Denver native Tony Garcia remembers filling up on enchiladas at Chubby’s when he was a college student in the early 1970s. “It was fast food — but it was good food,” he recalled of the original location of the legendary Mexican restaurant, 1231 W. 38th Ave., which still draws crowds hankering for burritos, hamburgers and French fries blanketed in spicy green chile.
Just a few blocks away, Lechuga’s, 3609 Tejon St., has always been the spot for cannolis — not the sweet variety, but a more substantive sausage wrapped in puffy dough, Garcia said. Across the street, Garcia buys his tamales at Tamales by La Casita, a 50-year-old Denver institution.
This Denver institution makes 18,000 tamales per day — by hand
There’s also the gone-but-not-forgotten restaurants. Patsy’s, for instance, “was unabashedly old school; it was like going to an Italian restaurant from a 1940s movie,” remembered Garcia.
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Rosa Linda Aguirre ran Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe for 30 years. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
And Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe, which Rosa Linda Aguirre opened on West 33rd and Tejon Street in 1985 to feed both her family and her neighbors. The way she puts it: “We were like a bouquet, un florero.” As a thanks to the community — and to fulfill a promise to herself that she would feed the needy if her restaurant became successful — Aguirre served well over 50,000 turkey and green chile Thanksgiving meals before the restaurant eventually closed in 2015. Today, Aguirre and her son Oscar are carrying on the legacy with Tejon Food Co., which sells chorizo and spices.
Like many longtime Denverites, Garcia holds fond memories of eating at the Mexican and Italian restaurants that defined the restaurant landscape for decades on the city’s northside — which includes the Sunnyside, Berkeley, Highland and West Highland neighborhoods — and later became a destination for people all over the metro area.
“We were proud to have both of those communities represented,” said Garcia, who grew up in west Denver and is now a Chicano studies adjunct professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver and executive director of Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center.
These days, north Denver is defining the Mile High City’s dining scene in different ways. It’s home to a wildly diverse range of restaurants, from Asian standard bearers like Glo Noodle House, Ginger Pig and Ramen Star to sophisticated sandwich joints like Blackbelly Market, Odie B’s and the Grateful Gnome, as well as neighborhood staples like Pochitos Tortilla Factory, Parisi and Tacos Jalisco, and even the Michelin-starred Wolf’s Tailor.
Hungry for more? Here are 14 restaurants helping shape Denver’s Northside culinary scene.
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Old-school restaurants
The Original Chubby’s
Stella Cordova bought Chubby’s Burger Drive-Inn in 1967, adding her famous green chile to the burgers and expanding the menu. She was a fixture at the restaurant until she passed away at age 100 in 2006. Among a small number of Denver restaurants that stay open late, Chubby’s serves hungry night owls until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. 1231 W. 38th Ave.
Kitchen manager Rosendo Ramirez prepares to serve two plates of the spaghetti special at Lechuga’s Italian Restaurant in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Lechuga’s Italian
Lechuga’s hasn’t changed its recipe for sausage cannolis since it started serving them (invented them, perhaps) in 1961. The Little Devil cannoli is rolled with jalapenos and smothered in cheese and red sauce. The family restaurant does an $8 spaghetti night on Tuesdays, and serves spaghetti in buckets throughout the week. 3609 Tejon St.
Gaetano’s has a long and storied history in Denver. (Cyrus McCrimmon, Denver Post file)
Gaetano’s
Go for the mob lore, stay for the pasta. Gaetano’s is a neighborhood restaurant housed in a 1925 building that dishes out pizza, pasta and serves brunch on the weekend, with Italian dishes like buttery, peppery cacio e pepe sharing the menu with chicken and waffles. It has changed ownership several times over the decades, but was at one time run by the Smaldone crime family, who turned it into a hotbed for illegal gambling and bootlegging in the 1940s. 3760 Tejon St.
Carl’s Pizza
A nostalgic pizzeria that opened in 1953, Carl’s also serves spaghetti and meatballs, calzones and quarts of minestrone soup. The original owner was from Chicago, but these pizzas are made with a medium crust that’s not too thick, but not thin, either. Like Gaetano’s, Carl’s also had a bit of reputation at one point: The cops ate in the front room and the crooks in the backroom, recalled shop owner John Ludwig in an interview for a collective memory project on the Northside put together by History Colorado. 3800 W. 38th Ave.
