Colorado has been on the global culinary map of the prestigious Michelin Guide since 2023 the esteemed dining guide released its first-ever Michelin Guide awards in the state. Each year since it has added more honorees to its guide. This year raises the bar even higher with the first Colorado restaurant to receive Two Michelin Stars. including one restaurant earning a coveted Michelin Star.
Also in 2025, three restaurants received new One Michelin Star awards. One restaurant was added to the Bib Gourmand list. And the Michelin Guide added three new Recommended Restaurants and gave out four special awards.
By comparison, in the inaugural 2023 Colorado awards, 44 Colorado restaurants received Michelin recognition. Five restaurants received One Michelin Star. Four received a Green Star. Nine restaurants were awarded with a Bib Gourmand designation, and 30 received the Recommended restaurant designation. Several other individual awards were given.
In 2024, Michelin added one new One Star restaurant, two new Bib Gourmand honorees and two new Michelin Recommended Restaurants.
Here is the full listing of Colorado’s Michelin Guide award winners with their Michelin descriptions, updated in 2025.
Two Michelin Stars
The Wolf’s Tailor
Denver
Cuisine: Contemporary, Creative
“Offering a seamless dining experience as intriguing as its name, this comfortable haven blends together creativity, attention to detail, and charm. Chef Taylor Stark and his team stitch together an ambitious multicourse menu from culinary influences near and far.”
As part of the Id Est family of restaurants, the chef’s table experience of The Wolf’s Tailor could be considered its culinary laboratory. With two Michelin Stars, The Wolf’s Tailor stands above the rest, but sister concepts BRUTØ, Basta and Hey Kiddo have all been honored by the Michelin Guide. And its owners Erika and Kelly Whitaker received the national James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur award last year. Undoubtedly, the group stands at the forefront of Colorado dining.
One Michelin Star
Restaurants may receive one to three Michelin Stars for the quality of their food based on five criteria: quality of the ingredients used, mastery of flavor and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in the cuisine, harmony of flavors, and consistency between visits. One star signifies “High quality cooking. Worth a stop!” Two stars signify “Excellent cooking. Worth a detour.!” Three stars signify “Exceptional cuisine. Worth a journey!”
Alma Fonda Fina
Denver; Mexican/Contemporary cuisine
Chef Johnny Curiel started off in his family’s restaurant in Guadalajara, and after years of high-end culinary experience, he revisits dishes and flavors from his upbringing with creativity and finely honed technique delivering results that are both satisfying and delicious. Resist the temptation to fixate on any one item, as the menu is littered with treasures: perfectly crisped pork belly carnitas make for a brilliant taco on a sourdough flour tortilla, while agave-roasted sweet potato with nutty salsa matcha and luxuriously creamy whipped requesón is a revelation, and vibrant seafood crudos like thinly sliced Maine diver scallop with tomatillo and apple aguachile are downright electric. No desserts are offered for the time being, so there’s no reason to leave any extra room.
Beckon
Denver; Contemporary cuisine
More than just a name, it’s an ethos at this ambitious RiNo dining room from Chef Duncan Holmes where staff warmly welcome you. Once inside this Scandi-cool space, diners pull up a chair at the 18-seat counter facing the kitchen where a focused team is hard at work. The multicourse contemporary tasting menu rotates quarterly (think harvest-themed in the fall). This kitchen offers far from typical dishes. Seared quail breast with a confit leg is spot on, especially when sided by creamed kale made with sunflower seeds and a quail reduction.
Bosq
Aspen; Contemporary cuisine
At this singular enclave, Chef Barclay Dodge and his team are executing seasonally inspired cooking that focuses on foraging, fermenting and local farms. The menu format allows diners to customize their own tasting of four or more courses. From hand-picked spruce tips to butter from locally sourced cooperative dairy cows, this is a concept that pays attention to details — even ingredients from farther afield, like lobster from New England, gets a hit of local flavor from being grilled over juniper wood.
Brutø
Denver; Mexican/Contemporary cuisine
Chef Michael Diaz de Leon runs the show here, where the team takes a serious approach to locality and seasonality, not only in the produce but also the grains, which they mill or nixtamalize in-house. The mastery of the hearth as the primary cooking implement makes this operation special, and it infuses each of the tasting menu’s courses with distinct notes. The menu, which is Mexican at its core, has a clear narrative, and is perhaps best displayed in lamb prepared two ways — as a street-style taco and ground lamb leg kushiyaki with a quenelle of mole chichilo.
