Best Restaurants 2018: Blackbelly

Conscious carnivores: This Boulder restaurant-cum-whole-animal-butcher-shop is for you. Chef-owner Hosea Rosenberg has assembled an ace team of, well, meatheads to not just preach the gospel of humanely raised meat and poultry, but also to actively serve it at his market and restaurant. Head butcher Nate Singer knows where every single pig, lamb, cow, and bird in the shop comes from, which is one reason his innovative charcuterie program is one of the best in the Centennial State. Rosenberg has the run of Singer’s wares—a cook’s dream!—and his menu reflects that benefit, ranging from plump Colorado chickens cooked on a rotisserie to massive McDonald Family Farm tomahawk pork chops gussied up with squash, chiles, and chorizo verde. If you’re going to eat meat in Colorado, Blackbelly is where you want to do it. $$$$, 1606 Conestoga St., Boulder, 303-247-1000