Patzcuaro’s
While the sign and patio may be newer, Patzcuaro’s is a Denver institution: It opened in 1978 and is considered by some to be Denver’s first taqueria. Menu staples include tacos, like the tender pork ones marinated in adobo sauce, steaks smothered in salsa and enchiladas. Do yourself a favor and take a quart of green chile home. 2616 W 32nd Ave.
Rosa Dias fills a bowl with red chile and pork to make tamales by hand at Tamales by La Casita on Nov. 28, 2023, in Denver. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Tamales by La Casita
This 50-year-old family-run mainstay doesn’t sell only tamales, but that’s mainly what people from far and wide come in for, lugging out their favorite, in red or green, a dozen at a time. Around the holidays — the traditional time for tamale eating — it gets even busier. In fact, the shop produces an average of 18,000 scratch-made tamales every day. 3561 Tejon St.
Parisi
While Parisi doesn’t have as long of tenure as some of the old-school restaurants on this list, it has been around for 26 years, which is considerable taking into account how much Tennyson Street has changed over that time. Inspired by Florence, Parisi opened in 1998 as a small market and deli with imported Italian goods. Today, the counter-serve restaurant is the place to go for pizza, salads, pastas, and a scoop of gelato. 4401 Tennyson St.
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New-school restaurantsA variety of dishes at The Wolf’s Tailor in Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The Wolf’s Tailor
Much sets The Wolf’s Tailor, and its tasting menus, apart, from its ambitious zero-waste mission to milling heritage grains, and experimenting with fermentation. The restaurant, which draws inspiration from around the world, opened in 2018, and earned a Michelin star in 2023 and 2024, plus a green star, which recognizes leaders in sustainability.
Diners enter through the backyard garden and see chefs firing dishes in the kitchen before checking in with the host — something “that initially was happening on accident, but that we kept because it gives guests a sense of place,” said Chef Kelly Whittaker, who operates ID Est hospitality group, which owns The Wolf’s Tailor with his wife Erika. 4058 Tejon St.
Kiké’s Red Tacos
Kiké’s Red Tacos got its start as a food truck, serving juicy birria tacos just as eaters on TikTok were fueling a lot of interest in cheesy and photogenic griddled tacos dripping in consome. To be able to reach more fans — and help ease long lines — the family-run business opened up a brick-and-mortar shop where birria ramen is on the menu, too. 1200 W. 38th Ave.
Odie B’s
Owner Cliff Blauvelt grew up in Sunnyside and chose the neighborhood to open his “rowdy little sandwich shop,” which serves some of tastiest breakfast burritos in town, along with brunch, stellar burgers and lunchtime sandwiches, like the Dirty Denver (green chile-braised short rib, cheese curds, beefy mayo, and salt and vinegar crispy onions on a hoagie), which entice fans to wait in line. Pair a breakfast sammy (there’s plenty of plant-based options, too) with a green chile Bloody Mary. 2651 W. 38th Ave.
The Cuban sandwich from Blackbelly Market in Denver (Photo by Lily O’Neill — The Denver Post)
Blackbelly Market
Blackbelly Market made its Denver debut last spring, expanding beyond its Boulder location, which took home a Michelin green star in 2023 and 2024 and earned a spot on the guide’s recommended restaurant list. Michelin also named Butcher Kelly Kawachi the 2023 Culinary Professional Award Winner. Pop into the Tennyson Street shop for a Cubano or banh mi. 4324 W. 41st Ave.
Tocabe
Tocabe opened in 2008 as Denver’s only restaurant featuring entirely Native American cuisine, like fry bread tacos and bison ribs. The founders also launched an online marketplace in 2021 to showcase more indigenous companies. 3536 W. 44th Ave.
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Alma Fonda Fina
At the newly minted Michelin-star restaurant Alma Fonda Fina, owner Johnny Curiel is among a group of elite chefs who are helping lead Denver’s Mexican fine dining revolution. Curiel’s menu is influenced by the family recipes he brought with him from Guadalajara, like the frijoles puercos, a menu staple that riffs on one of his mom’s recipes; it includes refried beans, chorizo, salsa and queso that you can mop up with sourdough tortillas. The avocado margarita gets our vote as the star of the chef-driven cocktail menu. 2556 15th St.
