5 innovative restaurants to seek out in Denver

There’s meat, and then there’s the meat locker at Citizen Rail. Cuts of beef, cured to perfection by chef Christian Graves, hang inside the cavernous fridge at this stylish spot in the Kimpton Hotel Born. Once the meat is matured, Graves ensures each piece gets the live-fire treatment, where the coals can reach 900-degree temperatures, adding to the depth, flavor, and complexity of the restaurant’s one-of-a-kind steak program. The chef sources most of his meats and vegetables from the best farms and ranches surrounding the Mile High City. On the menu, find plates of 30-day dry-aged ribeye, a 48-ounce dry-aged tomahawk steak, and two-year dry-aged New York strip, all treated to Graves’s meticulous prep. Catch a glimpse of Citizen Rail’s glassed-in meat locker to witness part of the process that makes this wood-fired hotspot one of the most unique restaurants in town.

When chef Kim Moyle took the helm at the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa in 2020, she became the first female executive chef in the hotel’s 130-year-old history. Moyle oversees all the hotel’s restaurants, including Ships Tavern and Ellyngton’s. But she spends most of her time at the flagship New American spot, Palace Arms, where she’s not afraid to get behind the line to show why she’s the boss. The chef, whose 30-year resume includes stints at Devil’s Thumb Ranch Resort & Spa in the Rocky Mountains and Sheraton Music City in Nashville, has a penchant for team building; Moyle regularly brings groups from the hotel’s bakery and restaurants to her home for convivial taco dinners where they can bond outside of work. In an industry that’s still heavily dominated by men—less than 7 percent of restaurants in the U.S. are led by women—Moyle represents a slow but sure sea change.