2 Best Restaurants in Denver, Colorado

This adobe structure near Red Rocks Amphitheatre, complete with flickering luminarias and a pinyon-pine bonfire in the courtyard, is a perfect reproduction of Bent's Fort, a Colorado fur-trade center. Buffalo meat and game are the specialties. The buffalo filet mignon with prairie butter and grilled quail with huckleberry preserves are especially good. Intrepid eaters might try the buffalo bone-marrow appetizer, fiery peanut-butter-stuffed jalapeños, or Rocky Mountain oysters. Costumed characters from the fur trade wander the restaurant, playing the mandolin and telling tall tales.

You won't see the big guy very often here—or at the company's downtown Ritz-Carlton–Denver, Denver International Airport, or Vail locations, either—but that doesn't keep sports fans from packing it in, hopeful. And when the toothy-grinned former Broncos QB (and current executive vice president of football operations) John Elway doesn't show, diners console themselves with some of the best steak-house fare in town, particularly the porterhouse (big enough for half a football team) and the huge side of chunky-creamy Yukon gold mashed potatoes. While you eat, ease back into the intimately set-up, camel-color suede booths and watch waterfalls cascade over granite slabs, choose from the pricey but appealing wine list, and save room for make-your-own s'mores.