From live-fire cuisine to modern sushi, these top chefs serve up four new dining concepts in Colorado.
Sushi and sashimi sampler at Makoto, Vail. PHOTO BY COPE AMEZCUA
Makoto, Vail
A Japanese concept from acclaimed chef Makoto Okuwa, Makoto (makotovail.com) opened inside The Grand Hyatt Vail (hyatt.com) last winter. The chef’s namesake restaurants are located in Miami, Washington, D.C., Panama City, Mexico City, and São Paulo, but this new Vail restaurant is the first outpost staged at a resort. A master of Edomae-style sushi who began his journey at 15 as an apprentice to a sushi master in Japan, Okuwa blends traditional Japanese cooking with his own innovative style and modern-day innovation. Since opening, Makoto Vail has already earned a 2024 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and a 2024 OpenTable Diner’s Choice Award.
Key ingredients in the Big Feelings cocktail at Ajax Downtown are Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, cinnamon and...fire! PHOTO COURTESY OF AJAX DOWNTOWN
Ajax Downtown, Denver
Sister restaurant to Aspen’s Ajax Tavern, Ajax Downtown (ajaxrestaurant.com) recently opened inside Limelight Denver near Union Station with a menu centered around the art of live-fire cooking. “All components of the menu are somehow touched by hot coals, smoke or embers,” says executive chef Jared Becker. “We try to incorporate fire into every aspect of our dishes.” Becker dry ages responsibly raised beef, pork and lamb from Colorado farms in a dry-aging room adjacent to the kitchen’s Josper Grill. Fire informs the bar program, too, with a lemon cordial made from charring spent lemon husks and a rum cocktail finished with flames.
Pasque, Denver
Staged in the understory of the new carbon-positive, Aspentree-inspired Populus hotel (populusdenver.com), Pasque celebrates seasonal ingredients and a zero-waste approach. Named for a native Colorado wildflower, Pasque is helmed by executive chef Ian Wortham, who honed his craft at Frasca in Boulder and Tavernetta in Denver. His approach in the kitchen is meant to align with the hotel’s biophilic sensibilities. An on-site commercial biodigester will transform food scraps into fertilizer to be donated to local farms. Hanging over the bar, The Reishi Tapestry, a sculpture by Wildman Chalmers Design, was made from nearly 500 sheets of MycoWorks’ Reishi, a leather alternative engineered from mycelium. Wortham also oversees the live-fire kitchen inside Stellar Jay, the hotel’s rooftop terrace overlooking the downtown skyline.
At Pasque, The Reishi Tapestry above the bar is crafted from a leather alternative. PHOTO BY YOSHIHIRO MAKINO
The Colorado Club, Boulder
Bryan Dayton started his career as a bartender at Juanita’s, a Boulder institution that closed in 2011 after nearly 30 years. So it seems fitting that Dayton opened his newest concept at the Mexican mainstay’s old address. Dayton envisioned The Colorado Club (coloradoclubsaloon.com) as a neighborhood gathering spot informed by the American West. The bi-level space exudes the unfiltered charm of a classic saloon, paying homage to the Western frontier. It’s a little bit cowboy. Dayton’s partner and executive chef Samuel McCandless conceived the restaurant’s American menu around craveable, shareable plates of comfort food featuring beef from Dayton’s private regenerative label, Colorado Cattle Company. Look for flatbreads like brie and prosciutto with spiced fig jam and arugula baked in-house. Dayton’s Half Eaten Cookie Hospitality group also includes Corrida, Oak at Fourteenth and Bellota in Boulder.
Fig, brie and prosciutto flatbead at The Colorado Club. PHOTO BY LUCY BEAUGARD
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