Best Restaurants 2018: Corrida

What is Corrida, exactly? A glamorous Boulder steak house with a sherry obsession? A gin-tonic and tapas joint with a beef program? A fine-dining temple designed for special occasions, or a place to party and take selfies on a rooftop patio with an awesome view of the Flatirons? It’s all of those things—and more. Longtime Front Range beverage pro Bryan Dayton (Oak at Fourteenth, Brider, Acorn) and chef Amos Watts (formerly of Old Major) have created a dazzling Basque-inspired restaurant that caters to your every whim—that is, if your whims include creamy-centered ham croquettes, lively tuna crudo with pickled ramps and salmorejo sauce, and a concise menu of carefully raised and aged cuts of beef, impeccably grilled and presented with a simply dressed green salad to cut through the steak’s richness. Couple all that with Dayton and beverage manager Andreas Pejovic’s impressive library of vermouths, sherries, Spanish wines, and a tableside gin-tonic cart tricked out with a veritable garden of garnishes, and you’ve got a whole lot of reasons to visit and figure out just what Corrida is to you. $$$$, 1023 Walnut St., Suite 400, Boulder, 303-444-1333