10 New Denver Restaurants with Stylish Interiors

For design lovers, a restaurant’s aesthetic is nearly as important as its menu. Sure, there are times when an eatery’s interiors are the least of your concerns—like when you need to snag a lunchtime tamale between back-to-back meetings, cure a sudden bout of hanger with a quick slice, or soak up the previous night’s tequila shots with the warm hug of a breakfast burrito. But for the evenings when you want to impress a date, savor precious kid-free time, or celebrate a milestone, a restaurant’s atmosphere can make or break a meal. Luckily, several of Denver’s newest additions to the culinary scene serve up serious style alongside flavorful bites and sips.

Here, 10 of our favorite new eateries that speak to all five senses.

Le Colonial

The flavors of 1920s Saigon arrived in Cherry Creek this month with the opening of Le Colonial, an upscale Vietnamese restaurant with locations all over the country (and sister restaurant to Le Bilboquet). Designed by Knauer Inc and Le Colonial creative director Darrah Ferrari Wahlstedt, the 6,000-square-foot space transports diners to another era and place. Velvet banquettes, handpainted murals, a gold-leaf ceiling, and brass light fixtures blend together influences from Paris, Marrakesh, and the Far East. To connect with the Vietnamese culture’s appreciation for the outdoors and natural materials, the space brims with large tropical plants, floral arrangements, and woven rattan furniture. From the fringe silk lampshades that hang overhead to the Moroccan floor tiles underfoot to the trinkets on the built-in shelves, each element adds to the restaurant’s eclectic charm. Best enjoyed with a lychee martini in hand. 255 Fillmore St.

Sorry Gorgeous

With a name like Sorry Gorgeous, it would be illegal to have an interior design scheme that’s anything less than chic. Luckily local design firm Maximalist was up for the task. They outfitted the new rooftop bar, which opened on the 12th floor of the NOVEL RiNo apartment building in October, with cobalt blue hues, plentiful plant life, and ethereal lighting to make it feel like “a sky garden in the clouds, a floating oasis,” says Abigail Plantier, founder and principal designer at Maximalist. Studio Adelia, a Denver-based architectural lighting design company, chose a series of hanging globelike pendants to emit a warm, moonlit glow throughout the space, while an ombre metal bar face was constructed by local Ironbound Metal Works. A jade-velvet banquette snakes throughout the space, and foliage selected by Denver’s Plant Riot is tucked into its curves. Guests can pull up a plush armchair or patterned stool to one of the many cocktail tables inside or head to the patio to take in unobstructed sunset and mountain views—either way, this swanky spot sets the scene for date night. 1350 Walnut St. 

Pasque

Colorado has no shortage of places where you can be one with nature, but they don’t often boast a menu of perfectly plated, vegetable-forward dishes and complex cocktails that cost more than $15 a pop. Pasque, one of two restaurants inside the recently opened Populus Hotel, offers all of the above. The eatery’s earthy look “is intended to mimic the distinctive nature of Colorado forests,” says Heather Wildman, principal and design director of Wildman Chalmers Design. The restaurant includes materials that are meant to mimic the colors and textures found on a walk through the woods: brown-stained concrete floors with flecks of pebbles, native plants scattered throughout, dining tables carved from natural stone and wood, and a ceiling built from repurposed snow fencing sourced from Wyoming. But Pasque’s most eye-catching element is a tapestry—made of 500 sheets of reishi mushroom leather—that hangs above the bar. 240 14th St.

Two Hands

Australian-inspired eatery Two Hands has a presence in New York, Texas, and Tennessee, but its first Denver location—which opened on Tennyson Street earlier this month—was designed to feel distinctly Colorado. “For us, this meant a clean, chic [take on] cabin vibes,” says Two Hands CEO and founder Henry Roberts. “We went for minimalism and earthy tones with pops of [our brand’s signature] blues and greens.” Roberts worked with Austin architects Studio ELES and Brooklyn-based interior designers at Sarah Carpenter & Studio to transform a third of Tennyson Street’s Lantern building, which sat vacant for several years after enduring fire damage, into a light-and-airy cafe and restaurant with a Scandinavian feel. Ash wood envelops most of the dining room, while ocean blue- and terracotta-hued zellige tiles wrap the coffee and cocktail bars. From a mounted mule deer head to framed retro ski photos, mountain-inspired decor pieces—many of which Roberts scored at Brass Armadillo Antique Mall—line the walls and built-in shelves. Finally, to give the restaurant a lived-in, homey feel commonly found in Australian cafes, local indoor plant experts from the Plant Room outfitted the space with plenty of potted greenery. 3985 Tennyson St., Suite 120

Corsica Wine Bar

 