Frasca Food and Wine
Boulder; Italian cuisine
All are treated as special guests here, where Chef Ian Palazzola’s cooking is Italian, but in a hyper-specific way: It’s the food of the northeast Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. You’ll find pasta and seafood on the prix fixe and tasting menus, but Slavic and Alpine elements also appear. Focused and distinct, the menu might showcase a lesser-known part of Italy, but the ingredients are clearly Coloradan. The plates are beguiling with a minimal, straightforward approach, as in cjalson, half-moon fresh spinach pasta pockets filled with an English pea and potato purée.
Kizaki
Denver
Cuisine: Japanese
“Going back more than four decades, Chef Toshi Kizaki has been a veritable trailblazer of Denver’s sushi scene, but even now in his 70s, he’s not content to rest on his laurels. In a culmination of his long career, he now raises the stakes with this luxurious counter, bringing a new echelon of omakase to the Mile High City. Blending traditional edomae techniques and creative modern flourishes, the extensive menu alternates between small dishes like gorgeously marbled black-and-white sesame tofu and nigiri carefully crafted by Chef Kizaki himself.”
Margot
Denver
Cuisine: Contemporary
“After years spent as an esteemed pop-up, Chef Justin Fulton’s passion project has found a permanent berth at a cozy eight-seat counter tucked inside a larger shared space. Offered as a contemporary multicourse tasting that follows the seasons, his signature cuisine is both global and distinctly Coloradan, taking inspiration from local ingredients while weaving together wide-ranging influences.”
Mezcaleria Alma
Denver
Cuisine: Mexican
Chef Johnny Curiel continues to collect honors, including this Michelin Star for the parallel concept next to his flagship Alma Fonda Fina.
“As the name suggests, the small stylish space has a mezcal bar vibe — and a list of inventive, mouthwatering agave spirit-based cocktails to go with it — but it’s also a showcase for Chef Curiel’s culinary talents. Evoking the vibrant creativity of Mexico City’s restaurant scene, the succinct menu is sprinkled with international flavors, as in an herbaceous ceviche of kanpachi that incorporates dill and roasted garlic, or a subtly spiced aguachile of Santa Barbara uni and Hokkaido scallop with mandarin and crispy ginger.”
Michelin Green Star
Michelin’s Green Star award highlights restaurants at the forefront of the industry when it comes to their sustainable practices, environmental standards and work with sustainable producers and suppliers to avoid waste and reduce or remove plastic and other non-recyclable materials from their supply chain.
Blackbelly Market
Boulder; American cuisine
Initiatives: full utilization of every ingredient and animal, most of which are butchered in-house; sourcing from local ranches and farms that apply natural practices to everything they cultivate; herbs and flowers for plates grown on property.
Bramble & Hare
Boulder; American cuisine
Initiatives: organic farm with 70 acres growing more than 250 varieties of vegetables, herbs and grain, which is ground into flour on a stone mill; an acre of chamomile for restaurant use; 360 acres of pasture for raising heritage sheep and pigs.
Brutø
Denver; Mexican/Contemporary cuisine
Initiatives: zero-waste ethos; fermentation program to create umami-based ingredients; house-milled grains grown in Colorado; hyper-local sourcing; partnership with Zero Foodprint to help reduce carbon footprint and carbon emissions.
The Wolf’s Tailor
Denver; Contemporary cuisine
Initiatives: zero-waste mentality; local apple cider vinegar project; recycling bread waste into sourdough gochujang; contract farming to grow heirloom wheat for flour on organic, regeneratively farmed land; on-site pollinator garden; certified sustainable foraging program.
Brutø and The Wolf’s Tailor each were awarded one Michelin Star, plus a Michelin Green Star.
Bib Gourmand
As of 2024, the Micheline Guide Inspectors have identified nine Colorado restaurants to award the Bib Gourmand designation, which recognizes eateries for great food at a great value. Read more about all of Colorado’s inaugural Bib Gourmand restaurants.
