MICHELIN Guide Denver | Restaurants Earning MICHELIN Stars in Denver, Colorado

Michelin recognized 26 Denver restaurants in their inaugural and highly anticipated Colorado-based Guide.

The famously anonymous Michelin Guide inspectors selected a diverse range of restaurants across the city that exude culinary excellence. The Michelin Guide gives honors at several levels.

Michelin Stars are based on five criteria: quality of products, mastery of cooking technique, harmony and balance of flavors, the personality of the chef as expressed in the cuisine, and consistency between visits and throughout the menu.
The Michelin Green Star is awarded to restaurants that are leaders in sustainable gastronomy.
The Guide’s Bib Gourmand selection highlights restaurants that offer great quality food at good prices and are judged by the same criteria used for the Star designation.
Recommended restaurants include those that are above average and prepare high-quality meals with fresh ingredients.

Michelin 2023 Colorado - Denver

MICHELIN Guide History

One Michelin Star

High-quality cooking

About the Stars

Michelin Green Star

Restaurants at the forefront of the industry for sustainable practices

About the Green Stars

Bib Gourmand

Good quality, good value cooking

About Bib Gourmands

Denver’s 2023 Recommended Restaurants

Above-average, high-quality meals with fresh ingredients

About Recommended Restaurants

Guard and Grace

$$$$ · Steakhouse, American Contemporary

Mercantile Dining and Provision

$$$ · American

Michelin Special Awards

Considered by many to be the most prestigious honor a restaurant can earn.

The Michelin Guide Colorado 2023 will be only the eighth Michelin destination in North America. It will cover Denver, Boulder, Vail, Beaver Creek Resort, Aspen and Snowmass Village. Michelin Stars are recognized around the world and only a handful of restaurants can make the cut. Movies, TV shows and documentaries have covered the drama behind it.

How do restaurants earn Michelin Stars?

A restaurant can be recognized a few different ways. First, it can earn coveted Michelin Stars—one, two or, the top honor, three. Michelin Starred restaurants represent the very best in cuisine, taking into consideration execution, flavor and creativity. These restaurants are sought after by travelers.

Next, the Bib Gourmand (below) designation recognizes restaurants serving good food for a good value. These tend to be more casual restaurants, the types of places you go back to week after week without breaking the bank.

A restaurant can also gain a mention in the Michelin Guide with a Green Star for sustainability, as well as other special professional awards highlighted by the inspectors.

The MICHELIN Guide goes way back. It was first published in France in 1900 as tourists began to travel via automobile and needed not only tires but advice on where to stay and dine. It evolved into the exclusive guide that it is today.

Michelin Guide FAQs

How does the Michelin Guide selection work?

Michelin’s anonymous inspectors have been eating their way through Colorado all year, searching out the very best dining experiences, using the same criteria that they’d use in Paris or New York. The taste testers judge restaurants based on their:

Product quality
Mastery of cooking techniques
Harmony of flavors
Voice and personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine
Consistency across visits (each restaurant is inspected several times a year)

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