Best Restaurants 2019: The Wolf’s Tailor

Japanese pickles and ancient grain noodles. Yakitori-style meats and puffy breads and rice cakes cooked over open flames. Clay-pot braises and vegetable dishes derived from the bountiful backyard garden. Highballs and alpine wines sipped around a fire pit. The Wolf’s Tailor has been weaving together these seemingly disparate elements for a year now, and its no-boundaries, no-waste party just keeps getting better. Chefs Kodi Simkins and Sean May, who run the Wolf’s glass-enclosed kitchen, aren’t afraid to play with their food, masterfully melding, say, custardy chawanmushi with sweet Colorado corn. Star pastry chef Jeb Breakell marries miso or fermented soy into his clever desserts, while frontman Kelly Whitaker brings inspiration and drive to the operation, akin to the Pied Piper leading his team—and his guests—down a thrilling new path. $$$, 4058 Tejon St., 720-456-6705

(MORE: Read our 2019 restaurant review of the Wolf’s Tailor)