Ash’Kara’s hummus and htipiti (Photo by Lily O’Neill, The Denver Post)
Ash’Kara
Located in the building that was Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe for 30 years, Ash’Kara has quickly become its own kind of neighborhood favorite, offering cuisine from Israel, the Mediterranean and North Africa. That means anything from falafel and lamb kofte to tagine and carrot kibbeh. The bright space was also recommended in the 2023 and 2024 Michelin guides. 2005 W. 33rd Ave.
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NEW YORK — The NHL hits a roster freeze at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, so with defenseman Egor Zamula clearing waivers and being assigned to the American Hockey League, it left a roster spot open.
Forward Denver Barkey has been called up.
Drafted by the Flyers in the third round of the 2023 NHL draft, Barkey turned pro this season and has been impressive while skating primarily on the wing for Lehigh Valley of the AHL. The 20-year-old has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 26 games for the Phantoms, primarily playing on the wing with center Lane Pederson and winger Alex Bump.
“I think right from the start, he’s played very well,” Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr recently told The Inquirer. “On the production side, he makes plays, he works, and the details are great. Such a smart player. He’s got to get stronger and build up his body to handle the grind and but so far, so good.
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“Down there, he’s been arguably our best forward a lot of nights, and coaches love them plays, plays a lot. He’s certainly going in the right direction.”
» READ MORE: Flyers Q&A: Brent Flahr dishes on prospects Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, and more
Well, the direction now is east to New York City ahead of the Flyers’ matchup with the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon (12:30 p.m., NBCSP). The kid from Ontario is in line to make his debut at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
“I call him like a little mini [Travis Konecny],” Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong said of Barkey over the summer. “He’s all over the puck. He’s grimy when he doesn’t have the puck. He’s always working to get the puck back.
“He’s really good with his stick picking pockets, transitioning, and his eyes are up; I don’t think a little guy like that skating around, his head down, is going to last very long in the game.
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“But when you watch him go into corners, and he’s not afraid of that, he’s quick to get in, he’s quick to get out.”
Some have questioned Barkey’s size at 5-foot-10, 173 pounds, but no one questions his grit, moxie, will, and determination. Last season, he notched 25 goals and 82 points in 50 regular-season games before adding another nine goals and 20 points in 11 postseason games for London of the Ontario Hockey League.
On June 1, he captained the Knights to the Memorial Cup championship despite suffering a high-ankle sprain in the OHL Final. In the finale of the Memorial Cup, against the projected No. 1 for this June’s draft, Gavin McKenna, and Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League, Barkey drove play and scored a pair of goals.
A month later, he was at the Flyers development camp but did not participate. He did, however, try.
“[Barkey] always comes to me every morning, ‘Hey, do you think you can get me out on the ice?’ No, no, you’re done,” Armstrong said with a chuckle in early July.
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The rest helped. He was again impressive at the Flyers’ rookie camp and in a game against their Rangers counterparts in early September in Allentown.
Barkey opened eyes with his speed, hockey IQ, puck possession and patience, and high-end passing ability. Looking completely healed from his high-ankle sprain, the forward used his quickness, leverage, and ability to win pucks to beat the defense at every turn and notched a goal.
It appears that his summer of eating Italian giant subs — Mike’s way, minus the onions — at Jersey Mike’s with his buddy, and former London teammate, Oliver Bonk, to add weight paid off. Phantoms coach John Snowden called him “a heck of a hockey player” in September.
“Continue to get bigger, stronger,” Barkey said of his summer plans at development camp. “It’s a big jump next year. I’m going to be playing against older men and strong guys. So, continuing to get stronger, faster, and I think the biggest thing is just using my brain and then finding a way to adjust. It’s a different game in pro.”
And Barkey has adjusted well to the pro ranks, skating on the wing of the Phantoms’ top line, which drives play and is relied on for offensive swings. His fellow winger, Bump, was actually the one many thought would be called up.
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The kid from Minnesota, who led Western Michigan to the NCAA championship in April, was pegged by everyone, including The Inquirer, to break camp with the Flyers; however, he was sent down after a poor main training camp. After a slow start in Lehigh Valley, he now has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 26 games in Allentown.
On the first of Bo Nix’s four touchdown passes against Green Bay, he did what he does more frequently than any quarterback in football.
Nix escaped from the pocket and took off running. He moved up and to the left before hitting Michael Bandy for a 20-yard catch-and-scamper.
The next three touchdowns, though, are where the Broncos offense can dream about a deep postseason run or even more.
Nix, operating from the gun, delivered strikes of all shapes and sizes and did so with clean footwork in the pocket.