The design inspiration for RiNo’s Corsica Wine Bar, which opened in April, blends two aesthetic fantasies: “a coastal ’70s hotel with an intense color scheme and some salt-worn patina and a European grandma’s house,” says Drew McConnell, creative director at Corsica and its sister restaurant, Barcelona. Occupying a former factory building that sat vacant for years, the cozy dining room features exposed brick walls, mustard-hued upholstered bench seating, and dozens of artwork and framed photographs—many of which were snapped by McConnell while traveling around Italy and France. Several details were found closer to home: The in-house design team sourced much of the decor and dishware from local resale shops and created a reclaimed-glass-block divider wall in the dining room after noticing how light filtered in through the building’s existing glass-block bricks. From the exterior mural—which New York–based artist Keya Tama completed during last year’s Denver Walls festival—to the preserved wood ceilings, Corsica brims with conversation pieces. “It’s important that the restaurant maintains a sense of discovery that doesn’t vanish after the first view,” McConnell says. “It needs to be exciting at first glance, but someone who wants to look closer should never run out of details to discover.” 2801 Walnut St., Suite 100

Goldfinch

At Goldfinch in Platt Park, a blend of rich hues, leather-upholstered lounge seating, and sculptural light fixtures create a decidedly chic ambience—a far cry from the psychedelic motifs one might expect to find at a cocktail bar named after a vision experienced during an ayahuasca trip. “This little golden bird presented itself to me while I was essentially floating in the universe,” says Iain Chisholm, who co-owns Goldfinch with fellow Denver native Steven Cook. That experience with the yellow fledgling lives on in the bar’s moniker as well as on its walls, which display art pieces that nod to Chisholm’s apparition. Warm wood wall treatments and steel bar shelving (fabricated by local blacksmith Jason Gatz) feel at home in the 1923 industrial brick building, while mustard velvet bar stools, fringe-trim lamps, and conversation nooks set a moody jazz club vibe. 1842 S. Broadway, #103

La Forêt

When Beatrice & Woodsley closed during the pandemic, Denverites wondered what would happen to the iconic enchanted forest-esque space, featuring dozens of real floor-to-ceiling aspen trunks, that the beloved restaurant occupied for 12 years. Four years later, the fairytale lives on at La Forêt, a French restaurant that debuted in the South Broadway space in March. New owners Mike Huggins and Lenka Juchelkova embraced and expanded upon the woodsy interiors: live plants and foliage are sprinkled among the aspen tree pillars, new tree-branch chandeliers dangle from the wood ceilings, and two tree sculptures crafted with lumber reclaimed from the former space seemingly grow from the dining room floorboards. “From the decor to the menu items, everything is supposed to have a rustic and earthy feel,” says Diana Feldman, the restaurant’s marketing director. “La Forêt actually means ‘the forest’ in French, so creating a cohesive environment that reflected the theme was important.” 38 S. Broadway

Golden Hour

There’s a reason photographers love golden hour: The window of time right before the sun sets offers soft lighting that’s as ethereal as it is flattering. This concept was the design inspiration for Denver’s own Golden Hour, a wine bar that opened in LoHi last December. “We drew inspiration from the elegance of the French Riviera and the liveliness of Palm Beach, then meticulously crafted Golden Hour’s design to emulate these locations at their most beautiful—their golden hours,” says Margarita Bravo, founder of her eponymous, Denver-based interior design firm.

Bravo and her team outfitted the newly built space with velvet-upholstered seating, gold accents, and a teal-and-pink color palette to create an “ultra-feminine and eclectic look,” she says. A variety of plush lounge seating invites patrons to get comfortable, while animal prints and graphic patterns found in the throw pillows, rugs, floor tile, and wallcoverings create a lively atmosphere. Palm-leaf pendant lights in the bar area nod to the space’s Californian influence, and tasseled fixtures in the lounge space add a French touch. The eye candy even extends to the bathrooms, where bold wallpapers make the perfect backdrop for unabashed mirror selfies. 3282 Tejon St.

Traveling Mercies

The second concept from James Beard Award–winning chef Caroline Glover, Traveling Mercies is an intimate cocktail and oyster bar that opened inside Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace last December. FAM Design—the firm behind the design of other local bars and eateries including Oliver’s Italian and the (recently shuttered) Three Saints Revival—was tasked with revamping the tiny space that briefly housed Sky Bar, a retro-aviation-themed watering hole that closed last August.

By outfitting the space with new furnishings and bathing the curvy, slatted-metal ceiling in a fresh coat of paint, the design team made simple moves with a lot of impact. The revived space’s ochre and terra-cotta hues provide a warm, welcoming vibe that’s only enhanced by the natural light that pours in through the west-facing windows. To add a touch of contrasting color, FAM chose deep-blue mats to frame artworks created by Glover’s grandfather. The bar’s existing globe-light pendants were updated with decals of the signature sketches found on the restaurant’s menu. The light-and-airy space is a quiet escape from the bustle of Stanley Marketplace’s main floor below—the perfect perch for sidling up to sip a happy-hour cocktail and watch the sunset. 2501 Dallas St., #311, Aurora

Alma Fonda Fina