With 2025 in the rearview mirror, it’s time to get to know a new crop of restaurants opening in the first months of 2026. Below are nine of the most hotly anticipated locales launching early this year.
Ash and Agave
It didn’t take long for a new tenant to take over the prime Cherry Creek restaurant space that California Pizza Kitchen had occupied since the millennium. Ash and Agave seeks to class up the affair. “We want to be fun and approachable and sexy and want to transform throughout the day for what people want to use it for,” owner Sean Huggard said when announcing the concept last year.
What does that mean? For Huggard, who also owns Blue Island Oyster Bar and Seafood, it’s the thrills of coastal Mexican cuisine. Centered around a wood grill that fires up seafood and meat, along with an expansive bar, the 4,800-square-foot Ash and Agave is tapping into Cherry Creek’s business and pleasure-seeking community.
Located at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, 3000 E. First Ave., Denver
All Inn Hotel/Fino
Speaking of coastal cuisine, the forthcoming restaurant inside the renovated All Inn Hotel will focus on flavors of the Mediterranean coast. What was once a 1950s motel for roadtrippers along Colfax Avenue is about to become a modernized boutique hotel (opening March) where room colors are based around a theme. Inspire Investment Group president Brian Toerber, the hotel’s owner, has passed culinary duties on to Steven Waters, owner of downtown Denver cocktail bar Run for the Roses and also the hotel’s owner-operator. Though little is known about the menu, Fino will base its dishes around seasonal ingredients. Wine will flow, as will the dining room’s indoor and outdoor design.
3015 E. Colfax Ave., Denver
Former Frasca chefs Kelly Jeun and Eduardo Valle Lobo are opening their own Boulder restaurant, planned for February 2026. Casa Juani will serve Spanish cuisine. (Mike Thurk)
Casa Juani
A powerhouse duo from one of Colorado’s most esteemed restaurants will open a Spanish eatery in Boulder. Cue the fanfare. Chefs Kelly Jeun and Eduardo Valle Lobo, formerly at Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, will debut Casa Juani just blocks west on Pearl Street. Valle Lobo draws from his childhood in Madrid for the food, naming the venture after his mother’s house. He and Jeun are sourcing products from Spain and digging into a Mary Poppins bag filled with stews, braises, rice dishes, seafood tapas, razor clams and sea cucumbers. Casa Juani will open its dining room — and a 10-person chef’s table with a tasting menu — in February.
901 Pearl St., Boulder
Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
Chef Ty Leon makes bison mortadella at Restaurant Olivia in Denver on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. It will be served at Leon's new restaurant, Emilia, in 2025.
Dear Emilia
The Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy (Bologna is its capital) gets its own “love letter” with Dear Emilia — opening Thursday, Jan. 29 — the newest restaurant from the group behind Restaurant Olivia. Chef Ty Leon, bar director Austin Carson and hospitality director Heather Morrison are taking influence from their jaunts to the region for their Italian food and liquor. One planned dish is hand-rolled garganelli pasta (made with Colorado rye flour) served with house-made duck sausage, black truffle and brown butter. Another is tortellini stuffed with mortadella and pork. Tiramisu is up for dessert.
3615 Delgany St., Denver
Longtime Colorado chef Theo Adley, who owns Marigold in Lyons, will open a new restaurant in Denver in 2026 called Heretik. (Sarah Banks)
Heretik
More Mediterranean vibes await at Heretik, from chef Theo Adley of the renowned Marigold in Lyons. Adley, who at Marigold rotates dishes regularly, is enticing diners to Heretik with a chicken operation and shellfish, oysters and sea urchins. It’ll move into the former home of a higher-end restaurant, Koko Ni. “I want people to come in and see a case full of glistening birds,” Adley said in December. The rotisserie will start rotating in February.
1441 26th St., Denver
On the menu under Small Plates are the roasted carrots served over house-made labneh, topped with pistachio dukkah and fresh parsley and a charred lemon at Leven Supply located at 300 E. Alameda Ave in Denver on Jan. 13, 2025. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Leven Downtown
The number one restaurant in Denver last year, according to Yelp Elite reviewers, was Leven Deli, the soup, salad and sandwich destination in the Golden Triangle. Leven Supply, which opened in early 2025, brought the concept over to West Wash Park. Meanwhile, a more upscale downtown Denver location is expected to join the group this year, offering more lunch and dinner options and a full bar. Leven Downtown is also expected to cater to the office tenants that will share its building, a 30-story skyscraper.
Located inside Block 162, 1520 California St., Denver
Chef Johnny Curiel has a team of six in the kitchen of his first solo restaurant, after working for big local restaurant groups for the last decade. (Photo by Shawn Campbell for Alma Fonda Fina)
Mar Bella Boqueria and Maize
From the couple behind Alma Fonda Fina, Mezcaleria Alma, Cozobi Fonda Fina and Alteño come two more Latin gastronomic experiences. Mar Bella Boqueria is opening next to Alteño this winter, specializing in chef Johnny Curiel’s take on pintxos (pronounced with a ‘ch’ sound), tapas from the Basque region of Spain. Elsewhere, in the Taxi campus of the RiNo District, he and his wife, Kasie Curiel, will launch Maize, an eight-seat, 18-course tasting menu where the “maiz,” or corn, and its masa play a central role. Maize will open in the spring.
Mar Bella Boqueria is located inside the Clayton Hotel and Members Club at 249 Clayton St., Denver; Maize is located at 3455 Ringsby Court, Denver
DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 30: The exterior of Uchi as snow falls Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. (Photo by Daniel Brenner/Special to the Denver Post)
Uchiko
The building that houses Uchi’s Denver location becomes a work of art at sunset, when natural light shines through holes in the wall and into the dining room. In that spirit, Chef Tyson Cole is opening his second Denver concept, Uchiko (meaning “child of Uchi” in Japanese), inside a former art gallery in Cherry Creek. Uchiko’s home was once that of noted art collector Ginny Williams; inside, Cole’s decadent Japanese cuisine will get a sear and a singe from the kitchen flames. There are four existing Uchikos in Texas and Miami, in addition to Uchis found in major cities across the country.
299 Fillmore St., Denver
Wednesday Ellie
Fancy another trip to Western Europe? Wednesday Ellie, from the owner and chef of American Elm, aims to take you there. Bob Reiter and chef Daniel Mangin are bringing seafood tapas, meatballs and other dishes inspired by the Iberian Peninsula, France and Italy. The restaurant and wine bar is opening next to American Elm in a space shared by breakfast counter M.E. Deli.
4140 W. 38th Ave., Denver
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