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He identified coverage, took a short, one-step drop and fired a perfectly placed low ball to Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Then a three-step drop to get the ball up and down with beautiful pace and timing to Courtland Sutton one-on-one up the right sideline.
Nix polished off the fourth touchdown when he five-step dropped, hitched up in the pocket twice and uncorked a rocket up the seam for Troy Franklin on a motion and route concept the Broncos have made hay on most of the year.
The Packers game represented a breakout as Nix completed 23 of 34 passes for 302 yards and the four touchdowns, but his game’s been heating up more broadly over the past month.
He had an efficient day in a much different style against Las Vegas, completing 31 of 38 passes and engineering three battering-ram touchdown drives. He threw for 616 yards in the two weeks before that in wins over Washington and Kansas City.
In those four games, Nix has completed 69.5% of his passes for 282.5 yards per game and thrown five touchdowns and an interception. Before that stretch, he completed 60.9% and averaged 212 yards per game.
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What’s changed? Start from the ground up.
“I think his footwork has got a lot better,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said Thursday. “And the way he handles himself in the pocket, trusting the protection. We’ve talked about it all year and the last four games he’s done a really good job of that.
“He’s moving when he needs to and he’s hanging in there when he needs to.”
Head coach Sean Payton earlier this season said the quarterbacks get some specific footwork drilling done during a normal game week but not a ton. They’ll work a particular concept or drop between periods, but for the most part, the work is plan-specific.
Nix, though, has been working on his own pocket presence in his own ways in recent weeks.
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“I think he’s probably one of the best … at learning from mistakes, and looking in the mirror and seeing what his weaknesses are,” tight end Evan Engram told The Post.
“He’s sitting in there, he’s trusting the protection, he’s letting it rip. And that’s something that he saw. And he worked on. And like – I can’t say how hard that is. I’ve never done it in my life. You’ve got freakin’ monsters rushing you, every play. And credit to the O-line, too.
The staff also appears to be doing a better job of helping get Nix into good rhythm. Part of that is by playing more frequently from under center. The touchdowns outlined above came out of shotgun, but one commonly held belief is that playing from under center helps keep footwork clean because a quarterback is forced to do it coming back from the center.
Since the Broncos returned from their bye week, the uptick has been notable.
Denver averaged 29.4% of offensive snaps under center the first 11 games. Over the past three, the number is 42.8%.
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Nix has attempted nearly half as many passes from under center the past three games (25) as he did in the first 11 (51). That’s partly because he’s playing more from under center, though Denver’s under center pass rate has also jumped up from 24.5% over the first 11 games to 29.3% the past three weeks.
Nix only completed 1 of 6 passes against Green Bay for 16 yards from under center but the week before, he was 10 of 10 for 71 yards against Las Vegas.
“Each game is different relative to when we look at gun runs, under center runs, try to self-scout ourselves enough to where there’s enough play-action maybe under center, drop back,” Payton said between Vegas and Green Bay, adding that he thought Nix made a quick transition to playing under center even though he hardly did it in college.
“I think that hasn’t been a big learning curve. I think it’s gone pretty smooth.”
Particularly since the bye week, the Broncos have leaned more and more into it. Payton and Lombardi say the usage is dependent on individual game plans.
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The longer this uptick continues, though, the more it looks like a philosophical shift.
Broncos reporter Luca Evans contributed to this story.
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For his latest trick, Nikola Jokic dribbled into oncoming traffic and escaped unscathed.
Sometimes after he reels in a defensive rebound, the Nuggets center prefers to launch an aerial attack with one of his long outlet passes. This time, he brought the ball with him up on his usual route up the middle of the floor. Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. trailed him by a step. Up ahead, Tyus Jones veered into his lane from the left, sensing an opportunity to pick the pocket of a lumbering big man.
But Jokic is nimble. Before Jones could cut across his front side, he anticipated the attempted swipe and transferred his dribbling hand with a behind-the-back move that shouldn’t have looked so graceful. Jones whiffed. Carter caught up, but Jokic decelerated to allow him to pass. Then the newly minted best passing center of all time went behind the back again — this time, a dime to Jamal Murray, who finished the play with a lefty floater.
Denver’s stars were just showing off at that point in the third quarter of a 126-115 win over the Magic that wasn’t always so smooth-sailing.
