The most anticipated restaurants coming to Colorado in 2018

What’s the only thing better than all the great food you’ve already eaten? All the great food you’re about to eat, of course. We’re a nation of dreamers, of strivers, of gazing-out-at-the-horizon-ers who are fantasizing about what’s to come. And while the future may not always meet our expectations, we continue to hope for the best. Here, the most anticipated restaurants opening in and around Denver in 2018. May they be worthy of our hopes, dreams and dollars.

Shake Shack

Hullabaloo. That’s what there will be when Shake Shack opens its first Denver restaurant. There will be long lines and people camping out and maybe even police directing traffic and you will wonder how a fast-casual burger joint could possibly be worth all the commotion, but then you will bite into your first ShackBurger with its potato roll bun and signature sauce and you will not only understand the hullabaloo but you will become part of it. 30^th and Larimer streets, Denver; shakeshack.com; opening early 2018

Beckon

Just two houses remain standing side-by-side on Larimer Street in the development hot spot that is RiNo. The white one is Call, a newly opened, casual café. The black one is Beckon, and come spring, it will bestow us with a culinary adventure unlike anything else on the Denver dining scene. Beckon will be a tasting-menu-only restaurant, where 17 diners sit around the open kitchen and have a dinner party experience created by former Frasca Food & Wine culinary director Duncan Holmes. 2845 Larimer St., Denver; opening spring 2018

LeRoux

He may be known as one of the city’s most notable Asian chefs thanks to ChoLon, Cho77 and Kaya Kitchen, but Lon Symensma says he’s actually more of a European chef. “Before I knew what lemongrass and chilies were, I was cooking at Michelin-star restaurants in France,” he said. If he can do to pasta and meat at LeRoux what he’s done to soup dumplings and Brussels sprouts at ChoLon, there’s a good chance we’ll be eating our weight in schnitzel in 2018, which seems as good of a resolution as any. 1555 Blake St., Denver; opening in August

Julep

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: This town needs more deviled escargot grits. Luckily, Julep is (almost) ready and willing to give us those snails, plus a whole roster of sassy Southern cuisine like hoe cakes with smoked ham hock, rutabaga tarte tatin drizzled in sorghum syrup, and oyster and pork sausage with baked bean style barley. 3258 Larimer St., Denver; juleprino.com; opening in January

Bang Up to the Elephant!

This restaurant from the imaginative Beatrice & Woodsley team was supposed to open last summer (under the name Mighty Mighty Sparrow!) and was on our most anticipated new restaurant list for 2017, but so it goes with Denver construction right now. Other than having Calypso cuisine, a festive atmosphere and “hundreds of living plants,” much of Elephant’s details are still under wraps. No matter; the name is quirky and, like we said last year, even if it’s a total disaster, it will be a beautiful, whimsical disaster. 1310 Pearl St., Denver; banguptotheelephant.restaurant; opening late January

New Little Man Ice Cream Shops

There are certainly worse goals than filling the world with ice cream shops. So, we say scoop on, Little Man group, scoop on. Four new spots will open in 2018: Constellation in Stapleton will bring cookie dough ice cream sandwiches and blow-torch-fired Baked Alaska pops; Little Man Creamery in Sloan’s Lake will feature an ice cream flight tasting room; Churn Ice Cream in Fort Collins will scoop out of a 22-foot lumber churn bucket; and the unnamed Park Hill location will have soft serve. Constellation: 10175 E. 29^th Dr., Denver; opening early 2018. Little Man Creamery: 4409 W. Colfax, Denver; tasting room opens summer 2018. Churn: 200 N. College Ave., Fort Collins; opening summer 2018. Park Hill spot: 2211 Oneida St., Denver; opening in 2018; littlemanicecream.com

Milk Market at Dairy Block

Finally — hot chicken, bao buns and pizza all under one roof. That’ll save you some miles. Chef Frank Bonanno takes on the beginning-to-be-ubiquitous food hall with Milk Market, his 15,000-square-foot, 15-vendor project at Dairy Block. All of your Bonanno dreams — or nightmares — come to life this spring. 18^th and Wazee streets, Denver; dairyblock.com; opening in May

Super Mega Bien

Everything is better on wheels, including lechón, mofongo and arepas. Chef Dana Rodriguez (Work & Class), along with partners Tony Maciag and Tabatha Knop, will roll out this pan-Latin dim sum restaurant, Super Mega Bien, inside the forthcoming Ramble hotel. Small, shareable plates will sashay around the dining room via dim sum-style carts, and we just love it when our food sashays. 1260 25^th St., Denver; supermegabien.com; opening spring 2018

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