Chinese street food and cocktails · $$ · since 2020
Bao Brewhouse
Soup dumplings and bao buns over three floors off Larimer Square.
Michael Swift opened Bao Brewhouse in December 2020, at the worst possible moment, in a three-level building on 14th Street just off Larimer Square, and it has outlasted most of that year's openings and now has a second location on Tennyson. Downstairs is a loud tap room for xiao long bao, char siu buns and crispy rice; upstairs are curtained tea rooms for a quieter dinner; the basement is a cocktail bar. It is night-market Chinese food built for groups and for the pre-Ball Arena walk, which is ten minutes down Speer.
Why go. Dumplings and a drink for a group before an arena show, without a chain in sight.
Ask for the upstairs tea rooms when you book if you want to hear each other; the ground floor is the party.
A short walk from Bao Brewhouse
UKIYO
$$$$Twelve seats and a many-course chef's table under Bao Brewhouse.
LoDo · 1317 14th St
Hidden Gems Wonderland
Not yet checked by us
LoDo · 1411 Larimer Street
The Celtic on Market
$$Guinness, early soccer kickoffs and legal horse betting at 14th and Market.
LoDo · 1400 Market St
Mario’s Speakeasy Pizza
$New York slices until 3am on the Market Street bar strip.
LoDo · 1410 Market St
Tamayo
$$$Richard Sandoval's Larimer Square Mexican, with the rooftop over 14th Street.
LoDo · 1400 Larimer St
Rioja
$$$Jennifer Jasinski's Larimer Square anchor, twenty years in and still the reservation.
LoDo · 1431 Larimer St