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DENVER , CO – DECEMBER 18: Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets passes behind his back as Tyus Jones (2) of the Orlando Magic watches during the third quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, December 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
It was a monumental night. At 30 years old and 302 days, Jokic passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Thursday for the most assists by a center in NBA history. Coming into the game, all he needed was six to match Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 5,660. He finished the evening with 13, highlighting a 23-point, 11-rebound triple-double.
“For those of us that love the history of the game, that one should be wrote about and talked about, and that should be a national story,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “Because that’s passing a guy that you could argue — if you just want to go by generations and not, ‘Who’s the best player of all time?’ and all the talk-talk stuff — Kareem is in the conversation. Look at his MVPs. Look at the winning. And our guy tonight from Denver just passed him in a category.”
“This is a time that I can be able to look back and appreciate all the years I’ve had to play this game with him,” Murray said. “It’s special. Passing Kareem in anything is pretty cool. So I think it just speaks to his greatness and how unselfish he is.”
Jokic has also passed other Hall of Famers including Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson on the all-time list this season, now ranking 50th overall in career assists. Next up for him to catch is another legendary passer, Larry Bird. Jokic is 28 away from tying him.
“I always say the assist makes two people happy (instead of one). My coach ‘Deki,’ he always said that,” Jokic said Thursday, paying homage to the late Golden State Warriors and Mega Basket coach Dejan Milojevic.
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“Maybe it’s not a splashy pass or whatever,” the three-time MVP continued, “but I think when you make the right play, you’re going to feel good about yourself.”
Adelman was especially adamant about the historical significance of the occasion. He gave Jokic the game ball in Denver’s locker room after the win.
“It’s such a cool thing, because it’s Kareem, who was passed by LeBron (James) as the all-time leading scorer, which puts in perspective who Nikola passed,” Adelman said. “So it’s a celebration of both people. It’s somebody that completely changed the game. The sky hook. The longevity. … I feel like in the modern era, we talk about Tom Brady and all these people. But go look at Kareem. The guy changed his name while he played. The guy plays 20-plus years and, until the very end, was impactful on teams that went to the Finals. So for Nikola to pass him, I think, says a lot. And if we’re going to celebrate what LeBron did, (we should celebrate this also). And I know it’s a different kind of thing because it’s a center, it’s a position. I’ll just keep saying it. Just don’t get tired of this, because it’s unique.”
Jokic is also closing in on Oscar Robertson for second all-time in triple-doubles. Thursday was his 177th, bringing him within four of the iconic guard. He became the first center in league history to average a triple-double last season, and he’s on pace to do so again this year with 29.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game.
Orlando called a timeout after Jokic and Murray combined for that saucy transition bucket in the third quarter. As they sauntered to the huddle, Nuggets assistant coaches Ognjen Stojakovic and JJ Barea could only laugh at the duo’s skill and panache.
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DENVER , CO – DECEMBER 18: Assistant coach Ognjen Stojakovic laughs as the Orlando Magic take a timeout during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 126-115 win at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, December 18, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
“That’s how kind of we made our staple in that second unit growing up, was just the give-and-go,” Murray said of Jokic’s passing. “… A lot of give-and-go, and you could see his court vision and his fluidity.”
The Nuggets did most of their work Thursday during an astonishing second quarter. They flipped a 47-33 deficit with a 35-7 run that only took the last 6:26 of the first half. Murray scored 20 of his 32 points in the frame. Reserve point guard Jalen Pickett ignited the comeback and was a plus-26 in eight minutes of playing time that quarter.
Both teams were short-handed at Ball Arena. Orlando was fending without Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs. Denver was down three of its best defenders with Peyton Watson (right trunk contusion) ruled out shortly before tip, joining Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon on the shelf.
In Watson’s place, Bruce Brown started his first game as a Denver Nugget since April 9, 2023. David Adelman used 10 of his 11 available players, including Julian Strawther, who was cleared to play earlier this week after missing a month with a back injury.
Orlando mounted mini-comebacks throughout the second half, eventually narrowing a 21-point gap to 121-115 with 90 seconds to go.
Moments earlier during a Nuggets timeout, Ball Arena had displayed a graphic commemorating Jokic’s all-time assists achievement. The crowd greeted him with a round of applause as he returned to the court. Then he treated Denver to one more beauty of an assist, passing out of a double-team with a missile across the court to Cam Johnson in the backside corner. His open 3-pointer sealed the win.
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“It’s a celebration of our guy, of a Denver Nugget, and it’s a celebration of NBA history, all in the same place,” Adelman said. “And we all got to be there to see it.”