Ash’Kara (Denver)
Basta (Boulder)
Cozobi Fonda Fina (Boulder)
The Ginger Pig (Denver)
Glo Noodle House (Denver)
Hop Alley (Denver)
La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal (Denver)
MAKfam (Denver)
Mister Oso (Denver)
Tavernetta (Denver)
2023 Only Bib Gourmand
AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q (Denver)
Michelin Recommended Restaurants in Colorado
Michelin’s Recommended Restaurants are establishments serving notably good food, though not quite deemed up to the Star or Bib Gourmand standards. Colorado received 30 Michelin Recommended restaurants:
A5 Steakhouse (Denver)
Barolo (Denver)
Blackbelly Market (Boulder)
Bramble & Hare (Boulder)
Brasserie Brixton (Denver)
Dio Mio (Denver)
Dushanbe Tea House (Boulder)
Element 47 (Aspen)
Fruition (Denver)
Guard and Grace (Denver)
Hey Kiddo (Denver)
Kawa Ni (Denver)
Marco’s Coal Fired (Denver)
Mawa’s Kitchen (Aspen)
Mercantile Dining and Provision (Denver)
Mirabelle (Beaver Creek)
Noisette (Denver)
Oak at Fourteenth (Boulder)
Olivia (Denver)
Osaki’s (Vail)
Prospect (Aspen)
Q House (Denver)
Safta (Denver)
Santo (Boulder)
Smok (Denver)
Splendido at the Chateau (Beaver Creek)
Stella’s Cucina (Boulder)
Sweet Basil (Vail)
Temaki Den (Denver)
Ukiyo (Denver)
Wildflower (Denver)
Temaki Den (Denver)
Wyld (Beaver Creek)
Zoe Ma Ma (Boulder)
2023 Only Recommended
Potager (Denver)
Michelin Guide Colorado Special Awards
In addition to the Bib Gourmand and Stars, the Michelin Guide announces Special Awards for unique contributions to the culinary scene.
Michelin Special Awards 2025
Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award
Dustin Lawlor, Hop Alley, Denver
Michelin Sommelier Award
Nick Heilman, Bosq, Aspen
Michelin Outstanding Service Award
Heather Morrison, Olivia, Denver
Michelin Young Chef Award
Aiden Tibbetts, Wildflower, Denver
Michelin Special Awards 2024
Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award
Jessenia Sanabria, Sweet Basil, Vail
Michelin Sommelier Award
Chris Dunaway, Element 47, Aspen
Michelin Outstanding Service Award
Allison Anderson, Beckon, Denver
Michelin Young Chef / Culinary Professional Award
Johnny Curiel, Alma Fonda Fina
Michelin Special Awards 2023
Exceptional Cocktails Award
Caroline Clark, The Wolf’s Tailor (Denver)
Sommelier Award
Ryan Fletter and Erin Lindstone, Barolo Grill (Denver)
Outstanding Service Award
Sergei Kiefel and front-of-house team, Frasca Food and Wine (Boulder)
Young Chef/Culinary Professional Award
Kelly Kawachi, Blackbelly Market (Boulder)
History of the Michelin Guide Colorado
“This is a proud moment for Colorado and for the Michelin Guide, with five Michelin-Starred restaurants highlighting the state’s debut selection of restaurants,” said Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides, in an inaugural press release. “It’s quite an impressive feat for a debut selection to include so many Michelin Green Stars. Our famously anonymous inspectors were wowed by these restaurants’ high-quality, local ingredients, sourced seasonally and sustainably. It’s a very exciting time for the culinary community here, and we feel the momentum growing.”
With the awards, Colorado became the eighth location in North America evaluated by the international Michelin Guide. The state joins the company of New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C., California, Florida, Toronto and Vancouver. Atlanta was the next addition.
The Colorado Tourism Office led the effort to bring the Michelin Guide to Colorado as a strategy to highlight the state’s dining scene as a destination. Restaurants were reviewed for consideration in six Colorado cities: Denver, Boulder, Aspen, Vail, Snowmass and Beaver Creek. As the New York Times reported, tourism boards and resort companies in those areas paid $70,000 to $100,000 to participate, along with $100,000 annually by the Colorado Tourism Board. Visit Colorado Springs and Visit Aurora chose not to participate, but you can read our list of 30 Best Restaurants in Colorado Springs. (This New York Times article provides interesting insights into the development of the Michelin Guide’s paid partnership model and opinions on its benefits and detriments in Colorado.)
The Colorado Tourism Office hails the awards as a historic moment for Colorado’s dining scene and an opportunity to attract more global visitors and tourism dollars. “These prestigious awards signify more than just recognition for our restaurants; they symbolize a significant elevation of Colorado’s status on the global culinary map and the state’s steadfast dedication to sustainability,” said Tim Wolfe, director of the Colorado Tourism Office, in a press release. “With this momentous event, we’re set to attract travelers and food lovers from around the world, bolstering our economy and cultural influence. This inaugural ceremony marks the beginning of Michelin’s presence and recognition in Colorado, and I am excited for expanded opportunities in the future.”
Governor Jared Polis added in a 2025 press release, “Colorado’s delicious restaurant scene only continues growing stronger, and with the addition of the Michelin Guide in Colorado, I expect even more excitement around our incredible restaurants. Our favorite restaurants are the heart of our communities and important job creators and this celebration will strengthen the entire restaurant industry.”
This article was originally published in September 2023 and updated in September 2025.
