview events this month, including at Savor the Season on Sept. 15 as part of the four-day food festival.
Cafe Tres
In Curtis Park, a Cuban bakery and coffee shop will open in the former Rivers and Roads Coffee, at 2960 Champa St.. Mike Solis started Cafe Tres a couple of years ago, selling pastries (“pastelitos”) with beef and guava-and-cheese filling at farmers markets and later directly to businesses. The brick-and-mortar will pair his treats with sweetened coffee drinks. Cafe Tres is expected to open in the fall, the shop shared on Instagram.
Cimera
The Source Hotel, 3330 Brighton Blvd., is less than ten years old, but in that time, it has gone through as much change and renovation as the rest of RiNo. Brighton Boulevard and the blocks around it now look completely different, and you can catch an elevated view of them at Cimera, a restaurant opening on the Source Hotel’s rooftop this fall. On the menu of this snazzy-sounding joint (which replaces The Woods) is Latin-inspired food of all kinds — arepas, empanadas, anticuchos (skewers) — served tapas-style. Also: sushi and sashimi with a Peruvian bent.
El Piñon
The new owner of the La Vista Motel, 5500 E. Colfax Ave., is hoping to return the lodge to its mid-century glory when it reopens this fall, fully renovated and with a cafe and bar to boot. El Piñon’s bar, managed by Weston Scott of Ephemeral Rotating Taproom, will be open to the public for cocktails in the evening. In the morning, baristas will pour espressos and lattes using coffee from Denver-based roasters Servant Coffee.
Chef Alex Figura grates mimolette cheese onto a pepperoni pizza at a Redeemer Pizza pop-up event in 2021. Johnny Bechamel’s, the latest restaurant from Mamas & Papas Hospitality, is expected to open before the end of 2025. That restaurant will offer pizzas and pastas. (Photo by Eli Imadali/Special to the Denver Post)
Johnny Bechamel’s
The owners of Dio Mio and Redeemer Pizza have been working on Johnny Bechamel’s, a pizza and pasta restaurant now scheduled to open this fall at 81 S. Pennsylvania St., for so long that the restaurant birthed an offshoot in the meantime. Little Johnny B’s whips up wood-fired pizzas inside Urban Cowboy, a boutique hotel, at 1665 Grant St.. Though chefs and co-owners Spencer White and Alex Figura are still developing the menu for the full-sized Johnny Bechamel’s, it will combine the best of what they’re known for: savory pasta dishes and Neapolitan-style pizza.
Owner Jose Avila looks out at the evening sky as meat for tacos al pastor is prepared by cook Chuy Garcia at La Diabla Pozolería y Mezcalería on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021. Avila is opening Malinche Audiobar and two new concepts, he announced earlier in 2025. (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Malinche Audiobar
Many Denverites are now just catching up to what chef Jose Avila is doing at La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal, 2233 Larimer St., where meat for juicy al pastor tacos rotates on a spit outside of the cool and buzzing dining room. Meanwhile, he’s moving on to three new concepts he announced earlier this year. The first, Malinche Audiobar, is expected to open later this year at 1541 Platte St.. Skewered meats will accompany Avila’s personally curated mezcal menu. He’s also digging into his family’s collection of old Mexican records and installing a state-of-the-art sound system — which could be reason itself to sit down and stay for a drink or two.
Molino Chido
After a period of cooking and traveling around the country, Michael Diaz de Leon — who brought Denver one of its first Michelin stars as the executive chef at Bruto in 2023 — is putting his all into Molino Chido, the restaurant he is opening with Uncle and Hop Alley founder Tommy Lee inside Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St., in Aurora this fall.
He visited Mexico several times, he told The Denver Post this summer — not just to learn some tricks for his upcoming gig, but to source the lightweight plastic chairs found at roadside taquerias, as well as the mills (“molinos”) used to make masa for tortillas. Both will be at Molino Chido, which boasts a large dining room with an outdoor space where De Leon and Lee said they hope to offer multiple service experiences.
Wednesday Ellie and M.E. Deli
Two sister concepts are expected to open next to American Elm later this year. Though perhaps it’s wrong to say they’re “sister” concepts, since M.E. Deli and Wednesday Ellie, 4140 W. 38th Ave., are named after American Elm owner Bob Reiter’s daughter and wife, respectively. Chef Daniel Mangin of American Elm, which specializes in New American cuisine, is also managing the kitchen here. M.E. Deli, he said last month, will be open during the day, selling coffee, sandwiches and other goods to go.
Wednesday Ellie, on the other hand, will have a menu inspired by the cuisine of the Iberian Peninsula, southern France and northern Italy, Mangin said. That includes delectable seafood, such as garlic shrimp, salted cod spread and fried sardines.